Deadlier than Cocaine, Heroin, and the Swine Flu?

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Deadlier than Cocaine, Heroin, and the Swine Flu?

Posted by: Dr. Mercola

 

November 21 2009 | 107,558

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Addiction to

prescription painkillers — which kill thousands of Americans a year

— has become a largely unrecognized epidemic, experts say.

In fact,

prescription drugs cause most of the more than 26,000 fatal overdoses each

year, says Leonard Paulozzi of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The number of

overdose deaths from opioid painkillers — opium-like drugs that include

morphine and codeine — more than tripled from 1999 to 2006, to 13,800

deaths that year, according to recently released CDC statistics.

In the past,

most overdoses were due to illegal narcotics, such as heroin, with most deaths

in big cities. Prescription painkillers have now surpassed heroin and cocaine

however, as the leading cause of fatal overdoses, Paulozzi says.

Experts say

it's easy to see why so many Americans are abusing painkillers. As Americans

age and carry extra pounds, more are asking for pain relief to cope with joint

problems, back pain and other ailments.

 

Sources:

 

USA Today October

2, 2009

 

Orthomolecular.org

October 27, 2009

 

Daily Mail August

11, 2009

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. Mercola's Comments:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Remember the Reagan-era ads,

“Just Say NO!” Well, since then, street drugs have taken a

definitive backseat to a far greater threat – prescription drugs,

especially pain killers.

They’re

typically used legally, eliminating the stigma of being a junkie. You

don’t need to do business in the shadows to get your fix anymore. You just

refill your prescription and pick it up at the nearest pharmacy where no one

looks at you crooked.

Time

to Raise Pandemic Level 6 Warning on American Drug Paradigm

According to

Robert DuPont, a former White House drug czar and former director of the National

Institute on Drug Abuse, " The biggest and fastest-growing part of America's drug

problem is prescription drug abuse. The statistics are

unmistakable. "

The CDC should

take notice of these statistics and raise a Pandemic Level 6 Warning for the

use of prescription drugs – it’s clearly killing FAR more people

than the swine flu ever will.

Swine Flu

Deaths As of November 17, 2009 = 8118 world wide.

 

Click on image for

larger view.

USA

Today reports that about 120,000 Americans end up in the emergency room after

overdosing on opioid painkillers each year, and reports that about 120,000

Americans end up in the emergency room after overdosing on opioid painkillers

each year, and prescription drugs in general cause most of the more than 26,000

fatal overdoses annually. This despite the fact that the FDA increased the

restrictions for consumer drug ads in 2005, especially for COX-2 painkillers

like Celebrex and Bextra.

At the time,

aggressive drug marketing was blamed for the increased and inappropriate use of

painkillers. However, I believe the cultural acceptance of prescription drugs

– a pill for every symptom – may have replaced much of the need for

excessive marketing of these drugs. People know they can get them simply by

asking their doctor.

Another contributing

factor is the fact that conventional doctors have bought into the drug paradigm

hook line and sinker. For example, as described in USA

Today, a long-term treatment plan for pain

will typically include a drug-combination approach, using anti-inflammatory

drugs, anti-convulsants, and muscle relaxants.

Drugs, and

more drugs -- each one raising your risk of suffering potentially lethal side

effects...

How

to Treat Your Pain without Causing More Grief

Many people

reach for the pill bottle with little or no thought of what it might do to

their health in the long run. Some 26,000 people die prematurely each year as a

result...

It’s

completely understandable to want to get rid of pain. However, please

understand that there are many options to prescription painkillers that are

much safer, even though they may require some patience.

Here are

several guidelines that can help reduce, or potentially even eliminate, your

pain, depending on its severity:

 

Start taking a high-quality, animal-based omega-3. My personal favorite

is krill oil. Omega-3 fats are precursors to mediators of inflammation

called prostaglandins. (In fact, that is how anti-inflammatory painkillers

work, they manipulate prostaglandins.)

Eliminate or radically reduce most grains and sugars

from your diet. Avoiding grains and sugars will lower your

insulin and leptin levels. Elevated insulin and leptin levels are one of

the most important reasons why inflammatory prostaglandins are produced.

That is why stopping sugar and sweets is so important to controlling your

pain and other types of chronic illnesses.

Optimize your production of vitamin D by getting regular,

appropriate sun exposure, which will work through a variety of different

mechanisms to reduce your pain.

Retool your diet based on your body's unique

nutritional type. Understanding your nutritional type is a tool

I have seen work in thousands of patients to reduce their pain. If you are

not yet aware of your nutritional type, you can take our free

online test now.

Use effective energy psychology tools, such as the Meridian Tapping

Technique (MTT). MTT can address your previous emotional traumas that

cause bioelectrical short circuiting, predisposing you to immune

dysfunction.

Use safer alternatives for temporary relief, while you are in the

process of implementing the above strategies. For several safe and

effective suggestions, please see this link.

 

 

As you can see

from the list above, there is no " quick fix " to treating pain, but

rather it is a lifestyle change that will be well worth the effort.

More

Examples of Reckless Drug Use

The reckless

use of unnecessary drugs is especially obvious today as the swine flu hysteria

is in full swing. Drug companies are now touting statin

drugs, of all things, to be an effective remedy against the H1N1 virus!

What we have

here is a cornucopia of unrivaled foolishness!

But

let’s take a look at a more commonly prescribed drug for the seasonal-

and swine flu that, in all likelihood, is causing far more harm than good

– Tamiflu.

