Death by Medicine/Most Astonishing Health Disaster of The 20th Century

[www.lef.org]

[www.youtube.com]

Thanks Erling - I'm glad you brought this LEF article up again. It was stunning when published in 2006. It's a must-read.

The well-done, dramatic reminder in the video clip is a must-view for every reader. I hope readers play and forward the links to all their family and friends. Critically important.

Jackie

Thanks for the good comments, Jackie -

As with the "statin horror show", which is just a slice of this "Big Health-Care/BiG Pharma/Big Politics/FDA complex" horror show, these facts can not be shouted too loud or too often. Too bad if it might offend someone's sensibilities:

"As few as 5% and no more than 20% of iatrogenic events are ever reported.[25,27-30] This implies that if medical errors were completely and accurately reported, we would have an annual iatrogenic death toll much higher than 783,936. In 1994, Leape said his figure of 180,000 medical mistakes resulting in death annually was equivalent to three jumbo-jet crashes every two days.[25] Our considerably higher figure is equivalent to six jumbo jets falling out of the sky each day."

Erling

I would say that we have a lot of very bad doctors, they don't take the time with their patients, they always think they are right. My father died in the 1930s, he had a goiter, Graves disease, my mother said that the doctors operated on him and he seemed fine then she was called back to the hospital to find him chocking, evidently there was swelling and it shut off his airways and he died, I was only an infant. Seems like they should have known, even then, to perform a trach.

Fast forward:

I raised my stepson and when he was about 25, he had an excurciating headache, his wife took him to the hospital, they weren't really sure if it was a tumor or a cyst and he was transferred to Ann Arbor, U of M hospital. He had been given anti-biotics and he seemed to be improving, but the doctors believed that he had a tumor and operated, it was a cyst, and it drained throughout his body and killed him.

So, it isn't just the drugs that are given, it is the bad judgment and the lousy doctors that are practicing, there are good ones but you have to seek them out. I have found a pretty good doc. in my home town, he believes in vitamins and also the green pharmacies bounty, he studied with Andrew Weil for about 4 months, a long time ago, he said he was considered a kook as was Dr. Weil.

Liz

Expanding a bit on this topic.....

It’s difficult to fully comprehend the numbers of equivalent people from “ six jumbo jets falling daily out of the sky”in the quote Erling brought forth from Death by Medicine and it’s extremely alarming that a Harvard-educated MD would be offering such deadly mis-advice on Coenzyme Q10. (1, 2)

It’s also tragic to consider the 3 million needless cancer deaths (this is 112,000 Americans over 27 years) because it is illegal to promote aspirin as a cancer preventive. Along with that, the FDA dilutes what can be said about the effects of aspirin reducing heart attacks.

The current issue of Life Extension magazine (May 2011) has on the cover an aspirin tablet and the words...Three million needless cancer deaths - Courtesy of the FDA.
The introduction:
“Back in 1983, Life Extension strongly advised aging people to take aspirin each day. The FDA responded by threatening criminal charges. A new Oxford University analysis conclusively shows that low-dose aspirin slashes overall cancer death risk by 20%. The result of FDA censorship is that millions of Americans died needlessly of cancer and vascular diseases.” (3)

•This article goes on to report that researchers found low-dose aspirin therapy reduces risk of cancer death by 20% and colorectal cancer death risk by nearly 40%.
•The cancer-preventive benefit increases with age, especially effective for those over 55
•The cancer-fighting power increases with time, requiring a minimum of 5 years for benefits to manifest and reaching peak power at 10 years.
•Aspirin works by beneficially modulating or suppressing the activity of the pro-inflammatory enzyme cycllooxygenase (Cox 2)… you’ve all heard of prescription….Cox 2 inhibitors…
•They observe that there is a low side effect risk and recommend natural interventions to minimize aspirin’s potential side effects… including zinc carnosine as polaprezinc and extracts of cranberry and licorice.
•Drug companies are already developing pharmacologically similar drugs…no more effective than aspirin and (of course) far more costly than aspirin… and more dangerous than Cox-2 inhibitors. (excerpts from page 53 of the LEF article)

