One of the things that I repeatedly state in providing guidelines for healthy living is to take medical drugs only if essential. Although in recent years there has been considerable adverse publicity associated with certain pharmaceutic drugs there is still the strong perception that medical drugs are ok and will help. While it is acknowledged that medical drugs have been important for helping to relieve the suffering of many millions it is also the case that excessive use of medicinal drugs (obtained either on prescription or over the counter at a pharmacists or supermarket), can lead to serious physical ill-health. It is important to avoid taking drugs unless there is a defined medical problem. If you are currently taking medication do not cease to take it without talking to your medical practitioner as the sudden cessation of medication can have a serious effect on your body.

What are the problems associated with medical drugs?

When the government agencies and medical practitioner allow and prescribe medication we assume that they have fully checked it out and that it will be safe (although these days we tend to accept that there will be some side affects associated with most drugs) - they do after all conduct clinical trials! Unfortunately even though pharmaceutical companies conduct clinical trial to test new drugs the trials have a number of shortcomings. These include the following:

?The trials are short term which means that some of the long term effects are not know until some time after the drug is released for widespread use. For example the long term effect of diethylstilbestrol - given to prevent threatened miscarriages. The daughters of these women are developing vaginal cancers when they are in their twenties.

?There have been many accusations of drug companies using experimental and statistical methods that will show their drugs in a good light and not necessarily show the problems experienced by people who have taken the drug. This was the case with antidepressants. The methods used only counted those who completed the trail and not those who withdrew from the trail. This research method meant that people who started the drug but stopped - for whatever reason were not counted when the results were reported. The reasons for people not completing the trail were not recorded - but the reason could have been that they didn't like how they felt on the drug and didn't like what it was doing to them.

The imperfect testing process has lead to many disasters including the following:

?Thalidomide - given as a sedative to pregnant women and this causing limb malformation in the foetus. These offspring are know adults and are themselves having babies with limb deformations (This means that the damage wasn't limited to one generation but it altered the DNA structure.)

?Diethylstilbestrol - given to prevent threatened miscarriages. The daughters of these women are developing vaginal cancers when they are in their twenties. Diethylstilbestrol has in more recent times been used as a morning after pill!

?More recently statins used for lowering cholesterol are associated with many health problems.

?Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs often used for arthritis and other inflammatory conditions are also causing many health problems.

?Antidepressants causing increased depression and suicide, particularly in adolescents.

This list doesn't include the drugs that cause serious liver, kidney, nerve, bone and other organ damage. This damage is often irreparable.

There are also problems associated with the process of drug approvals and how the drug companies promote their drugs. These problems stem from the fact that pharmaceutical medications are big business. This means that money can be used to lobby government agencies, advertise heavily, send drug company representatives to ?encourage? medical practitioners into supporting and prescribing a particular drug and to pay lawyers if something goes wrong with a drug - its all just business! Contrary to the image of being our friends and promoting wellness that the drug companies would like to portray.

One of the biggest problems with pharmaceutical drugs is that we don't really know how many of the chemical work in the body - and they don't take into account the effect the drugs will have on vitamins and minerals. These impacts are widespread and can lead to many, many more health problems. For example, let's look at the depletion of vitamins and mineral associated with commonly used antibiotics.

Antibiotics

Antibiotics used for general bacterial infections. This includes gentamicin and drugs with the 'mycin' suffix, cephalosporins, macrolides, sulfonamides, fluoroquinoiones. These all deplete the B group vitamins. Deficiencies in these vitamins leads to heart disease, depression, fatigue, cataracts and impaired immune system. They also deplete vitamin K. A deficiency in this vitamin can lead to easy bruising, osteoporosis and excessive menstrual bleeding

Antibiotics used for bacterial infections and teenage acne includes tetracyclines. These antibiotics are often given long term and deplete vitamin B6 which can lead to depression, anemia, glucose intolerance and impaired immune and nerve function. It can also deplete calcium, iron, zinc and magnesium. A deptetion of these minerals can lead to a number of problems including osteoporosis, tooth decay, high blood pressure, anemia, excessive menstrual bleeding, learning difficulties, general fatigue, behavioral disturbances, alcohol abuse, inflammatory bowel disease, prostate problems, skin disease, increase susceptibility to heart disease, high blood pressure and kidney stones

You can see that the effects can be very widespread - affecting all areas of the body.

Although there have been benefits to millions with the use of pharmaceutical drugs it needs to be remembered that they are far from harmless. They can be deadly even in the doses that are recommended. It is important to avoid taking drugs unless there is a defined medical problem. There are ways that you can improve you health and well being so that the need for pharmaceutical medication will decrease. However, if you are currently taking medication do not cease to take it without talking to your medical practitioner as the sudden cessation of medication can also have a serious effect on your body. You can find out about vitamins and minerals at healthy-vitamin-choice.com and herbs at herb-health-guide.com. Subscribe to our newsletter for more valuable information on how you can improve your health.