Sweet Enlow

I read last week in the NYT’s health section about this new Antipsychotic Drug that has been causing alarming amounts of drastic weight gain in its users.  I have over the last year taken a very serious interest in pharmaceutical companies and the bullshit they pull on  the American population.  More on the article later…

It all started for me with Bill Maher.  On a lot of things, I think Bill Maher is dead-on, particularly with religion.  His documentary Religulous was a fantastic film with a combination of facts and entertainment unrivaled by most.  But besides Maher’s passionate stance against organized religion, he also has been a HUGE opponent of the massive drug companies in America, Pfizer etc…  Maher explains that these corporations, while ostentatiously helping people live a healthier life, are actually making people sicker, in some cases much sicker - all while making ridiculous profits.

While this particular post is going to be fairly off -the-cuff, everything I will comment on is grounded in things I have read.  (Considering I am a student, I am not going to spend ample amounts of time to cite something obscure just to be scholarly.  If it comes down to it, I will find it for you.)  In lieu of my interest sparked by Maher, I read this book by Melody Peterson entitled “Our Daily Meds” which provided an in-depth analysis of drug companies, their products, and the business schemes they are working on the American citizen.  The first 200 pages or so were incredibly enlightening and proves her point – the drug companies in America are not here to help the citizen, they are there to make profits.  You might act like this is not novel, and to some degree everyone knows that these companies are wealthy, but after reading Peterson’s book you really begin to get an idea of the type of shady things going down within these corporations.  Their exuberant amount of cash has made them some of the most powerful lobbying organizations in congress allowing them to get just about whatever they want.  Next, and this is disturbing, their cash allows them to pay off doctors.  If a doctor is not entirely happy with his wage, he can be hired by pharmaceutical companies to prescribe medicines that are not needed (especially with medicare patients).  In addition, doctors will write on the “benefits” of this or that drug in respected medicinal journals causing other doctors to begin to use their product etc…  Unfortunately, much of the writing is total bullshit.  Im not really to familiar with Doctor’s oaths, but I am fairly certain prescribing potentially harmful drugs to people and lying in medical journals to make money doesnt fall in line with their ethical guidelines.

The NYT’s article talks about these new antipsychotic drugs and their recently discovered side effects.  They are as follows: rapid weight gain, metabolic changes, diabetes, and hypertension.  The article stated how some children gain 8 to 15% of their body weight in the 12 weeks taking the drugs.  A couple of things bother me about this article.  First, the article talks about all the drugs being “industry blockbusters.”  Should this really be a term used in association with medicine? An industry blockbuster??  Regardless, these drugs combined to make 12.7 billion last year.  Like I said, absurd profits.  In addition, the article mentions that these drugs are prescribed to help quell schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and, very subtlety, writes that the drug is prescribed for “less serious psychological conditions.”  What the hell does that even mean?

Unfortunately, what is likely happening is that Doctors are prescribing medicine for people when it is not needed.  A “less serious psychological condition” means what?  If you are an uneducated person (like most are when it comes to medicine) you will do whatever the doctor tells you.  It’s unfortunate that, according to Peterson’s investgation, most of the time these doctors are forcing you, or your insurance, or the government to pay a high amount of drugs for basically no reason (Peterson lists so many examples of this as well as Placebo’s effectiveness that it’s almost comical.  I read the book 7 or 8 months ago so I can’t remember the specifics).  The greatest example of this occurs in the examples of kids who supposedly have “ADD.”  The numbers are astonishing.  Once the diagnosis for the “disease” was created, and the companies got a hold of marketing schemes for the products, every parent in every school probably thought about “testing their child for ADD.”  The metrics of the growth of children taking these drugs, oddly enough, is every profit-seeking companies dream.

The drug companies are not entirely at fault though.  In fact, to a certain degree I admire their business model.  They are killers (pun intended).  But the real problem lies within the American citizen.  Baby made this point to me a while back and it so true.  Every time one gets diagnosed with a particular ailment, the immediate approach and thought is “Well, how can I fix this?”  For some ailments, I understand.  But for most, how about looking at the causation of your problem.  Diabetes doesnt just sneak up on you.  Heart Disease doesnt just happen.  The same goes for almost every major health problem in the US.  Why do American’s have this idea that drugs will cure everything.  One thinks they can eat this massive bowl of Pasta and not worry about their weight/blood pressure etc…, because they have this wonder pill for them at home.  Sure, medicinal innovation has been amazing in prolonging life, but it has also created an enviroment where people live like shit for decades.  I am sure that some ailments require the wonders of modern medicine, but most do not. 

Allergies, obesity, diabetes, hypertension, heart disease – these things dont exist in people who live right – Primal/Paleo

(I dont like closing on a sidenote, but this is too important.  Please don’t counter the benefits of living in Primal manner by saying “well, what was the average life span for Hunter-Gatherers… 30?”  Yes, it was short, but it was short because of predators and other harsh components of nature.  However, keep  in mind that Hunter Gatherers’ lived as long as “civilized” populations well into the early 20th century.  19th century London provided no better chance at survival than the Jungle or Bush.)

The NYT article is entitled “Rapid Weight Gain” by Duff Wilson

here is a link to Peterson’s book… it of course provides a much better look at the nonsense taking place – http://www.amazon.com/Our-Daily-Meds-Pharmaceutical-Prescription/dp/0312428251/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1257393553&sr=1-1