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BY DR BERNARD WILLIS
There is a lot of research on the potential dangers of prescription medicines and to be truthful the statistics are frightening. The British Medical Journal recently published a study that showed that over 6% of all hospital admissions were directly related to prescription medicines. If this statistic were to apply to New Zealand and Australia, it would mean that there would be hundreds of people a day in who end up in hospital because of problems with their prescription medicine. What should be remembered, however, is that whilst there has been a lot of research on hospitalizations, since it is easy to track these patients, there has been very little research done on how many people just feel unwell whilst taking the medicines they have been prescribed. In other words, although we know that there are lots of people that have serious adverse reactions to prescription medicines what we do not know is just how many feel far less than 100% well – that is they just feel lousy. I would estimate from my work with thousands of patients in my clinic over more than 30 years, that there are a lot of people in this category. Similarly, there is very little information on how many people end up with a worse condition because of their prescription medicine. I regularly see patients who are falling through the cracks of our conventional health system. These are people that start with a medical problem but the medicine they receive only helps alleviate the symptoms and it does not address the underlying causes of their ill health, or worse still is making their underlying health condition worse. Then there is also another group of people that would simply benefit from more health education. These are people that do not know that diet, lifestyle and nutrition can be even more effective than many prescription medicines, as well as being much safer! Today, many people do understand there are effective alternatives to taking a prescription medicine but again they often do not know how to get quality unbiased information. Preventing this epidemic of medicine-induced ill health, and ensuring people can achieve optimal health is my goal. OFTEN IT IS THE MOST COMMON MEDICINES THAT ARE THE WORST OFFENDERS
The most common medications that doctors prescribe can actually make the underlying condition for which they are used worse. I know that this sounds incredible and it sounds like an exaggeration or something said just to scare you but I want you to understand that just because everyone else you know is using the same medicines this does not mean that those medicines are the right ones for you (or them). In fact, they could be doing you harm. Now I am aware that I might be creating a lot of concern for people currently taking prescription medicines. I certainly do not want you to stop taking any of your prescription medicines without first talking to your doctor and pharmacist because not all prescription medicines are bad. Some do a very good job with very few side effects but I want to educate you and ask you to become informed about the potential risks of the prescription medicines you are taking and what you can do to lessen those risks. In this shot article I cannot give you a complete DIY guide to optimal prescription health, but my aim is to make you aware of what is possible. Remember, I strongly recommend you seek qualified medical advice before changing your medications or starting any nutrition supplements. ARE OUR DOCTORS AND PHARMACISTS ADEQUATELY TRAINED?
Whilst training student doctors and pharmacists study pharmacology and this subject is broken down into two main areas: BUT, one of the biggest gaps in the training is the lack of knowledge about the impact
that drugs can have on the level of nutrients in the body. This is really important
because it is often these very nutrients, including vitamins and minerals that are
needed to make the body work. After all, the name vitamin means vital for life. So by
depleting the body of key nutrients, some medications can actually make the
underlying disease condition worse, create side effects that require the patient to take
additional medications, or even trigger another disease process.
SAFER ALTERNATIVES
What is important for you to know is that there are more economical and safer alternatives to prescription drugs but often these are hidden from view or suppressed by modern business methods. This is because those often maligned dietary supplements replicate the biological action of most prescription drugs at far less cost and with fewer side effects. In fact this is modern medicine’s best kept secret. Those vitamins, mineral and herbal supplements, which doctors commonly dismiss or frown upon, often work better than drugs. Those supplements that doctors and pharmacists mistakenly claim are unregulated by the drug regulation authorities are far safer than approved drugs. While prescription drugs result in the deaths of thousands, (300,000 in the USA alone last year), if a dietary supplement even causes one death it is pilloried in the news media. Two years ago I saw a man in his mid-60s who had just completed a physical examination at a local well known private hospital and doctors there were amazed to learn, for a man of his age, he was taking no medications. He did not let them know that his pockets were full of all the dietary supplements he takes to replace all the prescription medicines he had taken in the past. Here are the changes he had made: In place of statin cholesterol-lowering drugs he now takes omega-3 fish oil, resveratrol and magnesium. In place of a calcium blocking drug for hypertension, he now takes magnesium, resveratrol, vitamin D and arginine. In place of an antidepressant he now takes folic acid, and sometimes S-adenosylmethionine (SAMe). In place of a blood thinner he now takes fish oil, magnesium, resveratrol and a special-made garlic capsule. By taking these supplements, he now feels wonderful but when he was taking the drugs he had been prescribed, he had become chronically fatigued, depressed, impotent and unable to control his blood pressure. The list of dietary supplements that could potentially replace most prescription drugs is long but here are a few examples. 1. Calcium blockers or magnesium?
