I came down with a cold the other day, and endeavored myself to go visit the local supermarket to purchase a remedy for it. There wa a whole aisle of about fivehundred different cold remedies, to alleviate symptoms of the cold. There were expectorants, decongestants, antihistamines, cough suppressants, non-drowsy formulas, everything for a cold but a cure. And I understood why, with corporate America in a rush to isolate and patent every strand of DNA out there, they are in no big rush to cure the common cold.
Now it seems to me, that in all the leaps that scientific advancement made in the last, oh, fifteen years, that someone should have been able to isolate the cold virus. They can do it for the bird flu, they can even bring back the Spanish Flu virus of 1918, but they haven't made any advances in curing a cold. They can treat the symptoms, with an array of remedies, but there is no cure. And why should they?Which do you think a pharmaceutical company will make more money on: a cure you take once, or a remedy that relieves symptoms while the virus runs it's course?
It's the same way with America's petroleum sickness. There is no cure. We can treat the symptoms with hybrid cars, but the sickness is still there. We can use mass transit systems, but as long as they run on fossil fuels, the sickness will remain. And as long as there is money to be made there will be no cure.
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Well the problem is that there are many people who point to the basic economics: money MUST be made in curing diseases or there will be no incentive for pharmaceuticals to transition from treatment to prevention. Same is true for diabetes, cancer, reflux, the whole thing. Too much to rant on in here, for sure.
But there is the side of me that also sees a consumer group that buys into the MEDICALIZATION of bad habits. Take a pill, take a pill, but little about prevention or actually changing. I know someone who is in her early twenties, taking cholesterol and blood pressure medication! Now I am not an expert on these matters, for some these are congenital maladies too-but she will be taking them, with toxic repercussions on her liver for what- fifty years maybe? People have to exhaust certain changes before the rush to drugs. People buy them because they cannot just be sick and deal! I simply never take anything for colds. I get over them fast and feel better not being doped up or crazy. The absolute minimum on pills.
The pharmacy is my friend. I take pills for cholesterol, high blood pressure, anxiety, depression,and to help me sleep. In the morning i take 13 different vitamins, before my eight mile run or walk(I alternate). My diet consists of anything I want,mostly health foods, as I don't need to worry about my cholestrol anymore, but either way I burn most of the calories during my morning and evening(muscle failure exercises)athletics. The pills allow me to stay alive,as blood pressure and Cholesterol are herreditary. The anti-anxiety pills and anti-depressants make it possible to work 40 hours a week around people I hate. They keep me from withdrawing deep inside myself, and running away from the realities I can't and don't want to handle. The sleeping pills allow me to lay next to a man I have hated for twelve years for 8 uninterupted hours. People like Tom Cruise who have perfect lives can talk me if they wish, but I thank God for these pills, or I would have quit a while ago.
Tom Cruise talks to you? What the hell are you saying?
I think you need new friends. And maybe some psychotropics.
Anonymous-
Better living through chemistry?
PSYCHOTROPICS ARE WHAT SHE IS TAKING, MAYBE SHE NEEDS TO DIVORCE HER HUSBAND AND CHANGE HER JOB.
Well, for Tom Cruise to say psychotherapy is a pseudoscience when he is a member of a pseudoreligion is one thing. Hormonal replacement for women going through post partum depression is a good idea. Cholesterol and high blood pressure can be controlled through diet and exercise. I certainly hope that you aren't taking paroxetine, from my own personal experience, it can be a dangerous thing. But it seems to me that you are running away from realities you can't handle, chemically. In that case, I'd suggest you take the advice of the second anonymous.
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