12 replies to this topic

[calmcookie]

Direct quote from physician and author, Andrew Weil, MD (graduate of Harvard Medical School) "I am very upset at the widespread prescribing of steroids, often for trivial conditions. These are powerful hormones that have widespread toxic effects and people are maintained on them for months or years for treatment of conditions like arthritis and asthma. They become dependant on them and the toxicity is terrible." (during interview with Dr. Varro Tyler, PhD and Purdue University Dean of Pharmacy) I have personally seen the sad results of overusing this drug and it is terribly sad ... and PREVENTABLE. Let me emphasize that I am NOT against all of modern medicine ... that would be silly. I am only saying that there are many many dangerous drugs and hospital procedures that are regularly used in this country on unsuspecting and trusting patients. There is a great deal of harm done ... steroids is only the tip of the iceberg. Best to all, C.C.

Edited by calmcookie, 11 March 2006 - 12:55 PM.

[pistol_pete]

Direct quote from physician and author, Andrew Weil, MD (graduate of Harvard Medical School)

"I am very upset at the widespread prescribing of steroids, often for trivial conditions. These are powerful hormones that have widespread toxic effects and people are maintained on them for months or years for treatment of conditions like arthritis and asthma. They become dependant on them and the toxicity is terrible." (during interview with Dr. Varro Tyler, PhD and Purdue University Dean of Pharmacy)

I have personally seen the sad results of overusing this drug and it is terribly sad ... and PREVENTABLE.

Let me emphasize that I am NOT against all of modern medicine ... that would be silly. I am only saying that there are many many dangerous drugs and hospital procedures that are regularly used in this country on unsuspecting and trusting patients. There is a great deal of harm done ... steroids is only the tip of the iceberg.

Best to all, C.C.

Yes CC, you could make a case for criminal behavior for what Big Pharma gets away with.

I agree with most of Dr. Weil's opinions...this one for sure!!

Let's look at $ for the answer (but let me state first that I am against ALL steroid use, except in extreme scenarios.....now you have to figure in different physicians definition of extreme.....)

How is it that an athlete cannot and should not take steroids to increase his/her net worth but a large corporation can sell enormous amounts of steroids ranging from prednisone to the assortment of birth contro l pills for profits. Forget all the situational arguments....just look at the money and what you come up with are massive inconsistencies which bring you back to the cliche that sums it up the best "The one with the gold makes the rules" or if you don't like that one "might is right" rather than the other way around.

[calmcookie]

Yes, the uneducated will always be more vulnerable. The rich DO rule. But, if the general population doesn't continue to wake up to what's happening, the health care crisis is going to become intolerable. It WILL affect EVERYONE ... even the wealthy. We do not exist in isolation. I wish more people could see what is happening in our health care system and how dysfunctional it has become. I don't have all the answers. I only know that a country cannot thrive when a high percentage of the population are grossly obese and / or suffering from a myriad of lifestyle related disease. The success of a nation is built on the energy and health of its people. Obesity, addictive consumption, rampant lack of physical exercise and skyrocketing consumer debt does not equal "great nation." C.C.

Edited by calmcookie, 11 March 2006 - 09:29 PM.

[maineman]

"don't criticize what you can't understand...for the times they are a-changin' ...Bob Dylan. Prednisone is a synthetic form of cortisol which is produced by your adrenal gland. Since its discovery, isolation and production patients with Myasthenia Gravis can live. Young girls with lupus no longer die. Asthmatic children can go home and go to sleep without suffocating. Patients who were previously wheelchair bound with rheumatoid arthritis can walk to school with their friends. Emergency room patients in anaphylactic shock no longer die suddenly. These are bad things? What does any of that have to do with illegal use of male adrenlazing hormones used illegally by unethical athletes? What does any of that have to do with people who eat too much and don't exercise? What is wrong with you? get your facts straight before you make false accusations. People do see what is happening with our healthcare. People live longer, lives are saved. Illness is being cured. We are very fortunate to live in such a time. I count my blessings every day. maineman

[snorkels4]

for a variety of reasons the expense ratios of health care is unsustainable.

in the beginning didnt god say "let there be light"?

alternatives are probably the key to a complicated devisive messss>>

i was just looking at this posted over at the stool:

My Webpage

Conclusion
Hydrogen peroxide is one of the few simple miracle substances still available to the public. Its safety and multiple uses ranks it right up there with DMSO. If you've never used either of these compounds you are overlooking two of the most powerful healing tools ever discovered. Most of us started on hydrogen peroxide shortly after birth. Not only does mother's milk contain high amounts of H202, the amount contained in the first milk (colostrum) is even higher. This seems only reasonable now that we know one of its main functions is to activate and stimulate the immune system. Although I am a strong supporter of H202 therapy, I am not suggesting that everyone needs to be using it. There are probably some individuals whose health and well-being would not be enhanced with hydrogen peroxide. But there are also millions of others who are suffering needlessly because they either do not know about hydrogen peroxide or they have been misinformed about its use.

Edited by snorkels4, 12 March 2006 - 02:00 PM.

[pistol_pete]

"don't criticize what you can't understand...for the times they are a-changin' ...Bob Dylan.

