"Side Effects" or Adverse Reactions? |
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What is a "side effect?" Is it an effect that just happens a little bit, sometimes, maybe? The language that we use can mask as well as elucidate. The choice of words or the avoidance of certain words can manipulate the way we think about a topic. Such a word is a euphemism, a word that is chosen because it is softer than another that might be more direct and accurate. "Side effect" refers to an adverse reaction to an activity or, commonly, to a pharmaceutical. Such adverse reactions are usually the effects that are so potent as to rise to clinical observation. That is, they become grossly recognizable as a consequence. Prior to this gross physical effect, changes might have occurred in the way that the body functions at the molecular level, but not yet so great as to manifest in a way that we can see and measure. This is not to say that the effect is without consequence. It just is not seeable. We don't know what to measure yet or we don't know how to measure it. Our understanding of living systems is still so rudimentary and incomplete that we can only claim to comprehend the complexity and intricacy with sufficient arrogance to hide from the reality of our ignorance. Even less understood are the cumulative effects of such insults and damage. Only after many such insults, perhaps decades into the future, the effects rise to the noticeable level. Now mixed with other potential causes it is nearly impossible to discern the true cause or causes. In this way the cigarette companies were able to obfuscate the observation that smoking seemed related to lung cancer. DDT manufacturers were able to hide from the obvious results of the use of their poisonous product--the Silent Spring. When DDT was put on the market, the scientists said that we could practically eat it for lunch and said as much in their public relations campaigns. Nurses were shown rank upon rank as the DDT engulfed them, nervously grinning and giggling as the cloud dissipated. They didn't fall over dead--therefore DDT is clearly safe to use. Another PR film showed children at a picnic table outdoors, girls and boys with their lunch before them. The dust engulfs them like an English fog and as it clears, they, too, had not fallen over dead. "See? DDT is perfectly safe, even for our children!" A generation later cancer soars as a cause of death. If it hadn't been for robins dropping dead from earthworms from poisoned lawns, we might still be awash in DDT. Even penguins in the Antarctic have DDT in their tissues. And so it goes. Without linear studies to understand the cumulative and synergistic effects, chemical after chemical is crudely tested in a short term research project funded by the manufacturer, often with carefully selected testing methods that will place the new product in the best possible light. Occasionally we discover later that results that didn't help the product pass were altered or expunged. Animal rights activists don't carry their protest far enough. They, too, are test animals, unwitting, unaware, going about their mundane activities, subjects for still another longitudinal study of the relationship of this chemical or that, this radiation source or that, that might be causing a disease. How many have been fooled by the conventional expression that passes for wisdom: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!" Perhaps "it" is on the way to breaking and only by timely repair can serious loss be circumvented. Another truism: "A stitch in time saves nine." A "side effect" is not an effect that stands at the side of our concern. IT IS AN EFFECT! It stands directly in front of us and it warrants our concern and attention. Read the Physician's Desk Reference or have your physician read to you from the part entitled ADVERSE REACTIONS--before you agree to use the prescription he/she has written for you. The physician frequently doesn't know the adverse reactions. There are a lot of pharmaceuticals available for patient use and more are being added each year. If you are now taking pills from your doctor, or your elderly parents or grandparents are, check their medications against a current PDR or a book written for a layperson called Worst Pills, Best Pills. Look not only for adverse reactions, but for chemicals that are contra-indicated. Checking my mom's list of prescriptions we found that the reason she was bruising so easily was the combined use of Coumadin and Aspirin. Coumadin in the hardware store or garden center is known as Warfarin and makes rats bleed internally till they die. Combined with aspirin which has a similar effect, people bruise easily and can begin to bleed internally where you can't see the bruise. The outcome can lead to death. The doctor was taken aback that an 83 year old woman would confront him about the dangerous combination. His reply was to tell her that the book she had used was outdated and she should get rid of it! Later, the same doctor misdiagnosed my father's chest pain as an aortic aneurysm and Dad died of an esophageal cancer that developed quickly. Dr. Hanske guessed wrong again.
This is a crazy world. What can be done? Amazingly, we have been mislead. We have been taught that we can control government by voting. The founder of the Rothschild dynasty, Mayer Amschel Bauer, told the secret of controlling the government of a nation over 200 years ago. He said, "Permit me to issue and control the money of a nation and I care not who makes its laws." Get the picture? Your freedom hinges first on the nation's banks and money system. Freedom is connected with Debt Elimination for each individual. Not only does this end personal debt, it places the people first in line as creditors to the National Debt ahead of the banks. They don't wish for you to know this. It has to do with recognizing WHO you really are in A New Beginning: A Practical Course in Miracles, an informational study. Disclaimer - The posting of stories, commentaries, reports, documents and links (embedded or otherwise) on this site does not in any way, shape or form, implied or otherwise, necessarily express or suggest endorsement or support of any of such posted material or parts therein. I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it. (attributed to Voltaire), but certainly embodies what the 1st amendment of the constitution refers to as the freedom of speech
Bill of RightsAmendment 1Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
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