Ten Lies About Health Your Doctor Taught You

imeddyhobbs · 14-07-2006 11:34PM #1

Lie #1: Prescription drugs will make you healthier.
Truth #1: Prescription drugs only mask symptoms. They do nothing to correct the underlying biochemical causes of disease. Simultaneously, most prescription drugs cause nutritional deficiencies which lead to further progression of chronic disease.

Lie #2: You should actively treat the swelling of sprains, strains and other injuries.

Truth #2: Swelling is your body's natural strategy for enhancing the flow of blood and nutrients to the injured area. If drugs or hormones are used to prevent swelling, the injured tissues won't heal correctly, greatly increasing the likelihood of repeat injuries to the same area.

Lie #3: Mammograms prevent cancer.

Truth #3: Mammograms actually cause cancer. They dose the breast tissues with harmful radiation. Even when they spot breast cancer tumors, they aren't "preventing" breast cancer; they're merely detecting breast cancer. True prevention requires changes in food choice and lifestyle, not the use of imaging technology.

Lie #4: Vitamins give you "expensive urine."

Truth #4: The most expensive urine in the world is created by taking multiple overpriced prescription drugs, not vitamins. With more than 40% of the U.S. population now on prescription drugs, the drug content in human urine is now so high that trace amounts of antidepressant drugs can be found in public water supplies. Compared to drugs, vitamins are cheap prevention.

Lie #5: The sun will give you cancer.

Truth #5: The sun will prevent cancer due to the creation of vitamin D by the skin. Most Americans (and Canadians and Europeans, for that matter) are deficient in vitamin D. As a result, tumor cell growth in the breast and prostate is unregulated. Sensible exposure to natural sunlight generates cancer-preventing vitamin D... at no charge! Sunburns are actually caused by nutritional deficiencies (lack of antioxidants in the skin), not by sensible exposure to sunlight.

Lie #6: CT scans (CAT scans) are perfectly safe.

Truth #6: CT scans expose patients to 1000 times the radiation of chest X-rays. Repeated exposure to CT scans raises a patient's cumulative radiation to levels experienced by many hydrogen bomb victims in Hiroshima. In addition, rigorous studies have concluded that CT scans offer no medical benefit whatsoever.

Lie #7: The U.S. health care system is the best in the world.

Truth #7: The health of U.S. citizens is actually the worst of any industrialized nation. We pay double, triple, and even quadruple the price for prescription drugs as any other country. We also have the highest rates of obesity, Alzheimer's, cancer and diabetes, plus the highest health insurance costs in the world. The U.S. health care system ("sick care system") is so bad that people are fleeing the country to seek medical services in Asia. It's a trend called "medical tourism," and it's flourishing.

Lie #8: All surgical procedures have been proven safe and effective.

Truth #8: There is currently NO requirement whatsoever that surgical procedures must be either safe or effective in order to be practiced. Hundreds of thousands of medically unnecessary surgical procedures are performed each year in the U.S. alone, including hysterectomies and prostate cancer surgeries.

Lie #9: You can get all the nutrition you need from three balanced meals a day.

Truth #9: Today's foods are nutrient depleted, and they come from depleted soils. Processed and manufactured foods would have to be eaten at the rate of 10,000 calories a day just to meet minimum RDA requirements for basic nutrition. The only way to get adequate nutrition is to supplement with superfoods or whole food concentrates (vitamins, whole food powders, supplement capsules, etc.) along with eating healthy meals. Organizations like the AHA, however, insist that nutrient supplementation is actually bad for your health.

Lie #10: All these lab tests are for your own good.

Truth #10: At least half of all diagnostic tests ordered by doctors are medically unnecessary. They're often conducted merely to generate revenues for the hospital or medical group that owns the doctor's clinic. Some doctors are actually required to generate a certain dollar amount of lab test revenues in order to keep their jobs.

EDIT: took out newstarget.com links (spam protection) - search there if you're interested in original articles

Lust4Life · 14-07-2006 11:40PM

Been hanging out with Tom Cruise???

imeddyhobbs · 14-07-2006 11:46PM

Lust4Life wrote:

Been hanging out with Tom Cruise???

no,it was my old friend the internet,it makes sense to me,i always knew everything was about money

monkeyfudge · 14-07-2006 11:46PM

This is why I only use bile chanting and leeches.

