Drug misuse kills 200,000 Chinese a year

In the bustling corridors of Auckland City Hospital, staff rush from one patient to another, attending to their needs and juggling complex medication schedules. It’s an environment ripe for the occasional slip-up.

It is much worse than you would think. Up to 70 per cent of the medication histories of elderly patients admitted to Auckland City Hospital have omissions or errors. Though most mistakes were minor, a third of the discrepancies had the potential to cause discomfort or harm.

But this is nothing in comparison with 200,000 Chinese who die each year due to the drug misuse. Many Chinese know a lot about their bodies and often self-prescribe. While this practice seems to be very safe when they use herbal remedies, it appears to be very fatal when they play around with pharmaceutical drugs.

In an ever-evolving healthcare landscape, the possibility of human error remains a daunting challenge. As we strive to create a safer, more reliable system for managing medication, safe and effective natural therapies like acupuncture offer an avenue for wellness that minimises risk and promotes overall well-being. It offers a holistic, non-invasive approach to healthcare that bypasses many of the risks associated with traditional pharmacological treatments. It’s an age-old practice backed by an increasing body of evidence, demonstrating its effectiveness in treating conditions such as reproductive health disorders, mental/emotional balance, chronic pain, some digestive issues to name a few.

 

Pharmaceuticals cochrane collaboration

Acupuncture and The Power of Evidence: When Trustworthy Science Triumphs Over Big Pharma

Pharmaceuticals cochrane collaboration

 

In the world of medicine, money often speaks louder than words. The drug industry’s dollars seem to echo powerfully through the pages of leading medical journals. This unfortunate reality is underscored by Peter Gøtzsche, director of the Nordic Cochrane Centre in Copenhagen. He found that pharmaceutical companies funded reviews of drug studies are significantly more biased than reviews done without pharma support. Gøtzsche suggests ignoring any meta-analyses bankrolled by drug companies. But what about other sources of evidence-based medicine, such as the Cochrane Collaboration?

What is Cochrane Collaboration?

The Cochrane Collaboration is a collective of over 6,000 healthcare specialists who review biomedical trials and research findings. This group prides itself on operating independently from Big Pharma’s influence, relying instead on the passion and integrity of its individual members. As a result, it has earned a reputation as the most reliable source for evidence-based medicine.

Did Cochrane Collaboration review any controlled trials on acupuncture?

In recent years, the Cochrane Collaboration has taken on the challenge of reviewing controlled trials on acupuncture, an area often overlooked by pharmaceutical companies. Interestingly, these studies are far more likely to be unbiased, as typically they aren’t funded by drug manufacturers.

Cochrane’s investigations have found acupuncture to be effective for a range of conditions, including chronic lower back pain, idiopathic headaches, and pain management during labour. Moreover, pregnancy acupuncture has been shown to reduce the need for external cephalic version (ECV) for breech babies and decrease the use of oxytocin before and during labour. Additionally, acupuncture massage was found to be more effective than classic massage when treating patients with subacute and chronic non-specific low-back pain.

Reports from Cochrane on many other conditions treated by acupuncture conclude that acupuncture requires well funded large studies. We wish there was more money in acupuncture.

Please also note that controlled trials on acupuncture are not usually funded by pharmaceuticals and therefore are a lot more likely to be unbiased ;-.

Since the original post Professor Gotzsche published a few books, among them – Deadly Medicines and Organized Crime: How Big Pharma Has Corrupted Healthcare – PRESCRIPTION DRUGS ARE THE THIRD LEADING CAUSE OF DEATH AFTER HEART DISEASE AND CANCER.

And about psychiatric drugs “psychiatric drugs kill more than half a million people every year among those aged 65 and above in the United States and Europe”

Gøtzsche, a specialist in internal medicine, has co-founded the Cochrane Collaboration, established the Nordic Cochrane Centre, and published over 50 papers in leading medical journals. Through his work with the Cochrane Methodology Review Group and his expertise in research methodology, he has helped establish guidelines for transparent and ethical reporting of medical research.

In a world where money speaks volumes, the Cochrane Collaboration and researchers like Peter Gøtzsche remind us of the importance of independent, evidence-based medicine. As acupuncture research gains traction, it’s imperative to remember the value of unbiased, well-funded studies in our ongoing pursuit of truth and better healthcare.

Antidepressants present serious risks to depresison patients

Warning for Prozac, Wellbutrin, Paxil, Effexor and Zoloft

antidepressants-depression

The Food and Drug Administration sharply stepped up warnings about possible risks to patients taking antidepressant drugs, asking doctors, families and caregivers watch closely for signs of increasing depression or suicidal thinking.

The FDA asked the makers of 10 major antidepressant drugs, including versions of Prozac, Wellbutrin, Paxil, Effexor and Zoloft, to place more detailed, explicit warnings on the labels for their medicines. The FDA didn’t order the manufacturers to change their labels, but urged them to do so voluntarily. The new cautions would ask doctors to monitor patients for a variety of symptoms from insomnia and irritability to hostility and panic attacks that might possibly signal greater risks.

The announcement comes more than a month after an FDA advisory committee urged the agency to provide clearer warnings about possible risk of suicidal tendencies in children and adolescents taking antidepressants. Still, yesterday’s development went well beyond the earlier recommendations, and included adults as well.

The most immediate result may be that doctors, particularly those who don’t focus on pediatric psychiatry, become more cautious in how they prescribe antidepressants for kids and teenagers. They could start prescribing smaller doses and being slower to step up the amounts of medicine.

“People might wait until they’ve been in talking therapy a little bit, before trying drugs,” said Richard Malone, a child psychiatrist at Drexel University College of Medicine, who was a member of the FDA advisory committee.