During the requisite colonoscopy, it’s not uncommon for polyps to be discovered. My initial scope 25 years ago, detected two polyps – one was adenomatous, which were removed and on the return checkback a year later, another removed. Never once did the GI MD recommend that I use aspirin as a preventive. Yet… according to this LEF article, in people with adenomatous polyps, aspirin therapy reduces the risk of recurrence. (3)

In another segment, the article refers to the war between the FDA and LEF (for promoting aspirin use as a preventive)… they note…”It took the FDA 15 years to acknowledge what was clearly established in 1983 about aspirin’s ability to reduce heart attack risk. To this day, the FDA continues to censor what aspirin manufacturers are permitted to say about it’s effects in reducing cardiac and ischemic stroke events.”

“While preparing the article, LEF found studies indicating anti-cancer mechanisms for aspirin dating back to 1972 with significant data published in 1991. LEF concludes this failure of the FDA to allow widespread promotion of low-dose aspirin for prevention has clearly resulted in millions of premature deaths.”


Then as an interesting and refreshing contrast:

An article offered by the Editorial Review Board of Orthomolecular Medicine,
“No Deaths from Vitamins, Minerals, Amino Acids or Herbs…. Poison Control Statistics Prove Supplements’ Safety.
(Townsend Letter April 2010) (4)

“There was not even one death caused by a dietary supplement in 2008, according to the most recent information collected by the US National Poison Data System (NPDS). The new 174-page annual report of The American Association of Poison Control Centers, published in the journal “Clinical Toxicology”, shows zero deaths from multiple vitamins, zero deaths from any of the B vitamins; zero deaths from vitamins A, C, D or E and zero deaths from any other vitamin.”

The report continues… No deaths from:
•Any amino acid or herbal product… meaning bluecosh, Echinacea, ginkgo biloba, ginseng, kava kava, St. John’s wort, Valerian, yohimbe, Asian medicine, Ayurvedic medicines or any other botanical
•Zero deaths from creatine, blue-green algae, glucosamine, chondroitin, melatonin or any homeopathic remedies
•Zero deaths in 2008 from any dietary mineral supplement…. Including calcium, magnesium, chromium, zinc, colloidal silver, selenium, iron or multiminerals

They did acknowledge that two children died as a result of medical use of the antacid sodium bicarbonate and in the Other Electrolyte and Mineral category a death was due to a man’s accidentally drinking sodium hydroxide, a highly toxic degreaser and drain opener.

“No man, woman or child died from nutritional supplements. Period.”

Sixty-one poison centers provide the NPDS cost-to-coast days which is then reviewed by 28 medical and clinical toxicologists.

The report says: "Over half the US population takes daily nutritional supplements. Even if each of those people took only one single tablet daily, that makes 154,000,000 individual doses per day for a total of over 56 billion doses annually. Since many people take more than just one vitamin or mineral table, actual consumption is obviously, considerably higher…and the safety of nutritional supplements is all the more remarkable."

Conclusion: “ If nutritional supplements are allegedly so “dangerous” as the FDA and news medial so often claim… then where are the bodies?”

Those who wonder if the media are biased against vitamins may consider this: How many television stations, newspapers, magazines and medical journals have reported that no one dies from nutritional supplements?”



A year ago in Townsend (April 2010) in his “Review of the Literature” column, Contributing Medical Editor, Alan R. Gaby, MD, offered an observation based on his extensive medical career in response to an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal written by the President and CEO of the Association of American Medical Colleges, who said the current shortage of physicians would grow substantially worse as the population ages and as the health-care bill expands coverage to 30 million more Americans. The CEO’s solution was for medical schools to increase class size and for the US government to increase funding to support new residency training programs.(5)

Dr. Gaby’s response was to recall a case history of an 11-year old boy who was being treated by a rheumatologist for rheumatoid arthritis, a gasteroenterologist for severe abdominal pain and a neurologist for daily migraines. Dr. Gaby’s initial observation was that each condition could be caused by a food allergy and advised this boy to follow a rotation diet followed by individual food challenges. It was found he was allergic to corn and when all corn products were eliminated, the boy became symptom free and no longer needed the three specialists.

