How Can You Avoid the HYPE from Big Pharma (and Even U.S. Gov.)? Drugs They Push! How to Get the Facts!
by www.SixWise.com
You see them while leafing through your favorite magazine. They make regular appearances while you’re curled up on your couch watching TV or surfing the Web, or pop up in billboards while you’re driving to work.
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Big Pharma spent over $4 billion on direct-to-consumer drug ads in 2008!
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“They” are drug advertisements, and they have not-so-slowly infiltrated many facets of our daily lives.
This carefully orchestrated plan by the pharmaceutical companies to make their top prescription drugs household words does not come cheap. In 2008, $4.3 billion was spent on direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) for prescription drug, including massive amounts for these five drugs that earned the spots for most advertising dollars spent (in 2008) … see how many you recognize (and may even remember their commercials):
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Advair: $173 million
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Plavix: $170 million
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Cymbalta: $157 million
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Ambien: $155 million
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Abilify: $152 million
York University researchers even estimated that the U.S. drug industry spends nearly twice as much on promotion each year as it does on research and development! This massive spending on DTCA advertising is legal in only two countries (the United States and New Zealand) where it continues, of course, because it works.
Disease-Mongering, Anyone?
While you’re sitting in your living room minding your own business, you hear a specially targeted commercial and suddenly you’re wondering if Ambien could help you get some sleep or Abilify could give your mood a boost. Or maybe you need Plavix to help your heart.
This quick suggestion is enough to put the bug in many an ear, leading people to believe they may have a need for the drug on TV. This practice of “disease-mongering,” or promoting diseases that require a drug to be “fixed,” has been denounced by many, including Marcia Angell, who wrote in The New York Review of Books:
“In recent years, drug companies have perfected a new and highly effective method to expand their markets. Instead of promoting drugs to treat diseases, they have begun to promote diseases to fit their drugs.
The strategy is to convince as many people as possible (along with their doctors, of course) that they have medical conditions that require long-term drug treatment.
To promote new or exaggerated conditions, companies give them serious-sounding names along with abbreviations. Thus, heartburn is now "gastro-esophageal reflux disease" or GERD; impotence is "erectile dysfunction" or ED; premenstrual tension is "premenstrual dysphoric disorder" or PMMD; and shyness is "social anxiety disorder" (no abbreviation yet).
Note that these are ill-defined chronic conditions that affect essentially normal people, so the market is huge and easily expanded.
It seems that the strategy of the drug marketers—and it has been remarkably successful—is to convince Americans that there are only two kinds of people: those with medical conditions that require drug treatment and those who don't know it yet.”
Many people go in to their doctor’s offices asking specifically about conditions they’ve heard advertised by drug companies (restless legs syndrome, etc.), along with the drugs touted as the solution.
The problem is that these ads paint a very rosy picture … a picture that often extends right on through the side effects. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires that if a drug ad mentions a drug’s benefits, it also must disclose the risks.
However, the drug companies often cover up the side effects with bright, positive imagery, happy people and calming, romantic music.
In this Ambien commercial, notice how the soothing music and the smiling woman completely distract you from the long list of serious side effects?
Pay Attention to the Disclaimers …
For every prescription drug, there is a risk of side effects. Listen to the disclaimers at the end of this Cymbalta commercial, for instance …
Even the U.S. government has gotten involved in the ads. Check out this H1N1 vaccine commercial from the Boston Public Health Commission:
As written by SourceWatch, these ads often play to your emotions, making you forget that taking a prescription drug carries side effects:
“Critics of DTCA argue that the industry's advertising is primarily emotional in style and understates the adverse side-effects and as such is misleading. The imagery of the ads is appealing while the potentially serious side effects are buried in the fine-print. They also argue that the claimed health benefits are overstated.
Surveys reveal that people who have seen DTCA ads will often request and be prescribed the drug. DTCA campaigns will usually aim to have pre-primed doctors via a parallel promotional campaign. Critics argue that this results in over-diagnosis of a condition and the inappropriate use of prescription drugs, even where non-drug treatments are as or more effective.
As a result, DTCA unnecessarily drives up the overall cost of healthcare without necessarily improving the health of those treated.”
Remember, there are alternatives to drugs for many health complaints that they aren’t telling you about and they don’t want you to know … alternatives that are often safer and less expensive.