Kazaanova · 15-07-2006 12:13AM

Whats the point in this? I mean, what are we better off doing? Not going to the doctors? Telling the doctor how to do his job?

garrath · 15-07-2006 12:18AM

I don't know whether you started this thread to discuss the merits of each "lie", or if it is something you actually subscribe to. In the latter case, I would seriously suggest you back up each point with more sources than the website you gave, which seems to quite sensationalist and militant (in attitude) about the problems with the medical/pharmaceutical industry: (newstarget link removed)

You need to back up your points. You're misrepresenting some things. Your first "lie":

Truth #1: Prescription drugs only mask symptoms. They do nothing to correct the underlying biochemical causes of disease. Simultaneously, most prescription drugs cause nutritional deficiencies which lead to further progression of chronic disease.

This is a GROSS generalisation IMO. There are plenty of drugs that only mask symptoms, but they're not the only case (thyroid medication springs to mind). Its tone also suggests to stay clear of prescription medication unless it was necessary, which I think would make sense to most people. Yet many people on prescription medication, even if the side effects are drastic obviously choose these side effects over the problem the drugs are trying to correct.

Thats not to say that medication is over-prescribed (especially in America, which is the medical system that this article was written about). But its just incorrect to say "most prescription drugs cause nutritional deficiencies". It obviously depends on the drug.

Truth #3: Mammograms actually cause cancer

Truth #5: The sun will prevent cancer...

Truth #6: CT scans expose patients to 1000 times the radiation of chest X-rays...

Truth #9: Today's foods are nutrient depleted, and they come from depleted soils...

It looks to me like the article you took this information from is being selective in what it says. Do you know for certain that if every woman stopped having mammograms that cancer rates would go down? Do you discount all the possible evidence about skin cancer caused by sun exposure? Does anyone actually say that CT scans don't produce radiation? Do you really think that you cannot eat healthily by eating good food?

I'm not a doctor, I don't know the answers to all these questions. But from reading whats on that site, I urge anyone who is concerned with any of these points to do your own research. This seems to me to be some of the same sensationalism thats fed to people looking for someone to blame and too lazy to do their own research.

Personally, I do think there are huge problems with the pharmaceutical industry in America and all over the world, but these statements are not helping. It reduces the credibility of people with genuine concerns.

If you can back up any of the points I've tried to discount, please, by all means do, I'd be happy to be corrected. Otherwise, I think you're doing a disservice to people.

Nehpets · 15-07-2006 12:20AM

Kazaanova wrote:

Whats the point in this? I mean, what are we better off doing? Not going to the doctors? Telling the doctor how to do his job?

go on strike against doctors :rolleyes:

Sarky · 15-07-2006 12:21AM

Do you know why most doctors prescribe drugs? It's because the patients won't stop f*cking whinging about the small papercut until they leave with something that'll make them feel better.

Slutmonkey57b · 15-07-2006 12:25AM

Sounds like a big scaremongering bunch of half-truths to advertise "newstarget.com" to me. Let's examine their answers for them:

1: "Prescription drugs mask symptoms" Which drugs? Painkillers, yes. Antibiotics, not so much. Misleading.
2: I've never heard of a doctor prescribing drugs for a mild sprain. Misleading again.
3: Nobody has EVER claimed mammograms prevent cancer. Lies
4: a) US population drug use is the highest in the world by an exponential percentage. We are not Americans. Irrelevant. b) Fails to address the point that there is no evidence vitamin supplements can even be absorbed by the body. Misleading.
5) Sunburn is caused by the sun burning your skin, as can easily be proved in lab experiments. Lies.
6) Who said CAT scans were 100% safe? Misleading.
7) Everyone knows the US has the most overpriced healthcare in the world. Next.
8) All surgical procedures carry risks which is why you have to sign a disclaimer. Anything involving humans is subject to errors. Lies.
9) a) 3 balanced meals a day obviously does not include frozen food. Misleading. b) RDA's are totally made up anyway. Misleading. c) vitamins and supplement capsules = processed, denatured, depleted sources of food. Lies. d) The AHA is discussing false industrialised vitamin supplements, and they are right. Lies.
10) Good luck getting a lab test in this country mate. Irrelevant.

seamus · 15-07-2006 12:27AM

Seriously, why bother posting this regurgitative crap?

imeddyhobbs wrote:

Lie #1: Prescription drugs will make you healthier.
Truth #1: Prescription drugs only mask symptoms. They do nothing to correct the underlying biochemical causes of disease.

Not necessarily. Some drugs fight bacterial infections directly. Others indirectly fight the pathogen. Others just maks the symptoms - most things which aren't prescription do this.

