You can barely watch a favorite TV show without seeing prescription medication commercials. Drug manufacturers advertise online, in mobile apps, in print media, and on the radio. With so many ads coming at us from so many different directions, you would think American consumers are hooked on prescription medications. Maybe we are.
If so, it leads to an obvious question: are prescription medications always the best healthcare option? Unfortunately, the answer is often uncomfortable. Western medicine is pharmacologically based. And where pharmacology is preferred, prescription medications abound.
The Days of Quackery
Doctors and pharmacists were mixing up medications long before the pharmaceutical industry was established. Those were the days of quackery, the days when hucksters had no qualms about putting anything into a bottle and calling it a miracle cure. We allegedly did away with quackery when the government stepped in to regulate pharmacy.
Today, there are far fewer companies pushing miracle cures. But calls of quackery still abound. For example, regenerative medicine is considered a modern-day form of quackery to some in the medical community unwilling to embrace it.
Many of them felt the same way about chiropractic and acupuncture. Doctors who practiced either were considered quacks back in the 70s and 80s. Perceptions have since changed. The point is that new things are often looked at skeptically when first introduced to Western medicine.
Other Ways to Treat Illness
A discussion on modern day quackery brings us back to the original question of whether or not prescription medications are always the best option. They aren’t. Sometimes there are other ways to treat illness and disease. For example, physical therapy is one option for treating fibromyalgia. Doctors do not necessarily have to put fibro patients on drugs.
The need for other options is apparent when you consider the cost of prescription drugs in this country. There are people whose prescriptions take a sizable chunk out of their monthly budgets. Coupon programs don’t offer deep enough discounts while Canadian pharmacies do not always carry what they need.
Even if a patient could get a better deal purchasing online from Canada Pharmacy, does that mean medication is still the best form of treatment? Not necessarily. The thing about prescription medications is that they rarely offer a cure. Instead, they only relieve symptoms.
Pain Medication for Arthritis
The cure vs. symptom management issue is easily observed in patients suffering from osteoarthritis. As the most common form of arthritis, osteoarthritis is a degenerative condition in which joint tissue breaks down over time. Most standard treatments are designed only to relieve pain.
Regenerative medicine is an alternative treatment. It seeks to use things like platelet-rich plasma (PRP) and stem cell therapies to replace lost tissue, thereby working as a cure rather than just a means of pain relief.
An osteoarthritis patient might be able to get cheaper medications through a coupon program or by buying online from a Canadian pharmacy. But the medication only works for so long. At some point, the patient is looking at either joint replacement or putting up with the pain. Wouldn’t it be reasonable to at least try PRP or stem cell therapy? The patient has nothing to lose. And in fact, it might prove successful.
We have become so accustomed to Western medicine that a lot of us believe prescription medications will cure everything. They will not. In fact, it is not even close. Ditto for vaccinations and inoculations. The truth of the matter is that medication isn’t the be-all and end-all of healthcare. There are other ways to treat illness that Western medicine simply refuses to recognize.
