NaturalPedia > Key Health Concepts > Prescription Drugs

Quotes about Prescription Drugs from the world's top natural health / natural living authors

 Email this page to a friend   |  Click here for FREE email alerts

page 1 of 16 | Next ->

"On network television, the plots of prime-time shows revolve around brand name prescription drugs, at times at the suggestion of marketers at a pharmaceutical company. The medicine promoters have turned what were once normal life events—menopause, despair from a divorce, anxiety caused by a workaholic boss—into maladies that can be treated with a pill. After all, when patients are customers and medicines are commodities, the industry thrives when people are ill—or believe they are. The companies have found the United States, with its consumer-driven culture, a perfect medicine market." - Melody Petersen, Our Daily Meds: How the Pharmaceutical Companies Transformed Themselves into Slick Marketing Machines and Hooked the Nation on Prescription Drugs (Get the book.) "The promotion of prescription drugs in churches and in spiritual publications gave the pills a kind of holy endorsement from above. One of my mother's friends gave me a copy of Guideposts published in the summer of 2005. Tucked among stories about "finding hope in tough times" and "a young girl's moment of truth" was a four-page spread advertising the heartburn drug called Nexium, including an offer for a free seven-day supply. "The healing purple pill," the ad proclaimed, "has some very healing news." - Melody Petersen, Our Daily Meds: How the Pharmaceutical Companies Transformed Themselves into Slick Marketing Machines and Hooked the Nation on Prescription Drugs (Get the book.)

"Consider that the amount spent to advertise prescription drugs directly to consumers (called DTC) in 1980 was $2 million. In 2004, it was $4.35 billion and soaring. Twenty-five years ago, as this book will demonstrate, most drug company executives believed that DTC advertising not only wouldn't be good for business, but also, in the words of one pharma CEO, would be "one of the worst things that could happen to the doctor-patient relationship." Today, reality suggests that they were wrong about the business angle; DTC has been a gold mine." - Greg Critser, Generation Rx: How prescription drugs are Altering American Lives, Minds, and Bodies (Get the book.)

"Table 2.4.5U, but this amount does not include drugs used in hospitals and other such facilities. 5 Americans spend more on medicines than do all the people of Japan: According to statistics from IMS Health's "Retail Drug Monitor: 12 months to Feb. 2005." Available at imshealth.com. 5 65 percent of the nation now takes: "Outpatient Prescription Drug Expenses in the U.S. Community Population, 2003," Medical Expenditure Panel Survey Chartbook No. 16. Available at meps.ahrq.gov. 5 build their laboratories on . . ." - Melody Petersen, Our Daily Meds: How the Pharmaceutical Companies Transformed Themselves into Slick Marketing Machines and Hooked the Nation on Prescription Drugs (Get the book.) "See IMS National Sales Perspectives, Jan. 2006. Gross domestic product in 2005 in U.S. dollars for Argentina ($172.1 billion) and Peru ($72.9 billion) is from World Economic Outlook Database, Apr. 2005. Accessed from International Monetary Fund website (imf.org) in Apr. 2006. Year 2004 consumer spending figures are from U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of Economic Analysis "Table 2.4.5U. Personal Consumption Expenditures by Type of Product." In 2004, Americans spent $227.2 billion on gasoline and other motor fuel, $200 billion on "meals at limited service eating places," $ 117." - Melody Petersen, Our Daily Meds: How the Pharmaceutical Companies Transformed Themselves into Slick Marketing Machines and Hooked the Nation on Prescription Drugs (Get the book.)

"National spending on prescription drugs, mainly via the Medicare law, will cost us trillions over the next decade; closer to home, pills are becoming the defining medical issue, perhaps more important than a doctor's visit or your next CAT scan. Their cost can break a senior's retirement fund — or send him running to the border for relief, not something most of our parents ever envisioned as part of their golden years. Lastly comes government, for with the rise of pharmaceutical financial power has come a rise in its political clout. Its main tools are money, media power, and lobbying." - Greg Critser, Generation Rx: How prescription drugs are Altering American Lives, Minds, and Bodies (Get the book.)

"Avoid taking nonprescription drugs while taking prescription drugs for a medical problem. • Before your doctor prescribes for you, tell him about your previous experiences with any drug—beneficial results, side effects, adverse reactions or allergies. • Take medicine in good light after you have identified it. If you wear glasses to read, put them on to check drug labels. It is easy to take the wrong drug at the wrong time. • Don't keep any drugs that change mood, alertness or judgment—such as sedatives, narcotics or tranquilizers—by your bedside. These can cause accidental deaths." - H. Winter Griffith, M.D., Complete Guide to Prescription and Nonprescription Drugs 2005 (Get the book.)

