The Avandia Deal: Revisited
It has been reported this last week that Avandia does indeed raise the risk of myocardial infarction (heart attack) resulting in death. I've had my own run-in with Avandia in the past-- check out my original post on Avandia here.
What never ceases to amaze me is how anyone can take the FDA seriously... I mean, that they are seriously in the business of saving lives. After all, why create a monstrous federal agency to regulate food and drugs if not for the sole purpose of saving lives? Congress has even stepped into the fray questioning and demanding answers. What kills me is this: while questions from Democrats appear to be motivated by a genuine concern for the health and welfare of diabetes patients taking Avandia, motivation for questions coming from some Republicans seem to stem more from a concern over the drop in stock value of drug companies, and their bottom line. I understand the need to protect business from over-zealous "tax and oppress" Democrats, but come on! Do any of these Republicans know what it's like to have to rely on medication to control diabetes? Do they understand how devasting this news about Avandia is to people who rely on it to control their diabetes? We're talking about life and death here.
What's completely horrid about all this is the naivete of almost every single American in regard to their own health. No one is responsible for your good health except you. Doctors, contrary to popular belief do not necessarily enter the medical profession because they have a desire to mend and heal the sick, or to save lives. A good number of men and women enter the medical profession do so to make money, and lots of it.
Another gross misunderstanding is that your doctor actively desires to cure you of your ailments. This is undoubtedly true of a good many physicians, but there are also oodles and gobs of doctors out there who aren't genuinely interested in seeing you cured... only managed. After all, there's more money in managing disease than there is in curing it.
I am appalled that so many people out there take their doctors word as though it came from the lips of God Himself. Prime example: I've encountered a few people (all women) who are on Avandia and other diabetes medication because... get this... it will help prevent them from GETTING diabetes. That's right! These women are not diabetic, just over-weight. But their doctor's all think that because they are at risk, they need to be on diabetes medication as a preventative measure. My mother was one of those women; though thankfully, she told the doctor "Hell no" and immediately sought out a new physician.
Why would any rational doctor prescribe diabetes medication to someone who isn't diabetic? Would you listen to your doctor if he told you that because your mother or father died of cancer that you should begin taking Chemo? Would you listen to that idiot if he told you that because your sister died of breast cancer that you should have your breasts removed? And yet many women agree to do just that. It's insane.
Create an environment in which disease cannot flourish and you all but eliminate the need for physicians. Look at the people who live to be a hundred, one-ten and higher. Two things separate these people from those who die in their sixties and seventies.
1- They do not eat the modern American diet, and
2- They didn't listen to their doctors, who told them not to drink, cuss, smoke, or take in salt.
Ask yourself this: Why are you taking medical advice from someone whose profession boasts an average life expectancy of 57 years? Their vast stores of medical knowledge didn't do them any good! Why on earth do you think it'll do you any good?
Here's the truth. Plain and simple....
YOU are responsible for your own health. It is incumbent upon YOU to learn what you should put into your body, and how you should treat disease when it does rear its ugly head. Sometimes doctors are necessary. Sometimes surgery is necessary. But given the choice, would you rather pay more for healthy food and a clean lifestyle now? or pay through the nose to a doctor when your body begins to fail?
It's not easy, either. I'll be the first to admit it. My diet has stunk the last several weeks DESPITE all the pearled barley, quinoa, raw vegetables and fresh fruit I've been taking in. Why? Because unless I make the effort to prepare meals ahead of time I will find myself in a drive thru 8-10 times a week... which is 8-10 times too many.
Case in point: Guess what I had for dinner this evening? KFC
And I wonder why I feel like crap most of the time. This is where a poor diet will get you. Don't be stupid like I was. Take better care of yourself, and you may live to see 100 in good enough health to actually enjoy it.
Oh! And stay away from Avandia whatever you do!
____________________
One final note: The book of Revelation has something to say of this... of where it will lead and just what all this means spiritually.
Rev 9:21 "Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their SORCERIES, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts."
Rev 18:23 "And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy SORCERIES were all nations deceived."
In both those verses the word translated as "Sorceries", is, in the original Greek: "Pharmakeia" which means 'Medication', or more literally, 'Pharmacy'
Medications can be good. But I think America goes too far. We are, whether we care to admit it or not, a nation of drug addicts. We've got a pill for just about everything except 'stupid' and 'ugly'.
