Discovering how harmfull most prescribed chemicles are how do you live with yourself?

CourtneyLR · May 7, 2011

Make sure the studies you are reading contain all the relevant information; many of the deaths you speak of may have occurred due to 1 - exceeding the recommended dosage, 2 - unexpected allergic response to one or other of the components of the substance (this is why information regarding food allergies is so important while obtaining a patient's history; eg the patient may be allergic to egg white or soya products, fail to disclose and subsequently experience an allergic reaction intra-operatively after being administered propofol) 3 - using medications that were not prescribed for you and 4 - those tragic incidents where kiddies got hold of mom's or granny's meds.

This.

I am actually not surprised that prescription medication kills more people than street drugs. More people use prescription medication, and unfortunately accidents and interactions do happen. Everyone I know personally who has died of a drug overdose did so by either abusing a prescribed medication, abusing a street-bought prescription medication not prescribed to them, or by mixing prescribed medication and alcohol. Also, I wonder if this statistic includes people who have committed suicide using a prescription drug. These types of things, along with those mentioned in the quoted post above, are human error and the healthcare industry as a whole cannot fairly be blamed.

Clearly, I'm not contesting that prescription drugs are dangerous. They are. But they also have therapeutic value, extending lifespan and improving quality of life. You might feel better if you looked up the number of lives that are saved by prescription drugs- if such a statistic is out there.

If you think my asking "how do you live with yourselves is rude and demeaning then you did not read my post correctly. The prerequisite for that question was clearly "Discovering how harmful most prescribed chemicals are..."
Please let put your egos away before responding to this post people! I am obviously not attacking you but posing a question for you to pretend to answer....from my perspective. So far only 2 commenter's saw that. There is no reason to become offended unless you have feelings buried...dig them up!

I'm sorry, but if that poster feels your statement was rude and demeaning, he/she is entitled to that opinion. It doesn't mean he/she misunderstood or feels attacked. You are addressing a group of people who have devoted their lives to caring for patients, sometimes with a physical or emotional cost to themselves. If I had to guess, I would say this is probably how they live with themselves despite the fact that some of the life-saving drugs they administer do have harmful side effects. I can understand how some people might interpret your statement as belittling the other care nurses give by focusing on the negative aspects of prescription drugs.

As for what you should do...you obviously became interested in nursing for a reason, so you should focus on that to keep you motivated despite this setback. No industry is perfect. Focus on continuing down your current path, and also continuing to educate yourself on this issue. I would strongly suggest researching different perspectives, so that you have all available information on the subject at your disposal and you can make an informed decision for yourself.

Chin up · May 7, 2011

I agree with quite a bit, but like others have written, there is good too. My peeve, doctors who write narcotic prescriptions, when there is no need. Some for money, will give you any prescription you want. They are pushers and deserve to be proscecuted. Thank God, the majority are not like this, and in some cases, being so fearful, they fail to write scripts, to avoid addiction. We are making progress in this area, from just a decade ago, pain management has changed considerably. The newer guidelines help the ones who need it, get it, and those doctor shoppers are having a harder and harder time obtaining.

When I opened your post, I thought I was going to read about food. I think the amount of pesticides and hormones in food, are obscene. My daughter is a vegan, her food cost me three times the amount of regular food. Organic, no dyes or animal by products of any kind. Of course, no hormones and pesticides. I think the public should be outraged at what they are doing to our food supply. The treatment of animals, giving them feed, they were never meant to ingest, shooting them up with hormones, so they get fatter, faster and drenching our fruits and vegetables, with chemicals of all kinds. This is my worry, right now. People have to eat and should not have to worry about being poisoned. Myself, I hate the cost of buying organic, but will as it is too important to me and my family. That is how I will take action on this issue. Others, are fighting in other ways. Pick your poison, then do what you can, to make change. Peace!

llg, PhD, RN · May 7, 2011

If it goes against your moral judgment to participate in a job that includes the administration of medications ... find another job. No one is forcing you to be a nurse, or to take any particular kind of job within nursing. We each have to do "what we can live with."

Yes, sure, medications are dangerous if used incorrectly. So are cars ... baseball bats ... and all sharp objects. Those of us who use them have a resoponsibility to use them as safely as we can. We do the best we can. If you are not comfortable with that responsibility in relation to medications ... then take that into consideration as you make your personal career choices.

Personally, I'd be in pretty bad shape without my Synthroid, Blood Pressure meds, and a few others. I'm grateful that I live in a timeand place where these potentially dangerous chemicals are available. In years past, someone with my conditions would either be dead at my age or facing a short and grim future.

Mike A. Fungin RN · May 7, 2011

OP, as a nursing student you're hopefully taught to maintain a healthy level of skepticism and know where your statistics are coming from.

The 130,000 number you quote isn't from a peer reviewed research article as many posters are assuming. It's from a subscription-based newsletter published by Dr. Julian Whitaker. I'll stop short of calling him a "dubious character" and suggest you research him and draw your own conclusion.

morte, LPN, LVN · May 7, 2011

I was taught in sociology, years ago, that a major part of the extension of life expectancy was from hygiene, not medicine.....and without vaccines evolution would have proceded the way it was intended, and at least some of those diseases were limited by quarantine.

2ndyearstudent, CNA · May 7, 2011

I am a third year nursing student who is out of school for the summer. After watchingthe documentary Food Matters, I have discovered and have been busy researching Orthomolecular medicine.Did you know each year, doctor-prescribed drugs kill more Americans than street drugs. Drug Abuse Warning Network statistics indicate less than 10,000 deaths annually from illegal drugs. 130,000 Americans actually die in hospitals each year from prescription medication. (Whitaker, J. in Health and Healing, September 1993 Supplement, Phillips Publishing, page 3). I am becoming a nurse to help and nurture people, how can I go into an industry polluted with greed and lies? If America was healthy who would pay? What do I dooooo!!!!

