Medicines or Drugs: Are They Saving Your Life or Killing You?

The most important subject we can talk about … that’s your health.

Time-tested principles, proven strategies and best-kept secrets That thousands of wellness doctors use for themselves and their families.

Do you know? Every 30 seconds in the United States, someone files for bankruptcy as a result of the treatment they receive for a serious health problem? -- according to researchers at Harvard University

Do you know? That’s over 50% of all personal bankruptcy filings affecting over two million Americans every year. -- researchers at Harvard University

Do you know? “… three-quarters of the medically bankrupt had health insurance at the time of their illness.” -- researchers at Harvard University

“Nobody’s safe.” -- Elizabeth Warren a law professor at Harvard University

Inconvenient Truths of Health Care “America is in serious financial trouble.” -- David Walker U.S. Comptroller General (America’s top accountant)

Inconvenient Truths of Health Care “America and Americans are going bankrupt due to health care … or dare I say – lack of caring for our health.” -- Discover Wellness, How Staying Health Can Make You Rich

The American Lifestyle Pain = stop exercising + gain weight + poor posture + unhealthy thinking + poor habits

The American Lifestyle Depression High Blood Pressure Elevated Cholesterol Increased Risk of Preventable Diseases Heart Disease CancerDiabetes OBESITY Stress Related Conditions … And Much More

The American Lifestyle The cycle continues… Increased Pain = increased weight gain + unhealthy posture + depressed thinking + destructive habits.

The American Lifestyle Are You Living Sick?

America Spends $2 trillion per year on health care … really… sick care.

America Spends More than 15% of every dollar spent in America … goes toward health care

America Spends More than 70% of our health care Dollars treating preventative lifestyle-related chronic diseases.

America Spends Heart Disease, Cancer, Diabetes, Obesity, Stress Related Conditions, Chronic Pain and Adverse Drug Reactions The Seven Conditions causing America’s #1 crisis

America Spends $6,280 Each and every man, woman and child spends per year on medical care.

America Spends If you and your children didn’t spend $6,280 each on health care last year, –that means your neighbors and coworkers spent your share and you still paid for it. –A family of four = $25,120 per year

Now, If you’re thinking to yourself… I’m not spending that much on health care – this isn’t my problem… why should I care? I’m healthy, I feel good, look good, my family is healthy

Think for a moment… Starbucks spends more money on health insurance than they do on coffee. General Motors spends more money on health insurance than they do on steel for their cars.

Think for a moment… How do you think they pay for that? They pass the costs on to us – their customers.

Every time you spend: $1.95 at Starbucks for a cup of coffee, –$.30 goes to cover medical costs. $10 for a movie ticket, –$1.50 goes to cover medical costs. $20 for a pizza, –$3 goes to cover medical costs. $50 for a tank of gas, –$7.50 goes to cover medical costs.

Every time you spend: $250 for an airline ticket, –$37.50 goes to cover medical costs. $1,000 on auto repairs, –$150 goes to cover medical costs. $2,500 on a plasma television, –$375 goes to cover medical costs. $25,000 on a new car, –$1,666 goes to cover medical costs.

We’re all paying the bill … Increased prices, Increased taxes, Increased premiums

Medicines or Drugs: Are They Saving Your Life or Killing You? What Your Medical Doctor May Not Have Told You.

When I discovered the research that I am about to share with you today, I was shocked. I thought to myself… this is impossible, it can’t be true.

You may feel that I’m about to convince you to believe in my opinion. I’m not. You’re Crazy! No Way! That’s Not Right! Can’t Be True

Use your favorite search engine and enter: adverse drug reactions, medical mistakes and pharmaceutical marketing.

Discover information widely reported within the medical profession in professional journals such as the Journal of the American Medical Association, information directly from the FDA ’s website, 60 Minutes, The NY Times and The Washington Post.

There are three main points that I believe can and will save your life.

1. Medicines Are Not As Safe As Most People Believe Them To Be

2. Prescribing medications is not as scientific as we believe it to be and…

3. The pharmaceutical industry is a much bigger business than most people believe it to be.

Each year, approximately 2.2 million people experience Adverse Drug Reactions (ADRs) from taking prescription medications. — Journal of the American Medical Association We’re Not as Safe as We Thought

Of these, it is estimated that more than 100,000 patients die annually. ADRs are the fifth greatest killer in U.S. We’re Not as Safe as We Thought

Right after heart disease (743,460) cancer (529,904) stroke (150,108) pulmonary disease (101,077) We’re Not as Safe as We Thought

This study is a Meta analysis of 39 research reports published from 1966 to — (JAMA 279: ) We’re Not as Safe as We Thought

Approximately 1.5 million hospitalizations a year were caused by adverse drug reactions. Every day, more than 4,000 patients have ADRs so serious that they need to be admitted to American hospitals. — Journal of the American Medical Association We’re Not as Safe as We Thought

2.09% of all pediatric hospitalizations were caused by ADRs and 39% of these were life-threatening. We’re Not as Safe as We Thought

In one year, there are 79,000 children admitted to the hospital because of ADRs - 31,000 of these children had life-threatening adverse reactions. We’re Not as Safe as We Thought

The FDA reported that Vioxx may have contributed to almost 28,000 heart attacks in the U.S. between 1999 and We’re Not as Safe as We Thought

There are approximately 100,000 deaths annually due to adverse drug reactions – that is… We’re Not as Safe as We Thought

Five times the number of deaths due to AIDS in America (20,000) We’re Not as Safe as We Thought

Almost twice the number of deaths due to Diabetes (53,894) We’re Not as Safe as We Thought