What never ceases to amaze me is how anyone can take the FDA seriously... I mean, that they are seriously in the business of saving lives. After all, why create a monstrous federal agency to regulate food and drugs if not for the sole purpose of saving lives? Congress has even stepped into the fray questioning and demanding answers. What kills me is this: while questions from Democrats appear to be motivated by a genuine concern for the health and welfare of diabetes patients taking Avandia, motivation for questions coming from some Republicans seem to stem more from a concern over the drop in stock value of drug companies, and their bottom line. I understand the need to protect business from over-zealous "tax and oppress" Democrats, but come on! Do any of these Republicans know what it's like to have to rely on medication to control diabetes? Do they understand how devasting this news about Avandia is to people who rely on it to control their diabetes? We're talking about life and death here.
What's completely horrid about all this is the naivete of almost every single American in regard to their own health. No one is responsible for your good health except you. Doctors, contrary to popular belief do not necessarily enter the medical profession because they have a desire to mend and heal the sick, or to save lives. A good number of men and women enter the medical profession do so to make money, and lots of it.
Another gross misunderstanding is that your doctor actively desires to cure you of your ailments. This is undoubtedly true of a good many physicians, but there are also oodles and gobs of doctors out there who aren't genuinely interested in seeing you cured... only managed. After all, there's more money in managing disease than there is in curing it.
I am appalled that so many people out there take their doctors word as though it came from the lips of God Himself. Prime example: I've encountered a few people (all women) who are on Avandia and other diabetes medication because... get this... it will help prevent them from GETTING diabetes. That's right! These women are not diabetic, just over-weight. But their doctor's all think that because they are at risk, they need to be on diabetes medication as a preventative measure. My mother was one of those women; though thankfully, she told the doctor "Hell no" and immediately sought out a new physician.
Why would any rational doctor prescribe diabetes medication to someone who isn't diabetic? Would you listen to your doctor if he told you that because your mother or father died of cancer that you should begin taking Chemo? Would you listen to that idiot if he told you that because your sister died of breast cancer that you should have your breasts removed? And yet many women agree to do just that. It's insane.
Create an environment in which disease cannot flourish and you all but eliminate the need for physicians. Look at the people who live to be a hundred, one-ten and higher. Two things separate these people from those who die in their sixties and seventies.
1- They do not eat the modern American diet, and
2- They didn't listen to their doctors, who told them not to drink, cuss, smoke, or take in salt.
Ask yourself this: Why are you taking medical advice from someone whose profession boasts an average life expectancy of 57 years? Their vast stores of medical knowledge didn't do them any good! Why on earth do you think it'll do you any good?
Here's the truth. Plain and simple....
YOU are responsible for your own health. It is incumbent upon YOU to learn what you should put into your body, and how you should treat disease when it does rear its ugly head. Sometimes doctors are necessary. Sometimes surgery is necessary. But given the choice, would you rather pay more for healthy food and a clean lifestyle now? or pay through the nose to a doctor when your body begins to fail?
It's not easy, either. I'll be the first to admit it. My diet has stunk the last several weeks DESPITE all the pearled barley, quinoa, raw vegetables and fresh fruit I've been taking in. Why? Because unless I make the effort to prepare meals ahead of time I will find myself in a drive thru 8-10 times a week... which is 8-10 times too many.
Case in point: Guess what I had for dinner this evening? KFC
And I wonder why I feel like crap most of the time. This is where a poor diet will get you. Don't be stupid like I was. Take better care of yourself, and you may live to see 100 in good enough health to actually enjoy it.
Oh! And stay away from Avandia whatever you do!
____________________
One final note: The book of Revelation has something to say of this... of where it will lead and just what all this means spiritually.
Rev 9:21 "Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their SORCERIES, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts."
Rev 18:23 "And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy SORCERIES were all nations deceived."
In both those verses the word translated as "Sorceries", is, in the original Greek: "Pharmakeia" which means 'Medication', or more literally, 'Pharmacy'
Medications can be good. But I think America goes too far. We are, whether we care to admit it or not, a nation of drug addicts. We've got a pill for just about everything except 'stupid' and 'ugly'.
from the mind of... Eric | 11:16 PM
10 Comments:
With perhaps a few caveats, a hearty Amen, brother!
In a local hospital recently, a doctor mangled the throat of a man during a routine tonsilectomy. The hour-long surgery was accomplished in 15 minutes.
His excuse for performing the surgery that disfigured the patient? His wife was expecting him home by a certain time to plant flowers in a new flowerbed!
