Death by Conventional Medicine?

"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 autopsy is a way to determine the cause of death, but may not tell us whether the patient would have lived a little longer, or die a little healthier if a particular treatment wasn't administered. 

I am not a doctor and 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, neither is the importance of nutrition. A body is often understood as a machine that needs repairs.

Statistics are not very flattering to the medical profession. Too many patients die from unnecessary procedures, adverse drug reactions, medical errors, 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 extremely ignorant about their bodies and the origin of their disease. 

Wrong diagnose, diagnose for profit, wrong treatment, and overmedication are incredibly prevalent. 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 little medication or none at all, are very bad for business. But once a symptom is "decoded," a patient may become a gold mine. This is true in countries like the United States, where healthcare system still has to undergo necessary reforms; this 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 become one myself. Three years ago a company I enjoyed working 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 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 visit a doctor. I received a sample pack of a blood-pressure reducing drug. After a week my blood pressure went down a bit - clear sign that the drug was working. 

As much as I hate drugs, I agreed to take it till I felt better. I got my prescription and started taking the drug. It was not the same drug that I tried before, but a generic one. My doctor assured me that the drug was harmless and just as effective, and that he himself was taking it and had no problems with blood pressure whatsoever. Wouldn't you trust your doctor in such case? 

I put my skepticism on the shelf and started the medication. No more than one week later I developed horrible joint and muscle pain, as well as a rush all over my body. I could not walk, sit or lie down without pain. This happened so fast I could not believe my very eyes. Naturally, I went back to see my doctor. He refused to see my symptoms as a result of the medication he prescribed and suggested another drug for the pain I now suffered from. I did some research online and found out that the suggested drug would have possibly damaged my liver, but I would be spared the heart attack or stroke if I agreed to taking two drugs together. Oh, I also would have had to see a dermatologist to take care of the rush on my skin...

As far as I was concerned, this was it! I stopped the medication altogether, quit my job, and went on vacation. Within a few weeks only everything turned back to normal. I now know that if I did not do what I did, today I might have been on three, four or more drugs, one treating the negative side effects of the other. 

I have a neighbor who wasn't strong enough to say no to a doctor and is now, a few years into her treatment, unable to take care of herself and is using a walker if she walks at all. She trusted her doctor and accepted her rapid degeneration as a natural consequence of aging.

Another of my neighbors has an even more terrible story to tell. She underwent surgery for her stomach ulcer. After initial improvement she developed pain and her left side of the body, where the surgery was performed, swelled up enormously. Her doctor "diagnosed" a tumor, suggested biopsy and a possible cancer treatment. Horrified of cancer, the poor woman changed her lifestyle and nutrition, but as the pain and swelling grew, she had a feeling, an inkling, that there was some "thing" in her body that was causing this. After more than a year of suffering and countless visits to different doctors, including the surgeon who performed the ulcer surgery, only one doctor agreed to take her seriously. To everybody's horror they found out that the woman wasn't a hypochondriac. The enormous, tumor-like swelling was caused by a small surgical clamp that was left in her body by mistake or neglect during the ulcer surgery. 

When I hear stories like that, I 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. 

Just imagine, how many lives could be saved if people changed the way the eat. How many lives could be saved if people changed their lifestyles and understood their bodies a bit better?

Disease prevention is still largely a domain of alternative medicine. Nutrition, stress control, detoxification, fitness programs are often suggested 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 religion interferes with the will to survive. A visit to a doctor when she first noticed a growth in her breast might have saved her life.

The 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 therapies 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?

Technological progress and growing knowledge open 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. Chronic disease develops over many years, yet you can prevent it and, to some degree, even reverse the symptoms when you change your entire lifestyle. Ignorance probably kills more people than the medical profession ever will. 

Dominique Allmon

Dominique Allmon©2017

*This information is for educational purposes only. It is not meant to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

**Image: Origin unknown. Image credit unknown.

Also of interest:

• Table of Iatrogenic deaths in the United States. Article link here
• Death by “alternative” medicine: Who’s to blame? Article link here
• Johns Hopkins Study. Article link here
• Conventional Medicine Is the Leading Cause of Death. Article link here
• Death by Medicine. Article link here 

Do You Actually Know What You Are Eating?

Recent food scandals, disclosures, health food obsession, and curiosity, have brought many horror stories to light. It seems than not a week goes by without a new shocking story. Food sold in supermarkets as natural and healthy often is neither natural nor healthy, and the law seems to protect the food industry but not the hapless consumer, unless, of course, you are an organic farmer and have the burden to prove that your organic heirloom carrot will not kill anybody.

