Can the Cure for Headaches be Worse Than the Pain?

Can the Cure for Headaches be Worse Than the Pain?
Word Count:
808
Summary:
Most people are oblivious to the fact that pain-killers can kill more than just pain. Whether you are searching for medications to relieve your migraine headaches, lose weight or eliminate your stomach aches being cautious could save you a lot of grief.

Keywords:
migraine headaches, headache, migraines, chronic, remedy, remedies, treatment, pain, relief

Article Body:
Many drugs that were previously available only through prescription are now available over-the-counter. Today drugs are so common and easily obtained people just assume they are safe. After all, would multi-million dollar companies offer drugs for sale if they weren't safe? Wouldn't the FDA ban medications that could harm or possibly even kill you? Sure, if they knew they were dangerous. But the method of determining which drugs are safe and which drugs are deadly may surprise you. Many times the tests are determined through the use of guinea pigs, which very likely includes you.
Drugs are allowed for sale to the public with the assumption that they are safe. Then, once the public begins using a particular drug in masses the negative side effects will start appearing, side effects that can include dizziness, nausea, internal bleeding, blood pressure increases, heart problems and even death. Not too long ago there were diet pills containing ephedrine that the public was going crazy for. But ephedrine failed its "public test" when it was discovered that it caused death. Tylenol (active ingredient: acetaminophen) is often used for migraine headache relief, but kills people every year because of the liver damage it can cause. Even Ibuprofen and aspirin, pain killers often used for migraine headaches, can be deadly for some. Although the risk is small it is still a risk that should not be taken lightly.
The October 1995 Archives of Internal Medicine reveal the startling results of a study that reviewed the overall effects of prescription drugs on health and well-being. According to the authors, “drug related illness” (from LEGAL drugs) should be considered a “leading disease” in its own right. In 1992, about 200,000 people in the United States died as a result of complications from legal prescription medicine. This does not include over-the-counter drugs or illegal drugs.
Incorrectly prescribed medications kill approximately 180,000 people each year. Only about 1,500 people died when the Titanic sank and yet this horrific and preventable event was, and still is, world news. It changed forever the perception and practice of sea travel, ship construction and passenger safety. But when 180,000 people die, the equivalent of about 120 Titanics sinking each year, hardly anyone even takes notice. As reported in 1994 in the Journal of the American Medical Association, incorrectly prescribed medications kill an estimated 180,000 people each year. This claims more American lives annually than crime and car accidents combined.
Some people experience such severe migraine headaches they seek the help of a doctor. But doctors are not immune to errors either. The Journal of the American Medical Association reported recently that iatrogenic illness (illness caused by medical errors or reactions to drugs and medical treatment) has become the third largest killer of Americans, exceeded only by heart disease and cancer.
A team of medical doctors, lawyers and analysts at Harvard University conducted the largest and most comprehensive investigation of medical malpractice and concluded that 75,000 Americans are killed every year by medical treatment through gross negligence. That is equivalent to 50 Titanics sinking per year. For all their successes, doctors must contend with the fact that many people become sick from either medical errors or reactions to their drugs or medical treatment. Where are the headlines? The outcries?
And the number of deaths due to drugs continues to rise. USA Today, on February 27, 1998, reported that the number of deaths caused by prescription drug errors increased at a rate only exceeded by the number of deaths caused by AIDS. In 1983, 1 out of 539 outpatient deaths was due to a medication error (wrong dosage or wrong drug). By 1993 however, 1 out of every 131 outpatient deaths was due to a medication error.
Admittedly, doctors do save lives and help ease people's pain. They perform a great duty that should not go unheralded. But pain sufferers should start taking responsibility for their own actions. Nobody is more concerned about your health than you are, not the doctor, not the nurses, not your neighbors. Search out and study all of the information that is available before taking a medication that could cause bodily harm. Pain sufferers should ponder both the pros and the cons, the possible pain relief and the possible dangers of the drugs they may end up ingesting.
Deepak Chopra, M.D. in his book Quantum Healing states “The frustrating reality, as far as medical researchers are concerned, is that we already know that the living body is the best pharmacy ever devised. It produces diuretics, painkillers, tranquilizers, sleeping pills, antibiotics, and indeed everything manufactured by the drug companies, but it makes them much, much better. The dosage is always right and given on time; side effects are minimal or nonexistent; and the directions for using the drug are included in the drug itself, as part of its built-in intelligence.”
"Is the possible pain relief worth the risk?" This is the question that you should be asking yourself.

Alternative Medicine

Alternative Medicine
Word Count:
490
Summary:
Find out what alternative medicine means and where it started and also why it is so popur.

Keywords:
headache,alternative medicine,holistic,health,pains,cure,treatment,holistic,health,yoga,herbal,herbs,holistic health degree,holistic classes

Article Body:
ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE
Alternative medicine means different things to different people. Alternative medicine encompasses many different approaches from massage to Chinese medicine and yoga. Alternative medicine means practices or medicines that are used instead of the usual, or standard, ways of treating diseases or illness. Examples of complementary and alternative medicine are meditation, yoga, and dietary supplements like vitamins and herbs. Alternative medicine means that it is different to the dominant health care system and potentially can replace it.
Traditional Chinese Medicine is the oldest continuously practiced medical system in the world and is used by one third of the world's population as a primary health care system. Health is defined as a state of physical well being, mental alertness, socially adjusted, and spiritually developed. Health care is not about drugs and the cost of drugs.

CONVENTIONAL MEDICINE
Conventional medicine is continuing to lose market share. More and more people want options beyond what many consider to be essentially a high-tech slash, burn and poison medicine. Conventional medicine is used to describe the services that treat the symptoms of a disease or illness with prescribed medications and surgeries. Conventional medicine treats the ailing part of the body but may not address the underlying causes of the illness or disease.
Traditional practitioners don't express hopefulness when their medicine fails as they treat diseases first and then people secondly. On the other hand alternative practitioners, often encourage patients to be hopeful even when the situation is hopeless as they aim to treat the mind, body and soul of their patient.
Medicine is directly related to the biomedicine and health sciences. The term 'Medicine' today refers to the fields of surgery, clinical medicine and the medical research. Medical mistakes appear to be increasing, and if they are not, then at the very least, the publicizing of them is increasing. It makes people wary.
HERBAL
Herbal medicine is a booming industry in the United States. The American market for herbal remedies has doubled the last couple of years. Herbs may be harmful if taken for the wrong conditions, used in excessive amounts, combined with prescription drugs or alcohol, or used by persons who don't know what they are doing. Just because an herbal remedy is natural, does not mean it is safe!
ACUPUNCTURE
Acupuncture needles are usually inserted to a depth of about a quarter of an inch into the skin. The therapist gently twists or twirls them for up to 10 minutes, leaving them in five to 20 minutes longer; or stimulates them with a weak electrical current; or heats them with a burning herb such as mugwort (see moxibustion). Acupuncture was used as an illustration of medical irrationality before James Reston's fortuitous appendicitis brought it to the United States. From the impact of the LaLeche League on the advisability of breast-feeding to current studies of botanical medicines such as ginger, echinacea and ginkgo biloba, folk and alternative medicines have continuously influenced medical research and practice.