they have medicine for that now!?

[blood butterfly]

this is an ongoing annoyance i rant about anytime someone complains about a headache or a mild ache or pain.  when will the over-medication end?  medicine for this, pills for that, patches and sprays and lotions and injections and creams and on and on and on and on!!

i rarely take medicine for anything, i have an immune system and i happily use it, but everywhere else i go i hear whining about each little thing.
"i have a headache, i need Tylenol and ibuprofen and fever reducers and a prescription!"
"...or you could try not to stare at the computer screen and TV for eight hours at a time?"

when did the natural immune system go out of style and how much unnecessary medicine is too much?

gonna need a band-aid after i bite all those doctors >.>

[Aisha deCabre]

I don't know how this is a problem; the human immune system I think has pretty much been the same as long ago.  Except, we now have a lower death rate because of modern medicine. 

[bill]

tylenol owns, i disagree with your post

[blood butterfly]

never asked for agreement, just for thoughts on it
if you feel that taking medicine for every little ache and twinge and annoyance, go for it.  i just want to know if shelves upon shelves of medicine bottles in everyones home is necessary, or if we may possibly be getting carried away with the "ask your doctor for these medicines".  and yes, Tylenol is awesome...on the rare occasions i break down and take one or ten 

[bill]

It's not necessary, but living your life with only the things that are "necessary" is a pretty stupid idea.

[Jack McSlay]

I only take medicine when I'm sick enough so I can barely do anything.

I don't even remember the last time I took something for a simple pain relief. I'm a tough bastard... I like it better to recover on my on instead of sticking chemicals on my on body for anything

[blood butterfly]

yes, someone else that relies on their own body to do it's thing. 

i just can't understand how people fall into such a dependency for these kinds of things.  the miracle drug, the purple pill, the all-purpose patch, the once-a-day, etc.  the commercials for all the weird and possibly non-existent diseases aren't helping things, and the dozens of different brands for the same medicine baffles me too.  Everyone thinks they're sick with something at any given time and the few that really are, are just numbers to scare the rest into buying more drugs and more pills.  humanity sucks, but when did it get so weak? 

[Sufurin Scorda]

I think I read somewhere about one type of pill being useless, and that you only get better because you think you are. I think it was aspirin.

I haven't taken medicine in months. The last few things I took did more hurt than harm. I'm convinced that one of them screwed with my body a bit, but I won't say why. (If you're that curious, go ahead and PM and ask.) Can't really remember what the others were, but one was for runny noses. Oh god, squirting that shit up my nose burned like hell. I'd rather have the friggin' runny nose than have my nose "on fire" for 20 minutes.

I'm also pretty much immune to anesthetics. I need the strong stuff when I have a dentist appointment. Another reason I don't trust doctors and dentists and medicine...Hah, like I'd want to trust anyone who handles needles. *Has a needle phobia*

[Alondro]

I take what I need to survive.

I have a hiatal hernia, for which surgery is a poor option.  It gives me severe acid reflux.  I take PPI's or other acid-blockers to keep myself from getting Barret's esophagus, a precursor to esophageal cancer.

I also have anaphylaxis to mold on any food I eat (I cannot eat mushrooms either).  Letting my immune system fix that is not an issue because my immune system's over-the-top response to harmless antigens is the prolem!  So, I take Benadryl when I feel I've been exposed to mold and thus I don't risk dying in excruciating pain.

Medicine is not bad.  People just seriously over-use it in many cases.

[bill]

yes, someone else that relies on their own body to do it's thing. 

i just can't understand how people fall into such a dependency for these kinds of things.  the miracle drug, the purple pill, the all-purpose patch, the once-a-day, etc.  the commercials for all the weird and possibly non-existent diseases aren't helping things, and the dozens of different brands for the same medicine baffles me too.  Everyone thinks they're sick with something at any given time and the few that really are, are just numbers to scare the rest into buying more drugs and more pills.  humanity sucks, but when did it get so weak? 

You're acting like this is something new.

People have always been taking medicine. The difference now is that it works, thanks to standards, the scientific method, and modern chemical engineering. If I "let my body do it's thing", I'd have 20/200 vision.

[bill]

I think I read somewhere about one type of pill being useless, and that you only get better because you think you are. I think it was aspirin.

Asprin is not a placebo. Some people are resistant to it, but asprin works.

[blood butterfly]

oh, it's not that medicine is bad.  medicine is supposed to HELP with a sickness or disease...not remedy it instantly which has become the expectation today.  taking something for a headache when you're down for a week with a cold is ok...taking seven different medicines in the hopes it'll cure it all isn't.  sure, some medications help make life easier, but only to a degree.

it's not the use that annoys me, though i try to avoid drugs in general, it's the overuse and misuse that gets me a-ranting.