"Unlike potions and lotions for one's skin and hair, they are not products that we "decide" we want. prescription drugs are products that highly educated people, whom we trust with our money and our lives, tell us that we need in order to survive or to avoid undue risk to our health. Over the past decade the use of these drugs, almost all for chronic diseases, has soared. The average number of prescriptions per person, annually, in 1993 was seven. The average number of prescriptions per person, annually, in 2000 was eleven. In 2004, it was twelve." - Greg Critser, Generation Rx: How prescription drugs are Altering American Lives, Minds, and Bodies (Get the book.)

"Accordingly, anyone who says that a natural and harmless herb or food does the same or even better, violates the law and risks prosecution. That prescription drugs like Vioxx have killed and injured hundreds of thousands of people does not seem to encourage these agencies to go out and warn the masses to think twice about taking prescription drugs. This would give the nearly one million people who die each year from the devastating side effects caused by prescription drugs a chance to save their lives." - Andreas Moritz, Cancer Is Not A Disease - It's A Survival Mechanism (Get the book.)

"The organization's two most helpful tools on this count are its annual guide, "Worst Pills," available for purchase via its own site (www.worstpills.org), and, at the same site for free, its "Ten Rules for Safer Drug Use." The "Ten Rules" page offers free access to an outstanding, simple worksheet that will help the average patient or patient advocate organize drug prescription information before a doctor appointment." - Greg Critser, Generation Rx: How prescription drugs are Altering American Lives, Minds, and Bodies (Get the book.)

"Unlike the traditional NSAIDs, which came in over-the-counter strengths, these were all prescription drugs. Yet despite the fact that they required a prescription and cost far more than the traditional NSAIDs, the COX-2 inhibitors contributed to a dramatic increase in NSAID use. Arthritis sufferers were eager to try medications that could ease joint pain and inflammation without causing gastrointestinal upset and other side effects associated with earlier NSAIDs. But as most people know, while COX-2 inhibitors may not pose a threat to the stomach, they are not without side effects." - Carol Simontacchi, Natural Alternatives to Vioxx, Celebrex and other Anti-Inflammatory Prescription Drugs (Get the book.)

"Although these drugs may be safe when taken alone, interactions between these medicines and other nonprescription or prescription drugs, when taken together, may produce undesirable or unsafe results. So, for your own safety, you should study the information in this book with regard to the ingredients of each brand-name cough or cold medicine you are taking. Follow these steps to learn about the safety of your drug: 1. Determine the brand name of your drug. 2. Look on the label for the generic ingredients that are used in your brand of medicine. 3." - H. Winter Griffith, M.D., Complete Guide to Prescription and Nonprescription Drugs 2005 (Get the book.) "No Drug class: Narcotic Treatment for dependence on narcotic (opioid) painkillers including prescription drugs and illicit drugs such as heroin. Should be used in conjunction with an addiction treatment program that involves counseling and/or behavioral therapy. Only certain qualified doctors are able to start in-office treatment and provide prescriptions for ongoing medication. Subutex (buprenorphine only) is used in the first few days of treatment. Suboxone (buprenorphine plus naloxone) is then used for the maintenance phase of treatment." - H. Winter Griffith, M.D., Complete Guide to Prescription and Nonprescription Drugs 2005 (Get the book.) "They do not appear on prescription drugs. Your pharmacist can tell you all active and inert ingredients in a prescription drug. Occasionally, a tablet, capsule or liquid may contain small amounts of sodium, sugar or potassium. If you are on a diet that severely restricts any of these, ask your pharmacist or doctor to suggest another form. Some liquid medications contain alcohol. Avoid them if you are susceptible to the adverse effects of alcohol consumption. BASIC INFORMATION-3—Habit Forming A drug habit can be physical or psychological. Either leads to drug dependence." - H. Winter Griffith, M.D., Complete Guide to Prescription and Nonprescription Drugs 2005 (Get the book.)

"He is well versed in and has access to the latest nutritional supplements, prescription drugs, and various wellness strategies that are available. When Larry uncovered his own case of type 2 diabetes in June 2005, he already knew a great deal about the dangers of glycation and glycotoxins and immediately adjusted his diet to minimize their damaging effects. In fact, he and his wife both dedicated themselves to "cleaning up" their eating habits by switching to poaching and steaming instead of grilling and frying and limiting their consumption of high-protein and high-fat foods. " - Steven V. Joyal, What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Diabetes: An Innovative Program to Prevent, Treat, and Beat This Controllable Disease (Get the book.)

