Big Pharma's New Mass-Drugging Agenda

[rodin]

Drug companies used to sell products for the treatment of disease. But it didn't take long for Big Pharma to figure out that the number of diseased people is limited, and therefore so are drug profits. To bypass this problem, they began inventing diseases and marketing them to the public as a way to create new demand for high-profit pharmaceuticals. This is how "bi-polar" came into existence, for example. Same story for ADHD, social anxiety disorder and even high cholesterol (which isn't a disease in the first place).

But even this disease mongering strategy had its limits. Only a limited number of gullible doctors and consumers can be convincingly deluded into believing in fictitious diseases and psychiatric disorders. To really expand its profits, Big Pharma was going to have to do something revolutionary: They were going to have to figure out a way to sell drugs to people who weren't sick at all.

Or, put another way: They needed a way to sell drugs to healthy people.

AstraZeneca, Crestor and the new era of mass-drugging
The American Medical Association, not surprisingly, came to the rescue. A study called "Jupiter" was presented at an AMA conference last Sunday. It was funded by Crestor maker Astrazeneca, and it claims that statin drugs save lives when given to healthy people who show no signs of high cholesterol!

Physicians and Big Pharma reps were practically falling over each other Sunday in a mad stampede to the stage in order to out-do each other on making the most outrageous claims surrounding statin drugs. One doctor said the drugs are so useful at saving lives that governments around the world should start prescribing them to practically everyone. Another said that tens of millions of adults should now be put on what he called "statin therapy." (It's therapy now, folks, not medicine!) Not to be outdone, a third doctor suggested the drugs be dripped into the public water supply in order to dose everyone!

(Fluoridation isn't enough, it seems. Now they want to drip drugs into the water supply. Don't they realize the water supply is already contaminated with pharmaceuticals?)

http://snardfarker.ning.com/profiles/blogs/big-pharmas-new-massdrugging

[tracker]

http://snardfarker.ning.com/profiles/blogs/big-pharmas-new-massdrugging

yeah , this was on news a while back that every one should take statins .

After my stroke and a while getting slowly more active , I descided to give up statins because they CAN course muscle deteriation .

guess what the heart is ? yes youve got it , its a muscle .

anyway , I told my Dr that my health was better , that I eat better food , am more active and also drink benecol .

he said

"well its not as simple as that ya know , its more complicated"

I said

"well actually its not ! if my blood doesnt have high colestorol then I dont need statins to bring it down do I ? so why are you trying your hardest to make me see I need them when I dont ?"

He tried to tell me that once my colestorol went up , that I would have to have statins for the rest of my life to which I told him to get lost and that he was full of rubish .

guess what he said then ?

"Mr ??????? , it is my job to make sure that your health doesnt take you to the local A and E , this could mean drastic action if you understand especially if you are not taking your drugs":eek:

"HHHHM" I said ,:cool:" sounds like a threat to me I hope your not trying to intimidate me into beleiving that you have some power to force me into a mental clinic of types , because then you really might see some type of scizofrenia and that might end up with me in jail"

Im sure you understand that he was threatening me

it didnt work

and im sure you see what I meant too .

Drs ?

be careful !

they lie !

with out made up Illnesses , they wouldnt have a job now would they ? because they also need sick folks otherwize they wouldnt have a living now would they ?

beware !

thanks for the thread too .

:cool:

[mike118118]