[Kenji]

Meh diss sin...?

[Reese Tora]

Why do so many people miss the point.  Medicine is good, it can cure a lot of what ails us, it has considerably extended the average life span of those in countries where it is affordable and available.  No one ever said otherwise.

The problem that people(myself included) see is that lots of people take medicine without it being effective.  People would rather be perscribed a pill(whether it'll do anything or not) when they visit the doctor than be told it's just a cold and they'll be over it in a week.

I agree that lots of people take drugs when they don't need them.  I don't take drugs if I can avoid it.  Only a few times in my life can I look back and say that I took something, and thsoe times were times where I was too sick to do anything other than lie on the couch, wrapped in blankets, curled up into a ball of misery and snot. (or that time I had all my wisdom teeth removed in a single surgical procedure, weee vicodin! also amoxacilin to prevent infection)

As for drugs that don't work... All drugs sold in the USA must pass clinical trials and be approved by the FDA before they can be sold.  Every drug that is sold must have a provable effect that outweighs risks of side effects.  Perhaps you are thinking of homeopathic 'cures', which fall in to the same catagory as vitamins and health supliments thanks to certain laws passed on behalf of lobyists for the health suppliment producers, and don't have to go through FDA testing.  Those have been shown time and again to have no effect beyond that of placebo... probably owing to the fact that you have a very small chance of having a single molecule of the active incredient in a homeopathic preparation. (10x means 1 part active ingredient, 10^10 parts water, 10c means 1 part active ingredient, 100^10 parts water)

[Alondro]

*Charles would say something about the incredible effectiveness of what he is working on patenting... but he ain't that stupid!*

There are industrial spies everywhere!   

[Fragmaster01]

I only take medicine when I'm sick enough so I can barely do anything.

I take that approach too. Then I learned I was allergic to the medicine in question, and then experienced new states of barely do anything.(Can't concentrate because of the headache? Trust me, can't stand up is worse)

[Rakala]

As terrible as everybody thinks it is to say, we need to let some of these people die. I mean give them a fair chance at life first, but really our planet is already overpopulating. This is causing countless other problems, but no government discusses it because there is no fair way to choose who dies. Either start mass killings or limit the number of children each couple can have or there will be too many people in just a few generations. And don't think this doesn't impact me. If there ever was a limit on the number of children a couple could have I never would have existed. I've thought about this and I've decided my existance is worth the Earth's.

[bill]

As terrible as everybody thinks it is to say, we need to let some of these people die. I mean give them a fair chance at life first, but really our planet is already overpopulating. This is causing countless other problems, but no government discusses it because there is no fair way to choose who dies. Either start mass killings or limit the number of children each couple can have or there will be too many people in just a few generations. And don't think this doesn't impact me. If there ever was a limit on the number of children a couple could have I never would have existed. I've thought about this and I've decided my existance is worth the Earth's.

ok you start, we'll watch

[bill]

seriously if you think mass killings is an acceptable solution for population growth you are really dumb

[Reese Tora]

and we know how well limiting the number of children worked for China...

[Alondro]

and we know how well limiting the number of children worked for China...

Actually, now that they've enforced it more strongly, China's growth rate has plummeted and now India is going to pass China's population in a few years!

And mass killing is perfectly acceptable once you accept socialism.  It worked for Stalin!  It's all for the greater good... 

[Sufurin Scorda]

seriously if you think mass killings is an acceptable solution for population growth you are really dumb

I think we should kill all Nascar fans. And sports fans too. They don't do anything important anyway!

Who's with me?

As terrible as everybody thinks it is to say, we need to let some of these people die. I mean give them a fair chance at life first, but really our planet is already overpopulating. This is causing countless other problems, but no government discusses it because there is no fair way to choose who dies. Either start mass killings or limit the number of children each couple can have or there will be too many people in just a few generations. And don't think this doesn't impact me. If there ever was a limit on the number of children a couple could have I never would have existed. I've thought about this and I've decided my existance is worth the Earth's.

I can't help but agree. But then again, I think that people who need surgery to survive or need it for some other dumb reason (*Cough*Juliana Wetmore*Cough*) need to...well...be put down. Especially if they're just being used for attention on the internet.

And killin' drunks and criminals wouldn't hurt either. But that's just my opinion. (But my opinion will always be better than Bill's.)

