High cholesterol has been a major medical problem focused on
for the past 30 years and I consider myself somewhat knowledgeable
regarding it. I have been tested, medicated for it and my wife
and children inherited genetic cholesterol disease that drives
their levels up over 500.
What
I have learned during my family’s years of treatment
is medications prescribed can cause more problems than they
cure. When I see ads for cholesterol meds on TV, they sign
off with a long list of potential life-threatening conditions
that can occur from taking the product. The information is
provided due to laws governing truth in advertising but it
ends with an un-truth. You hear the statement: “These
incidents are rare, but if they occur be sure to check with
your doctor.”
I
have talked to many people who have been prescribed statin
drugs for their cholesterol but I’m yet to find one who
has not had an adverse reaction. Therefore, I do not believe
the side effects are rare. The final statement in the ads should
be, “Expect to have muscle cramps, headaches, bleeding
ulcers, symptoms of heart attack and many more; some yet
to be discovered.”
As
I see it, the pharmaceutical industry is to blame for most
of the problems patients encounter. The drug companies,
and
there are many, send a rep out to call on a doctor during
busy office hours. The rep briefly tells the doctor how
great the
medicine is and leaves a large number of samples for
the doctor to hand out. The doctor will give his patient
samples
to try
along with a prescription for additional pills. The patient
could have adverse affects and not know the cause because
the prescription worked and the numbers came down and
that was
the medication’s objective.
My family has been treated by many specialists in the field
of cholesterol control and I have learned another fact. The
doctors have differing opinions regarding treatment and goals
to reach. One physician may say a certain number is desirable,
the next doctor wants it 50 points lower while yet another
says to ignore it altogether.
Just about everyone you talk to has had or is presently diagnosed
with high cholesterol and I believe current treatment practices
are dangerous. Some doctors prescribe medication for what is
suggested as a maximum dosage but others, eager to get the
number down, prescribe twice that amount.
My wife was urged to join a pharmaceutical drug trial at a
respected university hospital because it promised to bring
her critical number down 70 percent. After reviewing all the
data which included making a 400 mile round-trip for 26 weeks
for the treatment, she declined. The final numbers are in for
the trial; 37 percent was the actual reduction achieved.
More
recently, the major medical problem talked about and credited
with causing many dangerous
conditions
is obesity.
I’m
not surprised about the concerns, but why is
the medical community not facing the problem
more realistically?
Why do they all blame sugar and other sweets, they have been
around forever. The artificial sweeteners are very dangerous.
Why replace a suspect product, soda, with something possibly
worse, milk?
Perhaps the hormones fed to our cattle to increase their growth
and feed given dairy cows to produce more milk may be the cause
of our obesity. Chemical sprays and fertilizers used on our
fruits and vegetables could contribute.
I’m
not a big supporter of fast foods; I seldom eat at the ones
that line every
major avenue
in our
country. I do
question all the flack they take as major
contributors to obesity. When I was a young
man, I stopped
every day at a
restaurant
and picked up an order of fries. They came
in a brown paper
bag and I added a squirt of ketchup and
sprinkle of salt. I and many of my classmates would
eat the fries
on the
way home
from school; sometimes we also ate hamburgers
and hot dogs. When we got home, it was
football, baseball
or
a game of
catch until supper time, then homework,
and off to bed. It was not
unusual to go days without watching TV
(yes we had it) or movies but hardly anyone was
obese.
The
question should be asked; what is really causing obesity?
Is it the way our food
products are “treated” and
enhanced before we eat them? The fact
young people are sitting on their butts
watching
TV, texting
or talking
on cell phones
or playing their latest, most expensive
video games?
Look
around. Think back about how it used to be. Doesn’t
it make you wonder?