"Sickening - How Big Pharma Broke American Health Care"

[fwafwow]

I agree that a good diet and exercise are excellent foundations to a healthy life. I do not however believe that all medicine is snake oil. I’ve had more than my share of interventions, and while looking back I wish I could change a few meds here and there, I also know on balance medicine has helped me, and there is no way I could have gotten the same results by just eating right and staying fit. In one instance the combination of meds, devices and procedures saved my life, and in another they saved the use of a limb. And both of those happened within the last two years and not due to conditions within my control.

I believe that the physicians and nurses do the best they can, but I think we, and they, could do better with more information. Doing a bit of homework has helped me (I believe) make better decisions, including stopping a medication, and turning down (or at least delaying) a prostate procedure based on my own research (and later confirmed by my physician).

As for cost - today I’m going for an MRI and am still irritated about the cost and the small portion covered by my insurance.

 

[doc holiday13]

What's the lifestyle/diet change for allergies?


Best thing I have found is Bourbon, local honey ain't ever helped much.

No joke there are natural remedies for allergies.. I'm sure you suddenly have an image of a hippy girl trying to douse you in essential oils but thats not how it works. My wife is a real herbalist and she got me drinking an herbal tea 2 years ago.

Nettle, Goldenrod, Hibiscus.. Blend dried components together and brew like a tea with 190* water. Let it steep till the water cools to room temperature. I usually make 1 gallon at a time and mix in some honey for sweetener. Drink 8 oz daily and it works damn good.. On heavy pollen days I drink 8oz in the AM and 8oz mid afternoon. Better than popping a pill everyday because its not synthetic and there are lot more health benefits from it.

This is almost the same right here https://www.lakotamade.com/products/nettle-goldenrod-herbal-tea

If you want to source locally i can have my wife throw together a batch I can ship it to you or meetup with you since your semi-local

 

[doc holiday13]

100% spot on. A huge root cause of the problem...

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

Agreed!!!. I eat soo much beef and pork fat my coworkers think I'm on track to have health problems... I'm the only one not overweight or with diabetus..

Just one example of how corrupt the pharmaceutical/medical industry has become in some areas (not all). But statins are a glaring example of it.

I have a friend in WVA. IF you don't know, it seems like WVA has been the petri dish for the medical and food industry . He says that anytime he's seen someone go on statins, he can just about set a calendar reminder to when they'll have a heart attack and/or die

He had a friend go on statins, start feeling horrendous about 6 months later, go off the statin, lived another 15 years till dying at 93

My mother in law has "high cholesterol" and was on statins. She just turned 69. She hikes every weekend and eats insanely healthy. She stopped taking statins because they were giving her dizzy spells and I told her the story about the guy from WVA.. That confirmed it for her and she's never going back to statins.

high cholesterol=/= bad heart or heart issues. Your body needs cholesterol and the more cholesterol you consume, the less your body will create

 

[WRM]

What's the lifestyle/diet change for allergies?

You may well have an underlying food allergy that is triggering your immune response. I went through two rounds of allergy injections with two different docs (for grass, mold, pollen, etc). While I was getting injections (and for a few months after each course was over) I had few to no problems. But, they came back. Turns out I had a food allergy/sensitivity that was keeping my system in overdrive. I had severe allergy symptoms most of the year, which was totally miserable, and I was "borderline" asthmatic. First doc even commented he was shocked I had never been hospitalized with pneumonia.

My trigger turned out to be wheat gluten. Once I got that out of my diet I dropped a ton of weight in about a month and the bloat and painful inflammation in my system went away. That was 13 years ago. I do have some (typically) mild seasonal allergy symptoms now, but it's nothing like the misery I lived thru most of my life. No pills or inhalers needed since then (do take some OTC allergy meds a couple times a year).

See post 62 as well.

 

[WRM]

I see patients whose lives are unequivocally saved by pharmaceuticals on a weekly basis.

Assume you are in healthcare. If you DID NOT see someone who was being helped, given your exposure, then the healthcare system would be the biggest fraud that has ever been perpetrated on the public. As it stands, it's just one of the top frauds.