For example, magnesium is a natural calcium blocker that could replace a long list of drugs like Amlodipine (Astudal,Norvas), Diltiazem (Cardizem), Felodipine (Plendil), Nifedipine (Adalat), Verapamil (Manidon) These drugs cause side effects in 10-20% of patients, producing Yet pharmacists are quick to point out that magnesium induces loose stool, caused by taking an excessive dose. Some older patients would actually welcome this “side effect,” which is reversible with lower dosage and comparably trivial to those posed by calcium blocking drugs, which include: swelling in the feet and lower legs, as well as a horrible dry mouth, which can induce dental decay. Another disconcerting side effect of calcium-blocking drugs is that they provoke heartburn symptoms (oesophageal reflux) which are often confused with chest pain caused by a heart attack. Then patients taking calcium-blockers with heartburn are placed on acid-blockers, which induce vitamin B12 deficiency, which then raises homocysteine levels in the brain and can result in memory problems, which may cause doctors to inappropriately prescribe drugs for dementia. Drug side effects endlessly beget more drugs. Researchers Burton and Bella Altura at the State University of New York report that calcium-blocking drugs are reported to increase blood flow to various organs, however, the human body already has “a natural calcium antagonist, viz., magnesium.” Where circulatory problems emanate from magnesium deficiency, magnesium is more appropriate treatment than calcium blocker drugs. 2. Fish oil versus beta blockers
an increase in the risk of stroke and diabetes. By comparison, a modest dose of daily fish oil (less than 1000 mg) has been found to reduce the resting heart beat by about 5 beats per minute without producing any of these side effects, and fish oil offers many other additional health benefits. 3. Fish oil versus cholesterol-lowering statin drugs
Fish oil may also be preferred over cholesterol-lowering drugs. A European study shows that a very low dose of fish oil (850 mg) reduces cardiac mortality in a superior manner to simvastatin, a popular cholesterol-lowering drug. When the journal for the Pharmaceutical Society of Japan published a report saying that fish oil seems to be better at reducing mortality rates than statin drugs and that an urgent change is needed away from the cholesterol approach to cardiovascular disease, modern medicine ignored this report. After all why upset established treatment guidelines? There is no evidence statin drugs lower mortality rates. Furthermore, while there is little evidence to show cholesterol plays a significant role in the development of heart disease, there is evidence that doctors most frequently prescribe cholesterol-lowering drugs in the winter which parallels seasonal variations in vitamin C and cholesterol. Winter-time dietary changes (less fruit, etc.) reduce vitamin C intake, which results in a seasonal rise in circulating cholesterol. In a human study, when vitamin C supplements were halted at the height of summer, cholesterol levels rose to winter levels. Elevated cholesterol may emanate from a nutritional deficiency. 4. Alternatives to antidepressants
An estimated $13.4 billion of antidepressant drugs were sold in 2000 in Europe. Just how ethical is it for physicians to prescribe anti-depressants when a common cause is a folic acid deficiency? Place laboratory mice on a diet that is deficient in vitamin B9 (folic acid) and they display anxious and despair-like behaviour. It is clearly apparent that a folic acid deficiency induces mental depression. So just how ethical is it for doctors to prescribe antidepressant drugs, some fraught with undesirable side effects, when the patient’s problem emanates from a vitamin deficiency? Folic acid also raises circulating levels of omega-3 oil which is also a natural antidepressant. Doctors frequently dismiss the idea that low folic acid levels may induce mental depression because blood levels of folic acid are frequently normal among depressed adults. But normal levels are not healthy levels of folic acid. Blood levels of folic acid cannot be relied upon as depressed patients with both low and normal folic acid levels may benefit from supplementation. Vitamin B12 should also accompany folic acid supplementation in cases of late-life mental depression. Another natural antidepressant is S-adenosylmethionine (SAMe), an amino acid produced in the body. Deficiencies of folic acid, vitamin B12 or methionine, can result in decreased SAMe synthesis. SAMe is at the top of the list of natural agents considered to be safe and effective for mental depression. When 33 mentally depressed patients who failed to respond to antidepressant drugs were given SAMe (800-1600 mg per day), 43% went into complete remission and 50% responded positively. This response rate is at least as good as antidepressant drugs. SAMe has an impressive safety record dating back three decades. SAMe often has a faster onset of action than antidepressant drugs, which usually require more than a month of use to see a mood elevating effect. 5. Why prescription blood thinners?
