Taking Control of Your Health

In the Western world, medicine is not what it purports to be. Although most people place great faith in a general practitioner to monitor their health, in reality doctors are very similar to sales associates in many ways. Although many well-meaning people set out to become medical doctors because they truly desire to help people, the medical model currently in use in the United States makes this extremely difficult. Pharmaceutical companies and insurance companies are the giant hulking trolls that require payment for passage across every bridge that leads from illness to good health. Doctors merely do the bidding of these powerful entities, selling drugs and surgeries or new “procedures” that promise to restore perfect health if you can afford to pay for it. The reality, however, is that there are many naturally occurring substances that we have been scared away from because of the FDA's intimate (but very discreet) involvement in the daily activities at major pharmaceutical companies. As an example, many women may feel weird about the idea of taking bio-identical hormones to help lessen the effects of menopause symptoms, having a vague idea that they are risky or dangerous. The source of this discomfort is not always clear. The reason why women feel like shying away from bio-identicals is because major pharmaceutical companies and the FDA don't want consumers to know that they can help relieve menopause symptoms. Instead, they want to herd menopausal consumers towards the synthetic hormones produced and patented by those same pharmaceutical companies, regardless of the health dangers. Discrediting bio-identical hormones makes synthetic hormones look more palatable and ironically less scary. Most doctors honestly don't know the difference and so people are left to figure it out on their own and take their physical health into their own hands. A wealth of herbal remedies also exist that can help people get over simple colds and infections. Antibiotics, also manufactured by drug companies to make a profit, often mimic the chemical structure of herbs with just enough of a difference in the chemical formula or structure to make them patentable. Unfortunately, these slight differences in the chemical structure and formula of antibiotics and synthetic hormones have a profound effect on the way the body responds to them. Antibiotics may help you get over a chronic sinus infection, but they may also destroy good bacteria that your body needs to fight infection, causing you to get a much more serious fungal infection. Herbal concoctions are not typically as harsh as antibiotics. Unlike prescription drugs, no one stands to make much money a fortune by selling you herbal remedies. You usually know exactly what you're getting when you buy herbs, whereas with newly developed antibiotics, you may be purchasing drugs that have barely been tested in the general population and come with some very serious side effects. The medical field in the United States is way too similar to going car shopping or heading to an electronics store. Doctors have free samples, clocks and pens and all sorts of little financial cues reminding them to “sell” you on different “popular” drugs. Though your doctor may be a well-meaning, good-intentioned human being, they were indoctrinated (no pun intended) from the very beginning of their studies into the Medical Machine in our country. People need to take responsibility for their own healthcare. Buying good health is not like purchasing a car or new TV. When you're sick, you don't feel like shopping around for the right remedy. People go to the doctor because when they aren't well, they need someone who cares, not a salesperson who merely sees an opportunity to sell a sick person good health. The fact is, the person who cares about you has to be you. Taking your health into your own hands is the only way to know that you're getting what you need to restore balance to your body. The more people take responsibility for their own health, the less powerful the pharmaceutical and insurance trolls become.