 

[doc holiday13]

Assume you are in healthcare. If you DID NOT see someone who was being helped, given your exposure, then the healthcare system would be the biggest fraud that has ever been perpetrated on the public. As it stands, it's just one of the top frauds.

He needs to actually qualify his statement a little better.. I will agree with him only to a certain extent. "Modern" medicine is excellent at treating sudden, acute trauma/symptoms, but not so great at long term care. Modern medicine save someone who was just ejected from a vehicle and landed in the grill of a tractor trailer, but not so great at preventing diabetus. But modern medicine will maintain a diabetus status

 

[WRM]

He needs to actually qualify his statement a little better.. I will agree with him only to a certain extent. "Modern" medicine is excellent at treating sudden, acute trauma/symptoms, but not so great at long term care. Modern medicine save someone who was just ejected from a vehicle and landed in the grill of a tractor trailer, but not so great at preventing diabetus. But modern medicine will maintain a diabetus status

I thoroughly agree with you. If someone says "why don't you go to the doctor" my general response is "cuz I don't have any broken bones".

 

[Billy Goat]

No joke there are natural remedies for allergies.. I'm sure you suddenly have an image of a hippy girl trying to douse you in essential oils but thats not how it works. My wife is a real herbalist and she got me drinking an herbal tea 2 years ago.

Nettle, Goldenrod, Hibiscus.. Blend dried components together and brew like a tea with 190* water. Let it steep till the water cools to room temperature. I usually make 1 gallon at a time and mix in some honey for sweetener. Drink 8 oz daily and it works damn good.. On heavy pollen days I drink 8oz in the AM and 8oz mid afternoon. Better than popping a pill everyday because its not synthetic and there are lot more health benefits from it.

This is almost the same right here https://www.lakotamade.com/products/nettle-goldenrod-herbal-tea

If you want to source locally i can have my wife throw together a batch I can ship it to you or meetup with you since your semi-local

I have tried some of the essential oils, I have a friend that is big in them. Didn't seem to help too much.

Definitely have some larger issues, guts being the main thing but then that effects everything else.

I'll look into the tea tho, I haven't tried much of those, mostly the oil concoctions that you put on different areas if the body.


I will say I'm an example of someone who would be dead or at least legless 100 years ago if not for modern antibiotics. I have had 2 serious infections that likely would have killed me.

 

[WRM]

Definitely have some larger issues, guts being the main thing but then that effects everything else.

They say that something like 90% of your immune system is in your gut. Makes sense if you figure eating wheat (or a product that irritates your system) can have that big an effect on you.

I kind of carve antibiotics out as their own group. Yes, they help us. Not sure there is another drug that rises to that level of assistance (which has led to separate problems due to antibiotic overuse).

 

[doc holiday13]

I have tried some of the essential oils, I have a friend that is big in them. Didn't seem to help too much.

Definitely have some larger issues, guts being the main thing but then that effects everything else.

I'll look into the tea tho, I haven't tried much of those, mostly the oil concoctions that you put on different areas if the body.


I will say I'm an example of someone who would be dead or at least legless 100 years ago if not for modern antibiotics. I have had 2 serious infections that likely would have killed me.

My wife, as a genuine certified herbalist, will tell you to stay away from essential oils. Essentials are generally misapplied or overused. The majority of herbs she subscribes to people are tinctures and teas.

She will also tell you that sometimes you need a Dr. and modern meds to help fix immediate problems.

 

[Billy Goat]

They say that something like 90% of your immune system is in your gut. Makes sense if you figure eating wheat (or a product that irritates your system) can have that big an effect on you.

I kind of carve antibiotics out as their own group. Yes, they help us. Not sure there is another drug that rises to that level of assistance (which has led to separate problems due to antibiotic overuse).

I have been gluten free for several years now, at least mostly. I don't get caught up in the seasonings that might have gluten.

At first I felt like it helped, I have been tested a bunch of different ways, haven't showed any sensitivity to it. Anymore my guts are just always forked up.

 

[WRM]

I have been gluten free for several years now, at least mostly. I don't get caught up in the seasonings that might have gluten.

At first I felt like it helped, I have been tested a bunch of different ways, haven't showed any sensitivity to it. Anymore my guts are just always forked up.

