Monday, April 25, 2011

Minor Side-Effects

Something was always  troubling me about so-called 'minor' side-effects of medications, though I never could clearly verbalize it. Then in the P. Weintraub article (see Statins and More) I read that certain drugs cause
‘…reduced energy and a lack of interest in activity, increased fatigue after exercise, erectile dysfunction…’
It just made me realize that many modern medications, which sole purpose is  ‘to control a condition’, or ‘to improve one’s quality of life’ in fact do nothing of the kind!
For the moment let’s disregard that such drugs are not intended to cure - with this old-fashioned and naïve idea I parted years ago. So, because they are incapable of curing modern drugs are largely focused on alleviating symptoms (see… practically any doctor-related posting of mine).
And though frantically trying to avoid pills myself, I always hesitated criticizing those who were not, as for many people medication might be the only way to manage through the day.   
Regarding possible side-effects I used to think like this:
‘As long as I am generally healthy I naturally do not want to put up with minor discomforts. But if my life were at stake, I might become much more tolerant to such things.‘
When I started reading fine prints more attentively it hit me that side-effects of modern drugs may be much more damaging then they seem.   

For example, when they warn you of ‘possible dizziness’ – it means - you might abandon your regular walks (out of fear to lose balance and fall).  Dizziness is also likely to lower appetite and weaken the determination to follow clean and healthy diet:

This is not easy to do even when you feel OK. Now imagine trying to eat right when you are nauseous and your taste buds are all confused.
When a drug instruction mentions such effects as ‘reduced energy and… increased fatigue after exercise’ – it means that your resolution to exercise regularly would be additionally and powerfully obstructed.  
It all looks like not a big deal, but healthy diet and exercise are exactly the factors that help body to heal: to strengthen its immune system, to increase metabolism, to suppress inflammation. This way diet and exercise contribute to prevention and reduction of practically all modern debilitating diseases!
Well, because of the side-effects of medications, people who need lifestyle changes most are particularly hindered in making these changes!
Quite a paradox.
Have you ever tried working out with an inflammatory back ache? 
Yoga, by the way, is highly beneficial against muscle inflammation. It increases blood circulation and flashes toxins out of your body.
But doing yoga with aching back or shoulder is hard. Almost every asana that you did with mindless ease hundreds of times turns into a pretty painful challenge. And it may take some time (weeks at least) to calm things down.

I know people who discontinued yoga for months in such conditions.
Even a zealous yogi would hesitate to work out while feeling ‘dizzy’ or ‘overly fatigued’ – that is, experiencing the most innocent of the common  medication side-effects.
It would present an even tougher challenge for a sedentary-living person. Would such a person dare to start exercising in these circumstances? I doubt it.
I also wonder how many people around me are driving every day with ‘minor cramps’, or ‘light markers of depression’ and other disregarded attention deficit inducers...
So it looks like the impact of drugs with minor side-effects basically comes to this:
Regular consumption of chemicals without cure
Experiencing all sorts of discomfort and having difficulty performing everyday tasks
Inability to assist natural healing processes
And then there are such effects as ‘lack of sex drive’ and ‘erectile dysfunction’ that do not physically hurt but may impact your life on a fundamental level.  

Who decided that these things are 'minor'?  

Monday, April 11, 2011

Statins and More

For quite a while I hesitated sharing my cholesterol doubts, thinking it could be perceived as yet another sample of my unconventional and anti-doctors views.

But then, and after the last posting had already been done, I came across an article ‘The Other Drug Problem’ by Pamela Weintraub. It was not only about cholesterol medications but also regarding high blood pressure treatments, anti-acids and more. This article changed my feelings completely:  

First of all, I realized that there is nothing original in my concerns – they are shared by many and are well grounded. According to Weintraub the issue is actually way deeper and is explored there in detail.

For a moment I even regretted my previous posting’s amateur reasoning, I wished, I could’ve simply put a string to this article instead. The problem was, I read it too late, and also – there was no electronic address underneath it in the Experience Life magazine.

Here I must say a few words about this magazine. And I am not encouraged in any way to do so. It is simply good. I paid little attention to it at first, because it started coming for free when we became Lifetime Fitness club members (I even threw several issues into recycling without opening).

But being quite skeptical at the beginning about this ‘auxiliary fitness promoter’ I was pleasantly surprised by sensitive and unbias health-related information I found there.

In this respect the Experience Life is in perfect contrast with the Whole Living - the magazine I‘ve been subscribing for several years. It started out as Organic Living with high standards on the ideas they promoted and products they recommended. But after it was bought by Martha Steward it became just another unscrupulous advertising engine.  

Feeling determined to share the information of the article by Pamela Weintraub I encircled several extracts in it and then surmised to go to the magazine's website. Isn’t it nice that every regular publication has a website nowadays?

I found the article right there!

I decided to copy the encircled extracts anyway, so that my effort and enthusiasm was not wasted. And then if someone is interested, the string to more information is below.

About the side-effects of statins and other drugs:

‘The Statin Study Group, directed by University of California at San Diego (UCSD) physician and scientist Beatrice Golomb, MD, PhD, who says:
Three common classes of prescription drugs in the United States — statins for reducing cholesterol, angiotensin II antagonists for lowering blood pressure, and proton pump inhibitors for reducing stomach acid — can all cause side effects worse than the problems they aim to treat. And the symptoms caused by one drug may necessitate the use of the others.’

Regarding the so-called 'minor side-effects' of statins (and other drugs) that were never paid much attention to:

‘…reduced energy and a lack of interest in activity, increased fatigue after exercise, erectile dysfunction…’

“In these studies, the decrease in death from heart disease was fully offset by increases in violent death from suicide, homicide and accident,” (Golomb)

‘A 2010 study published in The Lancet Oncology, for instance, reported an increase in cancer diagnoses among ARB users. Other side effects include headache, dizziness, lightheadedness, nasal congestion, back and leg pain, and diarrhea. And, while rare, side effects such as kidney failure, liver failure, allergic reaction, a drop in white blood cells and localized swelling of tissues (angioedema) can all be fatal.’


On the biasness of medical studies financed by the pharmaceutical industry:

‘As Golomb notes, clinical studies designed to prove the efficacy of a certain drug have inherent limitations, particularly as it relates to examining safety.’
‘Underlying their marketing strategy is a host of scientific studies that “exaggerate positive results and bury negative ones,” says Shannon Brownlee, author of Overrated: Why Too Much Medicine is Making Us Sicker and Poorer (Bloomsbury USA, 2007).’
On high blood pressure:

‘…while doctors routinely treat patients with mild to moderate systolic pressure of 140 to 160, it is only for those with moderate to severe hypertension — people with blood pressure over 160, the top 5 percent of the curve — that “we get a modest bang for our buck. Between 140 and 160 there is no good evidence that the benefits outweigh the harm,” James M. Wright, says.’

On the concept of medical prevention by giving drugs to healthy people:

‘According to internist and clinical pharmacologist James M. Wright, MD, PhD, professor at the University of British Columbia, statins have no proven net health benefit as a preventive.’


The Other Drug Problem
By Pamela Weintraub / April 2011
http://www.experiencelife.com/issues/april-2011/wellness/the-other-drug-problem.php

With the last and so popular concept I had a personal encounter (see Health Advocate Wanted).  Still I think, there is much more to discuss about it.