Dr. Earl Mindell's Prescription Alternatives - Third Edition
By Earl Mindell, R.Ph., Ph.D. and Virginia Hopkins, M.A.
Fully updated and expanded, this reference guide offers hundreds of safe, natural, prescription-free remedies to restore and maintain your health.
Learn how you can replace many of the most commonly used prescription drugs to treat cardiovascular disease, cancer, arthritis, gastrointestinal disorders, obesity, sleep disorders, prostate enlargement, diabetes, asthma, depression, anxiety, and the common cold.
Excerpts from the Book
Changing the Pill-Popping Mindset
What do you want when you go to an MD? Most of us, if we're being honest, would say we want the doctor to give us a name for our disease and a pill to make it go away. We call this the pill-popping mindset, and it has become a deadly habit.
We have been convinced, through multimillion dollar advertising and marketing campaigns on TV and in popular magazines and newspapers, that everything "wrong" with us is a result of genetics of our biochemistry and that we should look for a pill that will fix the mistake that nature made. But only a fraction of a percent of what is wrong with us is attributable to genetics and biochemistry. For most of us, what's wrong is a consequence of an unhealthy lifestyle: for example, poor nutrition, overeating, lack of exercise, chronic stress, not enough sleep, and exposure to toxins such as pesticides. These are all choices we make that we can do something about. Taking drugs to solve health problems caused by an unhealthy lifestyle is not a good strategy for a high-quality life, or even for a long and healthy life.
In an article published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), researchers studying "adverse drug events", or ADEs, in people admitted to big city hospitals estimated that over 140,000 Americans die every year from ADEs. An earlier study from the University of Arizona estimated that 28% of hospitalizations were attributable to prescription drug-related problems. We haven't even counted the hundreds of thousands of elderly people who die at home or in nursing homes and are never autopsied.
Some researchers have countered by saying the data from the ADE study was used in a biased way that resulted in higher numbers, but even if it is 100,000 peopel a year it is still a shocking and eye-opening statistic. If a disease were killing that many people every year, we would have millions of dollars mobilized to study it and we would be wearing ribbons on our labels to increase awareness to the problem. To put this in perspective, breast cancer kills about 46,000 American women each year, and according to the Centers for Disease Control, about 40,000 Americans die from AIDS every year.
A Food and Drug Administration (FDA) research group has estimated that mistakes made in the prescription and dispensation of medications result in 938,000 "injuries" a year. That's close to a million people injured by drugs. And do you think that the drug companies, the hospitals, or the physicians responsible for manufacturing and dispensing the drugs are paying for the staggering cost of these injuries? Of course not. We all pay for it through sky-high insurance rates, drug prices, and taxes. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation Annual Report, in the year 2001 alone, health benefit costs rose 11%, mostly due to rising drug costs. The number of uninsured Americans, who need only a short hospital stay to throw them into serious financial peril, continues to rise, and frustration with inadequate coverage causes no small amount of stress for families nationwide.
As you'll read later, at least 11 million people are abusing prescription drugs, resulting not only in a drop in quality of life but a huge cost to the taxpayer in the form of an increase in accidents, workers' compensation claims, in days of work missed, hospitalizations due drug overdoses, and drug treatment centers.
If we look at the problem in dollars, according to studies published in JAMA, mistakes in prescribing drugs and the treatment of drug side effects costs about $76 billion every eyar. Other studies put the number as high as $136 billion. That $76 billion comes out of the sky-high insurance rates you're paying, the taxes that go to Medicare (which is collapsing under the weight of its economic burden), and straight out of your pocket. That means you're spending hundreds of dollars a year to keep the drug companies in business, while they keep peddling dangerous and improperly studied drugs.
According to a study published in teh Western Journal of Medicine, some $20 billion could be saved each year in hospital costs if people simply took supplemental folic acid and vitamin E. This is based on the well-studied fact that folic acid deficiencies contribute to neural tube birth defects and low birth weight premature babies, and that just 100 IU of vitamin E daily dramatically reduces the rick of heart disease. Imagine the billions that could be saved both in drug sales and overall health costs if everyone took a good multivitamin!
