The way some people use drugs makes no more sense than using a sledgehammer to kill a spider. It’s not just prescription drugs that pose problems, either. Common over-the-counter drugs can have unpleasant—even dangerous—side effects as well.
You exaggerate!
I wish I were! Take something as common as aspirin, for instance. Many people down it at the least sign of a headache, flu, or fever. As a matter of fact, every 24 hours Americans consume over 50 tons of this drug!
Yet every year 10,000 people will be severely poisoned by aspirin or a related product. What’s more, aspirin is known to promote stomach ulcers. It has also been associated with Reye’s syndrome, an often-fatal disease in children, and in older people it can trigger a hemorrhagic stroke.
Acetaminophen and ibuprofen, other common painkillers, can cause skin rashes and—in extreme cases—kidney and liver damage.
Safe Prescription Pills?
In the medical world new and more effective wonder drugs are being discovered and introduced almost daily, while older ones are improved and refined. Yet the perfect drug still eludes us—the one that will do its job with absolutely no deleterious side effects.
Consider blood pressure drugs. They are the most widely used prescription medications on the market and among the more effective ones. Yet they carry a host of side effects. These can include weakness, fatigue, drowsiness, headache, mental depression, dizziness, bloating, sweating, indigestion, unstable emotional states, slurred speech, raised cholesterol levels, and impotence. People who need these drugs often must test several different kinds before they find one they can tolerate.
The point is, no drug is completely safe. Even lifesaving antibiotics carry potential problems, such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, allergic reactions, and yeast infections.
Why are people so drug-obsessed?
While most of today’s diseases respond to lifestyle measures (such as a better diet and regular exercise), physicians who advocate these principles often find themselves rowing upstream. Most people are impatient. They want quick fixes rather than real solutions. If one physician doesn’t produce the desired prescription, they often find another one who will.
Simply put, people today too often want to believe there is a magic potion for their problem. With an almost childlike faith we swallow drugs to pep us up, to calm us down, to regulate our weight, and to ward off almost every conceivable symptom.