"Did you know that the 3rd or 4th largest cause of death in the US &
Canada is iatrogenic death? Iatrogenic disease is rampant and we are
virtually kept blind to it. In fact, you are desensitized to it... its
normal... because you hear about it at the end of commercials all day
long... " - Melanie Milletics
Death by medicine - conventional or alternative, may not always be easy to prove. The post mortem autopsy is a way to determine the exact cause of death, but may not tell us whether the patient would have lived a little longer, or died a little healthier if, for instance, a particular treatment wasn't administered.
I am not a medical doctor and I would never assume that I know all the answers. A human being is more than just a sum of his or her organs. Holistic view of a patient is not necessarily encouraged in conventional medical schools, nor is the importance of nutrition. A body is often understood as a machine that needs repairs. When the systems break and there is nothing more to repair, the patient dies.
Statistics are not very flattering to the medical profession. Too many patients die from unnecessary procedures, adverse drug reactions, medical errors, negligence, or as a result of surgery and hospitalization.
If
you are lucky to realize early enough that the treatment will eventually kill you, you might be able to save yourself. Unfortunately,
most people trust their doctors and are often ignorant about their
own bodies and the origin of their disease. In most cases disease forms over a long period of time and may have multiple causes, including lifestyle and genetics.
Wrong diagnoses, diagnoses for profit, wrong treatment, and over-medication are incredibly
prevalent. The Hippocratic oath does not prevent many doctors from seeing their
profession as a money making business. Who can blame them?
Healthy, or relatively healthy
patients who need only little medication or none at all, are very bad for
business, but once a symptom is "decoded," a patient may become a real gold mine. This is true in countries like the United States, where the healthcare system still has to undergo necessary reforms; this also is true in countries like Austria or Germany that are proud of their socialized medicine.
Have you ever met a person who started his or her medical odyssey with one prescription drug, but ended up taking five, six, nine, or more, prescription drugs and seems to be doing worse than ever before?
I know of many such cases and might have even become one myself. A few years ago a company I enjoyed working for for more than twenty five years, implemented a major change in my job description. My whole life changed overnight. The stress, anger, and disappointment were the cause of an extremely elevated blood pressure. My blood pressure went from low to pathologically high. The chance of a heart attack or stroke in an otherwise healthy person did not seem like something I wanted to even consider, but things were turning from bad to worse and I had to see a doctor. I received a sample pack of a blood-pressure reducing drug. After a week my blood pressure went down a bit - a clear sign that the drug was working - and I felt better.
As much as I hate drugs, I agreed to take it till my condition improved. I got my prescription filled and started taking the drug. It was not exactly the same drug as the sample I tried before. My doctor informed me that this particular one was a generic drug and even better than the sample I tested. It was just as effective, and that he himself was taking it and had no problems with his blood pressure whatsoever. Wouldn't you trust your doctor in such a case?
I put my skepticism on the shelf and started taking the medication. No more than one week later I developed horrible joint and muscle pain, as well as a rash all over my body. I could not walk, sit or lie down without pain, I could no longer climb the stairs without horrible pain in my knees. My condition deteriorated so fast I could not believe my very eyes. Naturally, I went back to see my doctor. He refused to acknowledge my symptoms as a result of that particular medication he prescribed, and suggested another drug for the pain and inflammation I now suffered from. I got a new prescription and went home. I did some research online and found out that the suggested drug could help me with the pain, but would have possibly damaged my liver. The great news, I would be spared a heart attack or stroke if I agreed to taking two drugs together. Oh, I almost forgot. I would have had to see a dermatologist to take care of the rush on my skin...
Blood pressure medication, anti-inflammatory drug, and soon something to mitigate the elevated liver enzymes, plus whatever the dermatologist would have prescribed for the rash on my skin. And if any of the new drugs caused kidney damage or pancreatitis, there would be a new prescription for me. And so on, and so on.
As far as I was concerned, that was it! I stopped the blood pressure medication altogether. Naturally, the blood pressure went up again but the inflammation in my body subsided. A few months later I quit my job and went on a long vacation. Within only a few weeks everything turned back to normal: my high blood pressure, the joint inflammation, the skin rash simply disappeared. I now know that if I did not refuse to take the medication, today I might have been on four, five or more drugs, one treating the negative side effects of the other.
I had a neighbor who wasn't strong enough to say no to her doctor and was, only a few years into her treatment, unable to take care of herself. She lost most of her teeth due to inflammation. She had to use a rollator, if she walked at all, and rely on nursing services. All this started with blood pressure medication her doctor convinced her she needed. She trusted her doctor and accepted her rapid degeneration as a natural consequence of aging. Turning into a cripple at the age of 63 should not be an option to anyone.