Tragically, avoiding prescription drugs isn't quite as easy as asking your MD for alternatives. The powerful international drug companies have wormed their way into the very heart of medicine like an insidious parasite, controlling what's taught in medical schools, the continuing medical education courses MD's take to keep their medical license, and how insurance pays for drugs, and now they are even going so far as to "align with" or buy HMOs so they can more directly control your drug intake.
Big Drug Brother is Watching You
In an issue of Forbes magazine published in the late 1990's, a spokesman for a major drug company proudly boasted about how profitable his company was going to be in the next decade because they were aligning themselves with HMOs and would work with them to ensure "greater patient compliance" in taking drugs. This is a stunningly insensitive point of view. Obviously the man had considered the financial implications of what he was saying but not the effect on the people involved. These people don't want "greater patient compliance" so that you'll get better - they want it so that you'll take more drugs. If their drugs werew working, they would not have to be so concerned about patient compliance.
Every year the big drug companies put a stronger and stronger stranglehold on the health of America, and the alternative health community becomes more like David fighting Goliath. It's important that you be aware of how your health is being controlled (and ruined) by the greed of a medical system that is designed not to heal but to push drugs.
Here's a typical scenario of how this unholy drug company/HMO alliance is already playing out across America. Let's take a typical 63 yr old woman named Ann, who goes to her HMO for an annual checkup carrying a bag full of her pills, as instructed. Ann is already on the drug treadmill, taking an ACE inhibitor to lower her blood pressure, which is marginally high, a cough suppressant to treat the nagging cough caused by the ACE inhibitor, sleeping pills to help her sleep because her cough keeps waking her up, the estrogen Premarin to slow the progression of her osteoporosis, the synthetic progesterone Provera to offset the cancer-promoting effects of the estrogen (which along with the sleeping pills makes her feel tired and mentally foggy), the antiosteoporosis drug Fosamazx, which is giving her heartburn, Tagamet to treat the heartburn, and Metamucil to treat the constipation and indigestion caused because the Tagamet is suppressing her stomach acid, which was low to begin with.
Ann isn't feeling too great, but she's been reading more about natural health and has decided she wants to go off all her drugs, replacing them with changes in lifestyle. She's heard about the research showing that hormone replacement therapy's (HRT) risks probably outweigh its benefits and is hoping that her physician will help her with a weight-loss program to lower her blood pressure and a natural progesterone cream for her osteoporosis and HRT. She also plans to use psyllium instead of Metamucil until her constipation goes away and plans to use melatonin if her increased exercise doesn't always help her sleep. She has a list of what she wants to do and eagerly brings it to her physician. He impatiently tells her that none of that "natural stuff" is scientifically proven and why doesn't she just stay on the program he's given her. He also makes it clear that if she wants to continue being treated by her HMO she needs to cooperate and take the drugs he prescribes. "But doctor," she pleads, "since I started on all these drugs life is hardly worth living! I'm tired all the time, I'm coughing all the time, and I'm depressed. I want to get off these drugs." Her doctor brushes her off, saying everything in her bag is approved by the HMO and the insurance company, and if she has health complications caused by doing something different from what he prescribes, her insurance might not cover it or her rates could go up.
This really scares Ann. What if she needs surgery and her physician, angry because she hasn't toed the HMO line, claims it was caused because she didn't follow instructions? "OK" says Ann, "I'll take the drugs. But I looked up this ACE inhibitor I'm taking and it says one of its common side effects is nagging cough. Couldn't you put me on a different drug to lower my blood pressure?" Her physician impatiently pulls out her chart, quickly scans it, and says, "This is the drug approved by this HMO for your problem. I'm afraid you'll have to live with it".
Ann meekly takes her bag of drugs and leaves, obediently filling a new prescription for Prozac on her way out. She never takes it, but the records show that she filled the prescription, so her physician and HMO will be happy. She realizes she's on her own, unless she decides to work with an MD who uses alternative medicine who's not in her HMO.
Why does Ann have to take a drug that is causing side effects - and that probably costs more than twice as much as a comparable older, generic drug? Because that's the one made by the drug company her HMO is in cahoots with. The effect is that the insurance companies, instead of the physician, get to decide which drugs may be prescribed for which health problems, and Ann's health and well-being are pushed aside for the health of corporate profits.