Lie #3: Mammograms prevent cancer.

I don't remember ever hearing this. All I hear for women is "regular breast checks can improve your chances of detecting cancer early.

Lie #4: Vitamins give you "expensive urine."

Never heard this. More American stuff.

Lie #5: The sun will give you cancer.

At last, something I can agree with. Overexposure to the sun isn't the best idea, but the current climate of fear being pushed by Boots et al is ridiculous.

Lie #6: CT scans (CAT scans) are perfectly safe.

Truth #6: CT scans expose patients to 1000 times the radiation of chest X-rays. Repeated exposure to CT scans raises a patient's cumulative radiation to levels experienced by many hydrogen bomb victims in Hiroshima. In addition, rigorous studies have concluded that CT scans offer no medical benefit whatsoever.

Well of course they offer no benefit, they're not supposed to. And the figure is more like 250 times the dose of an X-Ray at most. Scarily enough, not that many doctors know this.

Lie #7: The U.S. health care system is the best in the world.

I don't think anyone has believed this for about 30 years.

Lie #8: All surgical procedures have been proven safe and effective.

Again, I know of no-one who considers any surgery, however minor, to be 100% without risk.

Lie #9: You can get all the nutrition you need from three balanced meals a day.

Truth #9: Today's foods are nutrient depleted, and they come from depleted soils. Processed and manufactured foods would have to be eaten at the rate of 10,000 calories a day just to meet minimum RDA requirements for basic nutrition. The only way to get adequate nutrition is to supplement with superfoods or whole food concentrates (vitamins, whole food powders, supplement capsules, etc.) along with eating healthy meals. Organizations like the AHA, however, insist that nutrient supplementation is actually bad for your health.

Wow, how subjective can you get. Of course you will get all the nutrition you need from three balanced meals. If all you eat is processed, then there's a good chance your meals aren't balanced.

Lie #10: All these lab tests are for your own good.

What lab tests?

astrofool · 15-07-2006 12:27AM

Thats the biggest load of codswallop of a post i've ever seen on boards. Most of the "lies" aren't even things that doctors would say, but in fact would be said by imbeciles, probably of the intelligence level slightly above the original poster.

Just quickly:

Lie #8: All surgical procedures have been proven safe and effective.

All surgical procedures are risky, no matter how small, patients sign to this effect in order to have surgery. Now sometimes the odds are small, and could be as safe as plane travel statistically, but anyone going for a triple bypass has to accept that they may die on the table.

Lie #10: All these lab tests are for your own good.

How are they good for you at all? At worst they are there to figure out the problem, once figured out, they are no longer needed or carried out. There is obviously a suite of tests carried out as standard, and because they are always carried out, are cheap to do so.

Lie #1: Prescription drugs will make you healthier.

All prescription drugs have side effects. But I guess reading the label is far too hard for some people. EVERYTHING you do to your body has potential to harm you, you weigh the pro's and con's and takes yours chances.

Lie #3: Mammograms prevent cancer.

No, they detect cancer.

Lie #7: The U.S. health care system is the best in the world.

Obviously cut/paste from somewhere, but even the US knows it has medical problems, if I lived in the US i'd make sure I got health insurance as a result of this, but then, I do the same in Ireland because the health system here is also pretty bad.

Lie #9: You can get all the nutrition you need from three balanced meals a day.

Thats always going to depend on the meals.

Lie #6: CT scans (CAT scans) are perfectly safe.

Well, you'll get more radiation exposure flying a long distance flight, but everyone knows that radiation is harmful, thats why the medical staff don't stay in the room. Also, MRI is perfectly safe (unless you have metal in your body

), and will become more widely used as costs come down.

Lie #5: The sun will give you cancer.

Nobody knows what causes cancer, all people know is that if exposed to X that the chances of getting cancer are y% higher than without exposure. Now, the sun is good for you, but not in high doses, which will increase the % risk of cancer, as with everything in life.

r3nu4l · 15-07-2006 12:32AM

Thread reported, you should be banned for this! Utter cr*p! Enough said!:mad:

EDIT: OMFG! I just read "Lie 5"! This is worse cr*p than I thought!!!!! If you knew anything about cancer you would have realised that your source was cr*p :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

This is dangerous trolling at its worst!

imeddyhobbs · 15-07-2006 12:32AM

Sarky wrote:

Do you know why most doctors prescribe drugs? It's because the patients won't stop f*cking whinging about the small papercut until they leave with something that'll make them feel better.

thats like a publican telling his best customers to stop drinking so much

Sarky · 15-07-2006 12:36AM

imeddyhobbs wrote:

thats like a publican telling his best customers to stop drinking so much

It's nothing of the sort. It's like a publican telling his best customers that the pint they just demanded won't actually help them forget their miserable drab lives and associated non-achievements, and may in fact harm their livers, but giving up because there's just no telling some people.

