Wilberg on Wednesday - The Illness Is The Cure pt 11/46

Making Things Worse
through Medication

(see also appendices 3 and 4)

“…serious reactions to prescription drugs are responsible for 250,000 Britons being hospitalised each year – with aspirin, diuretics, warfarin and NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti- inflammatory drugs arthritis the main offenders.” Ben Ong

“The majority of the cancer patients in this country die because of chemotherapy, which does not cure breast, colon or lung cancer. This has been documented for over a decade and nevertheless doctors still utilize chemotherapy to fight these tumors.” Allen Levin, MD, UCSF

“…at least 250,000 people have attempted suicide worldwide because of Prozac alone and that at least 25,000 have succeeded.” Professor David Healy

Millions of prescriptions for highly profitable drugs are handed out each year by doctors – even though the ‘clinical trials’ which made them available often show them to be barely more effective than placebos. At the same time, sales of over-the-counter (OTC) drugs such as pain killers bring in equally huge profits – despite often leading to chronic dependency. The counter-productivity of their possible side effects (doing the very opposite of what they are prescribed for) and the often severe and chronic withdrawal symptoms generated by different classes of common legal drug medications is shown below – using information from the makers and users of these drugs, together with the ‘small print’ in the instructions and warnings to patients that come with them. Just as the price paid for drug medications is kept artificially high by clever marketing – so also does the price paid by the body for using them continue to rise.

Drug class: ANXIOLYTICS (a new name for tranquilisers)
Side effects and/or withdrawal symptoms – addiction leading to acute and chronic anxiety, irritability and restlessness, panic attacks, seizures, chronic sleep difficulties and/or muscular tension

Drug class: SLEEPING PILLS such as temazepam
Side effects and/or withdrawal symptoms: chronic rebound insomnia, nightmares, premature deaths (up to 500,000 in the U.S. alone according to the British Medical Journal Open Journal).

Drug class: ANTIDEPRESSANTS (SSRI-type such as Seroxat/Paxil/Prozac)
Side effects and/or withdrawal symptoms – depressive or manic symptoms, suicidal thoughts, suicide, aggressive behaviour, extreme violence

Drug class: ANALGESICS (prescription or OTC pain killers and headache pills such as codeine or paracetemol)
Side effects and/or withdrawal symptoms – nausea, digestive problems, chronic or recurrent rebound headaches.

Drug class: ANTIINFLAMMATORY drugs such as Ibuprofen used for conditions such as arthritis
Side effects: doubling the risk of strokes and miscarriage.

Drug class: ANTICONVULSANTS (for epilepsy, nerve pain and seizures)
Side effects or withdrawal symptoms – seizures

Drug class: ANTIBIOTICS (for bacterial infections)
Side effects and/or withdrawal symptoms: increased susceptibility to infection from increasingly resistant bacteria

Drug class: PRESCRIPTION SKIN CREAMS (for skin disorders or infections)
Side effects: acute or chronic skin damage and disorders, infections or inflammations

Drug class: STATINS (for reducing cholesterol and protecting from heart attacks & strokes)
Side effects: muscle weakness, fatigue, heart attacks, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, strokes and death

Drug class: BIPHOSPHATE BONE DRUGS (for osteoporosis and brittle bones)
Side effects: increased risk of bone fracture

Drug class: DIET PILLS
Side effects: depression, suicidal ideation, suicide

Drug class: ANTI-SMOKING PILLS
Side effects: suicide, suicidal thoughts, depression, nausea and vomiting

Drug class: VACCINES
Side effects: increased susceptibility to infection (for example to flu, measles, polio etc.)

EXAMPLE: below is a list of side effects included in the maker’s own patient information leaflet for a skin cream currently prescribed for skin infections, reddening, swelling and itchiness and a variety of other skin conditions and disorders.

LISTED SIDE EFFECTS: Severe rash, burning and stinging feeling, skin irritation, itching skin, worsening of your eczema, thinning of the skin, small veins near the surface of the skin become visible, stretch marks, itchy rash and skin inflammation in the area where the medicine is used, red spotting rash around the mouth or chin, skin of the face may become puffy, irritation to the eye s and mucus membranes (such as lips or genital area).