I too have had similar experience with the doctors, 9 out of 10 are a joke and its very rare u get one that listens to your needs rather than the needs of big pharma. About 4 years ago i went to the doctors due to acid reflux and stomach problems and told them my condition, i was fobbed off a few times and because i was only 18 they thought i was out on the piss every night and it was self inflicted. Eventually they prescribed me some omeprazole, which is a proton pump inhibitor that completely cuts out the production of stomach acid. So i took those at 20mg at first, then moved up when it was getting worse to 40mg. I was taking it for a full year one a day along with other tablets because i was getting worse. After around a full year of taking it i couldn't take it anymore. I had lost my job, my social life n i was in severe pain all day every day, especially the mornings. I decided to check the leaflet for the omeprazole and was shocked to find that out of the 45 side effects listed, I highlighted around 30 of them. Went to the doctors the next day and told him and he acted really arrogant and smug and just shrugged me off saying "well i can't see any reason that you shouldn't take omeprazole for the rest of your life". Then he said "well we will drop you down to 20mg dose" but i stopped it alltogether and within 24 hours i was already feeling so much better and was able to eat solid foods without my throat closing up and my stomach killing me. I found out though that doctors get commission for prescribing so many drugs to patients, so basically in my eyes they are drug dealers and i now understood why he was reluctant to take me off the medication. If you think about it though there is no money to be made if the nation is healthy so they don't want that, otherwise big ugly pharma would be out of business. All doctors do is offer to treat the symptoms and not cure the underlying cause because the latter would mean no profit. I was on medication to alleviate the symptoms that were being caused by other medication its crazy. How many millions of other people are needlessly suffering because of this shite. Anyway i am practically back to 100% now thanks to alternative websites that offer real information about health and vitamins. If it wasn't for selenium, chromium, iodine etc i don't think i would be here right now. Lets hope Codex Alimentarius gets exposed properly so we can all get the vitamins and minerals we need to function properly to be able to fight the machine.

[codie]

I was given pain medication at 15 and they said don't worry it's harmless.

It wasn't. It was highly addictive.

[mike118118]

I said

"well actually its not ! if my blood doesnt have high colestorol then I dont need statins to bring it down do I ? so why are you trying your hardest to make me see I need them when I dont ?"

He tried to tell me that once my colestorol went up , that I would have to have statins for the rest of my life to which I told him to get lost and that he was full of rubish .

guess what he said then ?

"Mr ??????? , it is my job to make sure that your health doesnt take you to the local A and E , this could mean drastic action if you understand especially if you are not taking your drugs":eek:

"HHHHM" I said ,:cool:" sounds like a threat to me I hope your not trying to intimidate me into beleiving that you have some power to force me into a mental clinic of types , because then you really might see some type of scizofrenia and that might end up with me in jail"



with out made up Illnesses , they wouldnt have a job now would they ? because they also need sick folks otherwize they wouldnt have a living now would they ?



Man thats totally absurd, these doctors must not have a conscience or they are totally indoctrinated by the system. Logic doesn't seem to matter these days its a policy mad world now. Ur spot on about the made up ilnesses tracker I was on meds to counteract the side effects of other meds lol how fucking crazy can you get!

[ernie]

Statins also attack your liver.

Cholesterol goes up and down weekly, you can reduce it significantly over time by taking small daily glasses of grapefuit juice and Porridge. The recommended levels of cholesterol (Gov Guidelines) keep changing as well.

I had a Cholesterol level of 3.2, at a time where the levels recommended by the gov was between 3 min safe and 4 max safe; I was on the very low side. Then 6 months later, they reduced the High recommendation to 3.4 safe. I went from having very low cholesterol to High, without my actual levels changing.

In my experience, it's all a mixture of Pharma Reps selling to excited Docs and Nurses, lies and outright manipulation by creating maintenance drugs instead of cures.

I have Type 1 which was diagnosed 2 years ago. My GP is a so called specialist and I found him giving me all sorts of stuff that was not fully approved at the time, like those very costly weight reduction pills, that have now been banned in the UK. I was half a stone overweight, which was due, they said, to the type of insulin I was on. Turned me into a loony. I stopped taking all the crappy new drugs they keep trying to hoist on me and started looking at MMS.

I have just received my first bottle of MMS, which I hope will help me get out of this dependency cycle.

[trepidation]

Suppose this is why they want universal health care in America. Then everyone can be 'medicated' and pharma-approved 'healthy'. It's disgusting to think we'll soon be living in a world where saying "No!" to their drugs is no longer a choice.

[mike118118]

Statins also attack your liver.