Dr. Gaby’s work with countless other patients seeing multiple doctors for multiple symptoms and has found in many cases, the symptoms are successfully treated with ‘natural medicine” approaches such as dietary modifications nutritional supplements or low doses of thyroid hormones which resulted in the reduction of seeing multiple specialists and reduced greatly the need for patients to receive ongoing care.

He concludes “One might reasonable argue (with no disrespect intended) that we do not have a doctor shortage, but rather a shortage of doctors who know how to get people well.”

Jackie


References:

(1)"As few as 5% and no more than 20% of iatrogenic events are ever reported.[25,27-30] This implies that if medical errors were completely and accurately reported, we would have an annual iatrogenic death toll much higher than 783,936. In 1994, Leape said his figure of 180,000 medical mistakes resulting in death annually was equivalent to three jumbo-jet crashes every two days.[25] Our considerably higher figure is equivalent to six jumbo jets falling out of the sky each day."

These are the guys that through their "practice" of pretended medical expertise kill the equivalent of 6 jumbo-jet loads of patients every single day. Don't believe it? That is the number you get by dividing yearly Deaths by Medicine (very conservatively 783,936) by 365 (= 2,148 deaths-by-medicine/day). Jumbo-jets carry ~350 passengers. Please get smart about what is paraded as "health care":
Death by Medicine
[www.afibbers.org]


(2) Response to Jeff in the “More on CoQ10” post, following are a couple more interesting observations.
<[www.afibbers.org]>
Here's a response to a question on CoQ10 I could not believe my eyes...!!!
Answer
Dear Barbara,

Cardiologists think CoQ10 is worthless. I wouldn't add it.
Statins may lower the level in the blood, but not in the heart where CoQ acts.

It's o.k. to try stopping the atenolol. Take 25 mg once a day for a week, then 12.5 once a day for a week, then stop. Watch your blood pressure a and pay attention to whether your sluggishness improves. If your blood pressure gets too hign, start the atenolol back at full dosage right away.

Please let me know if your sluggishness improves when you're off atenolol. I kind of doubt it. And of course write back any time you think I could help.

David Richardson (MD) from Harvard
[en.allexperts.com]


(3)Response to Jake on Lyme Disease, quoted from a recent Life Extension publication regarding aspirin use.
A thought about the FDA approval statement.)
FDA – aspirin.
<[www.afibbers.org]>

[www.lef.org]

Flossmann E. Rothhwell PM. Effects of aspirin on long-term risk of colorectal cancer: consistent evidence from randomized and observational studies. Lancet 2007 May 12: 369 (9573):1603-13.

(4) “No Deaths from Vitamins, Minerals, Amino Acids or Herbs…. Poison Control Statistics Prove Supplements’ Safety.
Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients – April 2010) page 16.
Subscrptions:www.townsendletter.com
Full article/Report from the NPDS [www.aapcc.org] See 1052-1053 and 1047-1048

(5) Kirch DG. How to Fix the Doctor Shortage. Wall Street Journal, January 5, 2010:A17

Jackie:

You most likely won't die from supplements but you can get very sick, I have, I was taking beta carrotene in one supplement for the eyes and I started getting aura migraines which progressed to daily, I finally figured it was the above supplement and stopped, so did my migraines.

I also took potassium supplements, due to all the glowing reports on this board, I got runs of afib in the daytime which I would never get as I am vagal, I stopped the potassium and the runs of afib stopped. Taking too much potassium can kill you, so that is one supplement that one could die from.

As you know I was taking Iodoral as a supplement for my thyroid, that supplement is also touted as being great for other parts of the body as well, Iodoral was prescribed by my holistic doctor, I got hives on my face this past winter, I itched terribly, (I thought it was due to the dry heat), I had some dizziness when I layed down at night and sometimes when I bent down and straighten up, since I stopped the Iodoral all the above symptoms have disappeared, so holistic docs can be wrong as well.