"Research has shown that these fatty acids heal peptic ulcers nearly as well as prescription drugs. If you take Coumadin and wish to take fish oil, discuss the situation with your doctor, who can monitor your clotting status and readjust your medication if necessary. Having said that fish oil is not unsafe, there are certain situations in which you want to be a good clotter. For instance, if you have surgery coming up, stop the fish oil because of the potential for thinning the blood." - Stephen Sinatra, M.D. and James C., M.D. Roberts, Reverse Heart Disease Now: Stop Deadly Cardiovascular Plaque Before It's Too Late (Get the book.)

"But in recent years, teenagers have started abusing a record number of substances: cigarettes, alcohol, illegal and prescription drugs. Some teenagers abuse substances to help them cope with sadness or the impossible stress of their lives, or to compensate for low self-esteem. Some do it to keep their weight down, or to get attention, or to appear more mature. Whatever their initial motivations, teenagers can suffer for many years as a result of these destructive behaviors. Kids are naturally curious about trying new things, and they're also extremely susceptible to peer pressure." - Deirdre Imus, Growing Up Green: Baby and Child Care: Volume 2 in the Bestselling Green This! Series (Green This!) (Get the book.)

"You also may need to take supplements or even (rarely) prescription drugs, but no amount of supplements or prescription drugs can offer maximal protection unless you also adopt a high-nutrient-density diet. Maximal protection only can be achieved if optimal cholesterol levels exist in conjunction with a cardio-protective diet. Simply getting cholesterol levels in the ideal range with drugs or supplements is not the same thing because without the benefits of a high-nutrient diet, you still will be at significant risk." - Dr. Joel Fuhrman, Cholesterol Protection for Life, New Expanded Edition (Get the book.)

"Please note: in addition to insulin resistance, elevated insulin levels can indicate acromegaly, Cushing's syndrome, insulinoma, or fructose or galactose intolerance, or they may be the result of the use of prescription drugs such as levodopa, oral contraceptives, corticosteroids.) If your blood sugar levels have been high for some time and your insulin levels that were initially high are now decreasing, this suggests that your beta cells are becoming less responsive to glucose, and you are at risk for developing beta-cell "burnout" and diabetes." - Steven V. Joyal, What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Diabetes: An Innovative Program to Prevent, Treat, and Beat This Controllable Disease (Get the book.)

"And if all that wasn't enough, Helen was even able to reduce her dependence on some of her prescription drugs, particularly nitroglycerin! Obviously, advancing age is no longer a reason to throw in the towel, as you'll hear in the next case. Mary Anne tells the story of her grandmother, Jane. Jane is a young ninety-seven-year-old mother of four, who adores her seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. She's a retired kindergarten teacher, book reviewer, floral designer, and homemaker who's been active in her church her entire life." - Stephen T. Sinatra, M.D., The Sinatra Solution Metabolic Cardiology (Get the book.)

"But if you don't have hypothyroidism or prescription drugs to blame, then your metabolic rate is in the normal range and you need to gain control over your eating habits in order to lose weight. If you can't quite accept the idea that you can't blame metabolism, look at the latest research showing that high-strung people stay thin not because of metabolism, but simply because they fidget more and move around more than you do and therefore burn more calories." - Roger Gould, Shrink Yourself: Break Free from Emotional Eating Forever (Get the book.)

"In the chapters that follow, I will suggest de-emphasizing treatment with prescription drugs in favor of nonpharmacological interventions (mental, social, physical, and spiritual activities) that engage the whole aging person rather than treating their aging brain. I will advocate for public-health prevention measures that can treat the causes of brain aging and not merely its effects, as our current approach does." - Peter J. Whitehouse and Daniel George, The Myth of Alzheimer's: What You Aren't Being Told About Today's Most Dreaded Diagnosis (Get the book.)

"MANY DEPRESSING DRUGS THERE ARE A SEEMINGLY endless number of prescription drugs, psychiatric and nonpsychiatric, that have been reported to cause depression. Doctors who work with the elderly are especially aware of this hazard. A 2004 report in American Family Physician reviews more than sixty drugs in multiple categories that cause depression.10 It lists almost all the groups of drugs that we'll examine in Medication Madness, including antipsychotic drugs, stimulants, sedatives and antianxiety drugs, and anticonvulsants." - Peter Breggin, Medication Madness: A Psychiatrist Exposes the Dangers of Mood-Altering Medications (Get the book.)

"Although that is considered a small effect on its own, it represents ten times the effect size for most prescription drugs, such as the beta-blocker propanolol, that are recognized as extremely effective. A different type of analysis of all the best studies of time displacement was carried out in 1996 by Dick Bierman, also an experimental physicist at the University of Utrecht. In statistics, the best way to judge an effect is to work out how much it deviates from the mean, or average." - Lynne McTaggart, The Intention Experiment: Using Your Thoughts to Change Your Life and the World (Get the book.)

