Medical Industrial Complex

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  • crazy4carrots
    crazy4carrots Member Posts: 5,324
    edited July 2011

    Could someone please tell me of a drug that has absolutely no known "possible" side effects?

  • Member_of_the_Club
    Member_of_the_Club Member Posts: 3,646
    edited July 2011

    Huh?  Because of the possibility of getting an infection in a hospital -- a very real possibility -- the health care system has little to do with health?  Does this make any sense?  

    I can't think of very many things in this world we can "totally depend" on.  I mean, really, what is the point here?  

  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Member Posts: 1,376
    edited August 2012

    Did someone actually say this on a BC.org thread:

    "Let those who hang around these boards just as breast cancer "groupies" go somewhere other than BCO to discuss trivial things.  I think we know of one particular person who does that. "

    Breast cancer "groupies" - now that really is a new low.  And all those "c&p's" - which we are told is all that's going to be posted on a certain thread - that isn't TRIVIAL?????  Pot. Kettle.

  • Kathy044
    Kathy044 Member Posts: 433
    edited July 2011

    Kira1234 thank you for posting this link.  Gina Kolata is one of my favourite health/medical journalists. Definitely on topic imo. Peer and medical scrutiny can and does work even within the 'Medical Industrial Complex'  Can Big Herb say the same? I'll post the link again.

    How Bright Promise in Cancer Testing Fell Apart by Gina Kolata (July 7, 2011)

    http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/08/health/research/08genes.html?_r=2&ref=todayspaper

    [my hb has cancer and is taking part in a clinical drug trial that includes genetic testing of the original tumour as a component, thus my interest. The consent form he signed reached 20 pages.]

    Diagnosis: 10/2009, ILC, Stage IIa, 1/15 nodes, ER+/PR+, HER2-
  • covertanjou
    covertanjou Member Posts: 569
    edited July 2011

    I guess when we get sick, we should all stay home, not go to a hospital or a doctor and NOT take any medication.  Yup, that makes perfect sense.

    BTW, unless you are posting ONLY while going through treatment, I guess we are all cancer groupies.  Some of us discuss food, poltics, books, etc, and AIs, and some of us post endless pictures of rainbows and dancing ponies.

  • Member_of_the_Club
    Member_of_the_Club Member Posts: 3,646
    edited July 2011

    So I'm a breast cancer groupie?  Cause I still come here?  Cause I shouldn't have any interest in complimentary treatments after some kind of cut-off date?  I am still on hormonals and get information in that section, and because I have lymphedema I get tons of information in that section but I guess the arbiters of who gets to post where have declared there should be a cut-off date.

  • rosemary-b
    rosemary-b Member Posts: 2,006
    edited July 2011

    Anyone who is on an AI or tamoifen is in active cancer treament. I hope you don't include those people as breast cancer groupies AND I did not know breastcancer.org had a rule about breast cancer groupies, if there really are such people.

  • thenewme
    thenewme Member Posts: 1,611
    edited August 2011

    OMG, just when I thought this thread couldn't possibly get any more convoluted and ridiculous!! 

    Sorry, doctor ....ummm.... hang on one sec while I clean your scalpel for you before you do my bypass, and make sure you finish up fast so I can make my own dinner before the anesthesia knocks me out!  Oh, yeah, and have the nurses hang up some pony pictures in my room,  for the healing properties, ya know!

  • suzieq60
    suzieq60 Member Posts: 6,059
    edited July 2011

    People who have been on these boards for many years can provide support and help to newly diagnosed women. Patzee should know all about trivial posts.

  • suzieq60
    suzieq60 Member Posts: 6,059
    edited July 2011

    My doctor signed an insurance form yesterday stating I was undergoing treatment as in Arimidex and Zometa infusions, so I guess I'm not a groupie.

  • covertanjou
    covertanjou Member Posts: 569
    edited July 2011

    I had no idea that ponies had healing powers.  I am sure the 3-4 posters on that thread find ponies and rainbows very healing.

    Honestly, I can't believe anyone calling someone on this board a cancer groupie.  What a horrific and hideous thing to say.   

  • 1Athena1
    1Athena1 Member Posts: 6,696
    edited July 2011

    (Edited to censor own sarcasm.)

  • bluedahlia
    bluedahlia Member Posts: 6,944
    edited July 2011

    Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

  • bluedahlia
    bluedahlia Member Posts: 6,944
    edited July 2011

    I was once on Mirapex and developed that.

  • bluedahlia
    bluedahlia Member Posts: 6,944
    edited July 2011

    So I know how it feels.

  • bluedahlia
    bluedahlia Member Posts: 6,944
    edited July 2011

    But once I stopped that drug, I was OK.

  • thenewme
    thenewme Member Posts: 1,611
    edited August 2011

    Wow, SusanK8, I'm sure glad the hospitals I've been to aren't like yours  - no wonder you're so vehemently anti-medicine - yikes!   

    As to your statement, that "... practically all drugs have side effects because they are acid forming. The body sees them as foreign... " ... .well, never mind.  I'm still trying to figure out whether you're actually serious or not.

    And Patzee9 or rainbowpony or whatever your name-du-jour is, I guess I'm one of the posters you describe as a "groupie," but it's pretty clear that you really have no understanding whatsoever why some of us are here.  

  • Claire_in_Seattle
    Claire_in_Seattle Member Posts: 4,570
    edited July 2011

    I personally want to cheer the "Medical Industrial Complex".  Lots of people devoted to advancing the "state of the science" which ultimately saves lives.  Progress in therapies, and progress in the care we receive.

    Major progress in the percent of breast cancer patients who survive and are cured.

