Dr Bob the Health Builder
Weekly Newsletter for Wealthy Healthy Wise
Vignettes to make Life a Little Better and More Prosperous
Sally Fields and her Bone Drug
I don't care if movie stars want to make money advertizing drugs, but I have
found that all food items and drugs advertized on TV are outrageously high
priced, have no nutrition, or are dangerous to your health.
Sally Fields bone drug certainly falls into this category, as well as all the
other drugs promoted on TV and in the other media.
Where did bone drugs come from? They were developed for a very special group of
terminally ill people. The people were cancer victims; I use victims because
most cancer is preventable and treatable with alternative medicine - but drug
corporations, medicine, and cancer groups don't want it to go away - too much
money to be made).
The cancers involved had made these victims very susceptible to bone fractures.
The category of drugs developed for these people is
bisphosphonates. I certainly don't have a problem
with the development of these drugs for their intended purpose. They were made
to help a few select people in their hour of need before death. Brittle breaking
bones made their last few months of life even more miserable.
There are many times in medicine that we take a drug designed for one purpose
and use it for another health condition. A perfect example of that is
cyclosporine. This drug was designed for transplant patients to stop rejection
of their new organ (heart, liver, etc). Allergan took this drug and made it into
Restasis. This is a drug used for Dry Eye patients. It is not real effective and
is very expensive, but it does help some people.
The
bisphosphonates are made up of three drugs. They are Actonel, Fosamax, and
Boniva. Unfortunately, Ms Fields either does not have the side effects from her
drug - yet - or no one has told her of the two serious side effects from these
drugs.
The first side effect that has been well circulated for two years or so is the
nasty little problem that these drugs cause with long-term use --
osteonecrosis, which is bone destruction specifically occurring in your
jaw. This means that your jaw can rot off or crumble. This seems to be a high
price to pay when nutritious food or the proper supplementation would solve the
problem at a much cheaper price. These drugs are about $100.00 or more per month
- but what the heck if the insurance company is paying.
The second nasty side effect is bone pain. The FDA put out a warning to doctors
about this, but if you are busy, these little details can get overlooked; then,
when the patient returns to the office with symptoms of pain, what is a doctor
to do? You got it! Pull out an Rx pad and write a
new prescription for a pain medication.
The pain has been described as severe to "sometimes incapacitating," attacking
bones, joints and sometimes muscles.
It would seem obvious to most of us that the
drugs should be discontinued, but heavens to betsy, not where there is money to
be made. (Do you know what patients look like to their doctors? Not human
bodies, just big cash registers that let them withdraw at any time.)
What most doctors fail to tell their patients is that most falls occur due to
muscle weakness, not weak bones! People would be better off going to a gym or
buying one of those contraptions on late night TV (or dumb bells) and working
out several days per week.
This is an example of an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. In this
case, the pound of cure is about $100.00 + per month, terrible pain, and your
jaw falling down.
In reality, the best treatment for calcium deficiency is not bisphosphonates -
Actonel, Fosamax, and Boniva - it is not taking these drugs in the first place
and having the common sense to find healthy food and supplementation that work. Remember, most calcium in grocery stores is
worthless.
To Your Good Health
Dr Bob the Health Builder
To ask questions please call 214 615 6505 ext
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