"If taking prescription drugs or MAO inhibitors, consult with your doctor before using Increase daily dose from 300 mg to 400 mg. Do not exceed a daily supplement of 400 mg. Increase daily dose from 1 to 3 grams. Do not exceed a daily supplement of 3 grams. lecithin/choline Additional Supplements for Impacting Brain Allergies The following chart summarizes the supplements I recommend adding to the protocol for overall brain health. This protocol is designed for individuals who suffer from, or are specifically concerned about, brain allergies." - Gary Null and Amy McDonald, The Food-Mood Connection: Nutrition-based and Environmental Approaches to Mental Health and Physical Wellbeing (Get the book.)

"Anton Chekhov Americans now spend more than $200 billion a year on prescription drugs, and the largest consumers are senior citizens. Our faith in the pharmaceutical industry is powerful. We rarely pause to think: What exactly are loved ones with memory challenges putting into their bodies? How were our current drugs developed? How much can we expect of them, and of the stem cell treatments and amyloid vaccines we hear bruited about with such promise? Are there complementary and alternative treatments that offer more promise?" - Peter J. Whitehouse and Daniel George, The Myth of Alzheimer's: What You Aren't Being Told About Today's Most Dreaded Diagnosis (Get the book.)

"An editorial in the Canadian Medical Association Journal summed up the issue: "By being marketed in media traditionally used to flog cars, fast food and shampoo, prescription drugs have become name-brand commodities, enveloped in the kind of fantasy and desire that surrounds the purchase of lifestyle products." The European Union voted in 2003 to continue its ban on DTC drug ads. In the debate, consumer groups argued that medical information should be disseminated by independent national sources, not drug companies." - John Abramson, Overdosed America: The Broken Promise of American Medicine (P.S.) (Get the book.)

"Take Aloe Vera three or more hours away from medication because it may reduce the absorption of some prescription drugs. This supplement is not suited to those who suffer from diarrhea, heavy periods, kidney disease and/or are pregnant. Vitamin A Vitamin A is an excellent supplement to aid in the healing of the epithelial cells of the intestinal tract lining. It helps to heal ulcers, skin lesions and aids in vision. It is known as an antioxidant which hinders cellular damage that leads to the aging process. The typical dosage for Vitamin A is 10,000 IU per day." - Heather Caruso, Your Drug-Free Guide to Digestive Health (Get the book.) "Take aloe vera three or more hours away from medication because it may reduce the absorption of some prescription drugs. This supplement is not suited to those who suffer from diarrhea, heavy periods, kidney disease and/or are pregnant. Cascara Sagrada This herb is a laxative made from the bark of cascara sagrada. Native Americans called it cascara or "sacred bark" because of its effectiveness in treating intestinal problems like constipation, hemorrhoids and gallbladder disorders. Cascara stimulates regular intestinal contractions and stops absorption of water from the bowel." - Heather Caruso, Your Drug-Free Guide to Digestive Health (Get the book.)

page 1 of 16 | Next ->

FAIR USE NOTICE: The research quoted here is provided under the protection of Fair Use provisions and published by the 501(c)3 non-profit Consumer Wellness Center for the purposes of public comment and education. Authors / publishers may submit books for consideration of inclusion here.

TERMS OF USE: Read full terms of use. Citations of text from NaturalPedia must include: 1) Full credit to the original author and book title. 2) Secondary credit to the Natural News Naturalpedia as a research resource and a link to www.NaturalPedia.com

This unique compilation of research is copyright (c) 2008, 2009 by the non-profit Consumer Wellness Center.

ABOUT THE CREATOR OF NATURALPEDIA: Mike Adams, the creator of NaturalPedia, is the editor of NaturalNews.com, the internet's top natural health news site, creator of the Honest Food Guide (www.HonestFoodGuide.org), a free downloadable consumer food guide based on natural health principles, author of Grocery Warning, The 7 Laws of Nutrition, Natural Health Solutions, and many other books available at www.TruthPublishing.com, creator of the earth-friendly EcoLEDs company (www.EcoLEDs.com) that manufactures energy-efficient LED lighting products, founder of Arial Software (www.ArialSoftware.com), a permission e-mail technology company, creator of the CounterThink Cartoon series (www.NaturalNews.com/index-cartoons.html) and author of over 1,500 articles, interviews, special reports and reference guides available at www.NaturalNews.com. Adams' personal philosophy and health statistics are available at www.HealthRanger.org.