Does Not Medicating Have It's Benefits?!
Question: I don't medicate unless there is something really wrong with me. But for just a little headache or a little pain or something like that, I just work and live through it. So my question is, we live in a time where almost everything has a treatment, so does not medicating when you don't have to have any benefits? I know that when you take something regularly your tolerance level changes and you have to take more of it to get the same effect. I also heard that people are not responding to Penicillin as much as we used to because of tolerance levels. This was just a random question and I hope that someone that has the answer. Thanks a bunch?
Answers: I don't medicate unless there is something really wrong with me. But for just a little headache or a little pain or something like that, I just work and live through it. So my question is, we live in a time where almost everything has a treatment, so does not medicating when you don't have to have any benefits? I know that when you take something regularly your tolerance level changes and you have to take more of it to get the same effect. I also heard that people are not responding to Penicillin as much as we used to because of tolerance levels. This was just a random question and I hope that someone that has the answer. Thanks a bunch?
Absolutely. The human body produces its own chemicals to deal with pain and illness. When people overuse medications to deal with these things, the body stops producing its own chemicals. When the chemicals are introduced through an outside source, the body stops needing to produce its own, and dosen't. Someone who takes advil every time they have a headache becomes completely unable to handle pain without medication. Someone who takes cold medications for every sniffle will get sick more often, and longer, then those who let their bodies handle the infection.
As for Penicillin and other antibiotics, that is a completely different story. Since people take antibiotics so frequently, and generally don't finish the round after their symptoms clear up, bacteria is becoming resistant to antibiotics. Simple bacterial infections are agian becoming dangerous because we cannot treat them. The human body also contains many varieties of healthy bacteria. The overuse of antibiotics is beginning to kill these off- many are not found in the body at all anymore. Its scary, isn't it?
Another problem is mass overdiagnosis. Things like antidepressants and ADD medications are perscribed much more often then they need to be. What few people realize is that these mood-altering drugs do not solve the problems they address. More then 80% of people perscribed antidepressants will relapse within a year. Less then 20% will do so if the problem is treated with behavior therapy. These medications leave people unable to deal with their problems without the drug- someone on antidepressants never targets the source of their pain, and someone with add never learns to concentrate. They leave the brain completely unable to address problems.
On top of everything else, recent studies are showing that common medications are showing up in drinking water. Even anabolic steriods used to bulk up livestock have made an appearance. The medications we take pass through our bodies and into the septic system, which isn't equipped to filter out the drugs. The water makes it back into the cycle, and we have tap water with traces of mind and body altering drugs.
You're on the right track- keep it up! I just wish that more people realized how bad it is for our bodies to keep popping pills! Its a very dangerous practice few people really think about. It makes me wonder what will happen to us in the next century from all this.
You're doing the exact correct action. All meds have side-effects and are metabolized through the kidney or the liver. The less stress on these organs the better. Unfortunately you may someday be the victim of a super-bug (one resistant to antibiotics) . Most of the people I've taken care of that are healthy and in their 90's or even 100 take very few medications.
"I also heard that people are not responding to Penicillin as much as we used to because of tolerance levels."
In this instance, it isn't the person's tolerance that's the problem -- it's the germs'. Heavy use of antibacterials and antivirals have led to the targets evolving into hardier forms.
To the general point, most over-the-counter pain killers and medications are extremely safe and well-tolerated in people. They have to be strong enough to give a desired effect, but not so strong that it's easy to poison yourself or overload your kidneys and liver. So doing without doesn't have a very different consequence from just taking something, apart from comfort. But I'm the same way as you -- if my nose is running, I get a tissue, not a medication for cold symptoms.