Your Best Natural Health Options
If you’d like to live a healthy, natural lifestyle, and avoid adverse drug reactions (one of the leading causes of death!), there are many options available.
Here we’ve listed some of the best natural health options to keep you and your family drug-free and well.
Trouble Sleeping?
Give yourself time to get ready for bed slowly. Savor the moments of winding down as you wash your face, brush your teeth, and change into your pjs. You can use aroma oils, soft music or if spirituality is important to you, a prayer.
Be sure you keep your bedroom cool, quiet, and dark. (Usually a cool room promotes sleep, but you will have difficulty sleeping if you feel cold, so experiment. If your feet are cold in winter, warm them up before bed!)
Next, stretch a bit before you lie down. You can literally stretch out some of the "kinks" and tension of the day. Stretching makes some people more energetic and some more sleepy, so experiment and find out what works for you.
Once you are in bed, listen to relaxing music or the Sleep Easy CD to help you "shift gears" and relax into sleep. With guided sleep meditations by a leading meditation expert, Mary Maddux, and music by a renowned meditation music composer with 20 years experience, this CD will help you find deep rest and sleep … at an incredible price.
Sinus Congestion?
If you’re experiencing cold, sinusitis, allergies or any other ailment that’s leading to sinus congestion, headaches, and sinus pressure, get plenty of rest and drink plenty of fluids. Applying warm packs to your face can help relieve pain, and be sure you don't bend over with your head down, as this can increase pain.
Inhaling steam from a kettle or pot of boiling water (being careful not to get burned) or using a humidifier can also provide relief.
However, one of the best options for sinus relief has been around since ancient times and still holds true as one of the most effective, safe, and soothing options for sinus health.
Nasal cleansing, also known as nasal irrigation, involves using a neti pot to pour a lukewarm saline solution (pure water mixed with natural salt) inside one side of your nostril while tilting your head sideways so the water runs out of your other nostril.
Sixwise.com highly recommends Ancient Secrets Nasal Cleansing Pot for simple and effective nasal cleansing. It is made from sturdy, lead-free ceramic and coated with a food-grade sealant. Its unique design also makes it very easy and effective to use, plus it’s dishwasher safe.
Ancient Secrets Neti Pot has a truly advanced design with easy-grip handle and better nozzle seal. It’s also balanced for ease of use with a concave grip for more assured control, and a better water chamber for less mess and easier cleaning.
Ancient Secrets Neti Pot is also available in a plastic travel model crafted from sturdy food-grade HDPE lead-free plastic. We highly recommend using the ceramic Neti pot at home and taking the plastic version along with you when you travel.
Right now, for a very limited time, we’re able to offer Ancient Secrets Neti Pot and Cleansing Salts at a reduced price for you and your family.
Weight Loss?
Losing weight is really more about simple mathematics than it is about taking a potentially dangerous diet pill. Eat more calories than your body burns off, and you'll start to gain weight. The equation is really just that simple: Too many calories + not enough activity = excess pounds.
But please don’t even think about starving yourself. The key is to eat until you’re full, and focus on getting full by eating healthy foods. You can typically eat as many healthy foods as you want, until you feel full, and still lose weight.
For tips, check out the easy recipes in the book “Alive in 5”: Raw Gourmet Meals in Five Minutes. They’ll help you lose weight while enjoying delicious creations like pina colada smoothies, lasagna, stuffed mushrooms and cream of zucchini soup.
No weight loss program is complete without an exercise component, of course, but most people think this means becoming a slave to the treadmill or elliptical machine. While aerobic activity is certainly important for weight loss, it is not the only exercise component you need to focus on.
The greater your muscle tone, the more calories you burn -- even when you're at rest. So some type of weight training should be a non-negotiable part of your workout routine.
Further, because your body and mind are so closely linked, a weight loss program that only focuses on your physical being will miss out on the incredibly important mental and emotional aspects of health.
This is why you will also want to include a form of physical activity that addresses your mind-body connection, and we are extremely excited to introduce for you a one-of-a-kind fitness program from MySheaNetics.com, which is an ideal addition to your weight loss journey.
The program is unlike any other fitness program in that it offers a source of strength and inspiration to support your health journey.
SheaNetics from MySheaNetics.com promotes a “lifestyle” that leads to positive changes that are lasting … Because what do most people do after dieting and losing weight? They gain it back … Why? Because the diet is a short-term substitution for what your mind has to embrace as a new and healthy lifestyle.
