by Jennifer Mannion

Created on: March 24, 2008

Prescription Drugs are Dangerous - Time to Look at Alternate Methods to Heal

I was saddened when I read the latest featured article on Dr. Mercola's site but at the same time was very happy to see the issue over the dangers of prescription drugs finally getting the publicity it so urgently needs. This country has gotten very used to popping a pill whenever anything feels a little out of whack with their body instead of investigating WHY they feel that way. Dr. Christopher Kent http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2 008/01/15/recreational-drugs-far-less-likely-to-kill -you-than-prescribed-drugs.aspx)

wrote a wonderful article, "Recreational Drugs are FAR Less Likely to Kill You Than Prescribed Drugs" that I HIGHLY recommend everyone read!

While I wrote a post, "Prescription Drugs Numb Pain but DO Not Heal Pain", I think the above article goes WAY deeper into the dangers of relying on one doctor's opinion of what medications you NEED. The number of adverse drug-reactions causing hospitalizations and deaths, the number of unnecessary antibiotics and other medications being prescribed annually and the number of unnecessary medical and surgical procedures are growing at an alarming rate (each are in the millions - for more info and exact numbers please read Dr. Kent's article)! The US medical system needs a total overhaul and quickly before these numbers get even worse.

Prescription Drugs are now the #4 recorded cause of death in the US. When you read Dr. Kent's article you will see that if you include all the figures it is actually #1. I am not saying ALL prescription medicines are bad - there have been GREAT advances in medicine in the last 20 years that I am grateful for and that I have seen my friends and family greatly benefit from. The problem is in the way we tend to look at medicine in this country - as a cure-all and a fail safe - which it definitely IS NOT. Your body has a self healing system already in it - if you fall and scrape yourself does that wound stay open forever? If you get a cold or the flu are you left coughing for the rest of your life? How come our parents and grandparents didn't "NEED" medicine for everything that ailed them and they got by just fine? What about the fact that a lot of prescription drugs have side-effects that sometimes make you feel even worse than your original ailment did? What about the fact that a LOT of these drugs haven't even been researched long enough to know what the "long-term" effects are, which is causing

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