Another of my neighbors has an even more terrible story to tell. She underwent surgery for a kidney tumor. After initial improvement, she developed pain and the left side of her body, where the surgery was performed, swelled up enormously. Her doctor "diagnosed" another tumor, suggested another biopsy and a possible cancer treatment that would include chemotherapy. Horrified of cancer and the chemotherapy, the poor woman changed her lifestyle and nutrition, but as the pain and swelling grew, she had a feeling, an inkling, that there was "something" within her body that caused this swelling and discomfort and that it wasn't the tumor. After more than a year of suffering and countless visits to different doctors, including the surgeon who performed the original surgery, only one medical professional agreed to take her seriously. After a CAT scan, to everybody's horror, they found out that the woman wasn't simply a hypochondriac and did not have cancer. The enormous, tumor-like swelling was caused by a small surgical clamp that was left in her body by mistake or neglect during the original ulcer surgery!
One of my acquaintances in Germany is currently receiving chemotherapy for a cancer that normally responds badly to chemotherapy. There is extensive medical literature documenting this and yet, her insurance company would not pay for any other treatment. Without telling her oncologist she is using herbs from Thailand to keep her immune system strong.
My husband receiving his first immunotherapy infusion in January 2022,
forced to wear the mask because of the pandemic
I have one more story to tell. A few weeks ago I lost my husband. He was diagnosed with renal cell carcinoma in Fall 2021 and underwent four different treatments. The side effects of all four drugs were horrifying, but he managed to improve considerably. The immunotherapy infusions he received were quite promising. The tumor was shrinking. In July 2023 he was still very energetic and glowing, and people were surprised how well he looked.
Before I continue with my husband's story, I want to mention that he was a rather healthy man for most of his life. He despised medications and hardly ever went to see a doctor, that is, till the blood showed up in his urine at the age of 68. For the first time, after the cancer diagnosis, my husband trusted a doctor - an oncologist. For the first time he was taking multiple drugs to mitigate various side effects of his cancer treatment.
In August 2023 he had a dental procedure and prophylactically received two different antibiotics to prevent possible infection. By mid-September he developed a serious cough and was given two more antibiotics and a cough syrup. When this did not work, more drugs, including Z-Pak and two other cough medications with serious side effects, were prescribed by his oncologist. Nobody checked his lungs! In October the oncologist informed my husband that his tumor became more aggressive and that there was nothing she could do for him. The cancer treatment was terminated and palliative care was suggested. Unfortunately, at this point, my husband gave up and did not consider alternative cancer treatments.
In the beginning of November he felt weak but could still move around and take care of himself. His cough, however, intensified and the breathing was getting more difficult. On Thanksgiving Eve, after a quarrel with his daughter, my husband collapsed and was flown by helicopter from Roswell, NM to El Paso, TX, and ended up in an intensive care unit with internal bleeding and a seriously compromised immune system. He had to be treated for ulcers and pneumonia, and received three blood transfusions within only three days.
When nothing worked, they realized that he did not actually have pneumonia but rather pleural effusion (water in the lungs) that required a very different treatment. More drugs were administered and multiple tubes inserted to his body to drain the lungs. He was heavily sedated. By December 13, he was only a shadow of himself, his lungs damaged so completely that he could not breathe on his own anymore. He passed away on December 15. Not from cancer, but from a wrong treatment and horrible side effects of countless drugs administered without proper diagnosis.
When one hears stories like that, one can only get very angry. The trust we put in people who are supposed to save our lives blinds us so completely that we are unable to think clearly. It's the white coat syndrome, some people say.
Just imagine, how many lives could be saved if people sought a second or third opinion. How many lives could be saved if people changed their lifestyles and understood their bodies a bit better? How many lives could be saved if doctors did not prescribe dangerous, often unnecessary, medication so freely?
Disease prevention is still largely a domain of alternative medicine. Nutrition, stress control, detoxification, and various fitness programs, are often suggested to patients by naturopathic doctors. In many cases, such solutions work, but for some patients it may be too late for treatment of any kind. My thoughts go to a dog park acquaintance who was "eaten up" by cancer because she refused any treatment whatsoever. This happens sometimes when guilt and wrong beliefs interfere with the will to survive. A visit to a doctor, when she first noticed a growth in her breast, might have saved her life, but she believed that her disease was a sort of punishment she absolutely deserved. If she was to live, the prayers would take care of it. Her tumor was growing fast. When it was as large as a rugby ball, she started wearing bulky sweaters to cover it up. Dog park visitors who knew her wondered why she was doing this when the temperatures went up to 98°F and more that summer.
This whole subject is very difficult and often, emotionally loaded. I have no intention to denigrate the entire medical profession, but something definitely is not right. When we look at the history of medicine, we are often shocked at the barbarity of medical treatments and procedures that were common only a hundred years ago. Will the people of the future cringe at our cancer treatments or surgical procedures that seem so advanced to us today?
Technological progress and growing knowledge open the way to new therapies. Many more lives will be saved in the future, but unless we change the way we live, eat, and relax, there will be many more sick people, and doctors will prescribe drugs that don't really work. Chronic disease develops over many years, yet we can prevent it and, to some degree, even reverse the symptoms when we change the way we live. Ignorance probably kills more people than the medical profession ever will, but the whole healthcare system has to be revised if we really want to save lives.
Dominique Allmon
Dominique Allmon©2024
