Are All Drugs Bad for Us?
As much as I completely embrace the thoughts discussed in the recent post on what causes disease, and I believe that dietary or natural methods to prevent or reverse illness are safer, and often just as effective as conventional methods, you still may be surprised when I give you my opinion on medications and why I don't think ALL drugs are bad for us ALL the time…
Keep in mind, these are my opinions only – think of this as something to motivate you to do some research on your own.
Here’s what I believe:
- I believe that a healthy, traditional diet, healthy lifestyle, natural remedies or supplements, etc., can prevent and heal many health issues.
- I believe that much of the pharmaceutical industry (and the FDA) is corrupt, ignorant, or both, but I don’t believe that everyone has gone bad in those fields.
- I believe that most doctors really do have our best interests at heart and truly care.
- I also believe that doctors cannot be trained in all areas. As with anyone, there are big pieces of the puzzle that they just may not be aware of. They were trained in medicine, that’s what they know.
- Some docs, however, (and many patients, often including our loved ones!) are too hard-headed to give non-conventional therapies a good chance, or even to let it run through their brains a bit to see if it might make sense.
- I believe that in most cases, it’s smart to try more natural remedies and therapies first, often best handled when working closely with a naturopath or someone trained in this area. (Be careful with this as with all things, ask those you trust for their recommendations.)
- However, in some cases, medication may end up being necessary and very beneficial – I’ve said it before: depending on our circumstances, there are times in life when we may be very grateful for the right medication or conventional therapy. Like this time! Maybe you’ll give the non-conventional options a good go and not see any results, or maybe you’re just not the type of person to be open to that for whatever reason. While this may not be ideal, we all have to do the best we can. I believe that for some people, in certain stages of their lives, or in certain circumstances, they just can’t (or sometimes won’t for whatever reason) completely implement healthy principles, natural remedies, or a new strict diet. In their case, medications may be necessary.
An example that comes to mind:
Antibiotics! There are definitely times that we might need those, and they have saved many lives. Yes, they also can cause big problems in our immune systems, so they should only be taken when absolutely necessary, but if so, take them, and later you can work on rebuilding healthy bacteria in your gut again.
A trickier issue is if someone is in the middle of a depression, whether it is mild or quite serious. As much as I believe that something like the GAPS Diet could heal their immune system, and therefore heal their depression, just as avoiding certain foods or toxins, or finding specific nutritional deficiencies with the help of a naturopath could help. But these things may not work for everyone, and others just may not be willing to take the necessary steps. And is someone who is depressed going to have it in them to implement something as challenging as the GAPS Diet? At that point in their life would they be willing to visit a naturopath they’ve never been to and try natural supplements? I would hope they could, but if not, I also wouldn’t want them to continue without some type of help. In that case, or if they just aren’t the type of person who would be open to any of this, and a low-dose anti-depressant could give them their life back and help them find joy again, then maybe that's what they should do. It's just so hard to say because it's very difficult to get back off these drugs later, and most can cause more problems like weight gain or other side effects. Keep all of this in mind and just do the best you can do! (First, for SURE read over these 20 Tips for Overcoming Anxiety and Depression Naturally.)
Please share examples of times when you decided that conventional medicines or therapies were necessary?
Bottom line: everyone has to figure all this out for themselves.
As difficult as it can be, we have to guard against judging others and where they’re at in their lives. (This advice is a reminder to myself as much as to anyone else!) We don’t know what emotional struggles, financial struggles, marital struggles, spiritual struggles, or whatever struggles they might be dealing with.
If you are going through a tough time right now, my only hope is that you try to keep an open mind through it all, and if you are able, keep researching, and don’t just blindly follow your doc, your friends, your family members, and especially not me. There’s waaaay too much I don’t know to let what you read here do anything more than motivate you to keep digging for more information.
What about you? What do you believe? Do you have any experiences to share?
- Health & Nutrition issues not high on the priority list right now? It’s OK!
- An easy and quick way to lower your stress level
- Did you know that a daily dose of COD LIVER OIL (or the capsules) can help lower your stress level and ease symptoms of depression?
Mark says
Kelly, I have studied drugs my whole life as my career and I agree whole heartedly that all drugs carry risks that can be substantial sometimes.
Kelly says
I looooove this great discussion!!!
Rachel says
A great article. Balance is so important. And modern medicine can have its place. The depression issue is a big one for me. I spent two years on medication. It wasn’t great, but it gave me the break I needed to do what I needed to do, which was change my diet, my mental attitude and my lifestyle. Those were things that I did not have the energy to do before medication. And I didn’t have a support system around me or the resources. But with the medication, I was able to find what I needed and I’m now three years medication free!
Christian says
I’m grateful for modern medicine as well. Antibiotics likely saved my life from pneumonia and possibly my son’s life. But they are extremely over prescribed and that causes damage itself. I seek the natural way to health whenever possible. I’ve found much better results for my aching knees with omega 3 fish oil than any drug. And when it all comes down to it, most drugs mask the symptom without addressing the cause. Like taking a pain killer for a broken leg. The leg is still broken even if you can’t feel the pain. The problem has to be addressed (bone has to be set).