Cholesterol goes up and down weekly, you can reduce it significantly over time by taking small daily glasses of grapefuit juice and Porridge. The recommended levels of cholesterol (Gov Guidelines) keep changing as well.

I had a Cholesterol level of 3.2, at a time where the levels recommended by the gov was between 3 min safe and 4 max safe; I was on the very low side. Then 6 months later, they reduced the High recommendation to 3.4 safe. I went from having very low cholesterol to High, without my actual levels changing.

In my experience, it's all a mixture of Pharma Reps selling to excited Docs and Nurses, lies and outright manipulation by creating maintenance drugs instead of cures.

I have Type 1 which was diagnosed 2 years ago. My GP is a so called specialist and I found him giving me all sorts of stuff that was not fully approved at the time, like those very costly weight reduction pills, that have now been banned in the UK. I was half a stone overweight, which was due, they said, to the type of insulin I was on. Turned me into a loony. I stopped taking all the crappy new drugs they keep trying to hoist on me and started looking at MMS.

I have just received my first bottle of MMS, which I hope will help me get out of this dependency cycle.

Milk Thistle is also good for the liver and helps it function properly, hope that mms sorts you out, i never trust doctors anymore i always do my own research and buy supplements and complex's instead of drugs and it has done wonders for me. Let us know how mms goes for you

[lizzy]

Thanks for the link rodin,....a new site to me.......

btw Good for you tracker / mark118118.....drs have indeed become corrupt pushers.......

big pharma and agra are out for the soft kill and max profit from cradle to grave..... they r giving us shovels of pills, gm food , next prozac in water supply.

and when were so sick you need a care / exit home........no solid food , a tube straight in the stomach.....

[brainstormed]

I went to a psychiatrist a while back. The drugs he proposed to me were Wellbutrin and Klonopin.

I did my research, went back and said- I won't be on drugs that rot my brain. He looked down at his book-- with no eye contact he replied," There have not been any news stories or any major reports that these drugs have any ill effects."

I replied, "News stories, haha- I don't trust the main stream media- these drugs will rot my brain."

He replied, "Well, look at it this way, your brain is going to rot anyway."

I could do nothing but laugh at his very laughable (and disgusting) response.

[ghostdogg]

i keep saying it , a glass of wazz every day keeps the deseases away ... do some investigation of the net ! ! ! peace and wazz ... :D :D :D

[bob_jones]

Good Stuuf, keep it up.

And they can't single me out and call me mad if other people say the same things.

Solidarity!!!

[white rabbit]

year after year the diabetes glucose test is modified to make the normal level lower, so more people are declared diabetic and need to take the medicine, when in fact they really dont have problems, but they develop them later because the medicine

its just business :mad:

[darkrue]

It's been my belief that doctors and/or clinics get kick-backs and bonuses from the phama companies depending on how many prescriptions they write. I'm pretty sure they are encouraged by their upper management to write as many prescriptions as possible. It's as though they've become sales people who are forced to bring more and more money in, rather than doctors who help people.

[hoverfly]

It's been my belief that doctors and/or clinics get kick-backs and bonuses from the phama companies depending on how many prescriptions they write. I'm pretty sure they are encouraged by their upper management to write as many prescriptions as possible. It's as though they've become sales people who are forced to bring more and more money in, rather than doctors who help people.

You are correct my friend, it is a FACT.

Doctors are sales reps for big pharma.

Thats the system they have to work in. :(

[darkrue]

You are correct my friend, it is a FACT.

Doctors are sales reps for big pharma.

Thats the system they have to work in. :(

It's heartbreaking, really. I can't imagine how folks getting into the healtcare industry must feel when they realize that their purpose isn't really there to help humanity anymore...just to get as much money out of people as they can.

[purelibra]

You are correct my friend, it is a FACT.

Doctors are sales reps for big pharma.

Thats the system they have to work in. :(

YES! When you can walk out of a doctors office with samples of a medication for problems you don't even have "just in case" it is a huge tip off. Im thinking of the 4 plus nutter pill samples my sawbones gave me when I went in to ask about "monthly issues" of course his solution was nutter pills.odd thing is he NEVER actually fixed the problem just kept pill pushing,even refused to refer me! I eventually had to go begging specialists on my own and my issue was found in one visit and fixed with no pills just a whole lotta dinero.

