Hey, Doc

Here’s a scenario for you. You’re sitting in an examination room of your doctor’s office, after a 45-minute ordeal in the waiting room, where you were exposed to every cold and flu that ever flurried around the runny-nosed head of every kid who’s been kept out of school with a fever and sneezing attacks (with no hand-over-mouth protection that should have been taught by the parents long ago). You’re feeling great! Never better! The doctor walks in and asks you what she or he can do for you.

“Well,” you begin, “I saw an ad on television last night that told me I should ask you about (insert name of new drug here).”
“Are you having any symptoms?” your doctor asks.
“Not that I know of. I feel wonderful.” you reply.
“(Insert name of new drug here) is for a collapsed rectum. Go home and quit wasting my time.”

Why do the pharmaceutical companies give us the lowdown on some new drug, all the benefits (10% of the commercial at a normal speaking speed), then all of the side effects (90% of the commercial at 78rpm), then never even tell us what the drug is for? I saw Dr. Andrew Weil on Larry King’s show last night. He’s predicting that the American health care system is quickly heading for a complete collapse and I agree, and the pharmaceutical companies are leading the way.

Most of us were raised to believe that when we need them, prescription drugs are useful, sometimes necessary aids in the healing of complaints and diseases. I’m not buying it anymore. Not when so-called “common” side effects include seizure, stroke, leukemia, and in the case of my own mother, thrombosis and death. Anymore, I resort to prescription drugs only in extreme situations. Our bodies build immunities to antibiotics. I’m walking proof of that. After having survived peritonitis twice (the first bout put me into a coma during which I had a near-death experience), I have to take massive doses of antibiotics just to whip a small cold. No thanks. I’d rather just ride the thing out with natural remedies. I’m not talking about major life-threatening conditions. I’m talking about the “inconveniences” we all experience from time-to-time.

I don’t like OTC cold remedies like Nyquil because I have a bad reaction to antihistamines. I figure, my runny nose, constant sneezing and coughing are just my body’s way of expelling the bug that’s lodged itself in my mucus membranes. If I dry everything up, he’s just going to stay there. Nope. When I get a cold I sleep it off, drink lots of orange juice and water, and get lots of electrolytes via chicken soup.