The FDA and drug companies: Must read

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

    Kaara,

    That is indeed disheartening news! But not surprising given that Big Pharma doesn't possess a heart or soul. Money is the driver, period. You might be interested in the following:

    athena and Patmom, I did find some info on this article. Not sure I entirely trust the info from gov agencies regarding herbal use - they are a bit biased.  This is from gaia ~

    http://www.gaia-health.com/articles401/000412-poison-control-report-herb-vitamin-deaths.shtml

    tucker 

  • Kaara
    Kaara Member Posts: 3,647
    edited February 2012

    Yep...that pretty much says it all....where are all the bodies from death by vitamins?  There are none.

  • chef127
    chef127 Member Posts: 891
    edited February 2012

    Kaara

    The ephedra didn't cause the death. He had an underllying heart condition and was taking MUCH more than the recommended dosage. I took it for along time without incidence (For fatigue) I also knew many woman who took it as a diet aid. It was cheap and effective. Prescrption diet pills cause many adverse side effects and are costly. My dr gave me a scrpt for a pill that cost 10.00 each and didn't work any better. ABUSE of certain vit & supps will adversly effect you as well. 

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

    Ditto Kaara on Ephedra. My congressman investigated Ephedra when the dust-up happened and reported that the press ran with the story and never got their facts straight.

    Another urban legend that an herb caused heart attacks.

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

    Hi ladies,

    The FDA & Pharma saga continues!

    Think you'll find this really interesting:

    http://gaia-health.com/gaia-blog/2012-02-14/big-pharma-windfall-fda-formalizes-handover-of-natural-hormones-and-other-biologicals/

    Be good to know what people think - the ones who take herbal supplements and vitamins!  Thanks,

    tucker

  • Titan
    Titan Member Posts: 2,956
    edited February 2012

    Maybe some of  you should read the triple negative thread sometime..just saying

  • sweetbean
    sweetbean Member Posts: 1,931
    edited February 2012

    Why, Titan?  Can you give us the jist?

  • Titan
    Titan Member Posts: 2,956
    edited February 2012

    I'm sorry..but maybe I'm not...I know everything is important and things need to be discussed but I have 3 VERY GOOD friends possibly dying over on the TN thread..and sometimes I just can't handle the big pharma things when this is going on...

    Just venting I guess..I should just shut up..

  • Kaara
    Kaara Member Posts: 3,647
    edited February 2012

    My point in mentioning Ephedra was that the minute there was even a suspected death connected with it, it was taken off the market, yet the stop smoking drug Chantix has caused numerous suicides and it is still on the market, now with a black box warning.  The FDA has no plans to remove it.

    Tying right into this thread is the article in Life Extension Magazine this month talking about corrupt practices that are bankrupting health care in our country.  It discusses the reason that so many drugs approved by the FDA later turn out to be dangerous or ineffective is the inherently corrupt collaboration that exists between pharmaceutical companies and the FDA. 

  • sweetbean
    sweetbean Member Posts: 1,931
    edited February 2012

    Whoa, Titan, I just checked it out.  I'm so sad about M!  She is so nice and gave me advice about my surgery last year.  Fucking cancer.  Listen, there is a great thread on Alt Choices for Stage IV that they might want to check out.  I'm not saying to skip out on conv treatments if that is what they want to do, but supplementing with Alt treatments might help. I know a woman who got almost 10 years  out of HT, but we really felt that she got such good time because she was doing CAM treatments, too. 

  • Kaara
    Kaara Member Posts: 3,647
    edited February 2012

    Titan:  That is very sad.  I feel so bad for everyone who has to fight this bc battle on a daily basis.

     What we talk about on this thread is out of genuine concern for all of the sisters who are fighting bc.  We want better options for treatment, and the only way that will come about is by standing up to the FDA and pharmaceutical companies, letting them know that we don't believe everything they are telling us.

    There would be no fighting on this thread if the antagonists didn't lurk here in an effort to create constant chaos.  We should all treat each other with respect.   

  • chef127
    chef127 Member Posts: 891
    edited February 2012

    Well, If the fda gets involved in regulating our suppliments or making them illegal it will force many people to turn to the black market where there is no regulating. Ephedra is still available but not in the purer form. So now who knows WTF is in the pill. It is putting people who do resort to the black market in more danger. And why do we have to risk prosecution for smoking marijuana, something that has many benifits for cancer patients going through chemo. Instead we are given other pharma drugs to further pollute our systems. I'm tired and I no longer trust big pharma and their side kick.

    Really I never did. But when you are sick, you could be forced into supporting them.

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

    Hi everyone, been reading this thread for hours.  Great discussion.  Speaking of Life Extension Magazine - here is their online page to legislation.  http://www.lef.org/lac/   If all this info on FDA is not enough to make the hair stand up, well..... it does mine.  

    Over the years involved in supplements, natural products, pet products, green home and lawn care, even synthetics for automobiles, I have known FDA to take down entire companies, fine business owners and imprison them for stepping over 'the line' and to even dump hundreds of thousands of dollars of product into the sea because their "claims" were not regulated or based on FDA research.

