medications cause neuro, heart, diabetes, cancer, arthritis, and other disease?

[Guest guest]

October 28, 2002

 

ARE MEDICATIONS, SUCH AS PAINKILLERS, ANTIDEPRESSANTS,

CHOLESTEROL DRUGS AND BETA BLOCKERS CONTRIBUTING

TO NEURODEGENERATIVE DISEASE, HEART DISEASE, DIABETES, CANCER, ARTHRITIS, AND

OTHER DISEASES?

 

Learning To Think Differently About Chronic Illness

 

By Nicholas Regush

 

I suppose that if you have strong vested interests in a particular medical

theory, then it will likely be very difficult for you to disengage from it.

Particularly if it happens to be a cash cow. This would certainly apply to those

in both conventional and complementary medicine. And to many patients as well

who have bought into certain hypotheses or modalities of treatment.

 

In short, it never fails to amaze me how rigid the human mind can be when money

and reputation are at stake, or when people have been brainwashed into believing

some jazz about a new treatment or diet. I should be well-prepared by now to put

up with the typical pomposity and nastiness that often characterize people

calling themselves scientists or doctors and the sometimes sad pronouncements by

patients who claim they have learned the truth about how to fight an illness and

survive.

 

In the case of patients, one recognizes the powerful emotions that can prevail

when life is on the line. They are easily forgiven for their excesses. But

what’s the excuse of doctors and scientists who seem to want to fight to the

death when it comes to a particular theory or treatment?

 

I guess that I keep a sliver of hope alive that they can somehow rip themselves

away from their programming and climb out of the ditches they have dug for

themselves. Maybe see a little light. Flash some open-minded intellect.

 

Medicine and science have become so corrupt due to the overbearing influence of

the drug industry and other corporate mules and entrenched bureaucrats that

there is usually no escape for these troubled souls.

 

But the fact is, how can you possibly trust those who have thrown away their

self-respect?

 

The answer is: don’t.

 

The way my mind seems to work, I simply assume that just about everything that I

have ever learned in science and medicine may be a mere glimmer of the truth,

and perhaps partially or totally wrong. And no, I don’t feel funny about that at

all; I find this position very liberating. It means the brain is still ticking

and exploring.

 

For instance, it allows me to consider the possibility that much of what we have

learned

 

about the causes of chronic illness may be out to lunch. Obviously, I’m not

alone in this assessment.

 

Consider the intriguing theory offered in this week’s issue of the British

Medical Journal:

 

The writer is Richard G. Fiddian-Green, formerly chair of general surgery at the

University of Massacheusetts.

 

His letter, " Iatrogenic Diseases With A Common Cause, " is a strong reflection of

some of the articles, editorials and letters he has been writing over the years

about the role of mitochondria in disease. Mitochondria, which are a part of

tissue cells, are the main energy source of a cell. See them as " power plants "

of the body. This is where energy (ATP or adenosine troposphere) is

manufactured.

 

What goes on in the cell is, as we might expect, extremely complex, but what

Fiddian-Green suggests to us actually is not: He believes that malfunctioning of

this " power plant " can lead to a wide range of chronic illnesses - diabetes,

coronary artery disease, hypertension, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease,

gastro-oesophageal reflux disease, multiple sclerosis, depression, osteoporosis,

Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. He asks whether all these diseases may be

" different manifestations of a common disorder " stemming from impairment of the

process of energy production in the cell.

 

This is not some whistling in the wind. There is a considerable literature on

how disruption of this " power plant " may result in organ dysfunctions and

failures.

 

What is equally interesting is Fiddian-Green’s suggestion that many of the

medications taken today to fight illnesses may contribute at a later date to

impairment of the processing of energy in cells. And particularly if some of

these drugs are mixed and taken by the elderly - including painkillers,

antidepressants, cholesterol drugs (statins) and beta blockers, all of which

have the potential to do damage to this energy production system.

 

This can happen in a variety of ways. For example, take the popular cholesterol

pills known as statins: there is certainly growing evidence that they deplete

CoEnzyme Q10 and that this depletion has been associated with congestive heart

failure.

 

It just so happens that CoEnzyme Q10 is essential in the mitochondria’s

involvement in the production of ATP. In fact CoEnzyme Q10 is particularly

important in heart muscle function. This particular tissue has extreme energy

requirements for normal functioning, according to Dr. Peter H. Langsjoen, who is

one of the pioneering researchers in this area of medical science.

 

Lack of Q10 is evident in Parkinson’s patients. The disease also involves

impairment of the mitochondria. A study published this month points to the

possibility that CoEnzyme Q10 may be of value to patients with this and perhaps

other neurodegenerative diseases.

 

Fiddian-Green, in a letter to the British Medical Journal on October 21 of this

year suggests that CoEnzyme Q10 may be a more rational therapy than Levodopa for

Parkinson’s because of Levodopa’s potential to cause complications and even play

a role in Alzheimer’s disease.

 

So what do we have here?

 

A warning, at the very least, that conventional pharmaceuticals may do much more

damage to the body than currently believed by most doctors.

 

And a way of thinking about the causes of chronic illness that challenge some of

the most common conventional assumptions.

 

 

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