According to a

recent study

into the use of Tamiflu for children with flu symptoms – the most

extensive research of its kind, so far – Tamiflu falls flat.

The

researchers, who analyzed four studies of children aged one to 12, published

their findings in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) on August

11, 2009. They found that the anti-viral drugs Tamiflu and Relenza:

 

Put children at higher risk of dangerous complications

Had little impact on the length of the illness

Had little impact on the spread of the swine flu

May cause drug-resistant strain mutations

 

Children given

these drugs were found to recover LESS THAN ONE DAY earlier, compared with

simple rest and recuperation.

According to

the researchers, the risks of Tamiflu and Relenza far outweigh their negligent

benefits, and children should therefore NOT be given these drugs for the swine

flu.

Common side

effects included:

 

(Graph from the Daily

Mail, August 11, 2009)

The Daily

Mail notes that this finding will no doubt

cause confusion, as it contradicts recommendations from government health

officials. Not surprisingly, the British Department of Health dismissed the

study, saying the results were based on seasonal flu, despite the fact that the

scientist specifically noted that these results also

applied to swine flu.

Again, health

officials are choosing to ignore scientific warnings that their recommendations

are NOT in the best interest of the majority of people.

Latest

Stats Show Flu is LOWER This Year than Last Year

This is

particularly upsetting when you consider the fact that the current flu season,

swine flu and all, is the MILDEST flu season in years! According to CDC

and WHO data, far fewer people have died from H1N1 than any seasonal flu in the

past.

This graph from the CDC showing the " Pneumonia and

Influenza Mortality for 122 US Cities " also show that, so far, this year's

flu mortality is far below that of 2008.

 

Why are our

health officials recommending mass use of ineffective

drugs that carry a higher risk of

detrimental side effects than the

illness it is supposed to treat?

How

Does Swine Flu Compare to the Black Plague?

The

Orthomolecular Medicine News Service brings up yet another

interesting point of reference to put the swine flu vaccination program in its

place.

Did you know

that the plague, also

known as” The Black Death,” is still alive and kicking?

The plague was

one of the deadliest pandemics in history, killing an estimated 30-60 percent

of Europe's population in the mid-1300s (about

50 million people). The US

has seen some 400 cases of the plague since the 1950’s, and worldwide

there are some 2,000 cases, and hundreds of deaths, each year.

There’s

a vaccine for

the plague as well, and yet you’ve likely never heard of it.

Why?

If there are

constant outbreaks of the one of the deadliest diseases on the planet each

year, why aren’t health officials urging everyone to get vaccinated?

And even more

interestingly, why is there no plague epidemic?

This is one of

the most dangerous infectious diseases there is, yet despite worldwide occurrence,

it’s not spreading and killing like it used to anymore...

The Black

Death epidemic was clearly not wiped out by antibiotics or mass vaccination,

because neither existed at the time. If a vaccine was not required to quell a

deadly, infectious disease like the plague, why are you told that

vaccination is the ONLY way to stop a flu epidemic?

The answer is

that, just like the plague was quelled by the implementation of better

sanitation and nutrition, the flu – be it seasonal or H1N1 -- can be

vanquished by similar means.

How

to Protect Yourself against the Flu without Vaccination

 

Following

these simple guidelines will keep your immune system in optimal working order

so that you're far less likely to acquire the infection to begin with.

 

Optimize

your vitamin D levels. Optimizing

your vitamin D levels is one of the absolute best strategies for avoiding

infections of ALL kinds, including the flu. It is probably the single

most important and least expensive action you can take. I would STRONGLY

urge you to have your vitamin

D level monitored to confirm your levels are therapeutic at 50-70

ng/ml and done by a reliable vitamin D lab like Lab Corp. (If your lab

results are returned in nmol/L, simply divide by 2.5 to get ng/ml.)

Avoid

sugar and processed foods. Sugar decreases the function of your

immune system almost immediately, and as you likely know, a strong immune

system is key to fighting off viruses and other illness.

Get

enough rest. Just like it becomes harder for you to get

your daily tasks done if you're tired, if your body is overly fatigued it

will be harder for it to fight the flu.

Have

effective tools to address stress . We all face some

stress every day, but if stress becomes overwhelming then your body will

be less able to fight off the flu and other illness.

Exercise. When you exercise, you

increase your circulation and your blood flow throughout your body. The

components of your immune system are also better circulated, which means

your immune system has a better chance of finding an illness before it

spreads.

Take a Good

Source of Animal-Based Omega-3 Fats. Increase your intake

of healthy and essential fats like the omega-3 found in krill oil, which

is crucial for maintaining health. It is also vitally important to avoid

damaged omega-6 oils that are trans fats and in processed foods as it will

seriously damage your immune response.

Wash

Your Hands. Washing your hands will decrease your

likelihood of spreading a virus to your nose, mouth or other people. Be

sure you don't use antibacterial soap for this -- antibacterial soaps are

completely unnecessary, and they cause far more harm than good. Instead,

identify a simple chemical-free soap that you can switch your family to.

Use Natural Antibiotics, such as oil

of oregano, and garlic.

These work like broad-spectrum antibiotics against bacteria, viruses, and

protozoa in your body. And unlike pharmaceutical antibiotics, they do not

appear to lead to resistance.

Avoid Hospitals and Vaccines. Hospitals are prime

breeding grounds for infections of all kinds, and could be one of the likeliest places you could be

exposed to infectious diseases like the flu. Keep in mind that virtually

all vaccinations will LOWER your immune system, NOT make it stronger!