WARNINGS: statin drugs, anti-depressants
I decided to post these powerful warnings on ALL my lists, so important it the
information I get from William Campbell Douglass, II, MD.
I use all natural products to accomplish cholesterol lowering and mood
elevation, and all of us need to beware of the drugs. ALL drugs have side
effects, yes, but wait until you read THESE! AARRGGHH!!
Linda Yates
A conspiracy of greed?
Everyone’s blue nowadays, it seems. In the last 15 years,
the number of people seeking treatment for depression in the
U.S has nearly doubled — now 25 million per year. That’s
bad news — but what’s worse is that according to recent
research, 90% of these people left their doctors’ offices
with a prescription for antidepressants.
What we’re dealing with here is a two-part problem: First, a
dramatic rise in the incidence of depression; and second,
the increasing reliance on drugs as the preferred treatment
option. Of course, I’ve got some theories about why
depression is running rampant these days, but I’ll have to
tell you about them in the next Daily Dose. What I want to
talk about now is one reason why prescription drugs have
become the treatment of choice — and it’s downright
frightening…
In these days of HMOs and group health plans, if you have
insurance, your health care is usually funneled through
a "primary care physician" (PCP) whose responsibility it is
to diagnose the problem and — if he can’t treat it — to
refer you to a specialist. But in the case of depression,
instead of referring patients to qualified therapists, the
PCP often dashes off a prescription for a month’s worth of
antidepressant drugs. Sure, I’m skeptical of psychotherapy,
but it beats harmful drugs — and the vicious cycle of
dependency they bring, with no real hope of a lasting cure.
This "band-aiding" of depression symptoms could be doctors
brainwashed by drug company propaganda into believing
antidepressants are the best course of action. Or it could
be that these PCPs are directed by the insurance companies
to prescribe expensive, addictive drugs in place of other
therapies.
Neither reality is best for the patient, but one can be
blamed on ignorance — and the other only on a conspiracy.
In either event, large forces with much to gain financially
are influencing our doctors toward treatments that may not
be the best course of action for you. Makes you wonder
exactly what the drug company/insurance industry
relationship is, doesn’t it? It certainly doesn’t seem to
revolve around your good health…
And that’s enough to make anyone depressed.
(I’ll have more to say about antidepressants in the next
Daily Dose, about what works and what’s worthless.)
Statin drugs cause mental "static"
I know I’ve mentioned cholesterol drugs a lot in the last
year or so, both in Real Health and in the Daily Dose. But
new research findings keep cropping up almost daily, it
seems, that tell us new things about these harmful patent
medications — and their "benefits."
For instance, research unveiled at last fall’s meeting of
the American Heart Association revealed that a commonly
prescribed "statin" drug for lowering cholesterol might
actually impair patients’ brain function — even so far as
to affect their ability to perform everyday tasks, like
drive a car. The study pinpointed measurable decreases in
attention span and psychomotor reflex speed among the
subject group when compared to the un-medicated control
group…
But here’s the really incriminating part: Those patients who
experienced the greatest decreases in blood cholesterol also
suffered the greatest levels of impairment! Interesting,
huh?
I mention these findings to you now because I know the
mainstream press will never pick up the story — but also
because some medical authorities estimate that in the very
near future, half of the adult U.S. population could be
taking cholesterol-lowering medications. That’s right — if
conventional doctors and the "drug thugs" have their way,
every other one of us will be stumbling around in a statin
stupor! But what’s not clear is whether the impairment is
caused by the drugs themselves — or the lack of
cholesterol…
I suspect it’s the latter. Why? Because low cholesterol
levels have been linked to numerous other health issues
directly related to the brain — things like violent
behavior, depression, mood swings, stroke risk and other
problems. Maybe now, we should add "impaired brain
functioning" to that list.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again now: Unless your
cholesterol climbs over 300, forget about it — even
the "ratio" of LDL to HDL that so many conventional doctors
make such a fuss about. For heart health, concentrate
instead on DHEA, testosterone (for both men and women), and
homocysteine levels. And be sure to supplement with plenty
of folic acid, B vitamins, and CoQ10, too…
Just leave the statin drugs alone — unless you’re suffering
from an excess of IQ or terminal euphoria.
It’s not easy being blue,