    Yes, natural supplements can kill.  Thuja, a homeopathy remedy, can actually bring out miasms that the novice will not know what hit them, much less how to handle it.  Taking too often a low dose remedy will cause the symptom you are trying to alleviate and then it needs 'canceled' and one needs to know how.  Bloodroot extract is a narcotic and can kill you, or you can lose your job if there is a drug test.  Too much Ojibwa tea can poison a person.  Too much Vitamin D3 or B12 or B17, wow.  Too much LIPH or MMS, wouldn't want to go there either.

    On the other hand, it is up to the consumer to know what to do with the product, and I think it should be up to the one selling the product to provide guidelines.  FDA does have a page on their gov site http://www.fda.gov/Food/GuidanceComplianceRegulatoryInformation/GuidanceDocuments/DietarySupplements/ucm257563.htm  for the guidelines for production and marketing.  Unlike Big Pharma, supplement businesses must toe the line or they will be crushed, proven again and again.  I would respect all the control if it worked both ways.  I think a lot of changes need made.  But we are going the wrong way right now, and I don't see anything making it right.  There are always petitions to sign, of course.  But what really changes everything is people being able to provide their own solutions  and make their own way.  Like raw milk  https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions/!/response/food-safety-and-raw-milk?utm_source=wethepeople&utm_medium=response&utm_campaign=rawmilk   That takes the knowledge to do so.  But I'm buying into a local herd and will learn from a teacher. 

    How does one make bloodroot extract?  I don't know yet.  But I do know that when I could not get relief from re-occuring poison ivy even w steroids, the bloodroot extract applied onto my skin stopped it in hours, never to flare up until the next exposure of course.  This is something I need to know. 

    I'm not a naturopath, just love the elements of healing and the why and how of disease challenges.  And now I have this latest adventure.  BC w node(s) and who knows what.  An adventure I could do without, as we all.    

    As for me, I avoid most Rxs but on occassion they have saved my life.  I just don't trust, is all, I have to know for myselfto the best of my ability and that is really hard to do, and there are few physicians who can tolerate my questioning and reluctance, I do know that.

    I will be reading, this is a fav topic now.

  • sweetbean
    sweetbean Member Posts: 1,931
    edited February 2012

    I'm just appalled that the previous VP of Monsanto is now in charge of the FDA.  That's insane.

  • Circles
    Circles Member Posts: 133
    edited February 2012

    Just quietly following along here... 

  • Kaara
    Kaara Member Posts: 3,647
    edited February 2012

    sweetbean:  That spells Conflict of Interest in big red letters!!  As long as this continues, there will be no thought for the patient's best interests in medicine.  Life Extension is on a quest to get reform in these areas, but it will take a huge push, and isn't likely to happen any time soon.  I don't know how anyone can read this stuff and still feel good about our medical community and food supply:(

  • cp418
    cp418 Member Posts: 7,079
    edited February 2012
  • Kaara
    Kaara Member Posts: 3,647
    edited February 2012

    cp418:  I am taking tamoxifen after foregoing both chemo (not needed) and rads (recommended) so like the good doctor said...only time will tell if it is going to help me.  I am post menopausal so I had the choice of doing tamox or al's which supposed to be more powerful.  I chose tamox because the SE's seem to be less horrific of the two, and I don't wish to have bone loss at my ripe age of 71!

     I know there are other more natural treatments that might have the same benefit, but this was a compromise on my part with my doctors who were freaking out that I wasn't going to do anything but alternative.  They seemed to have a genuine concern.  Unknown to them, I have started on 1/2 the dose recommended and will work up as my body adjusts.  So far, no problems, but I've only been on it for two weeks.  It's a pill and the SE's can reverse if I deem it intolerable.  Not the case with radiation.

  • heatherckc
    heatherckc Member Posts: 9
    edited February 2012

    Very funny.. and well said! :D

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

    essa,

    thanks for the link! I will post it here: http://www.lef.org/lac/ 

    Ladies please take a minute to look at this site.  All you have to do is fill in your name/address and hit 'send'. It will automatically go to the appropriate law makers in your state, telling them you don't want your supplements banned regulated by the FDA...send to your friends as well...there is a page that automatically comes up if you want to do that!  Let's get this out there.

    tucker

  • FireKracker
    FireKracker Member Posts: 8,046
    edited February 2012

    I tried to fill it out and they kept on tellin me that my address was wrong.

    it was not wrong

    and how do they know if it is?

    I want my voice heard.gonna keep tryin.

  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Member Posts: 1,376
    edited February 2012
    Feb 16, 2012 03:48 am cp418 wrote:

    http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/02/14/2643468/anti-tumor-meds-for-breast-cancer.html

    Anti-tumor meds for breast cancer patients come with scary history

    ~~~~~~

    cp418 ~ Really interesting. Kick backs to docs, eh?  This wouldn't be the first time that has happened! I guess lawsuits will teach the drug companies a lesson, but at what cost to the patient?