[RobbieThe1st]

First off, about the over-medication of people, I completely agree. Honestly, I can say I haven't taken a single Aspirin, Tylenol or any other stupid pain-relief stuff. The only drug I have had to take in my life were some Lidocaine, when I was getting some teeth pulled.
Other than that, the only other things that I have used that could *possibly* fit in with drugs/medicines would be some clove oil, which I used for a while the day before I needed to get my teeth pulled(Cracked tooth + tiny stone in a carrot = PAIN), and some more or less natural Burt's Bees lip balm(When I was on vacation, I really needed it, and it actually worked very well).
Not that I haven't gotten myself hurt quite a bit. I guess I have a relatively high pain threshold.

FDA wise, I wouldn't blindly trust them - There have been plenty of cases where a big company has gotten a product passed by them, which later turns out to be dangerous.

Homeopathic medicine wise, its true that some stuff doesn't work, because the quantity of active ingredient is way too small - But that argument can also be used on drugs and conventional medicines, when either the active ingredient isn't in a easily/at all digestible form, or the pill simply doesn't dissolve in your gut, meaning you get absolutely no value from it.

Heck, you also have to be careful with vitamins, as a lot of them are chemically produced and therefor have half right-hand and half left-handed molecules, and your body can only digest right-handed ones, which means that you are only getting half the value out of it, if the left-handed ones don't cause other problems.

I figure that, with *any* medicine, drug, or vitamin, you have to actually read whats in it, in quantity, and look it up online. You should be able to figure out if it will help you, harm you, or what.


-RobbieThe1st

[Reese Tora]

FDA wise, I wouldn't blindly trust them - There have been plenty of cases where a big company has gotten a product passed by them, which later turns out to be dangerous.

Trust to find side effects, no.  Trust to require the stated effect to exist, yes.  If, perhaps, the mass production method used after approval negates the effects, that's out of the scope of approval.

Homeopathic medicine wise, its true that some stuff doesn't work, because the quantity of active ingredient is way too small - But that argument can also be used on drugs and conventional medicines, when either the active ingredient isn't in a easily/at all digestible form, or the pill simply doesn't dissolve in your gut, meaning you get absolutely no value from it.

Well... if it isn't dilute, it's not homeopathic.  The basic premise of Homeopathy is that small amounts of what causes symptoms in a healthy subject will cure said symptoms in a sick subject.  As such, Homeopathy believes that the more dilute a preparation, the more potent it is.  Basic practice is to dilute the substance in 10 parts water to create a 1x solution, repeat nine more times for a 10x solution, and twenty more for a total of 30 for a 30x solution.  This can even be repeated a total of 100 times to create a 100x solution.
(note, there's also 1c 10c 100c, etc... in this version, it's diluted in 1 part per 100 instead of 1 part per 10)  Oh, and multiple active ingredients are diluted seperately, so become more dilute when mixed

As such, that means a 10x solution is one part active ingredient to 10^10 parts water.  That's 1:10,000,000,000.  you're more likely to find preparations with 30x or 100x.  There's less than one molecule of "active" ingredient per cc of solution(if it can be called a solution at that point) at 30x.

Of course, the secret to Homeopathy is that when you mix a dilution, you have to shake it just so. (Three shakes back and forth, three shakes side to side, I swear I'm not making this up.)

[Alondro]

Aspririn is kinda homeopathic.  It's the same active ingredient found in willow bark, and is chemically related to methyl salicylate found in wintergreen.   

I'm allergic to it.  I will die if I take it.     I take Tylenol once in a great while if I have a headache that is excessive or if I have a fever to help lower it and deal with over-inflammation.

But then, being in the biomed field, I know everything about medication so I know what is and isn't good to do.   

[bill]

I'm allergic to it.  I will die if I take it.    

this is very useful information

[Alondro]

I'm allergic to it.  I will die if I take it.    

this is very useful information

I will also die if I take Dristan, Penicillin, or eat mushrooms/molds.

Also, I will die if dropped from a plane onto large pointy spikes.   

[LionHeart]

I think that last one is a fairly common reaction.

[Zorro]

Omeprazole 20 mg.

Back before this drug you used to see LOTS of people over 35 that could eat little more than milk and toast due to SEVERE heartburn.  These people couldn't even really tolerate much salt or black pepper.

Now we have a cheap and effective drug that makes the bad old days History.

I pick this pill over an extreme limited diet.

[Alondro]

Wurd.

GERD is suxxorz.

Waking up in the middle of the night gagging on the sea of acid belching up into your esophagus, which you then inhale into your lungs where it burns and leaves you hacking and gasping.

Give me da drugs!