The picture of a patient in effect being forced to take drugs or suffer the consequences is frightening. It begins to put the drug company/HMO/insurance company alliance on the level of drug pushers on the street. This is nothing less than extortion. And believe me, the future looks even more like Big Drug Brother will be watching over your shoulder and telling you how to live your life, when all medical records are on a nationally computerized system and refusal to take a drug could mean cancellation of HMO services or health insurance. Already, a drug company salesperson can walk into a pharmacy and demand to see a list of drugs prescribed by an individual doctor. How did doctors' prescribing habits get to be public information?
What you can do to fight this practice is write to the politicians you've voted into office and object; try to give your health insurance business to a company that covers preventative and alternative health care (they're springing up all over the countrym check your yellow pages); raise a fuss at your HMO and demand they cover alternative medical practices; and above all, stay healthy so you don't have to use them!
The Facts on Blood Pressure
Your blood pressure rises above normal when too much fluid is being pumped through the blood vessels, or the blood vessels constrict, putting greater pressure on your heart and blood vessels. It can also be caused when the arteries lose their elasticity. If you think of the plumbing in a house, when water pressure is high, water comes out of the faucet with great force. When water pressure is low, it may only trickle out of the faucet.
Blood pressure readings show 2 numbers: the systolic pressure, which is the greatest amount of pressure exerted when the heart pumps or contracts, and the diastolic pressure, which is the lowest amount of pressure when the heart is in between beats, or relaxed. A "normal" blood pressure reading for an adult is 130 (systolic) over 85 (diastolic), also shown as 130/85 mm Hg (millimeters of mercury, under pressure). A high diastolic blood pressure is more indicative of heart trouble in an older adult than a high systolic blood pressure.
But don't let these numbers bully you. A sudden rise in blood pressure is something to see your doctor about, but otherwise keep in mind that everyone is different, and your blood pressure will rise naturally as you age. This does not necessarily mean you need drugs to lower it! Your body is effectively compensating for changes in your body that happen with aging. If you're over the age of 60, your systolic blood pressure may safely be as high as 180 mm Hg and your diastolic as high as 100 mm Hg.
Should you worry if your blood pressure varies some from these numbers? If you're overweight, stressed out, smoking, eating poorly, drinking too much alcohol or coffee, or not exercising, or have heart disease, lung disease, or diabetes, yes, because these are the risk factors for high blood pressure, and you need to get to work changing them now. If you are following the Six Core Principles for Optimal Health and don't have any of the above risk factors or a family history of very high blood pressure, be aware that it's high and treat it naturally.
Don't ever start taking a blood pressure drug based on 1 reading. Your arteries are muscular and flexible, designed to change blood pressure constantly in response to the needs of your body. Blood pressure readings taken in a physician's office are usually higher than normal, and those taken in a drug store are inaccurate as much as 60% of the time. If your physician feels your hypertension is severe enough to warrant taking drugs, you should be monitoring your blood pressure at home.
Your physician is in a very tough position when it comes to treating your high blood pressure. If your blood pressure numbers dont fit into the charts and your physician doesn't prescribe the drugs, he or she can be penalized by an HMO or insurance company and is vulnerable to malpractice suits. But the practice of prescribing drugs to treat hypertension just doesn't fit the facts.
Numerous studies, including the famous Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial in the United States and the large Australian Medical Research Council Trial, have shown that people with nild to moderate high blood pressure who don't take prescription drugs to lower their blood pressure do better than those who do take drugs. At a recent American Heart association meeting, it was reported that without treatment 1% of people with high blood pressure have a heart attack, but with treatment with a calcium channel blocker 1.6% have a heart attack! That's a 60% increase!
Unless you're under the age of 60 and your blood pressure is "severe" (above 180/110), there is little evidence that blood pressure-lowering drugs (also called antihypertensives) actually reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke, or even the risk of dying. If you're in your 70's or older, it's clear that the drugs will do you more harm than good. At that age, there is no evidence that blood pressure as high as 220-120 is more harmful than taking hypertension drugs. Don't ignore blood pressure that high, but be aware that taking drugs isn't likely to prolong your life.
