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Prescription Medication Overuse.

Americans spend about $300 billion a year on legal drugs. Not millions but billions a year. Pharmaceutical companies probably love these numbers. I am wondering how much people are spending on illegal drugs in this country. Most likely it would easily support the economy of a small country or California State budget deficit which is now over $25 billion.

What is surprising that majority of the revenue does not come from research or scientific data but from advertising campaigns. Many patients come to see Medical Doctor and already know what kind of drug they want for their particular health problem. Why do we need Doctors then? Watch TV advertising of the particular drug and take it till you drop dead or may be fixing the health problem. Well pharmaceutical companies need Medical Doctors for one simple reason so they can prescribe medications to the masses. Only small percentage of general practitioners actually treats the body as a whole.

One of the studies from New England Journal of Medicine provides facts that doctors and hospitals spend a lot of money to treat patients who have Medicare. There is no correlation on how much or little they spend on a particular patient. The study has found that in areas with higher per-capita medical spending, patients were more likely to receive “riskier” (and presumably higher-priced) drugs.

Another study from the same journal found that low Medicare reimbursement for certain drugs change the doctor’s mind about prescribing those drugs. What is interesting when reimbursement rates were higher, doctors were more likely to prescribe – and they were doing inappropriately or unnecessary.

It is a known fact that pharmaceutical companies make billions every year on selling drugs to a public. As population of the world is increasing so is the revenues of these companies will increase in the coming years. These companies spend more on advertising than on research for finding more effective drugs. Health care costs and medication side effects skyrocket as we become a nation of pill-poppers. Certainly not how Thomas Edison envisioned it – “The doctor of the future will give no medicine….” Do not be shy to ask your Primary Care Physician intelligent questions about your treatment options and the kind medications he or she will prescribe to you.

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Children in the USA becoming more and more drug dependent – I am talking about the legal kind of drugs. Pediatricians and Medical practitioners are prescribing drugs for different childhood conditions more then ever before. Many of these prescriptions have no positive effect on a condition that a child might have. Many conditions could have been resolved without any involvement of prescription medication and treated naturally. The truth is that there is a big pharmacological industry that has relationship with doctors who prescribe those medications. Yes, it is money driven medicine. The more medications pushed to a consumer the larger the compensation. Many of these drugs are not even safe to take, for a simple reason that there is not enough research done. No one wants a child to be a guinea pig to find out weather a particular drug works or not.

Chiropractic care is a natural and safe way for many pediatric conditions. You can always load your child with drugs which in most cases will only treat the symptom but not the cause. Chiropractic care allows the body to heal itself naturally. That means using conservative treatment options such as nutrition, diet, lifestyle changes and chiropractic adjustments first, rather than medications:

FACTS ABOUT DRUG CONSUMPTION IN USA BY CHILDREN:

ADHD drugs:

24.357 million

Children 0-9 years: 7.018 million

Children 10-19 years: 17.339 million

Antidepressants:

9.614 million

Children 0-9 years: 1.026 million

Children 10-19 years: 8.588 million

Antipsychotics:

6.546 million

Children 0-9 years: 1.396 million

Children 10-19 years: 5.150 million

Antihypertensives (treatment for high blood pressure):

5.224 million

Children 0-9 years: 1.819 million

Children 10-19 years: 3.405 million

Asthma Drugs:

45.388 million

Children 0-9 years: 28.252 million

Children 10-19 years: 17.136 million

Sleep Aids:

307,000

Children 0-9 years: 14,000

Children 10-19 years: 293,000

Statins (treatment for high cholesterol):

94,000

Children 0-9 years: 11,000

Children 10-19 years: 83,000

Non-insulin-dependent (type2) diabetes

424,000

Children 0-9 years: 30,000

Children 10-19 years: 394,000

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