Medical errors (wrong medications or doses, surgical mistakes, infections and other preventable adverse events) contribute to more than 1 million injuries and up to 98,000 hospital deaths per year. — Institute of Medicine (IOM) report To Error is Human: Building a Safer Health System We’re Not as Safe as We Thought

A more recent study titled Patient Safety in American Hospitals, found that such errors could be as high as 195,000 deaths per year. We’re Not as Safe as We Thought

“I don’t know why the public isn’t more pissed off about this. Imagine what the reaction would be if we had a similar mortality in aviation.” — Donald Berwick, MD member of the IOM panel President of Institute for Healthcare Improvement We’re Not as Safe as We Thought

“Imagine a fully loaded Boeing 747 crashing every day of the year with no survivors. Then, you can begin to understand the number of preventable deaths that occur in our health care system.” — AmericansMadAndAngry.org We’re Not as Safe as We Thought

Medicine is not as scientific as we thought

Off-label use of prescription medications (medications prescribed for conditions other than those “approved” by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration) occurs in about one in every five prescriptions filled in the United States. Medicine Is Not as Scientific as We Thought

73% of all off-label prescriptions (109 million) had little or no evidence supporting the use in question. The most common off-label uses were for heart medications, anticonvulsants and asthma medications. Medicine Is Not as Scientific as We Thought

Why are there so many Adverse Drug Reactions and medical errors ? Medicine Is Not as Scientific as We Thought

Americans have been convinced – through billions of dollars of pharmaceutical advertising – to just… ask their doctor. As a result, 64% of all patient visits to physicians result in prescriptions. Medicine Is Not as Scientific as We Thought

Americans have a mania for medications. 2.8 billion prescriptions were filled in the year That is about 10 prescriptions for every person in the United States.

Most new drugs are approved with an average of 1,500 patient exposures and usually for only relatively short periods of time. — FDA.gov

Most experts agree … there is a total lack of incentive to improve the quality of our health care system. Our providers are actually paid more when quality is worse, such as when complications occur.

When studies are done to test the safety and efficacy of medications to be approved by the FDA, they are not done to determine the safety and efficacy of multiple medications being taken at the same time.

Medicine is a much bigger business than we thought… The pharmaceutical industry has been the most profitable industry in America for most of the past decade.

In 2002, Pfizer Inc., the world’s largest drug company, reported return on sales of 28.4%.

Two and a half times better than the 10.7% return of General Electric Company, perennially ranked as America’s best managed business.

Nearly nine times better than the 3.3 percent return of Wal-Mart Stores, the country’s largest and best-run retailer.

And it was nearly 32 times better than the.9% of General Motors Corporation, America’s largest car manufacturer.

The percentage of personal health dollars spent on prescription drugs has grown faster than any other segment, including doctor and hospital bills. — The New England Journal of Medicine

Americans comprise only 5% of the entire world’s population, yet we consume 50% of all the prescription drugs manufactured worldwide - more than three billion prescriptions each year.

How does the pharmaceutical industry sustain such profitability ?

Congressmen are outnumbered two to one by lobbyists for an industry that spends roughly $100 million a year in campaign contributions and lobbying expenses to protect its profits. — Center for Public Integrity

The drug lobby invested more than $10 million in campaign contributions during the last election and has been a source of lucrative employment opportunities for congressmen when they leave office.

Annually, the drug industry spends nearly twice as much on marketing as it spends on research and development, although drug companies report neither total precisely.

MarketingR & D Pfizer$16.90 $7.68 GlaxoSmithKline$12.93 $5.20 Sanofi-Aventis$5.59 $9.26 Johnson & Johnson$15.86 $5.20 Merck$7.35 $4.01 Novartis$8.87 $4.21 AstraZeneca$7.84 $3.80 Hoffman La Roche$7.24 $4.01 Bristol-Myers Squibb$6.43 $2.50 Wyeth$5.80 $2.46 Abbott Labs$4.92 $1.70 Total$99.73 billion$50.3 billion

In 2004, Pfizer spent almost $120 million for media ads for Lipitor, the world's number-one selling prescription drug, while companies promoting erectile dysfunction treatments Viagra, Levitra and Cialis spent $425 million.

Direct to consumer advertisement has grown significantly: from $791 million in 1996 to $3.8 billion in 2004.

The pharmaceutical and health products industry has spent more than $800 million in federal lobbying and campaign donations at the federal and state levels in the past seven years …

They are the largest lobbying effort in the nation and invest more money to protect their interests by ensuring that pubic policy remains in their favor than any other industry, except the insurance industry. — Center for Public Integrity

All medicines are bad. Medicines don’t save lives. Your doctor is not a great doctor. You should change your prescriptions without consulting the doctor who prescribed them to you. I am NOT Saying That…

What I am saying is that there are three things your medical doctor may not have told you:

1. Medicines are not as safe as we thought.

2. Medicines are not as scientific as we thought.

3. Medicine is a much bigger business than we thought.

Want to learn more ?

Read The Truth About The Drug Companies: How they Deceive Us And What To Do About It written by Marcia Angell, MD – former editor in chief of The New England Journal of Medicine

The Ultimate Solution To America’s Health Care Crisis Yes, it is true… –America is rapidly heading toward economic disaster due to skyrocketing health care costs.

The Ultimate Solution To America’s Health Care Crisis Who’s going to fix our health care system? We Are!

The Ultimate Solution To America’s Health Care Crisis Discover Wellness … It works, if you live it… it doesn’t, if you don’t.

The Ultimate Solution To America’s Health Care Crisis My message to you today is one of hope. It is time for us to work together to put the health and the care back into health care.

If you choose to… Discover Wellness, the ultimate solution to America’s health care crisis… You will discover… that staying healthy CAN make you rich.

Thank You

Medicines or Drugs: Are They Saving Your Life or Killing You?