June 5, 2011: by Bill Sardi
Why does modern medicine refuse to consider the many drawbacks of statin drugs?
Posted in Dietary Supplements, Modern Medicine ; 2 Comments »
May 27, 2011: by Bill Sardi
Having written an e-book on The Collapse of Conventional Medicine about all the needless and ineffective care thrust upon naïve patients, and then having watched the public clamor for more of the same in their opposition to rationed or delayed care has been very perplexing. It’s like the masses are saying “don’t cut Medicare even if it’s killing us.”
Certainly modern medicine is impoverishing America as health care is now beyond affordability. Revelations today in The New York Times and The New England Journal of Medicine are sobering. A great portion of the financial collapse of America can be pointed towards the high cost of ineffective medicine. To make matters worse, the now common combination of unemployment and illness certainly devastates most families. Yet doctor bills keep rising.
You can read the litany of unnecessary diagnostic procedures and treatments here.
Posted in Health Care System, Modern Medicine ; 1 Comment »
May 19, 2011: by Bill Sardi
While cardiologists cast a blind eye at potential liver and muscle side effects induced by statin cholesterol-lowering drugs, natural health advocates suggest coenzyme Q10 supplementation to avoid the potential side effects of muscle degeneration (myopathy) associated with these drugs. In fact, coenzyme Q10 supplementation (100 mg/day) has been shown to reduce the severity of muscle pain among statin drug users by 40%. However, there is more to this story than C0-Q10.
For some time now it has been noted in the medical literature that the pattern of side effects associated with statin drugs resembles selenium deficiency. Statin drugs have a negative effect upon selenium proteins which does seem to explain many of the enigmatic effects of statin drugs. The underlying biochemical mechanisms for this are now well described.
Posted in Dietary Supplements, Minerals, Modern Medicine ; No Comments »
April 29, 2011: by Bill Sardi
A question arises: would American adults be better off using their out-of-pocket medical expense money to buy dietary supplements rather than drugs?
Before the dollars-and-cents of this issue is addressed, a major misdirection by American medicine needs to be confronted. The prevailing practice of modern medicine is to consider every malady a drug deficiency. Yet we know so many health problems emanate from overloads or deficiencies of essential nutrients. Examples would be: for a nutrient deficiency — mental depression from a lack of folic acid, and for nutrient excess — high cholesterol, fatty liver and arterial disease from iron overload.
So many drugs that are prescribed are inappropriate because the condition they are prescribed for has a nutritional origin. The drug never addresses the true cause of disease, it only masks its symptoms. Furthermore, the biological action of most prescription drugs can be duplicated with dietary supplements, with fewer side effects and lower cost.
There is good reason to search for alternatives to prescription drugs beyond just cost. Inappropriate prescribing is a widespread problem in modern medicine, despite the many checkpoints (doctor, nurse, pharmacist) prior to patient use. Oftentimes, “drug therapy can do more harm than good.” One recent study found 69% of elderly patients were prescribed inappropriate medications. This study did not include factoring for underlying nutritional deficiencies caused by drugs themselves.
Posted in Dietary Supplements, Health Care System, Modern Medicine ; 2 Comments »
April 18, 2011: by Bill Sardi
According to a recent government report, which pharmaceutical companies will surely use to develop counter strategies, the use of dietary supplements is at an all-time high and rising. About 50% of the American public now uses dietary supplements.
One doesn’t know whether to declare this achievement a failure in the midst of widespread nutrient deficiencies, or a meaningful sign that the doctors and patients are adopting nutrient-based therapies.
That people are taking vitamin pills is one thing, that they are taking the right doses and forms of nutrients is another. Most supplement users have been herded into taking no more than 100% of the Recommended Daily Allowance, which is the level to avoid a frank nutrient deficiency for perfectly healthy adults, not the level for optimal health. The RDA does not apply to growing children, pregnant females, smokers, diabetics, the hospitalized, or people taking many drugs, which comprises a strong percentage of supplement users.
Posted in Dietary Supplements, Modern Medicine, Vitamins ; 3 Comments »
April 11, 2011: by Bill Sardi
Over 18 years ago a study published in The New England Journal of Medicine reported that one in three Americans polled had utilized unconventional medical services in a 12-month period, paying for these services out of pocket. Strikingly, American adults who were more affluent and educated reported the highest use of alternative medicine such as acupuncture and chiropractic. Modern allopathic medicine was stunned. This rate of use was much higher than previously estimated. Modern medicine had lost a significant share of its business.
Over time, recognizing it was losing market share, modern medicine did what all threatened professions do – begin to incorporate competing practices into their armamentarium. The term “integrative medicine” came into being – the concept that alternative medicine would be incorporated into conventional medical treatment regimens. The general idea is to swallow the competition and eliminate it.
Posted in Modern Medicine ; No Comments »
March 25, 2011: by Bill Sardi
Those are the words of John Cannell MD, founder of The Vitamin D Council. What Dr. Cannell is talking about is the anticipated FDA approval of a multitude of vitamin D-like drugs (called analogs) in the next year.
Big Pharma, moving in concert with the pro-drug agency, the Food & Drug Administration, that gives Rx pills false credibility, and the Institute of Medicine that recently cemented levels of preventable disease in the American population by raising vitamin D requirements by an insignificant amount (400 IU to 600 IU), are attempting to delay multitudes of Americans from taking vitamin D pills till they become drugs. Then American medicine will embrace the idea whole heartedly at ten times the price and with myriads of side effects from man-made vitamin D-like molecules that the human body is not designed to metabolize.
Posted in Modern Medicine, Vitamins ; No Comments »
February 23, 2010: by Bill Sardi
The most recent data available shows there were 46 million inpatient and 53.3 million outpatient surgical procedures performed in the U.S. in 2006, representing about a third of the total population that lines up for operations annually, not counting dental procedures.
Often there is little effort made to avert surgery. The rush to the operating room is what is most financially rewarding for physicians. Patients facing surgery for chronic or even urgent conditions may be able to forestall or avoid surgery altogether with the judicious use of dietary supplements. Ten such conditions that warrant surgery, which may be alleviated with dietary supplements, are presented below.
Posted in Dietary Supplements, Modern Medicine ; 2 Comments »
February 1, 2010: by Bill Sardi
With all of the disinformation surrounding this year’s flu season, one might was well have spread a false rumor that the flu virus that sparked the recent worldwide flu pandemic emanated from a herd of rhinoceros’. For it turns out the so-called pandemic swine flu in circulation did not emanate from herds of swine in Mexico, as alleged, as far more Americans were stricken with illness caused by a “common cold” rhinovirus than Type A H1N1 influenza. (Rhinovirus is derived from the Greek word “rhin,” which means nose, not rhinoceros.) Swine herds actually acquired the H1N1 pandemic flu virus from humans!
Posted in Modern Medicine ; No Comments »
November 13, 2009: by Bill Sardi
Pregnant women face an unusual and stressful challenge this year. How do they really know, with all of the outright false and misleading information distributed by public health agencies, that this year’s flu shot is safe?
An online poll reveals 414 of 552 women (75%) would not undergo flu vaccination against the H1N1 pandemic flu. Yet pregnant women are considered to be in a high-risk group for flu-related mortality.
Pregnant women are chatting on internet message boards, and the following reports, if true, are a bit horrifying. Here are some from an About.com site, monitored by Krissi Danielsson. (Numbers refer to the online posting.)
Posted in Modern Medicine ; No Comments »
4
1
9
1
6
46
4
19
5
3
20
6
3
16