Obesity, cancer, diabetes, heart disease, autoimmune diseases, neurological disorders, food allergies, eating disorders, malnutrition, congenital disorders, to name only a few, are on the rise thanks to foods that have no true nutritional value, but pretend to be healthy, natural, and good for you. 

I am not even venturing here into the vast subject of organic, conventional, or GMO foods, but unless you grow, raise, forage, and produce your own food, you cannot always be sure what's on your plate. 

Inventiveness, progress, and greed are the culprits responsible for the miserable state of affairs. Everybody knows the "ersatz" foods like margarine and saccharine that were invented in times of extreme duress to provide people with substitutes for the most wanted daily staples like butter and sugar. Such fake foods might seem like a necessity during a time of war, but lose their attractiveness in time of peace and abundance, unless... Unless, of course, they are sold as good and even superior to the real stuff: butter will kill you, but margarine is so much better for you; sugar has calories, but saccharine, aspartame & Co are calorie free and even help you to stay skinny or lose weight you put on during holidays. And so on.

The success of science and the rise of chemical industry cannot be underestimated. Much money goes into research, but the profits are exorbitant. Many consumers are willing to accept a wide range of artificial flavors and coloring, often without questioning.

So why the fuss? Well, if it tastes like strawberry, it isn't necessarily a strawberry that you are tasting. A typical strawberry flavoring contains chemicals that have absolutely nothing to do with strawberries: 

• amyl acetate,
• amyl butyrate,
• amyl valerate,
• anethol,
• anisyl formate,
• benzyl acetate,
• benzyl isobutyrate,
• butyric acid,
• cinnamyl isobutyrate,
• cinnamyl valerate,
• cognac essential oil,
• diacetyl,
• dipropyl ketone,
• ethyl acetate,
• ethyl amyl ketone,
• ethyl butyrate,
• ethyl cinnamate,
• ethyl heptanoate,
• ethyl heptylate,
• ethyl lactate,
• ethyl methylphenylglycidate,
• ethyl nitrate,
• ethyl propionate,
• ethyl valerate,
• heliotropin,
• hydroxyphenyl-2-butanone (10 percent solution in alcohol),
• a-ionone,
• isobutyl anthranilate,
• isobutyl butyrate,
• lemon essential oil,
• maltol,
• 4-methylacetophenone,
• methyl anthranilate,
• methyl benzoate,
• methyl cinnamate,
• methyl heptine carbonate,
• methyl naphthyl ketone,
• methyl salicylate,
• mint essential oil,
• neroli essential oil,
• nerolin,
• neryl isobutyrate,
• orris butter,
• phenethyl alcohol,
• rose,
• rum ether,
• g-undecalactone,
• vanillin, and last, but not least,
• solvent. 

Is this all right with you? Wouldn't it be easier to simply use strawberries to flavor a cake or a milkshake, or any product for that matter? No, because strawberries are perishable and expensive, and not flavorful enough in tiny doses. Chemicals, on the other hand, can be standardized and measured out exactly to produce a constant flavor that sells well and lasts till the expiry date of a product, say, three or five years later. 

The same goes for the vanilla, caramel, or chocolate flavorings, and everything else that is manufactured and sold as food.

How about artificial crab meat so popular with sushi lovers? How about gel-injected shrimp from Asia? How about chicken that is only 51% meat? How about vegan sausage? How about sausage?! How about fake apple juice? How about fake honey? Scandal after scandal, disclosures revealed criminal practices. For some people such revelations come too late, others may still reconsider the way they eat and shop for food. 

Some of the food industry practices are criminal and must be prosecuted, but many of the secrets are perfectly legal. They are scandalous only because of the dubious ingredients like wood or human hair used to manufacture products sold as food. 

The food industry can really be proud of its achievements: food preservatives, flavor enhancers, emulsifiers, coloring, bleaches, and other additives that make a bunch of chemicals look and taste like food. That many people get sick or addicted to certain food products has to be proven first. The industry is very strong and has powerful lawyers. Much money goes into research. Much money goes into lobbying. Much money goes into advertisement. Some money probably goes into lawsuits and to hush the plaintiffs.

Ignorance kills, but how can you blame the overwhelmed consumer when the whole industry promotes unhealthy food products that are definitely not good for you, as something you must eat daily in order to look sexy, healthy, beautiful, and fit? 

Education is important, but habits die hard. For as long as a truly organic apple is more expensive than a fake chocolate, sugar loaded bar, the situation will remain unchanged.

By Dominique Allmon

Dominique Allmon@2017

Also of interest: 5 Food Industry Secrets They Don’t Want You To Know by Kim Johnson or 6 Food Industry Tricks You Don’t Know About by Dr. Mercola. To read the articles please click here and here.

*This information is for educational purposes only. It is not meant to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.