As adults age they are more prone to develop blood clots in arteries that result in strokes and heart attacks. So the importance of keeping blood “thin” and less “clumpy” is of importance. The standard drug used to prevent strokes and heart attacks is aspirin. However, even low-dose aspirin doubles the risk for bleeding gastric ulcers which can be mortal. Use of low-dose aspirin can also result in brain haemorrhage. There are studies showing aspirin does reduce the risk of stroke mortality, but why use pills that can induce brain haemorrhage, bleeding gastric ulcers, and depletes the body of vitamin C and folic acid, as if there are no safer alternatives? In one study, the use of warfarin (prescription blood thinner) reduced the risk of a repeat heart attack (69 repeat heart attacks among 1208 patients) compared to the use of aspirin alone (117 repeat heart attacks among 1206 patients) but warfarin caused four times more major haemorrhages than aspirin. Blood thinners are frequently employed among patients with heart flutter (atrial fibrillation). In 2003 a telling study was reported in the Journal of Internal Medicine. A total of 668 patients with persistent atrial fibrillation were treated with low-dose warfarin, plus low-dose aspirin (75 mg), or another group receiving no treatment. After 33 months the stroke incidence was slightly lower (9.6%) in the group receiving blood thinners versus the no-treatment group (12.3%), but the difference was not statistically significant. However, non-fatal haemorrhages were recorded among 5.7% of the patients on combined blood thinners versus just 1.2% in the untreated group (almost 5 times increased risk). Patients with atrial fibrillation on combined blood thinners are flirting with disaster. Instead of employing less problematic natural blood thinners, such as: doctors continue to warn patients away from the use of fish oil with aspirin or warfarin, claiming its use may cause undue risk when combined with blood-thinning drugs. But isn’t it the drugs, not the dietary supplements, that pose most of the risk? Aged-garlic extract poses no hazard for patients on warfarin, yet doctors frequently warn patients away. Ditto for fish oil -researchers say the false notion that fish oil causes bleeding is unfounded. Millions of adults take blood-thinning dietary supplements, many combine them, yet there are no reports of haemorrhage with their use. Why use warfarin, a drug that depletes the body of an essential vitamin (vitamin K, a clotting factor) at all? 6. Alternatives to antibiotics
A major threat to the survival of humanity is the development of antibiotic-resistant germs that may soon render the “magic bullets” of modern medicine, germ-killing drugs like penicillin and streptomycin, useless. Will modern medicine’s over-reliance upon man-made drugs, to the exclusion of natural cures, doom mankind? Already thousands are needlessly dying of hospital-acquired infections that antibiotics cannot subdue, while a natural germ-killing molecule, derived from a fresh crushed garlic clove, goes unused. Since 1858 when Louis Pasteur discovered garlic kills germs (six decades before the discovery of penicillin as the “first” antibiotic), no germ resistance has been noted. Most garlic pills, despite what their labels claim, don’t produce allicin, the natural antibiotic molecule produced when a clove of garlic is crushed. Garlic-derived allicin has been shown to be quite effective against A new type of buffered garlic pill, which neutralizes stomach acid, allowing garlic pills to produce real allicin, is also now available but again, goes overlooked by modern medicine. ( www.garlicbreakthrough.com ) The unexpected discovery that vitamin D3, known as a “sunshine vitamin/hormone,” produces a potent antibiotic peptide called cathelicidin (short amino acid) that selectively kills germs and leaves healthy cells alone, may revolutionize the prevention and treatment of infectious disease. This very cheap cure (maybe just 2000 international units, or 50 micrograms of vitamin D3) can produce enough cathelicidin to quell infections. There is great promise that vitamin D3, sometimes at higher doses, may replace most antibiotics and vaccines. Facing the ultimate demise of their hospitalized patients to pneumonia from antibiotic-resistant bacteria, not even the compassionate off-label use of a natural antibiotic is considered. CONCLUSION
If you need more information about nutritional medicine, or the natural alternatives to drugs you are currently taking, I would be pleased to help. If you e-mail me a question that can be used on my website (only your initials would be quoted) I will respond as quickly as I can. All such questions should be sent to: Dr Bernard

Source: http://thenaturalalternative.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/NaturalReport.pdf