I have been writing to you for many years now about the dangers of soley relying on prescription medications. Nearly all prescription medications work by poisoning enzymes and blocking receptors in the body. You can’t poison a crucial enzyme or block an important receptor for the long-term and expect a good result. Health care providers should be searching for ways to make our patients healthier, not just treating symptoms with prescription drugs that provide no health benefits. Drugs do not make us healthier. And, keep in mind that many commonly prescribed drugs fail most who take them.

For example, the standard-of-care when treating a patient for heart disease is to use a statin drug. In fact, nearly one-third of adult Americans currently take a statin drug. A statin drug poisons an enzyme in the body-JMG C.A reductase. The best of statin studies show that it results in a 1% (primary prevention-preventing a first heart attack) reduction in non-fatal heart attacks if it is taken for at least three years. That means the drug fails 99%-they will not have any benefit from taking the drug. And, they are subjected to the myriad of side effects from taking a statin such as muscle pains, congestive heart failure, brain dysfunction and diabetes. How could one-third of Americans be taking a drug that fails 99% who take it?

Dr. Peter Gotzsche, director of the independent Nordic Cochrane Centre claims that taking too many ineffective and unsafe prescription drugs could be the biggest problem we are facing today. He said,

It is an enormous problem. It’s one of the biggest problems we have in the world today, but people don’t realize how terrible it is. I have estimated that our prescription drugs are the third major killer after heart disease and cancer. And I have recently looked at psychiatric drugs, and these drugs are so harmful that they alone are also your third major kiler after heart disease and cancer.

It is interesting to note that Dr. Gotzsche used to work for Big Pharma.

I could not agree with Dr. Gotzsche more. These drugs fail to work better than a placebo in most studies and they fail when compared to exercise in every study.

How did we get to this point? Why are doctors prescribing so many drugs that fail and seriously harm or kill so many?

We are at this point because most health care providers simply cannot understad how to critically read a study nor do they understand much about what is health and how to optimize it.

I do not take pleasure in writing this. I also feel that it is important to state that you must take control of you own health care decisions. You must educate yourself about any medication prescribed to you. If you don’t do your own due diligence, you could experience serious adverse effects from commonly prescribed prescriptions.

Finally, it is also important to find a health care provider who is working for you, not working for Big Pharma or the insurance companies. If your health care provider does not think as you do, then I suggest it is time to find another one.

By Dr David Brownstein