    I keep wondering what those who rail about the evils of conventional medical treatment for locally advanced breast would do if a bone was sticking out of their leg after a nasty fall.  Would they rely on herbs and foods, or would they go to the ER and get it set?  Would they take the painkillers if in agony??

    Just wondering, because in my mind it's the same thing as locally advanced breast cancer.

  • Member_of_the_Club
    Member_of_the_Club Member Posts: 3,646
    edited July 2011

    Even stuff that is from our body has side effects if we receive it in the wrong proportions.  If you were infused with your own blood in too large a volume, your body would react, and thats not something that is foreign.  Too much water can kill you, too much sodium, potassium, all things within our bodies.

    bring your own cleaning products?  If I'm ever hospitalized, I doubt I'll be well enough or able to clean. 

  • 1Athena1
    1Athena1 Member Posts: 6,696
    edited July 2011

    (Edited again to censor own sarcasm.)

  • Ang7
    Ang7 Member Posts: 1,261
    edited July 2011

    Oh SusanK8~

    I have to disagree with "drugs do not heal."

    My young daughter was just hospitalized with pneumonia.  (No, we did not bring our own cleaning products...)

    She was put on a nebulizer every 2 hours and antibiotics.  If we had not given her the drugs the pneumonia would have gotten worse.  She is only 6 years old and could not have "healed herself."

    The food was actually very tasty and made to order, by the way.

  • Ang7
    Ang7 Member Posts: 1,261
    edited July 2011
    Thanks for clarifying...Smile
  • 1Athena1
    1Athena1 Member Posts: 6,696
    edited July 2011

    All substances, food included, can have side effects. Vitamins can damage organs. Water can kill. Some people take medications with no side effects whatsoever. And what are allergies if not natural reactions against substances that are apparently harmless or can even be good for you. There is nothing written anywhere saying that because something is classed as a medication and sold by a pharmaceutical company instead of a street soothsayer it is bad for you. 

    Even when there are side effects, the question is whether a person can tolerate a side effect in exchange for life-giving or life-preserving treatment.

    BTW, pain is one thing that in SOME cases need no be treated with medication. Acupuncture may work well.

    The take-home point is that natural is NOT necessarily equal to healthy, and most pharmaceuticals with their potentially bad side effects are made from natural substances. Nature gives us life and kills us too. It is part of the eternal cycle. Our mission is to take the parts of nature that will most favor life and strength, knowing full well that evenetually we all die - naturally.  

  • AnneW
    AnneW Member Posts: 4,050
    edited July 2011

    And as soon as Big Herba and Big Naturo get regulated, there will be as many, if not more, stories about "this supplement didn't do what it promised it would" or "this supplement didn't have in it what it purported to" or "this supplement killed my friend's third cousin twice removed."

    Come on, folks. There's an awful lot of information cherry-picking going on. Mistakes are made with labeling, with side effect profiles, etc all the time. New black box warnings get tagged for drugs. We all have a right to know what we're taking. And that goes DOUBLE for the unregulated supplement industry, which in no way wants to EVER be regulated. They make too much money to want that.

    Why is it evil to expect the same standard for drugs and supplements?

    Edited for typos.

  • Letlet
    Letlet Member Posts: 1,053
    edited July 2011

    *so confused by the entire thread*

  • AnnNYC
    AnnNYC Member Posts: 4,484
    edited July 2011

    Letlet!  Like!!!!

  • Leia
    Leia Member Posts: 265
    edited July 2011

    Wow, all of the responses. Yet I want to respond to rainbowpony. You said, "We who say no to chemo are discriminated against here.  One day they will find that we were on the right track."

    This was proven out for me, recently. Admission, despite being on the Budwig Protocol, I'm also a long time smoker. And recently a study came out that said that smokers that receive whole breast radiation get lung cancer more than the smokers that don't. Well, not a shocker, radiation causes cancer. This Japan nuclear meltdown caused all sorts of cancer fears. The radiation. There was a "run" on Iodine. Nobody wanted to get cancer from the radiation from the Japanese nuclear meltdown. Yet, we subject ourselves to this same radiation to "cure" our cancers?

     And then, that study that showed that medical care workers that dealt the chemo to the patients were getting cancer, themselves. In way higher rates than other people. I can find the link, to send to anyone. Although, it is readily available on google. 

    This makes no sense, to me.

    This thread is entitled "Medical Industrial Complex."  And the point is that we have gone beyond, helping people. The Medical Industrial Complex exists to perpetuate itself. And so it needs more people to partake of the "treatments." So they can get more $$$. 

    After my two cancers, I just said, No. I will not partake. I don't want any MIC treatments. I went to Budwig. Not totally, just the FOCC, but lately I'm on the Green Smoothies. I have a garden with lots of greens, and I blend them and drink them. It's delicious. And I have no more cancer.

    My Leio cancer was 2004 my 2cm breast cancer was 2006, somebody said I'd I am not out of the woods, but I am sure happy, today! And eating right and taking my Vitamin D3.

    My smoking, not so good. Yet, I enjoy it. I just think my other positives outweigh that one negative. 

  • orange1
    orange1 Member Posts: 930
    edited July 2011

    Athena - I like your sarcasm, plus i think it would improve the overall intelligence quotient of this thread.

  • orange1
    orange1 Member Posts: 930
    edited July 2011

    I am proud member of the MIC (I am a researcher working for big pharma),  My current project is a drug to prevent alzheimers disease.  I'm not feeling too much guilt these days.

    As for the big $$ made from patients... thank you to all you conventional med users for contributing towards my mortgage payment and groceries - much appreciated. Smile 

  • BarbaraA
    BarbaraA Member Posts: 7,378
    edited July 2011

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