Be careful, there is another commonly used chemical that kills thousands of people a year. It can cause pneumonia, suffocation, spread disease, is toxic by itself without secondary causes and has many other known dangerous mechanisms of action.

It is everywhere and corporations have even started bottling this known toxin and selling it in shiny single and multidose bottles. The more expensive non-prescription concotions using this chemical are known to cause diabetes, liver disease, and pancreatitis. Further, many of the poisons you describe above are mixed with this KNOWN KILLER.

It is dihydrogen monoxide. Be on the lookout.

http://www.dhmo.org/facts.html

mindlor · May 7, 2011

These documentaries are generally very skewed and highly edited to support only one side of an argument. I would encourage all of us to view such things through a highly skeptical lens and to accept nothing at face value....

Any doctor or pharmacist will tell you straight up that the purpose of medicine is to do more good than harm. Sometimes doctors make mistakes and that is why nurses study pharmacology. We are a line of defense. You catch a bad order and handle it well and I promise you the doctor will love you forever...

ckh23, BSN, RN · May 7, 2011

The issue I have is the source you are quoting for your statistics is 18 years old. It might be more convincing to find statistics and references that are more update. A lot can change in 20 years, especially in medicine.

2ndyearstudent, CNA · May 7, 2011

That's really nice of you to say considering that this post is part of a thinking process. Would have been nice if you had added something helpful but thanks for the dash of negativity to balance the scales.

When you begin conversation with a strawman that includes the phrase, "..how do you live with yourself?" you pretty much forfeit the opportunity to respond as above.

The problem you are going to run into with your sources and your tone is you sound exactly like the wingnuts who claim the US never landed on the moon, that the US government is the real perpetrator of 9/11, that vaccines cause autism... on and on.

This type of thinking is so pervasive that many people who run into it over and over again tire of trying to explain certain concepts to you. Mostly because the answer you give always includes some boogyman like "The US Govt" or "Big Pharma".

By your third year, you should have had a good deal of experience identifying reliable sources and gathering and presenting evidence based, peer reviewed data in a coherent form.

So do that. But don't try to act all innocent when people call you out for using crappy sources, thinking and communication.

ChristineN, BSN, RN · May 7, 2011

I am a third year nursing student who is out of school for the summer. After watchingthe documentary Food Matters, I have discovered and have been busy researching Orthomolecular medicine.Did you know each year, doctor-prescribed drugs kill more Americans than street drugs. Drug Abuse Warning Network statistics indicate less than 10,000 deaths annually from illegal drugs. 130,000 Americans actually die in hospitals each year from prescription medication. (Whitaker, J. in Health and Healing, September 1993 Supplement, Phillips Publishing, page 3). I am becoming a nurse to help and nurture people, how can I go into an industry polluted with greed and lies? If America was healthy who would pay? What do I dooooo!!!!

Sure the Pharmacutical industry is run by greed and I know we could all sit here and tell of many many cases of drugs being overpriced/underproduced all for the sake of the all mighty dollar. However there is no herbal substitute for things like Insulin, Synthroid, or Digoxin. You know, prior to the 1920's when insulin was discovered being diagnosed as diabetic was an automatic death sentence as we had no real way to treat it.

Drugs can hurt people. Especially if the pt is already in liver or renal failure. However, sometimes, despite knowing that the drugs could push the pt into full blown organ failure, we have to weigh the benefits of if the drugs work, and sometimes we take that chance.

NurseLoveJoy88, ASN, RN · May 7, 2011

I do understand where the OP is coming from specifically in the LTC setting. I get so furious when I see an 90 y/o resident on 20 different pills a day and sometimes per med pass. Most of these med are nephrotoxic and hepatic toxic and some have really bad side effects. Then we wonder while the resident is resistant to anti-biotics or why a resident dies from kidney failure. I for one refuse to wake a resident up at 12 am for a tylenol or calicum carb. I know I'm getting off topic but yes I do agree that sometimes patients are over medicated and that may cause fatalities. How do I live with myself? I can live with myself because I know that many medications' benefits outweigh the risks.

Junebugfairy · May 7, 2011

at the young age of 25 i was diagnosed with hypertension. my mother, like myself, also was hypertensive in her mid 20's, but at that time they rarely treated young healthy adults for hypertension.

my mother now has kidney damage, but i am determined not to end up with kidney damage. this is thanks to treatment for hypertension.

when you look at me, you would never know that i have hypertension. i am 5'6, 125 lbs. i do 1 hour of cardio each day, as well as weights 4 times per week. looking at my body you would assume that i am 100% healthy, but my body holds a secret, for some reason i have high blood pressure. it's genetic, apparently.

25 and my bp was 160/120, not good.

i do not eat lunch meats, salt my food, or eat salty foods. this is in part due to my diligence in not wanting to face hbp, not wanting to face kidney damage and reduced quality of life.

i take dyazide. my bp is now 110/70. my risk for heart attack and stroke are reduced, and my risks for kidney damage as well.

this "chemical" will save me from a lifetime of complications which hbp would create, had i not been treated.

as nurses we should encourage an overall healthy lifestyle, while realizing that we do not 100% know why people like me have hbp... without knowing why certain people have hyperlipidemia even though they change their diet, exercise, etc.

some things we just do not know.

i am glad those "chemicals" exist.