Nearly all of the studies showing that antihypertensives do more harm than good were done with a placebo, meaning the group that did better did nothing to improve their blood pressure. Now imagine how bad the antihypertensives would look if they were measured against natural methods of lowering blood pressure such as weight loss, exercise, diet, and stress reduction!
TYPES OF ANTIHYPERTENSIVES
There are 4 major types of drugs prescribed to lower blood pressure: diuretics, beta-blockers, ACE inhibitors, and calcium channel blockers. Diuretics lower blood pressure by reducing the amount of fluid in the body.
The rest of the drugs listed here lower blood pressure by suppressing body signals that it's time to raise blood pressure. This makes the numbers look good, but when you really need some blood pressure it's not there and that's the underlying cause of the deadly side effects of these drugs. For example, if you need to run or climb stairs, or you get a bad scare, your body will be putting out signals to raise blood pressure, and the drug will be blocking those signals. The theory is that this will keep your blood pressure from going so high that it gives you a heart attack, but on the other side of the coin there are good physiological reasons for your blood pressure to go up sometimes, and if your body can't meet those demands it could kill you.
All of these drugs are used to control and suppress a wide variety of heart disease symptoms, but none have any healing properties. Diuretics are often prescribed to treat the water retention caused by liver and kidney disease, but since they can also aggravate kidney and liver disease, they can be counterproductive.
Diuretics, which are essentially designed to reduce fluid levels by making you urinate more, are one of the most common blood pressure medicines prescribed. One of the biggest problem with diuretics is the depletion of minerals that you pee away. In addition to losing sodium, you lose most of the other minerals too, including potassium, magnesium, and calcium, which are essential to proper heart function. There's no sense in lowering your blood pressure to prevent heart disease if your method of lowering it is going to cause it anyway! Numerous studies have shown that people with high blood pressure tend to be deficient in magnesium, so the last thing they need is to lose more.
Diuretics also tend to deplete the B vitamins. If you're on a diuretic be sure you're taking plenty of B vitamins.
One of the most devastating side effects of diuretics for women is their tendency to promote the excretion of calcium in the urine, resulting in bone loss and osteoporosis.
Another side effect of diuretics is a higher susceptibility to heat stroke or heat stress, caused by the body's inability to cool off by sweating. This is particularly important for older people who live in a warm or hot climate. When it's hot and you're taking a diuretic, it's important to drink plenty of fluids.
From the Back Cover
"For those who need to know what doctors and pharmaceutical companies are doing to people's health . . . belongs in the library of every home."
--Lendon H. Smith, M.D., author of Feed Your Body Right
In Prescription Alternatives, Earl Mindell, R.Ph., Ph.D., a trusted voice for decades, reveals how prescription drugs cause imbalances in the body and how to assess the ways in which your medications may be affecting your health. Dr. Mindell draws on his encyclopedic knowledge of pharmacology, nutrition, and natural healing to reveal the natural medicines that can counteract the side-effects of many drugs, along with a comprehensive survey of more than 1,000 simple, safe, nature-based remedies that can often be used to replace prescription drugs for many common conditions, including:
Cardiovascular Disease
Cancer
Arthritis
Gastrointestinal Disorders
Allergies
Obesity
Sleep Disorders
Prostate Enlargement
Diabetes
Asthma
Depression
Anxiety
Colds
In this completely updated and expanded third edition of his authoritative guide, Dr. Mindell shows that you can often solve your health problems without using prescription drugs and teaches you how to monitor your body as you switch from drugs to natural health.
About the Author
Earl L. Mindell, R.Ph., Ph.D., is the author of the international bestseller The Vitamin Bible, as well as The Herb Bible, The Diet Bible, The Allergy Bible, and many other health books. He is a popular lecturer and a well-known authority on nutrients and natural health.
Virginia Hopkins, M.A., has written or coauthored several books on alternative health and nutrition, including What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Menopause (with John Lee, M.D.).
Paperback: 576 pages
Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 3 edition (June 27, 2003)
Language: English
ISBN: 0071413189
Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 1.4 inches
Shipping Weight: 2.0 kilograms.