Doctors are sinners too! Why should we expect the work-ethic among doctors to be any different than among the overall poulation?
Leftists have succeeded in making the workplace one where responsibility for one's actions is not required.
Despite the caveats, thank you Dan.
"Doctors are sinners too!"
And so are Police, Bankers, Pilots and Politicians, So why do we trust every word that comes out of their mouths?
Why is a policeman's word better than that of an average citizen on the witness stand? What? He can't lie?
If we are unhealthy, it is almost always because of how we've treated our bodies. You would never smear twinkies on the inside walls of your church's sanctuary, would you? Why then do it to the walls of your arteries?
"Leftists have succeeded in making the workplace one where responsibility for one's actions is not required."
No reason to make this left/right thing, D. At least not for that reason.
After all, the so-called "leftists" are the ones who are most loud about wanting to be able to sue folk if they don't do their job satisfactorily - holding folk to a sometimes TOO-high standard, if you ask me.
I really have had only one set axiom for living my entire adult life:
Question authority.
And Dad's gratuitous "lefty" rematk just made me blow Elijah Craig out a nostril -- and that s--t BURNS. L and OL.
A few years back, I spent about a year in a vegan lifestyle due to a holistic dude who had a program on the local Christian radio station. I was selling nutritional products and thought I could learn more about nutrition and ended up signing on to his program. It was a pretty intensive (and ultimately too expensive) program to do it as he prefers one do it if one can. It was a four month program, which, if money was an issue, could be done at a slower pace. But I wanted to hit it hard. I missed Beef Wellington, but only for a while. I was amazed at how all my discomforts finally disolved. I felt great and I had no cravings for anything that I shouldn't eat. The big costs had to do with the therapies at his clinic which helped to accelerate the process, plus, he spent direct time examining each patient every visit. It was like a club with everyone in the same room doing different things, some of which felt fantastic and made me want to have my own machine at home. But of these therapies, only a couple were covered by insurance, and they were the least expensive. (Insurance doesn't pay for alternative therapies no matter how effective they may be. Somehow, prevention isn't worth the money to them. They don't seem to realize that prevention means they aren't paying out as much money. Duh.) Anyway, the costs got prohibitive and almost three months through it, I had to bail. I continued eating as taught, but eventually I faded back into the standard American diet and am now dealing with all the issues I had eliminated. Plus, I'm probably a good 30-40lbs heavier than I ought to be. Bottom line is, as Eric said, staying healthy is a matter of avoiding the intake of foods, beverages and other substances that work to create the best environment for disease. I believe, based on my experiences and the testimonials from patients at the clinic (there was a fat binder full of them) that there is no disease beyone poor nutrition and the cure is good nutrition.
The downside? It's like giving up smoking. The difference is there is no stigma against the average diet. No one rags on you about eating cooked foods, mixing the wrong foods, in fact, though much in the four food groups is actually unhealthy, few believe it.
So now, I basically supplement more than the average person, even though I know it's not good enough. But I know that should I contract anything, I have a great chance of curing myself through what I've learned. To check it out, go to totalhealthinstitute.com.
"...leftists" are the ones who are most loud about wanting to be able to sue folk if they don't do their job satisfactorily."
A perpetual motion machine, Dan.
Leftists champion irresponsibility then sue the irresponsible to get rich quick.
Exploitation...the leftist way.
My family and I eat a diet very close to "The Maker's Diet" and since we've been on it, which is over a year, we've all slimmed down and feel better over all. It's based on Scriptural guidelines for eating. Basically, we stay away from artificial ingredients, white flour, sugar, alcohol, and caffiene. We don't eat much red meat. We do eat a lot of fresh vegetables and fruits, along with some chicken and fish.
We're also growing a garden this year, with squash, tomatoes, peas, and cucumbers. Nothing like grow your own!
My experience with Avandia a few years ago, was that I collected fluid and began to have shortness of breath. I suspected Avandia as being the cause and told my Doctor. Immediately after discontinuing, I lost 10 pounds and began to feel better.
My advice to anyone with diabetes is to start early, heeding your diet, because the failure to do so causes an increase in the amount of medication to control it and so many medications have side effects that are not pleasant.
"No reason to make this left/right thing, D. At least not for that reason."
The discussion is on Doctors and other professionals who just don't really give a crap acbout anyone or anything beyond the ends of their noses...right?
Well...I suggest that leftist ideology has contributed GREATLY to that.
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