Also, a lot of supplements come from china and Japan, Coq10, natto, and nattokinase comes from Japan, who is having great problems with the aftermat of their nuclear power plant spewing radiation into the country, I dont think I would want those supplements now.

So, nothing is risk free, my holistic doctor told me that a very good friend of his died from cancer and he ate as near a perfect diet as one could, took supplements, yet he died at a young age.

You have also stated and I have read this as well in Dr. Moores book that in order for one to bring up their potassium levels they have to bring up their magnesium levels, well, my magnesium always tests out to be at the low end of the lab values, yet my potassium is around 4.5 to 4.7. Dr Moores book is always used as a reference, he doesn't recommend a paleo diet, as is recommended on this board, he says to eat beans, wheat, oats as a good dieatary foods for getting your potassium. He recommends getting your potassium from diet, seems like a lot of things posted are nit-picked to bolster ones argument.

I do agree with the general thesis that good food and supplements will benefit us more than the bad diets of the general public and the drugs that are always given. You have said in the above article that aspirin is helpful to avoid cancer, yet there have been articles on this board about the harmful effects of aspirin, confusing.

Liz

Liz - thanks for sharing your experiences. As we all know, there are exceptions and you certainly seem to be one that is not compatible with common supplements.

As for the nit-picking of information… I presume you mean ‘cherry picking’…Typically, we choose the technical information from those with the best credentials in that particular area…ie, Moore is both an MD and a biophysicist. His info is cutting edge for the functions of potassium (and sodium) and is why we quote him extensively as he ‘gets’ it where many others do not.

However, many physicians often add to a book some dietary tips that are typically not useful and often incorrect. We emphasize Paleo eating because we know that we don’t want to flirt with glucose handling issues ie, exaggerated insulin response, etc. I’ve never recommended Moore’s eating plan in any of my posts. These things are often added by publishers who like to ‘round out’ the book for more marketing appeal. My experience is they typically fall short and are confusing to readers.

In the grand scheme or plan for managing AF, you have to look at the whole picture and try to understand how it all fits together. The body is a symphony of working systems all (hopefully) functioning together for a harmonious result. When one system plays out of tune, disharmony results. That’s undoubtedly difficult for many readers who don’t have a health science background to fully comprehend.

It’s good that you recognize that Paleo eating excludes a common culprit (wheat) because gluten sensitivity is a huge problem for many unsuspecting people (including afibbers). Sadly, their treating physicians are also unsuspecting and are therefore not helpful. I’ll be doing a gangbusters report on gluten one of these days that will be an eye-opener-for many readers as it will continue to emphasize why Paleo eating is smart for everyone and not just afibbers. (Most doctors haven’t come to that level of understanding.)

I hope you will try to focus on the whole picture and not just the little details so you get the overall concept and the point of my post which adds to Erling’s original post.

Jackie

Hi Liz,

It's the cellular level of potassium that requires magnesium to be brought up, not the blood level.

Erling

Jackie:

You are and have always been a wealth of knowledge, and I thank you. It is my nature to question, I have learned through hard knocks to question and not accept everything said or written.

I understand that the body has to be in sync with all parts, however, that does not mean what is a great routine for you is great for me, that is the difficult part of afib. Most here take or can take potassium supplements, I cannot, a lot of people cannot eat gluten, it doesn't seem to bother me, although I don't eat a lot of gluten products and whatever I consume is whole wheat or rye.

I have read that when young people get afib it is usually genetic in nature, older people its probably due to some condition like high blood pressure or some heart problem, in my case my afib was caused by too much thyroid meds. I would certainly believe that keeping ones electrolytes, as is posted frequently on the board, in the best working order is paramount, still I think there is more to afib, there was no one more devoted to trying to find the key to afib than PC, yet in the end he opted for an ablation.

I sincerely appreciate all the due diligence and hard work of many here, I know I have been helped, so keep it coming.

Liz