Prednisone is a synthetic form of cortisol which is produced by your adrenal gland. Since its discovery, isolation and production patients with Myasthenia Gravis can live. Young girls with lupus no longer die. Asthmatic children can go home and go to sleep without suffocating. Patients who were previously wheelchair bound with rheumatoid arthritis can walk to school with their friends. Emergency room patients in anaphylactic shock no longer die suddenly. These are bad things?

What does any of that have to do with illegal use of male adrenlazing hormones used illegally by unethical athletes?

What does any of that have to do with people who eat too much and don't exercise?

What is wrong with you?

get your facts straight before you make false accusations.



People do see what is happening with our healthcare. People live longer, lives are saved. Illness is being cured. We are very fortunate to live in such a time. I count my blessings every day.



maineman

Maineman, with all due respect,

What part of "extreme scenarios" do you not understand? I consider all rheumatic conditions extreme (as witnessed from a portion of my patient base). Now as to your reference of asthma and the ER anaphylactic scenario, quite different....especially the chronic asthma sufferer.

If you did not understand the comparison of illegal v.s. legal steroid use and how one can understand the driving force allowing such disparity by looking at the profit motive.....well there is not much I can say or do to make you understand. Ofcourse I believe the driving force in your profession is Big pharma (and their wickedly insane profit margins) and their enabling vehicles (The AMA and FDA among others). I'm afraid your references to the great "successes" that we are experiencing are not reflected in the statistics.....Emergency Medicine aside.

Thank you for "enlightening" me on prednisone....I have to tell you that I passed the same courses that you also studied......with honors! We will have to accept to agree to disagree and acknowledge that we are at opposite ends of the spectrum. I will continue to have a 90+% success rate in helping my chronically diseased patients (partly by weaning them off of their dangerous drug dependancy which they ultimately decide to do as they get better). I hope that you are doing the same for your patient base.

I don't want to get into a verbal fight with you especially since I like this board and don't want Mark to think that I am disrespectfull.

You are welcome to pm me and we can exchange there or better yet, come visit my clinic in N Cali. Baring that, I can probably set you up to visit a colleagues clinic in your area.

All the best,
PP


oh by the way,

I'm going to my office in about an hour (on sunday) to follow through on a patient I saw yesterday who has improved at least 50% in less than 24 hours. Was given 3 different medications last week and scheduled for likely surgery tomorow or Tues.....i can tell you that won't be happening!

PP

[SemiBizz]

Rule of thumb... try not to use anything with the -one suffix... Mostly masks symptoms and does not solve the problem.

[maineman]

Whatever...

pistol pete... you and CC must worship at the same altar. You both refer to all medicine as being ignorant, whores to big pharmaceutical companies except in the case of "emergency medicine"... whatever.

As for this current thread which is about prednisone, this costs less than a nickel a pill and can only be found in a generic form. Big pharmaceuticals?

I guess all the millions and millions of cured patients should be told they are wrong?

FInally, you mention that the "Statistics" don't jive with my statement that people are experiencing better medical care and health than ever. Would you care to share those statistics?

I've said many times here that what you do to yourself is your own business. You are free to overdose with vitamins, drink Hydrogen Peroxide or take toxins like DMSO. Its a free country.

But when anyone tries to pan that stuff off on innocent people those of us who care about the health and safety of our fellow man became outraged. And speak out.

When the scientific studies prove that a therapy works, we adapt and use it. Likewise, when the scientific evidence shows that something doesn't work, we adapt and change. Why? Because we are trying to take care of each other with the best possible evidence we have at hand.

If and when there are holes in our evidence base we tell people we don't know. We do NOT MAKE UP AN ANSWER based on something that we "feel" may be so. That is unethical.

maineman

Rule of thumb... try not to use anything with the -one suffix...

Mostly masks symptoms and does not solve the problem.

tromb one?
xyloph one?
teleph one?
gramaph one?

seriously though. When the patient is cured from multiple myeloma, what exactly have we "masked"?

[SemiBizz]

[quote name='SemiBizz' post='200089' date='Mar 12 2006, 03:14 PM']
Rule of thumb... try not to use anything with the -one suffix...

Mostly masks symptoms and does not solve the problem.


[/quote]

tromb one?
xyloph one?
teleph one?
gramaph one?

seriously though. When the patient is cured from multiple myeloma, what exactly have we "masked"? [/quote]

If you can answer that question, then maybe you can figure out why the myeloma developed in the first place...

[calmcookie]

[quote name='maineman' date='Mar 12 2006, 08:52 PM' post='200126'] Whatever...

pistol pete... you and CC must worship at the same altar. You both refer to all medicine as being ignorant, whores to big pharmaceutical companies except in the case of "emergency medicine"... whatever.

maineman


These sort of wildly false, aggressive and exhaggerated accusations are the reason I usually choose not to respond to you. Quite frankly, I find it hard to believe you're even a physician ... none that I work with would be so irrational. Please show me any post I've made that says or even vaguely implies that I refer to "all medicine as being ignorant, whores to big pharma etc" Your replies strike me as being from someone who is mentally unstable. I shall ignore them from now on.


C.C.