    Grannydukes - I just tried it, and it worked ok.....you gotta cross all the 't's' and dot all the 'i's' I guess!  Did you finally send it w/o a problem?

    tucker

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

    Another must read.  The author was editor of the prestigious NEJM (New England Journal of Medicine) and is an MD:

    http://www.wanttoknow.info/truthaboutdrugcompanies

    tucker

  • chef127
    chef127 Member Posts: 891
    edited February 2012

    Very disturbing article. We are f--ked. The food we eat is to sustain life. We really have very little choice. Buy organic, but the seeds most likely come from GM fruit and veg. When was the last time you ate a watermelon with seeds? YOU CANNOT FIND THEM!

    Our pollinating bee's are disappearing.??????WHY?

    Our meat supply is so tainted that we cannot call it food. The offspring is coming from hormone laden cows. It's just a vicious cycle and I don't think we can escape this new reality. We can eat raw foods that are grown in the  mountains of Peru or where ever, but how long will that be available?

    Chemicals and GMF has flooded our food supply and there is no escaping it. Maybe we should start eating the weeds on our lawns, providing we haven't used chemicals to keep our grass green. 

    And the FDA is there to protect us. The food we eat is keeping big pharma in business. And the beat goes on.......................

  • Kaara
    Kaara Member Posts: 3,647
    edited February 2012

    tuckertwo:  Great reads...thanks.  It's disheartening to read these articles, but how else are we going to know what is going on under our noses.  I take as few prescription drugs as possible, and so do the members of my family.  

  • chef127
    chef127 Member Posts: 891
    edited February 2012

    Kaara,

    It is easy to say NO to the many Rx drugs that we are perscribed, and in reading many of your posts you are being extremly careful to balance your health with the correct diet. However  we are at the mercy of the availability of the food market. Its not easy to eat the right foods when sooooo many of them are tainted. We do the best we can.

    I have 3 health issues, Diabetes, progressing RRMS, and BC. The only pharma drugs I take are for the diabetes, because i don't have the self control to stay carb free. Love that pasta. I quit all meds for the MS simply because I  find them toxic and there is nothing to be done about it because the med community has no clue as to what, where and how of the diseasse. BC....I have submitted to the Rad tx.The suggested AI are out of the question. We have a choice. 

    When it comes to our food supply, well it is what it is. We can go vegan, gluten free, organtic and hope that our choices are not adultrated by the chemical ind or the FDA. Our choices are limited!

  • Kaara
    Kaara Member Posts: 3,647
    edited February 2012

    chef127:  My boyfriend has RRMS and he is currently on Avonex which he wants to go off of.  He is doing chelation therapy to remove toxic metals from his body that built up over the years from being a pilot.  I'm concerned about his disease progressing, but it seems to be progressing slightly anyway, with or without the Avonex.  His sister died recently from complications of progressive MS.

    We are spending a fortune on organic food and organic fish and chicken.  My grocery bill has doubled.  I'm hoping to save some in NC this summer by buying locally grown organic which is more readily available up there.  Staying healthy comes with a high price tag. 

  • leggo
    leggo Member Posts: 3,293
    edited February 2012

    Do you guys have Hutterite/Quaker/Mennonite farms in your area? Where I am, at least, all of their food is organic. Their chickens are skinny, their watermelons have seeds, and their beef is a completely different color. Their produce isn't "pretty". It's not any more expensive than in the grocery stores (sometimes cheaper).

    ETA: I asked one time why their chickens are so cheap and they told me they don't have to pay for antibiotics and hormones so their overhead was lower.

  • chef127
    chef127 Member Posts: 891
    edited February 2012

    Kaara,

    Avonex scared the hell out of me as did all the immuno supresant drugs DRUGS  that are available for MS. I was on copaxone for 5 years and when I found out my neuro was traveling to hawaii on a regular basis, compliments of pharma I quit. He was consistanly Rx steroids and other drug. Never once suggested diet or suppliment changes.

    Chelation is a great alternative to all the drugs. I did have all the toxic mercury removed from my dental work and chelation is my next rx after the radiation poisin I have submitted to. Have you seen Montel Williams lately? He looks great. He altered his diet and life style but I think he also takes t  he copaxone????? He does not disclose what he is doing. Just selling appliances. 

    Good for you for taking control of your food choices and controling what meds you are willing to subject yourself to.The extra expense is well worth it.

    Gracie1,

    You just gave me a great idea. Lanscaster Pa is only about a 2-3 hour drive from me and what a great part of the country to visit. Fill my car with the organic and raw foods, sight see a bit and freeze the goods. I need a vacation anyway..........THANX

  • Kaara
    Kaara Member Posts: 3,647
    edited February 2012

    chef:  We do follow Montel Williams...saw his episode on Dr.Oz, but as you say, not much information except the morning smoothie which I've made several times.  We have a Vita Mix blender..it's the best for making smoothies and healthy soups.  Since getting that I hardly use my juicer.

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