[motleyhoo]

There's a whole new kind of drug they have now made up called an "Adjunt". They are being marketed on TV now in the US as drugs you should take "in addition to" what you're already on to make the ones you're already on work better. It just keeps getting better and better doesn't it? :p

By the way, the best thing for the liver is turmeric + milk thistle + artichoke. If you want to lower cholesterol, eat fiber with every meal, the above supplement, Resveratrol, and get exercise.

Heart disease is not actually caused by cholesterol anyway. It's caused by inflammation, which can be reduced with Omega 3s and anti-oxidants.

.

[ecopete]

yeah , this was on news a while back that every one should take statins .

After my stroke and a while getting slowly more active , I descided to give up statins because they CAN course muscle deteriation .

guess what the heart is ? yes youve got it , its a muscle .

anyway , I told my Dr that my health was better , that I eat better food , am more active and also drink benecol .

he said

"well its not as simple as that ya know , its more complicated"

I said

"well actually its not ! if my blood doesnt have high colestorol then I dont need statins to bring it down do I ? so why are you trying your hardest to make me see I need them when I dont ?"

He tried to tell me that once my colestorol went up , that I would have to have statins for the rest of my life to which I told him to get lost and that he was full of rubish .

guess what he said then ?

"Mr ??????? , it is my job to make sure that your health doesnt take you to the local A and E , this could mean drastic action if you understand especially if you are not taking your drugs":eek:

"HHHHM" I said ,:cool:" sounds like a threat to me I hope your not trying to intimidate me into beleiving that you have some power to force me into a mental clinic of types , because then you really might see some type of scizofrenia and that might end up with me in jail"

Im sure you understand that he was threatening me

it didnt work

and im sure you see what I meant too .

Drs ?

be careful !

they lie !

with out made up Illnesses , they wouldnt have a job now would they ? because they also need sick folks otherwize they wouldnt have a living now would they ?

beware !

thanks for the thread too .

:cool:

Hi there, At least someone has come 2 the same, conclustion as me.

[octopusrex]

I tend to trust medicine that is not in some kind of pill form better than medicine that comes as pills.

The answer is simple: one is made by God, the other by Man.:D

[creamfields usa]

They'll make you sicker not better.

[bob_jones]

Aliance for Human Research Protection

http://www.ahrp.org

Anti-depressants are a big con

FYI

Twenty-two years after the US marketing of Prozac, which changed the
marketing, prescribing and widespread consumption of psychoactive drugs--a
meta-analysis of six large studies published in the Journal of the Medical
Association (JAMA) confirms that industry's blockbuster drugs, SSRI
antidepressants were unable to outperform placebos for moderate symptoms of
depression. Just like the older, much cheaper tricyclic antidepressants,
SSRIs show a clinical value only for severely depressed--i.e., clinically
dysfunctional-- patients.

In other words, antidepressants are worthless for most of the people for
whom they are prescribed.

Even cautious reporters of The New York Times could no longer avoid
reporting the obvious--despite efforts to deflect from the scientific
verdict:

"The findings could help settle a longstanding debate about antidepressants.
While the study does not imply that the drugs are worthless for anyone with
moderate to serious depression - many such people do seem to benefit - it
does provide one likely explanation for the sharp disagreement among experts
about the drugs' overall effectiveness. Taken together, previous studies
have painted a confusing picture. On one hand, industry-supported trials
have generally found that the drugs sharply reduce symptoms. On the other,
many studies that were not initially published, or were buried, showed no
significant benefits compared with placebos."

Dr. Erick Turner, whose earlier study "Selective Publication of
Antidepressant Trials and Its Influence on Apparent Efficacy," in The New
England Journal of Medicine, 2008
caused a stir among industry's stakeholders, also avoided the inescapable
conclusion, given the finding that placebos performed just as well as
antidepressants without any adverse side-effects:

"I think the study could dampen enthusiasm for antidepressant medications a
bit, and that may be a good thing. People's expectations for the drugs won't
be so high, and doctors won't be surprised if they're not curing every
patient they see with medications."