So drugs can be helpful, but a wholistic approach that gives the body tools to be healthy is much preferred in my opinion.
CHEESESLAVE says
There are a few other problems with drugs:
1) Most drugs fix one thing but they break something else. For example, statins deplete the body of CoQ10 — which is needed for a healthy heart. Prozac is another example — it can help you feel less depressed b/c it helps you get more serotonin. However there are many side effects like weight gain, sexual dysfunction, etc.
And there ARE natural alternatives to Prozac. See Julia Ross’s book, “The Mood Cure”, in which she talks about using natural food-based amino acids to increase serotonin and other feel-good brain chemicals. (Prozac does not actually increase serotonin — it just makes it more accessible.)
2) Many drugs interfere with the body’s natural ability to heal. Whole food nutrition actually helps the body do what it naturally needs to do to heal. But drugs will often mask symptoms and prevent the body from doing what it needs to do. For example, detoxing when it really needs to detox. You have a cold and you take a cold medicine that clears up your stuffy nose and brings you fever down. Your body was TRYING to detox via the mucus and sweating — and you prevent that. The toxins have to go somewhere and they end up staying in the body. Not a good thing.
Re: Armour Thyroid — that is a whole food based supplement. Yes, it requires a prescription but it is made from whole pig thyroid.
Re: breast cancer — PLEASE listen to the mp3s (download on the WAPF site — from 2008 conference) about iodine and breast cancer. Breast cancer is ALWAYS an iodine deficiency.
Re: depression and hypoglycemia — You can hear Julia Ross lecture on these issues and how amino acids help — also on the WAPF site. She has gotten thousands of people off SSRIs. You can also get her book “The Mood Cure”
CHEESESLAVE
Kelly says
Such great thoughts from everyone, and I’m not surprised!
Vin, “The main problem I see is that drugs are used as a first resort instead of a last resort” – great point.
Lindsay, rant here anytime!
Meggan, some are “selectively open-minded” – so true. It reminds me of those who shout for “tolerance” with everything except what they are intolerant of. (What I’m thinking of isn’t related to this topic and I won’t go there.)
Tamara says
I kinda lean in Linday’s thought direction in which i believe that drugs and modern medicine is GREAT for trauma emergency care…i mean, im not tryna do surgery on myself, right?
But for everyday illness and living, i think that a VERY small portion of modern medicinal care is necessary. There are always exceptions to BOTH sides of the coin. Thank God we “have” the “choice” (kinda lol).
Being a Black American, i was pretty much BORN with a distrust of modern medicine (see: The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment) , despite the fact that im also a female, im more at risk for disease, common ailments and higher mortality rate than anyone else in America due to a ridiculous array of reasons. So im bombarded with images and advice to hail a doctors as God and then also not to trust everything they say. It comes to questioning myself, can i afford NOT to trust modern medicine and everything they tell me to do and need….or can i afford NOT to question and to find a better, more traditional, wholesome/holistic path to heath…so i ride a fine line.
Meggan says
Thanks for this post! I’m a dentist and I try to live and heal naturally- it really hurts when people try to make out all health care people as monsters trying to poison people! I use a mix of natural and conventional medicine because I think there is real value from both sources. There certainly are some people in health care for the “wrong” reasons ($$), but the vast majority actually want to help people and are truly giving their whole hearted effort to work towards making people better. I think most people go into medicine so they can do something good for the world, they aren’t really part of a plot to destroy nature!
There are a lot of natural-leaning people who are just as closed minded about western medicine as the doctors they call closed minded about natural medicine. Interesting how we can be selectively open minded, eh?
Anyway, my point was thanks, I agree.
m says
I am grateful for modern medicine. It has saved me from infection from a cesarean, it has helped me during mastitis the day after coming home from the hospital with my baby, and most recently, it is helping me recover from a serious sinus infection.
I do all i can naturally, but you have to discern when it is not working, and go get help from a mainstream doctor.
I don’t think there is a right or wrong. There is a balance that is needed, and everyones’ circumstances are different.
I really like your “bottom line” in your post.
Raine Saunders says
This is a great post and I think it helps to balance out the opinion of people who think those who are into natural remedies and eating healthy are nut-cases. Many people I talk to are open to these ideas, which is good to know, but there are many others who still believe health and well-being are not intimately connected to eating nutritious foods and avoiding chemicals and drugs. Thanks for sharing this Kelly, we need more information like this available to people so we can change the way our culture views health, food, and nutrition.
Raine Saunders
Charity Grace says
I think that oftentimes our damaged bodies can recover through nutrition and natural supplements. Then there are other times when I believe that they are so damaged that perhaps natural means can help but may not entirely reverse the damage. I take Armour thyroid for hypothyroidism. I continually work toward a more healthful diet, and I often read and research ways to possibly heal my underactive thyroid, but for now I’m thankful for a medication that allows me to function, physically, mentally, and emotionally.
Charity Grace
Kelsey says
Hi Kelly,
I completely agree. God gives us so many resources for dealing with illnesses and injuries, and sometimes conventional medicine is one of them.
