Drugs

I just looked through my latest issue of Better Homes and Gardens and counted 12 ads for drugs, taking up a total of approximately 24¼ pages, plus 2 tear-out cards. That didn’t include vitamins or some kind of weird treatment to make your face look younger in only an hour. This magazine is certainly not alone in this; it’s just one I happened to have and am fairly sorry I subscribed to because I think it has more advertisements than substance.

In the old days if we were sick, we went to the doctor, who prescribed us with a drug if he thought we needed it. Now we see an ad for a drug in a magazine that treats symptoms that we didn’t even realize we had until we came across the ad, and then we go to the doctor and tell him what drug we need, and he writes us a prescription. I’ve heard (and don’t know if it’s true, but it makes sense) that doctors get kickbacks on drugs they prescribe, so it’s to their advantage to prescribe as many drugs as possible, whether we need them or not.

I broke my toe a couple of years ago. I tried to avoid going to the doctor, but it wasn’t getting well so I finally gave in. They X-rayed it to determine it was broken and gave me a shoe to wear to hold it in place until it healed. The doctor told me she was going to write me a prescription for a painkiller. I told her I didn’t need one. I had been living with the pain for 3 weeks, and if I needed to I would take aspirin. She said in that case she would write me a prescription for a drug that may help my toe heal a little faster. I let her write it but never got it filled. My toe healed in the amount of time she had predicted it would. I doubt the drug would have made much difference, but I guess she felt like she had to prescribe me with something.

God gave our bodies natural immunities and the ability to heal themselves. When we take drugs, we interfere with that ability and begin to break down our immunities. I’m not saying drugs are always bad. I realize there are times when they are beneficial or necessary; I just believe that they are WAY overused in our country, and the epidemic of cancer and other diseases may well be at least partially related to our destroying our immune systems this way.

When I am sick, I try to give my body every opportunity to heal itself. I think a day off from work, a glass of orange juice and a bowl of chicken soup is a far better remedy for most minor illnesses than antihistamines or antibiotics (which by the way, do not help viruses, though many doctors prescribe them).

But that’s just my opinion. You can take it or leave it.