"The magnitude of benefit of antidepressant medication compared with placebo
increases with severity of depression symptoms and may be MINIMAL OR
NONEXISTENT, on average, in patients with mild or moderate symptoms. For
patients with very severe depression, the benefit of medications over
placebo is substantial.
http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/303/1/47

No finding of a cure for ANY patient.

The full magnitude of severe harm produced by these drugs in otherwise
healthy people for whom antidepressants were misprescribed has not yet been
fully collated--the human casualties include thousands of drug-induced
suicides, mania, drug-exacerbated depression, drug dependence, birth
defects...


Contact: Vera Hassner Sharav
veracare@ahrp.org
212-595-8974




http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/06/health/views/06depress.html

THE NEW YORK TIMES

January 6, 2010

Popular Drugs May Help Only Severe Depression

By BENEDICT CAREY

Some widely prescribed drugs for depression provide relief in extreme cases
but are no more effective than placebo pills for most patients, according to
a new analysis released Tuesday.

The findings could help settle a longstanding debate about antidepressants.
While the study does not imply that the drugs are worthless for anyone with
moderate to serious depression - many such people do seem to benefit - it
does provide one likely explanation for the sharp disagreement among experts
about the drugs' overall effectiveness.

Taken together, previous studies have painted a confusing picture. On one
hand, industry-supported trials have generally found that the drugs sharply
reduce symptoms. On the other, many studies that were not initially
published, or were buried, showed no significant benefits compared with
placebos.

The new report, appearing in The Journal of the American Medical
Association, reviews data from previous trials on two types of drugs and
finds that their effectiveness varies according to the severity of the
depression being treated.

Previous analyses had found a similar pattern. But the new study is the
first to analyze responses from hundreds of people being treated for more
moderate symptoms, as are most people who seek care.

"I think the study could dampen enthusiasm for antidepressant medications a
bit, and that may be a good thing," said Dr. Erick H. Turner, a psychiatrist
at Oregon Health and Science University. "People's expectations for the
drugs won't be so high, and doctors won't be surprised if they're not curing
every patient they see with medications."

But Dr. Turner added, "The findings shouldn't dampen expectations so much
that people refuse to even try medication."

A team of researchers, including psychologists who favor talk therapy and
doctors who consult widely with drug makers, performed the new analysis,
using government grants. The group evaluated six large drug trials,
including 728 men and women, about half of them with severe depression and
half with more moderate symptoms.

Three of the trials were of Paxil, from GlaxoSmithKline, a so-called
S.S.R.I., and the other three were of imipramine, an older generic drug from
the class known as tricyclics. The team, led by Jay C. Fournier and Robert
J. DeRubeis of the University of Pennsylvania, found that compared with
placebos, the drugs caused a much steeper reduction in symptoms of severe
depression (cases scoring 25 or higher on a standard scale of severity,
putting them in the top quarter of the sample). Patients with scores of less
than 25 got little or no added benefit from the medications.

"We were able to give an overall estimate of effectiveness for the first
time in this more moderate severity range, from 14 to 20 on the scale, in
which there's no question that doctors would likely consider prescribing
medication," Dr. DeRubeis said.

His co-authors included Steven D. Hollon and Dr. Richard C. Shelton of
Vanderbilt University, Sona Dimidjian of the University of Colorado, Dr. Jan
Fawcett of the University of New Mexico and Dr. Jay D. Amsterdam of Penn.

The effects of other popular S.S.R.I.'s like Lexapro and Prozac are not
likely to be much different than those of Paxil, experts said.

Dr. DeRubeis and others said antidepressants' inability to outperform
placebos against moderate symptoms stemmed partly from the sustained
attention that patients in drug trials received from top doctors - which
itself can help relieve symptoms, drug or no drug. For some people, too, the
drugs' side effects may cancel any benefit.