It didn't take much exposure for me. I started feeling crappy again about 45 days into being "GF" and was perplexed. Started to really dig into it. Looked at oats because I had flipped over to them in some products. Learned cross contamination could be an issue for super sensitive people (oats gown/harvested/processed where wheat also is). I was not buying certified GF oats. Switched to those, and, in a couple of days, my problems subsided again. We are talking a minimal exposure in cross contamination, but I was still being triggered. Wheat is a filler in virtually everything (ie canned soup) and it can hide in some of the most innocuous products (soy sauce). Or, it could be that you have some other food sensitivities too. And a sensitivity is not an allergy, per se, and likely would not show up in an allergy panel (even if they tested for it--I never was). Need an exclusion diet.

 

[bdan68]

I have been gluten free for several years now, at least mostly. I don't get caught up in the seasonings that might have gluten.

At first I felt like it helped, I have been tested a bunch of different ways, haven't showed any sensitivity to it. Anymore my guts are just always forked up.

You might want to try eliminating wheat entirely from your diet.

 

[WRM]

The Blood Type Diet books can be very helpful. They were very spot on for both my wife and me (we are different blood types). I don't follow it religiously, but I sure exclude the big stuff (and wheat based products was one of mine, but not for my wife).

 

[Tberg]

Modern medicine works, there are hardly any healthy people left.

 

[gbflyer]

My mom suffers from chronic pain and inflammation. I believe one witch doctor diagnosed something called fibromyalgia. She’s pretty much tried everything but changing her diet…yeah…hard headed Okie…might as well talk to a fence post.

 

[WRM]

My mom suffers from chronic pain and inflammation. I believe one witch doctor diagnosed something called fibromyalgia. She’s pretty much tried everything but changing her diet…yeah…hard headed Okie…might as well talk to a fence post.

That's cuz some in the medical community call that constellation of symptoms "fibromyalgia". It just has the hallmarks of systemic inflammation. And that MAY be caused by something in her diet that is causing her system to react that way. Unlikely Western medicine will ever concede that--not NEARLY enough money in it. More profitable to "diagnose" it and treat the symptoms (NEVER the root cause).

 

[WRM]

Modern medicine works, there are hardly any healthy people left.

They won't stop until we are all sick as dogs. Heck, they won't stop then either, it'll just be that much more profitable.

I haven't seen a doc in 20 years or so (except for stitches, once). It's nearly all BS. Still "practicing" medicine after all these years. They can keep it. You're gonna die at some point. Docs may "extend the runway", but it often does not seem to be a very smooth runway once it's extended.

 

[diamond10x]

Hell 9 out of 10 doctors are still telling people to stop eating red meat. Just the other day a family member was telling me (doctors orders) they had to give up red meat to get healthier, lower blood pressure and cholesterol. All the while continuing to eat processed foods and vegetable oils. The entire system is so insane you have to laugh.

The red meat thing makes me laugh. Do they not realize that besides chickens, some fish, and some upland birds, everything is red meat? Never mind the processed foods and vegetable oils just like you said. People have lived off and maintained a healthy lifestyle for thousands of years off red meat, I wont be stopping either.

 

[Shraggs]

I’m afraid I don’t know Solinski.

I’m also trying to understand and respond to some of the prior post. “Not going to deny bad apples in pharmacy, and I’d argue most aren’t us based.” Are you saying most of the known pharma transgressions (bad apples) aren’t US based, or that most pharma companies in general aren’t US based? As for the latter, 1/2 of the top 10 pharma companies based on 2020 revenue are US based - including (in order) Merck (Vioxx), AbbVie, Jansen/J&J (Pinnacle hip implant), Bristol-Myer Squibb and Pfizer (Neurontin and Bextra). The parenthetical products with known problems (and likely many deaths in the case of Vioxx) are only those listed in the book - there is no mention of AbbVie or Bristol-Myer Squibb, but I’m looking into them.

I get the bad apples point - one incident doesn’t mean everyone is a problem. But the repeated problems, and the fact that many problems aren’t visible due to secrecy about data, means that at least I am going to remain suspicious.

Saul Alinsky.

I drive and voice text, difficult.

Let just ask you about one of your statements, that was written as fact.

Can you prove vioxx killed people, be specific?