You are a bizarre little man, and you anger me.

seamus · 15-07-2006 12:37AM

imeddyhobbs wrote:

thats like a publican telling his best customers to stop drinking so much

Not really. If the person leaves the surgery feeling placated, then they'll come back to the doctor. If they don't get what they want, they'll go down to the dodgy doctor down the road, and start badmouthing the good doctor to all their aged friends because "he wouldn't listen to me".

Someone should make some all-purpose pills in a variety of colours, and with all sorts of fancy, infection-busting names. They're placebos of course, but doctors can prescribe them happy that they're doing no harm and chemists can charge idiots whatever they want.

garrath · 15-07-2006 12:45AM

seamus wrote:

...If they don't get what they want, they'll go down to the dodgy doctor down the road, and start badmouthing the good doctor to all their aged friends because "he wouldn't listen to me"...

That's why doctors can be struck from the medical register. There is a professional responsibility and duty of care to the patient that every doctor must uphold, even if it means being badmouthed. I would certainly not want a doctor to medicate me in case I might say something bad about him/her. In fact, I would think a doctor would be more concerned with being known as "dodgy".

I realise your post is not exactly advocating this as a viable course of action (or am I misinterpreting things?) but my point is still valid.

imeddyhobbs · 15-07-2006 12:51AM

im no doctor or anything fancy like that but i do find this kind of thing interesting,its also very interesting that the more drugs that become available,the more they tell to see our doctors regulary,all they can do most of the time is treat the illness,not cure it.I might aswell do the same as some of the other posters and pick and choose some of the things out of that top ten like Lie number 2: You should actively treat the swelling of sprains, strains and other injuries Truth number 2: Swelling is your body's natural strategy for enhancing the flow of blood and nutrients to the injured area. If drugs or hormones are used to prevent swelling, the injured tissues won't heal correctly, greatly increasing the likelihood of repeat injuries to the same area,this is true.
Its also worth baring in mind that these same companys that tell us that they can fix us when we have a serious ailment also tell us that they cant cure a common cold

seamus · 15-07-2006 12:51AM

garrath wrote:

That's why doctors can be struck from the medical register. There is a professional responsibility and duty of care to the patient that every doctor must uphold, even if it means being badmouthed. I would certainly not want a doctor to medicate me in case I might say something bad about him/her. In fact, I would think a doctor would be more concerned with being known as "dodgy".

Well of course he would. But included in that duty of care is a need to do *something* for a patient, even if they are a hypochondriac - Sod's law says that the one time he/she ignores the village hypochondriac is the same day that hypochondriac contracts ebola

. Certain medication though can be justified for anything. Even the most reputable of doctors these days have a tendency to prescribe antibiotics like sweets "Just in case".

seamus · 15-07-2006 12:55AM

Eddie, there are times when swelling needs to be treated. It's not always a good thing to have an injured area swell up in defence. The throat and the brain are just two examples of areas where swelling may help heal the injury but can have the unfortunate side effect of killing the host...

imeddyhobbs · 15-07-2006 12:59AM

Sarky wrote:

It's nothing of the sort. It's like a publican telling his best customers that the pint they just demanded won't actually help them forget their miserable drab lives and associated non-achievements, and may in fact harm their livers, but giving up because there's just no telling some people.

You are a bizarre little man, and you anger me.

GP's love to see the hypocondriacts coming in with the plastic,€50-€80 a pop from the government,why would he refuse it,easy money you placebo swallowing reject

garrath · 15-07-2006 01:00AM

seamus wrote:

But included in that duty of care is a need to do *something* for a patient, even if they are a hypochondriac - Sod's law says that the one time he/she ignores the village hypochondriac is the same day that hypochondriac contracts ebola .

I wouldn't agree that a doctor has to do *something* for a patient if it undermines his professional responsibility. A doctor weighs the evidence and makes an informed choice about the treatment for the patient. He/she is under no obligation to pander to a hypochondriac or to hedge his bets that his patient might actually have a more serious illness. If he/she suspects his patient might have a more serious illness, the solution is to do more tests, not just prescribe some drugs to shut the patient up.

