I had a very impressive and open minded reader response. Tons of questions which I love and that means lots and lots of my prospective....who wouldn't like that? haha :) I'm going to have to respond in waves. There are a lot of topics but in the end they will eventually coincide with my reasoning. So here is Phase One.
Here is just a few questions they started out with: "Do you agree with drugs being handed out to patients coming in because they are depressed or in pain, have allergies, a child who is hyper, etc, etc.....? Do you think they should first require therapy? A nutritionist? Who should be blamed for the chemical dependency issues?"
I live and breathe in the Pharmacology world. Medications has done wonders in our life and the fact that we are on the verge of curing cancer is over the edge exciting. Taking elements of our world and combining them with man made elements, we can make people better. We can also make them worse. There is always a downside to everything. I pursue this field not for the pretty nice paycheck. I do it because I believe in it. I respect medicine. If I don't understand something then I research until I do. I hate seeing these stupid law commercials that say if you took this drug and had a bad side affect to it, that you can sue. Every one is different. People don't react to all medication the same. That is why there are people allergic to certain ones. Every time that you take any form of medication whether it is Tylenol, Advil, Claritin, Lortab, Xanax....and all the other available medications over the counter, prescription and even holistic methods; the fact still remains that everyone will react, absorb, tolerate and what not differently. Different methods and treatments and options are there because of that. When you take a medication, you sign up to deal with its symptoms and side effects even if the stuff isn't even written on the bottle to warn ya. You chose to take the damn thing so deal with it. Plus just because the doctor prescribed it for you, doesn't mean that is the best thing. It could be though, that is why you need to educate yourself.
Physicians nowadays are over prescribing certain medications. There are a combination of reasons though why I personally think they are. I recently had to study to obtain my Pharmaceutical Sales License and apart of my studies I had to learn the legalities of how to make your product stand out more. What you can and can not do to "bribe" a doctor to push your product more then the competitor. Surprisingly there are a lot of laws out now that forbids the back in the day I'll buy you lunch and give you court side tickets to the best game in town kinda thing. Of course some old schoolers will still take things even though their not supposed to and promote whatever product they are supposed to even in situation maybe where it wasn't needed. That is why people have to stop being so dependent on the fact that you think that your doctor can and will fix everything. You go to your doctor for medical guidance and advice. They will always promote your health because that is what they are licensed to do but it is still a BUSINESS. People tend to forget that. So you have a really bad cough. Its not bacteria and its just a virus. Could they give you a controlled suppressant to help you manage it or can you deal with hot tea and lemon and just go to bed early? Getting a prescription should be looked at as a recommendation, not obligatory.
In regard to chemical dependency issues as the reader stated its not so much about pointing a finger to blame. If you really have to blame someone then its only going to be the person that took it in the first place. They chose to take it with a recommendation from a doctor. They filled the script and then poured a glass of water and swallowed it.. Medications act completely different to all and that even means processing it chemically. Someones brain may pick up on something and then tell the body that it likes it and its not going anywhere. So...now you have an addict because that is what the body's response was. Blaming the Doctor, Pharmacists, and Drug companies is not valid in my opinion.
When someone is sick they can usually tell if they can tough it out, need chicken noodle soup, need Tylenol and what not. They can also tell when they may want to check to see if its bacterial. Bacterial infections can be treated with antibiotics vs. having a virus. There are some cases where if you don't have antibiotics with your infection then it could turn into something worse and kill you and there are times that you just could use them but not NEED them. The first case of medicine is preventative medicine. People tend to forget that too. Don't want to be sick? Wash your damn hands and quit picking your nose and then shaking someones hand. Don't eat whatever the hell you want and then your cholesterol won't be so damn high and if you don't want your liver to get pissed off at you, don't drink. Living life is just like choosing to medicate it. You chose what happens, quit blaming others for your decisions.
I hope that answered those questions listed the best....now I got to work on the rest!!! Keep you questions coming!!!
Here is just a few questions they started out with: "Do you agree with drugs being handed out to patients coming in because they are depressed or in pain, have allergies, a child who is hyper, etc, etc.....? Do you think they should first require therapy? A nutritionist? Who should be blamed for the chemical dependency issues?"
I live and breathe in the Pharmacology world. Medications has done wonders in our life and the fact that we are on the verge of curing cancer is over the edge exciting. Taking elements of our world and combining them with man made elements, we can make people better. We can also make them worse. There is always a downside to everything. I pursue this field not for the pretty nice paycheck. I do it because I believe in it. I respect medicine. If I don't understand something then I research until I do. I hate seeing these stupid law commercials that say if you took this drug and had a bad side affect to it, that you can sue. Every one is different. People don't react to all medication the same. That is why there are people allergic to certain ones. Every time that you take any form of medication whether it is Tylenol, Advil, Claritin, Lortab, Xanax....and all the other available medications over the counter, prescription and even holistic methods; the fact still remains that everyone will react, absorb, tolerate and what not differently. Different methods and treatments and options are there because of that. When you take a medication, you sign up to deal with its symptoms and side effects even if the stuff isn't even written on the bottle to warn ya. You chose to take the damn thing so deal with it. Plus just because the doctor prescribed it for you, doesn't mean that is the best thing. It could be though, that is why you need to educate yourself.
