Medical Detox Programs in a stress-free environment

A recent survey conducted on 466 faculty physicians at Chicago-area medical schools revealed that 45 percent prescribe placebos for their patients. In fact, just over half have prescribed placebos in the last year. I don’t know if the placebos were less expensive than the real drugs, but I do know taking placebos could save a lot of money spent on drug detox.

Do these placebos really help the patient? According to another study at the University of Michigan, they do: When prescribed painkillers that were actually placebos, for example, the production of endorphins increased in some patients and their pain was relieved naturally – without drugs.

In fact, if you closely read the clinical trials done on prescription drugs you’ll find that many performed only marginally better than placebos. For some reason, this is enough for the FDA to approve putting a drug on the market regardless of the fact that the drugs can produce dangerous side effects – including prescription drug addiction and dependency that could require a medical drug detox program and even drug rehab to overcome.

Perhaps the FDA guidelines on approval for drugs need to change. Shouldn’t a drug with significant risk also carry significant benefit? Guidelines like that would save untold amounts of money for the millions who need a drug detox program for prescription drugs – and thousands of people who have died from prescription drug-related circumstances would still be alive today.

A recent survey in Michigan revealed some startling facts about prescription drug use in children and young adults: Of the 1,086 7th to 12th graders surveyed, 36% were prescribed drugs in the year prior. And we’re not talking about antibiotics for ear infections – we’re talking about anti-anxiety meds, sleeping pills, stimulants and painkillers. These drugs are dangerous: many of them are nothing more than legal heroin and cocaine. And they’re just as addictive and just as difficult to quit taking. In fact, many people will need a medical drug detox program to get off them.

Although the concern over prescription drugs centers largely around ‘abuse’ – taking them without a prescription or other than as directed – you can quite easily become dependent on or addicted to them despite your doctor having prescribed them and despite taking them exactly as directed. They’ll have the same effect, and might send you to drug detox.

But the most important question is this: how did 36% of kids in grades 7 through 12 get to the point where they need sleeping pills, sedatives, stimulants and painkillers? Can it possibly be true that these drugs are ‘medical necessary’?

I didn’t know anyone – nevermind one in three – who took these drugs when I was in school. And, frankly, they seemed to be generally more centered, more self-aware, more stable, more purposeful and better educated than many of the kids today.

Are drug companies fulfilling a demand, or creating one? I would venture to say the latter. Either way, there’s more drug detox needed now than ever for those who are addicted to, dependent on or abusing these drugs, and I just hope Michigan does something to keep the problem from getting worse.

Dealers of illegal drugs are definitely a danger to American society, but are they public enemy number one? No, the most dangerous drug pushers are the drug companies. And, fortunately, more and more people are beginning to realize it as their friends and family member admit themselves to drug detox centers or, worse, ruin their lives or end up in the morgue.

About 10,000 people in the U.S. die from illegal drugs every year, but according to an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), 106,000 hospital patients die every year from drugs that were properly prescribed and administered.

An article in Newsweek said death from prescription drugs – taken exactly as they were prescribed by the doctor – is the fourth leading cause of death in the U.S. Only heart disease, cancer and stroke kill more people.

According to another recent article, the American Medical Association said that drug- related problems kill as many as 198,815 people every year, put 8.8 million in hospitals, and account for up to 28% of hospital admissions. That’s scary.

Another article in the Archives of Internal Medicine said that the number of “serious events” involving prescription drugs increased at four times the rate of the prescriptions being written.

Many prescription drugs – painkillers and tranquilizers are the big ones – have also found their way onto the street and are not only sending more and more people to drug detox and drug rehab, they’re killing more people than illegal drugs.

How can you avoid being one of the people in these statistics? Consult with a medical professional who would rather see you off drugs than on them – a good medical drug detox program counselor can probably help you find one – and see if you can safely get off the drugs you’re taking and find a safer solution to your problems.

