Original Chapter Title--Medicine Cabinet, alter to a false God:
I’ve often thought it was interesting that in a
society in which we ask our kids to “Just say no” to drugs, every home is built
with a special place in which we store our drugs. Not only that, we have entire
stores dedicated to the sale of drugs.
What does this say about our national dependence on
drugs? What does it say about our acceptance of chemical solutions to our
problems? What does it teach our children? When I was a child, the strongest
drug we ever took was orange-flavored baby aspirin. Nowadays, doctors prescribe
adult-strength drugs to children in alarming numbers. Never before have so many
kids been drugged into submission. Our kids learn early that a little pill—from
Ritalin to Prozac—will make everything okay. Why, all of a sudden, do so many
kids need mood-altering drugs such as Prozac? What does this say about how we
care for our children as a society?
Of course,
prescription drugs are not the same as street drugs—or are
they? Street drugs are taken to make one feel good about life. How many
prescription drugs on the market today are sold to do exactly the same thing?
How many prescription drugs are used to cover up symptoms of something much
deeper than the pain? Isn’t that why people use recreational drugs?
What does
the use of drugs say about our attitudes toward health and healing? Could it be
that we think solutions come from outside us? Do we want to give responsibility
for our health to a doctor, who then prescribes something to “fix” us? Are we
saying, “I don’t want to make the effort to correct the problem—just cover
up the pain so I can ignore what’s really happening with my health”?
Our attitudes about health come from the education
we’ve gotten from the drug companies, which spend billions on advertising each
year. Is what we learn from them true? Are drugs the best way to deal
with our healthcare issues?
In
Chapters 3, 38, and 39, I present the idea that symptoms are signals from your
body that something is wrong. Symptoms should not be ignored. When you rush to
the medicine cabinet for an over-the-counter drug, you’re covering up your
symptoms (so you can ignore and forget about them). Over time, continued
covering and ignoring leads to serious health problems.
Healing does not come from a bottle. Pills and potions
do not make you well. Yes, they can temporarily relieve pain, but don’t fool
yourself by thinking that the underlying problem is gone—you’ve just
covered it up for the time being. It will be back. If aspirin got rid of
headaches, wouldn’t you just take it once and never have another headache? I
antacids relieved your stomach
problems, why would you have to take them after every meal? Wouldn’t once be
enough?
A full
medicine cabinet is a sure sign of ill health. Take look in your medicine
cabinet. Is it full? If so, it’s time to change your lifestyle. Throw out the
over-the-counter meds you bought at the drugstore without a prescription. Just
because they sell it in the drugstore without a prescription doesn’t mean it
has no side effects. Contact your medical doctor to find out if there is a
safe, effective way to reduce your use of prescription drugs. Keep only what
you absolutely need—your toothbrush, toothpaste, a box of Band-Aids. Okay, keep
one bottle of pain reliever—but use a black marker to print on the label “This is
not a cure,” to remind yourself when you take them. Keep some emergency
supplies: gauze and tape, ipecac syrup for poisoning (if you have kids in the
house), and a tube of antibacterial salve or a bottle of hydrogen peroxide for
disinfecting cuts.
If you’re healthy, you won’t need much else. If you’re
not healthy, find out why and correct the problem. Don’t cover up the symptoms.
Remember, it’s much more cost-effective to catch and correct a health problem
when it starts. It costs a lot more to take care of after you’ve spent ten
years covering up the symptoms with over-the-counter drugs while the condition
progressed.
Further Reading
How to Raise a Healthy Child in Spite of Your Doctor, By Robert Mendelson M.D.
Natural Alternatives to Prozac, by Michael Murray N.D.
Under The Influence of Modern Medicine, by Terry A. Rondberg, D.C.
Medicine on Trial, by Charles B. Inlander, Lowell S. Levin and
Ed Weiner
Medicine,
Monopolies and Malice, by Dr. Chester A. Wilk
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