Physicians nowadays are over prescribing certain medications. There are a combination of reasons though why I personally think they are. I recently had to study to obtain my Pharmaceutical Sales License and apart of my studies I had to learn the legalities of how to make your product stand out more. What you can and can not do to "bribe" a doctor to push your product more then the competitor. Surprisingly there are a lot of laws out now that forbids the back in the day I'll buy you lunch and give you court side tickets to the best game in town kinda thing. Of course some old schoolers will still take things even though their not supposed to and promote whatever product they are supposed to even in situation maybe where it wasn't needed. That is why people have to stop being so dependent on the fact that you think that your doctor can and will fix everything. You go to your doctor for medical guidance and advice. They will always promote your health because that is what they are licensed to do but it is still a BUSINESS. People tend to forget that. So you have a really bad cough. Its not bacteria and its just a virus. Could they give you a controlled suppressant to help you manage it or can you deal with hot tea and lemon and just go to bed early? Getting a prescription should be looked at as a recommendation, not obligatory.
In regard to chemical dependency issues as the reader stated its not so much about pointing a finger to blame. If you really have to blame someone then its only going to be the person that took it in the first place. They chose to take it with a recommendation from a doctor. They filled the script and then poured a glass of water and swallowed it.. Medications act completely different to all and that even means processing it chemically. Someones brain may pick up on something and then tell the body that it likes it and its not going anywhere. So...now you have an addict because that is what the body's response was. Blaming the Doctor, Pharmacists, and Drug companies is not valid in my opinion.
When someone is sick they can usually tell if they can tough it out, need chicken noodle soup, need Tylenol and what not. They can also tell when they may want to check to see if its bacterial. Bacterial infections can be treated with antibiotics vs. having a virus. There are some cases where if you don't have antibiotics with your infection then it could turn into something worse and kill you and there are times that you just could use them but not NEED them. The first case of medicine is preventative medicine. People tend to forget that too. Don't want to be sick? Wash your damn hands and quit picking your nose and then shaking someones hand. Don't eat whatever the hell you want and then your cholesterol won't be so damn high and if you don't want your liver to get pissed off at you, don't drink. Living life is just like choosing to medicate it. You chose what happens, quit blaming others for your decisions.
I hope that answered those questions listed the best....now I got to work on the rest!!! Keep you questions coming!!!
Monica, I do love a good debate and as you have pointed out I am a very open minded person. I educate myself on a daily basis. I have an extreme passion for medicine being it holistic or contemporary. This is in no way a direct attack on you. This is all part of my learning process. I question you only because I have not had the opportunity to pick anyone’s brain in your line of work.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Everyone is responsible for their own decisions. However, people trust in their doctors because they are educated. Just like seeing a dentist. When they tell you that you have a cavity they fix it. I think you are absolutely right. People do need to educate themselves. People trust one person who has had 15 years of education to fix their problems. So I am in agreement with you to a point.
However, our age of reason is what, 25? Therefore, putting an 18 year old on a narcotic is like giving a candy machine to a child. The fact that there are pills being passed around in high school nowadays is not the children’s fault. Yes, I know what about the parents? Parents do not know most of the time until after a dependency issue has been established. Do you believe that the problem with narcotics in general lies completely on the patients? It is a business. But it used to be a business between the patient and the doctors.
In addition, we now have all these new diseases and illnesses. Most of them are caused by what we eat. I have someone ask me what they can take to lose weight every day. I am at my place of "business" but instead of handing them some product that won't work without exercise and changing their diets, I tell them just that. I have seen it a hundred times. I help the 1 person out of 50 that is willing to change. Handing out meds that are not going to heal the body and will only mask the problem is not the answer.
I don’t agree with children that are hyper being put on Ritalin before exercising other options. ADD and ADHD were unheard of, just like cancer, and other Illnesses that have presented themselves, when processed foods did not exist. Children sit around watching TV and eating foods that have no nutritional value whatsoever. Now we have a huge problem and no one knows how to fix it. Because just like with our doctors we trust the people who “process” our food to not add anything that can cause illnesses.
I am not against medicine as it may seem. I am against the “quick fix”. It is these "quick fixes" that 9 times out of 10 render other problems. With that being said I end with a quote I found. Being the internet it may not be completely accurate. However, I believe there is some truth to it…
“An estimated 106,000 people die from adverse drug effects -- from properly prescribed drugs -- every year, and approximately 98,000 die annually from some sort of error by medical staff. Compare this to statistics from the Department of Justice and the U.S. Centers for Disease control for the year 2004, which show an estimated 16,137 people, were victims of homicide (not just firearm murders) in the United States. “