Janet W says
Well, I don’t agree. I am severely hypoglycemic and have (in the past) had depression so bad that I didn’t go outside my house for 5 years (I went out on my porch at night, but if the neighbors across the street came outside, I shot back into my house). As bad as it was, I looked for answers to heal my body, not to medicate it. I still have some depression and there are days that I wonder if I’ll ever completely heal it (sigh), but I still try. I can see where some people might get discouraged and try medication, but it is not an option for me. I keep reading, and searching the internet, and trying different foods or eliminating foods, or adding herbs, and trying above everything else to LISTEN TO MY BODY. This is hard for me because I am easily swayed and have ended up doing harm by following what others are doing.
I do agree that most people don’t work this way, but am very saddened that they either don’t know about natural methods or don’t want to use them. My friend had her colon taken out because of precancerous polyps. I was very sad to read in Making Sauerkraut and Pickled Vegetables at Home that sauerkraut and other probiotics can heal this very condition. When I told this same person that I am having blood sugar trouble and was using food to heal it, she said that could take years. Well, yes, it probably will, but my system will be healed. She has been diagnosed as pre-diabetic and is taking blood sugar medication.
I know of two women who had breast cancer — one went to one radiation treatment and decided it wasn’t for her and just finished her life. The other had radiation and chemo and it got to the point where it wasn’t working anymore; they gave her 3 weeks to live. She stopped treatment, started using natural methods. There is no happy ending here, she started the natural methods too late, but she cleaned her body out, she felt better and lived longer than the three weeks they had given her.
And finally, there are three men who I always keep in mind when I think about medical treatments — Frank Zappa, Bill Bixby, and Dirk Benedict. They were all in their 50s when they got prostate cancer. Zappa and Bixby died, but Benedict used alternative medicine and is still (the last time I saw) alive.
Sorry, I know you asked for times when people might use conventional medicine, not when they wouldn’t, but unless I was in an accident, I just plain wouldn’t.
Lindsay says
See this is an interesting topic for me. I have never had conventional medicine, no shots, no drugs, no prescriptions, no antibiotics (None) and no hospital visits since the day I was born — with the exception of stitches.
But other than that, I was raised with and continue to practice ayurveda, naturopathy and homeopathy for anything that might ail. I do not think western/pharamceutical medicine is appropriate in any form, unless say you were in a massive car crash and you need your heart restarted or something, or limbs reattached or if you have actually tried everything else to no avail. On the whole I think allopathic medicine is very useful in emergency care, but it is far too focused on symptoms and not cause and that’s a huge piece missing for me. Oh, you’re getting say, gall stones, and you’re told how to get rid of them, but they keep coming back, and sometimes the “cure” is to just remove the troublesome organ; I find when someone says they’ve tried everything, and tries to list them, they may make it to maybe 15-20 things.
As for Nutrition, it is one HUGE side, but there are herbs as well, and self-knowledge that is each of our responsibilities, and in general I feel we have gotten into a long bad habit of giving our power away. It’s not just putting things into the body, but also knowing how to cleanse appropriately and in a timely manner.
Sorry for my rant. 🙂
Vin | NaturalBias.com says
Hi Kelly,
I think your perspective on medicine is great and I agree. The main problem I see is that drugs are used as a first resort instead of a last resort. As many others do, I feel that the influence of the drug industry has led to a medical system that is primarily focused on chasing symptoms instead of addressing problems at their root. Many of the drugs prescribed today merely relieve symptoms as they cause new ones and do absolutely nothing to address the real problem.
I also think the influence of the drug industry is what has entrenched so many doctors into this drug prescribing and symptom chasing mentality.
Yes, there are many cases where medications are necessary and even more people who don’t want to bother cleaning up there lifestyle, but what about the people who do want a natural solution and are being deprived of this alternative? I think there needs to be a compromise and that more doctors need to be aware of what a healthy lifestyle is really all about.
I was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome 2 years ago and went through a lot of frustration with doctors and specialists who either didn’t want to acknowledge that I had a problem at all or wanted to fill me up with prescription medication. I eventually made tremendous improvements by learning everything I could about a healthy lifestyle and putting in the effort to implement it. So many people have stories that are far worse than mine. It makes me sick to think that many of them could have been easily avoided if it weren’t for the profit based interests of the drug industry.
Vin | NaturalBias.com
Local Nourishment says
I absolutely agree. There are definitely times for what I call the “big guns.” Lives have been saved with antibiotics when the immune system is overwhelmed by attack. It would be great if our immune systems were strong enough to beat back any assault, but there are just times when our bodies aren’t in peak condition, and there are diseases that are extremely strong. We all need help sometimes.
My 17 year old son is overwhelmed by his acne right now. We have been diligent trying all the natural means I can find. He has been self-disciplined enough to eat the very healthiest diet, but his face is not clearing up and his emotions are starting to take a hard hit and the constant inflammation can’t be doing his body any good overall. That does not mean we will go right for the biggest, strongest gun out there, but perhaps it’s time to consider medical intervention.
Local Nourishment