"The message for patients with mild to moderate depression," Dr. DeRubeis
said, "is, 'Look, medications are always an option, but there's little
evidence that they add to other efforts to shake the depression - whether
it's exercise, seeing the doctor, reading about the disorder or going for
psychotherapy.' "
~~~~~~~~~

Antidepressant Drug Effects and Depression Severity
A Patient-Level Meta-analysis
Jay C. Fournier, MA; Robert J. DeRubeis, PhD; Steven D. Hollon, PhD; Sona
Dimidjian, PhD; Jay D. Amsterdam, MD; Richard C. Shelton, MD; Jan Fawcett,
MD
JAMA. 2010;303(1):47-53.

Context Antidepressant medications represent the best established treatment
for major depressive disorder, but there is little evidence that they have a
specific pharmacological effect relative to pill placebo for patients with
less severe depression.

Objective To estimate the relative benefit of medication vs placebo across
a wide range of initial symptom severity in patients diagnosed with
depression.

Data Sources PubMed, PsycINFO, and the Cochrane Library databases were
searched from January 1980 through March 2009, along with references from
meta-analyses and reviews.

Study Selection Randomized placebo-controlled trials of antidepressants
approved by the Food and Drug Administration in the treatment of major or
minor depressive disorder were selected. Studies were included if their
authors provided the requisite original data, they comprised adult
outpatients, they included a medication vs placebo comparison for at least 6
weeks, they did not exclude patients on the basis of a placebo washout
period, and they used the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS). Data from
6 studies (718 patients) were included.

Data Extraction Individual patient-level data were obtained from study
authors.

Results Medication vs placebo differences varied substantially as a
function of baseline severity. Among patients with HDRS scores below 23,
Cohen d effect sizes for the difference between medication and placebo were
estimated to be less than 0.20 (a standard definition of a small effect).
Estimates of the magnitude of the superiority of medication over placebo
increased with increases in baseline depression severity and crossed the
threshold defined by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence for a
clinically significant difference at a baseline HDRS score of 25.

Conclusions The magnitude of benefit of antidepressant medication compared
with placebo increases with severity of depression symptoms and may be
minimal or nonexistent, on average, in patients with mild or moderate
symptoms. For patients with very severe depression, the benefit of
medications over placebo is substantial.

Author Affiliations: Departments of Psychology (Mr Fournier and Dr DeRubeis)
and Psychiatry (Dr Amsterdam), University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia;
Departments of Psychology (Dr Hollon) and Psychiatry (Dr Shelton),
Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee; Department of Psychology,
University of Colorado at Boulder (Dr Dimidjian); and Department of
Psychiatry, University of New Mexico School of Medicine, Albuquerque (Dr
Fawcett).




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The information herein shall not be considered an endorsement of anyone discontinuing psychiatric drugs. If you are stopping taking medication IT IS ADVISABLE TO REDUCE DOSES GRADUALLY WITH EXTREME CAUTION, as it is difficult to predict who will have problems withdrawing. It is worth getting as much information and support as you can, and involving your doctor wherever possible. You will find withdrawal information here: http://theicarusproject.net/


FOR MORE INFORMATION ON WITHDRAWAL:: Get Peter Lehmann's book, Coming off Psychiatric Drugs: Successful Withdrawal from Neuroleptics, Antidepressants, Lithium, Carbamazepine and Tranquilizers. This valuable resource comes in US, UK, Greek. and German editions.

[pipsicle]

http://snardfarker.ning.com/profiles/blogs/big-pharmas-new-massdrugging


One former employee of the National Institute of Mental Health claimed she was being sexually harassed. She was referred to a psychiatrist who "diagnosed" her with "Self-defeating Personality Disorder", which gave her employer an excuse to sack her. She took the case to tribunal and won.

According to one neurologist/psychiatrist, T#the really sad part is psychiatry used to be dedicated to the noble science of diagnosing the medical causes of people's brain dysfunction, before it was hijacked by Freudian psychoanalysts.