I’ve heard that in parts of China, doctors are only paid when their patients are healthy: the rationale being that their job is to keep us healthy and, if we’re not, they don’t deserve to get paid. I honestly don’t know if this is true or not, but the concept is appealing. Unfortunately, those demands made on U.S. medical professionals would send many of them straight to bankruptcy court. Our system seems to rely primarily on giving people drugs to relieve their symptoms – drugs which often cause other health problems and sometimes lead to addiction and dependency which, in turn, leads to the need for drug detox and maybe rehab.

Not too good.

What’s the basic difference between our U.S. health care system and those in many other parts of the world? We are primarily oriented towards treating illness, not preventing it. In that regard, we can do some pretty miraculous things. But, unfortunately, most of those miracles don’t happen until we’re closer to our death bed than we want to be.

How do you achieve ‘wellness’ rather than merely being free of an identifiable disease? One pivotal step may be getting off prescription drugs. Unless those drugs truly are life-sustaining, it’s always a good idea to find out if there is a drug-free alternative to what ails you. It may not be as easy as taking a pill – it might require exercise, healthy eating, and so on – but it will be safer. And you’ll have a much better chance of never really contracting a disease.

Personally, I’d like to be one of those 75 year olds out there running marathons. If you want to achieve that, don’t go the prescription drug route unless it’s vital. If you’re already taking them, contact a medical drug detox program to determine whether you need drug detox to get off them. If you’re not taking drugs and your doctor recommends one, ask him if there are any other solutions. And before you take no for an answer, get a second opinion.

If you are one of the millions of people in the U.S. who have considered putting your children on antidepressants, there’s something you have to see before you make a decision: youtube’s compilation of video clips on the relationship between suicides, homicides, and antidepressants. If you know of anyone taking these drugs, I would get them into a medical drug detox center as soon as possible so they can get off them safely.

While the warnings put out by drug companies say that suicide and homicide are risks largely for children and adolescents, at least one website, ironically called healthyplace.com, points out that “individuals mature at different rates. Young adults are more likely to commit suicide than older adults, so a young adult should be particularly closely monitored if he or she takes an SSRI antidepressant.”

Closely monitored? I’ll say. Unless they’re watched 24 hours a day you could be in the next youtube video talking about your son saying “I don’t like the way this drug makes me feel” four days before he kills himself. What happens if your kid is off to college or no longer living at home when he feels that way? Are you even going to hear him say that? Not likely.

And what is the significance of people maturing at different rates? How mature do you have to be to take these drugs? Mature enough to resist the urge to kill yourself? Lots of adults have killed themselves. Weren’t they ‘mature’?

The only safe thing to do is get people off these drugs through medical drug detox – no matter how old they are, and no matter where they live. Unfortunately, getting off antidepressants can be just as dangerous as taking them. In fact, some people kill themselves when they try to stop taking them – which is one reason why you need to get off them through medically supervised drug detox.

Do everything you can to stop people from taking these drugs, and get off them yourself, but do it through medical drug detox program so they, or you, are guaranteed safe passage.

One sure fire way to avoid prescription drug addiction and abuse is to avoid taking the drugs. However, many people who become addicted to or dependent on prescription painkillers started the drugs when they were prescribed them by their doctor after surgery. Obviously, many surgeries are unavoidable but new research shows that some types of knee problems respond as well to exercise as they do to surgery. A little research into your options might reveal a non-surgical solution that may help avoid painkillers, and the potential for addiction or dependency that require drug detox to resolve.

The new study, conducted by the ORTON Research Institute in Helsinki, Finland on 56 patients with knee problems found that patients who received knee surgery and eight weeks of therapeutic exercise were no better off in the end that those who just did the exercise.

They also found that the patients who didn’t receive the knee surgery spent about $1300 less than those who did. The study was conducted in Europe, where health costs are generally less than in the U.S. and as this specific surgical procedure costs about $4500 in the U.S., the cost savings is even more significant.

If you or someone you care about is already taking prescription painkillers, look into a medical drug detox program to help them get off the drugs safely, but those who are looking at knee surgery should explore other options before proceeding.