Dr. Mercola Hits Prescription Drug Deaths Once Again…
This past week, Dr. Mercola wrote another article about the follies of prescription drugs, this time specifically about the accidental overdose deaths that occur. He starts the article immediately with a startling stat, that every 19 seconds an American dies from an accidental prescription overdose.
Staggering numbers that come from a CNN report dated November 14th of this year. Most weeks I give a doctor’s report, and I touch on the problem with our country’s medical system being based on medication, followed by surgery. That is the system, drug until it has shown to be a failure, then cut. And every week I talk about the dangers of that system. But what I do know, is that most of you forget about it once some time has passed. You fail to remember that living day to day without a constant ambition to NOT end up in a pharmaceutical reality, will always end up in that reality. It takes intentional living to be healthier than the average person in our country. Otherwise you are inheriting this risk.
Listen, my point is simply that the risk of medication use is absolutely real, and though some medications carry greater risk than others, the long term risk is serious. If you haven’t read cancer killers yet, pick it up. There are some awesome references to more recent medical literature that attacks the use of NSAID’s (such as ibuprofen), and daily low dose aspirin. These are research articles that likely never get read by the average physician… thus the continued risk of these drugs is propagated by the average MD simply because a lack of knowledge.
Hosea 4:6 – My people will be destroyed for a lack of knowledge.
Hmmm.
Further into the article Mercola begins to touch on one of the most commonly abused classes of drugs, and the fact that it is older adults that do so. This class is the opioid class, the rough stuff, and these days that most commonly means oxycodone. You know, over the years I have had a number of people who have made comments towards wine or alcohol that were very strongly negative… “No, never, I do not touch alcohol at all”. I respect that position, until I find that those same people are taking a significant amount of opiate. My point is that if you plan on making a stand, then make a stand. Don’t be hypocritical, an opiate is a bit more damaging than a glass of wine.
So what about other drug classes that are abused? Anti-depressants, sleep aids, and other drugs designed to have an impact on the nervous system are commonly abused, accidentally.
Dr. Gupta reported:4
“ …after just a few months of taking the pills, something starts to change in the body. The effectiveness wears off, and patients typically report getting only about 30% pain relief, compared with when they started. Even more concerning, a subgroup of these patients develop a condition known as hyperalgesia, an increased sensitivity to pain.
As you might guess, all of this creates a situation where the person starts to take more and more pills. And even though they are no longer providing much pain relief, they can still diminish the body’s drive to breathe.
If you are awake you may not notice it, but if you fall asleep with too many of these pills in your system, you never wake up. Add alcohol, and the problem is exponentially worse. People who take pain or sleeping pills and drink a couple glasses of wine are playing Russian roulette.”
The rest of the article is worth looking at. Be sure to share it with family, don’t be scared, people need to read this, and as you share this information, you are likely to help someone work hard to find alternate solutions for their pain.
Hoping that we can all move in the right direction together. Be well and blessed – Dr. E