Duct tape is an amazing creation that can keep a pipe from leaking, hold things together, and do many other household tasks quickly and cheaply. It wasn't designed to be a permanent repair for the most part, just to hold things together until something absolutely had to be repaired or replaced. It's amazing how long some of us manage to delay making permanent repairs as long as there is duct tape around!
Prescription drugs are quick and easy to take but they certainly aren't cheap. They also are a temporary repair to keep things working. They don't cure your health problem because there is more money to be made in keeping you a drug customer for life. Unfortunately when you take one drug there is often a side effect that requires you to take a second drug, which causes an additional side effect in turn that requires yet another drug and the process continues.
America is only one of two countries in the world that permit direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs. With only 4.3% of the world's population Americans consume nearly 50% of the world's prescription drugs. If we were the healthiest people on earth that would be fine but we rank #29 in the world for longevity today, much worse in many other categories. At the same time we spend more on health care than any other nation on earth at 16.3% of our GDP in 2007. Clearly America's prescription drug based medical system isn't working, except to profit the pharmaceutical industry.
Mainstream medicine, used to prescribe mercury and other heavy metals to patients but we're much smarter now. We know that those substances will kill you. One hundred years from now (hopefully sooner) we'll figure out that the current crop of medications are also toxic. There are so many drugs on the market today with so many possible interactions and long-term effects that no one really knows what they're doing to Americans. The government is doing such a great job of protecting you that the number of serious drug interactions has risen in the first quarter of 2008 to a new, record high that included almost 5,000 deaths. The 21,000 reports in the quarter were three times higher than any quarter in 2007.
There have been several reports in the news this year of biased studies being submitted to the FDA for drug approval which do not present the whole story on the drug's dangers. In the case of BPA, which the FDA has ruled to be ''safe'', their own review panel has said the agency ignored federal studies on the chemical and relied too heavily on industry research. While other countries like Canada have already ruled against BPA in products for babies and children Americans are still exposed to this dangerous chemical.
Americans don't even know what incentives the pharmaceutical industry is providing to doctors to stimulate more drug sales. There have been several cases making headlines recently about incredible payments to doctors to promote drugs. It's reached the point that Eli Lilly and other drug companies are beginning to post the amounts they pay doctors for speeches and consulting because they realize it's becoming a public relations nightmare. With more than two-thirds of professors and authorities at medical schools having direct financial ties to the drug industry the public sees what appears to be a too-close relationship between doctors and drug companies.
Four hundred years ago the author of Gulliver's Travels, Jonathan Swift, wrote that the three best doctors in the world were Dr. Diet, Dr. Quiet, and Dr. Merryman. Four centuries later we're still discovering that what we eat and drink, the peace we find within ourselves and the joy we find within life are the foundation of our health. (Since they didn't have cars and power tools back then I'd probably add Dr. Exercise today.)
To illustrate the importance of lifestyle to our health, this year Medicare approved the Ornish Program as the first lifestyle therapy to reverse heart disease. The therapy was accepted because it's been medically proven to be more effective than drugs. Yet it's still considered an alternative therapy because most doctors would rather write prescriptions for drugs or give angioplasty, stent, or even by-pass surgery than talk about a lifestyle therapy with their patients. To be fair, most patients would rather pop a pill or have surgery than radically change their lifestyle to promote better health.
Instead of popping another dangerous drug maybe it's time for Americans to take responsibility for their own health and look at the choices we make every day. Instead of putting more duct tape on their health problems maybe it's time to repair the source of the problem properly. First of all you should give yourself time to heal naturally or try some chicken soup instead of running to the doctor for antibiotics or steroids every time you have a sniffle. Try looking for a complementary or alternative therapy to treat the source of your health problem instead of simply covering it up with more prescription drugs.
Next time you use duct tape around the house remember that how you make a repair, and how you take care of your health, are choices you make for yourself.
Alan Smith is the author of UnBreak Your Health – The Complete Guide to Complementary & Alternative Therapies (Loving Healing Press 2007).
