American Drug Mafia?!

Well, yes. This mafia is run by the multi billion dollar drug industry in America!

Every time a person visits a doctor in America with a psychological problem – stress, depression or related condition, the doctor does not take enough time to understand the root cause. Root cause analysis takes time and time costs money. What the person actually needs might be elimination of the cause of the psychological disturbance. For instance, the depression might be due to loss of a pet, loss of a job, or say stress at work, etc. There are also persons who are MISLEAD by the ads from these drug companies and INSIST on their doctors to prescribe certain drugs!!

What the person really needs in the above case is Yoga, exercises, a trip into the woods, a vacation, etc. Instead the doctors reduce the entire problem to a simplistic chemical imbalance in the body!! They tell the person that he/she is depressed due to a lack of chemical called serotonin in the body and hence recommends an anti depressant which basically adds serotonin into your body and booooooom.. your good moods are back like a magic wand!!!

Well, being somebody who knows how complicated human body is and the way a true medicinal system like ayurveda works, I can only laugh at the knowledge of those doctors and pity those patients who are being converted into drug addicts. one in every six americans is on anti depressants!!! For a population of 300 million in USA, 150 million prescriptions have been given for anti depressants.

Pharmaceutical drug industry is worth 250$ billion worldwide of which 1/3 is from USA itself!! In other words every third human in the world who takes these drugs is from USA while only one out of every 20 humans in this world is from USA!! On the contrary, one out of every 6 humans in the world is from India, but only one out of every 250 humans who takes these drugs is from India! (India accounts for only 1% of global pharmaceutical drug sales)

Let me tell you, these drug companies are minting money by manufacturing drugs which only hide the effect and do nothing about the cause. Our body is not just a chemical factory where you see a problem and attribute it to an increase or decrease in some chemical and then remove/add it accordingly and lo, the problem is gone. Definitely life forms are not that simple. We are much more than chemical combinations.

It is true that giving serotonin might remove depression in some people for some time. But then is that the right way to treat depression? Why did the body reduce its serotonin level? Did it go mad? A healthy body does everything in response to internal and external conditions. In this case, the body sees that there is a cause to be depressed and probably reduced serotonin level is used to indicate the same to the emotional part of the brain. So what should be the solution? To analyze the cause which caused the reduction would be the right answer. Not artificially increasing serotonin and hiding the cause from the brain.

Artificial intake of serotonin would be like drinking coffee to use caffeine in it to avoid sleep. Adenosine tells the brain that we are sleepy. Caffeine blocks this adenosine and prevents sleep. But does this mean that the body doesnt need sleep???

I have always disliked this stupid approach of western medicinal systems. It simply hides the effects than treating the cause. Which is why I consider ancient Indian systems like Ayurveda and Yoga as the true medicinal systems. They NEVER hide the effects. You will never find a pain killer in Ayurveda. Instead they strengthen your body to overcome the odds and illness. It may take time, but it definitely helps and strengthens your body and mind. Western medicines make you lifetime dependent on drugs. These drug companies never attempt to treat the cause. Why would they want to remove all your illness and bring down the sales of their drugs??

Note that there have been researches where doctors have given mere simpe water to patients saying that its medicine, and the patients have got cured. What worked in this case was the trust! The patients trusted what doctors gave, and their body responded accordingly!

In a recent study by FDA, Anti Depressants were found to actually increase depression, homicidal thoughts, withdrawal symptoms in many people who take it. Only 1 out of 10 was found to be really responsive in a positive manner to anti depressants. It has been found that many recent maniac killers and homicides in US were on anti depressants for a long time. It is so foolish to think that you artificially add a chemical to your body, and it goes on well on its purpose of removing depression without having any kind of side effects on other functions of the body. Our body is not a set of independent chemical reactions where you alter one and nothing else gets affected. One doesn’t need a medical post graduation to understand this, common sense will do.

Its amazing to see the thriving sales of anti depressants in America. An entire country is being converted into drug dependents! Paxil, Prozac, Zoloft, Luvox, Celexa, Wellbutrin, Effexor, Serzone, Remeron… so many of them! They are even prescribed to children!! A child gets depressed due to getting a low grade in school, or for losing a competition or for any other reason, and lo, the doctor prescribes an anti depressant!! Note that of the all mentioned anti depressants, ONLY prozac has been approved by FDA for use in children!

If you have a fracture, well, there are pain killers. Ibuprofen, Paracetamol, Diclofenac and what not… They dont treat your bone fracture or muscle cramp or back pain. They just prevent those pain signals from reaching your brain!

Do you think nature is so foolish to have those pain signals generated when there is a bone fracture for instance? These signals are generated with a purpose. They tell the brain cells what is wrong and where. Brain in turn being the controller of the body activates required organs and cells which now participate in the repair process. It also ensures that your concentration gets to the affected part and you take appropriate action like covering the part from further damage, etc. In case of a fracture or cramp for instance it ensures that you dont move the affected part till the damage control is done. This prevents more damage to that part.

Pain killers simply hijack the entire natural process. If you go to an ayurvedic doctor, he will never give you a pain killer. Instead he will prescribe medication that assists your body in healing the fracture/cramp even faster. That is what I call real medical science.

Sportsmen for instance when injured, go on pain killers and continue to play!! Nothing is more dangerous than that. You already have an injured part which is more vulnerable even to minor blows and you continue to play as if nothing has happened!! Which is why many of them end up with life long problems and n number of surgeries.

Greedy drug companies and stupid doctors offer people 2 minute solutions that are foolish and dangerous and in no way can be called as real treatment, as an alternative for a natural process which is longer but definitely more concrete, reliable and a real treatment of the problem.

Remember that the best doctor for your body is the body itself. It exactly knows what to do and how to do. To fasten the process all it needs is mere assistance and that is what a true medicinal system should provide. Giving false signals to the body is like cheating the doctor in your body, and you end up paying adequately for it.

Another instance is that of Anti Histamines. Histamines are the neuro transmitters in our body which carry information about sites of infection to the brain. Some people are allergic to some substances and even this causes an increase in the amount of histamines in your body. And your doctor ends up giving you a dose of anti histamines in the form of tablets or an IV. What do anti histamines do? Well, they simply bring down the level of histamine in your body and you end up thinking that allergy is gone!!!

Can there be any more foolish treatment than this. Anti Histamines should be given only if you reach a level where you could probably get a stroke, which is a worst case scenario. If your body is allergic to some substance and produces histamines, then there should be a reason to it. The actual treatment would be to identify that substance and avoid contact with it or intake (if it is a food item) in the future. Not asking your body to shut up by taking anti-histamines.

My sincere advice to all those americans who go to general physicians to find a solution to their mental conditions is, please go to a good psychiatrist instead. If for instance you are feeling lazy or less energetic, the psychiatrist will give you tips on how to be more active. where as the general physician will reduce it to a lack of some chemical in your body and convert you into a drug addict forever!

Thank God once again. Another reason to feel proud to be in India. Till today I haven’t heard about a single person taking anti depressants in India. In India, one can count on his/her fingers the number of times one gets depressed in his/her lifetime, and if at all depressed, we have family and friends to rely on, yoga and meditation, there is lot of fun and hope around, spiritual capital of the world….

I love India!