As you get into better condition, physically and mentally, you will become more in tune with your body’s desire to feel good. This means you’ll start craving healthier choices and rejecting unhealthy processed foods that drain you of energy.
We encourage you to check out MySheaNetics.com new 6-Disc DVD/CD workout set to get started on your pathway to weight loss and total well-being!
Immune System Health?
Your key defense against viruses like colds and flu is your immune system -- and 70 percent of your immune system is located in your digestive system. This means that if your gut is overrun with bad bacteria, there’s a good chance your immune system will not be functioning at its best.
You can help fortify your gut and immune system health with AbsorbAid Probiotic from NutritionsFinest.com -- a superlative probiotic supplement that provides clinical activities supporting systemic health and wellness through immune-system protection, allergy reduction and effective and enhanced nutrient absorption.
With 30 billion organisms per capsule, AbsorbAid Probiotic is one of the most potent and cost-effective probiotics on the market today.
Studies have shown that probiotics may be helpful with:
Heavy Metal Toxicity?
Over the past 50 years human exposure to heavy metal toxins has risen dramatically. Each day we are exposed to some kind of heavy metal toxin whether it is the air, the water we drink or the food we eat.
Chronic exposure to these dangerous toxins come from the mercury-amalgam fillings we get from our dental visits, lead in paint and tap water, chemical residues found in processed foods and toxins in personal care products, among others.
Certain professions are also at higher risk for mercury exposure including anyone in the dental occupation, laboratory workers, hairdressers, painters, printers, welders, metalworkers, cosmetic workers, battery makers, engravers, photographers, visual artists and potters.
While some people have the ability to excrete these toxins out of their system, others, particularly those suffering from chronic conditions, are not so lucky and develop a build-up of metals called heavy metal toxicity. Further, heavy metals can accumulate in your body over time, causing symptoms you might not equate with heavy metals.
Chronic exposure to heavy metals can be easily confused with symptoms of different illnesses. Some of the symptoms are impaired cognitive, motor, and language skills, learning difficulties, nervousness and emotional instability, insomnia and nausea.
In fact, because toxic metals block the absorption and utilization of essential minerals, this in itself can set up a whole cascade of symptoms that gradually get worse over time.
There are many ways of removing toxic metals from your body, but most of them involve expensive treatments where a doctor has to inject drugs or vitamins intravenously into your body via a drip. A lot of these drugs will also strip the good minerals from your body, something that is not recommended.
A simpler way is to take a few drops of a natural tincture a few times per day -- it simply goes into water or some juice. This is the beauty of using HMD™ from DrHMD.com.
If you suspect heavy metals have already accumulated in your body from silver dental fillings, contaminated seafood and other foods, cosmetics, pollution, contaminated water and other sources it would be wise to disarm this potential “time-bomb” now before it potentially causes serious illness or death.
At Sixwise we highly recommend that you use HMD™ (Heavy Metal Detox), a natural oral formula that helps to effectively eliminate heavy metals from your body, without any side effects.
HMD™ is actually the ONLY chelator that has undergone a $1 million, three-year double-blind placebo-controlled research trials with several hundred people! During these three years over 25 different natural products and combinations were tried but the synergistic components of HMD™ were the only ones that worked for all metals tested. It presently has a worldwide patent-pending.
Healthy Diet!
Eating a healthy diet focused on fresh, not processed, foods, without a lot of refined sugars is one of the best ways to stay healthy across the board.
As you start adding more fruits and veggies to your diet, you can help maximize nutrient absorption from these nutrient-rich foods using the plant-based enzyme supplement, AbsorbAid Platinum from NutritionsFinest.com.
This vegetable-based digestive enzyme system combines its effective ratio of proteases, amylases, lipases and cellulases with two "acid-tolerant" bacteria or a probiotic combination, Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidobacterium bifidum, to help break down all food groups and maximize nutrient absorption from the food you eat.
Recommended Reading
Secret Health Risks They Aren’t Telling You About: Antibiotics and Vaccines
Adverse Drug Reactions On the Rise: What You Can Do to Shield Yourself from the Dangers of ADRs
Sources
The New York Review of Books January 15, 2009 Volume 56, Number 1
SourceWatch.org
USAToday.com August 10, 2009
ScienceDaily.com January 7, 2008
USAToday.com November 12, 2009