That said, I'm sure there are disreputable doctors who do actually do what you say.

imeddyhobbs · 15-07-2006 01:01AM

seamus wrote:

Eddie, there are times when swelling needs to be treated. It's not always a good thing to have an injured area swell up in defence. The throat and the brain are just two examples of areas where swelling may help heal the injury but can have the unfortunate side effect of killing the host...

i wont use deep heat when my brain sweels up so

garrath · 15-07-2006 01:10AM

imeddyhobbs wrote:

GP's love to see the hypocondriacts coming in with the plastic,€50-€80 a pop from the government,why would he refuse it,easy money you placebo swallowing reject

I think your posts are irresponsible, misinformed and just simply wrong. Have you ANY evidence for this?

Its easy to try to support a belief by selectively searching on the 'net; its a lot harder to spend the time collecting the actual facts and developing an informed opinion.

I've reported your originally post. Why on earth would you try to defend an argument that would reduce the amount of mammograms? Anyone reading your post who is sitting on the fence about making the effort to go for one might just be persuaded to forget about it, "cos someone said it will give me cancer".

Sarky · 15-07-2006 01:13AM

imeddyhobbs wrote:

GP's love to see the hypocondriacts coming in with the plastic,€50-€80 a pop from the government,

NOBODY likes to see a hypochondriac come into their waiting room. They're whiney cretins with no common sense, and the audacity to get indignant when they don't get some drugs to help with a rare form of stomach upset that's actually only contractible by marsupials.

why would he refuse it,easy money you placebo swallowing reject

Now that's just hurtful and untrue.

They were suppositories.

imeddyhobbs · 15-07-2006 01:13AM

garrath wrote:

I think your posts are irresponsible, misinformed and just simply wrong. Have you ANY evidence for this?

Its easy to try to support a belief by selectively searching on the 'net; its a lot harder to spend the time collecting the actual facts and developing an informed opinion.

I've reported your originally post. Why on earth would you try to defend an argument that would reduce the amount of mammograms? Anyone reading your post who is sitting on the fence about making the effort to go for one might just be persuaded to forget about it, "cos someone said it will give me cancer".

Dont get so excited,my posts are irresponsible like having an open mind is irresponsible.

garrath · 15-07-2006 01:14AM

imeddyhobbs wrote:

i wont use deep heat when my brain sweels up so

Be sure not to have a CT scan either:

Truth #6: CT scans expose patients to 1000 times the radiation of chest X-rays. Repeated exposure to CT scans raises a patient's cumulative radiation to levels experienced by many hydrogen bomb victims in Hiroshima. In addition, rigorous studies have concluded that CT scans offer no medical benefit whatsoever. See http://www.newstarget.com/004060.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computed_axial_tomography#Cranial_CT

garrath · 15-07-2006 01:19AM

imeddyhobbs wrote:

Dont get so excited,my posts are irresponsible like having an open mind is irresponsible.

Thats not true. You are not presenting an open mind, quite the opposite: you are doggedly sticking to a very narrow view of medicine and have yet to show any interest in the what I or the other posters have said to refute your argument. You are disseminating disinformation, and have not yet felt the need to retract any of it. Tell me how exactly this is open minded?

imeddyhobbs · 15-07-2006 01:19AM

garrath wrote:

Be sure not to have a CT scan either:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computed_axial_tomography#Cranial_CT

we can post links here all night but im sure your links will probally be as acurite as mine are

imeddyhobbs · 15-07-2006 01:22AM

garrath wrote:

Thats not true. You are not presenting an open mind, quite the opposite: you are doggedly sticking to a very narrow view of medicine and have yet to show any interest in the what I or the other posters have said to refute your argument. You are disseminating disinformation, and have not yet felt the need to retract any of it. Tell me how exactly this is open minded?

chilax gar,chilax.i dont really give a f..k anyway,i just post things,if you dont like what you are reading then i suggest you stop reading,chilax!

Sarky · 15-07-2006 01:23AM

Brain tumour? Terminal cancer? AIDS?

Forget those quacks who perform procedures based on years of experience and a detailed knowledge of human anatomy, physiology, neurology and biochemistry! You need some herbal tea!

Cardinal · 15-07-2006 01:24AM

Don't "just post things" in a forum unless you want to debate them. That's kind of the point.

Ten Lies About Health Your Doctor Taught You

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