Some Specifics

10. Some Specifics

We know that all drugs are bad without exception. But to cite some specific examples, I will mention a few of the most commonly used drugs.

10.1 Acne Nostrums

Acne most often appears on the face and causes much discomfort and embarassment to sufferers because of its unsightly appearance. It is the result of accumulated toxins in the body which are being discharged via the sebaceous glands of the skin. This condition results mainly from wrong diet and if this were to be corrected, the acne would disappear for the body would no longer need this outlet. However, many people attempt to suppress this cleansing effort by using acne preparations.

Acne products most often come in the forms of lotions or creams which are applied topically. The claim is that these lotions help heal and prevent acne pimples and absorb excess oil. As Hygienists, we know that nothing outside of the human body has the ability to heal and that, therefore, these claims are quite false. However, much harm can be done. One common ingredient in most acne preparations is benzoyl peroxide. This chemical is used on colored or dyed fabrics to bleach them white. When applied to the skin the body responds to the poison with reactions of itching, redness, burning, swelling or excessive dryness.

10.2 Allergy Relief Tablets

Allergy is also due to toxicosis. Allergy relief preparations are highly poisonous substances. The following warning is contained on Dristan Analgesic Tablets: “Warning: may cause drowsiness. May cause excitability especially in children. Do not take this product if you have asthma, glaucoma, difficulty in urination due to enlargement of prostate gland, high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, or thyroid disease.”

Clearly, the body recognizes this as a poison and attempts to rid itself of it as quickly as possible. However, this requires a great deal of energy to deal with the poison and anyone who is so toxic as to display the symptoms of “allergy” would be particularly harmed to have an additional flood of highly poisonous toxins put into their systems.

10.3 Analgesics

Clearly, the most common analgesic taken today is aspirin. The first report of the therapeutic properties of the salicylates was by the Rev. Edward Stone in 1763. Today, world production of aspirin has been estimated to be around 100,000 tons per year with an average consumption of about 100 tablets per head per year. A large survey, as reported in the Journal of Allergy in Clinical Immunology, listed aspirin among ten drugs most frequently involved in adverse reactions. The first death attributed to aspirin ingestion per se, as distinguished from aspirin poisoning by overdose, was described in Germany in 1902. In 1933, Dr. B.R. Dysart published an article in the Journal of The American Medical Association describing death following ingestion of five grains of acetylsalicylic acid. Most aspirin tablets contain 400-500 mg. or about 7 grains. Recommended dosage is usually two tablets 4 times a day. This is quite a toxic load to deal with!

By 1970, Dr. R.S. Farr, in his presidential address before the American Academy of Allergy, was citing “the need to reevaluate acetylsalicylic acid” and suggested that, because of the risk to a substantial number of people, aspirin and aspirin-containing compounds should become prescription rather than over-the-counter drugs. Hygienists know that they are poisonous and should never be taken. They have no power to heal and cannot be used by our cells for any constructive purposes whatsoever.

In an article in the Journal of Allergy in Clinical Immunology in December 1976, J.R. Vane demonstrated that nonsteroid, anti-inflammatory drugs such as aspirin inhibit prostaglandin biosynthesis.

Interference with the biosynthesis of prostaglandins could have very grave effects on our health since this compound, which is present in all body tissues, plays a very important part in many physiologic activities. This includes, but is not limited to:

1. Facilitation of parturition by stimulating the contractions of the uterus.
2. Homeostatic regulation of blood pressure.
3. Regulation of exocrine as well as endocrine secretions.
4. Plays an important role in the negative feedback control of impulse transmission in the sympathetic nervous system.

Also, prostaglandins inhibit secretion of pepsin as well as hydrochloric acid by the gastric mucosa by a direct action on the parietal cells of the gastric glands. (Parietal cells secrete hydrochloric acid.) This is one of the body’s homeostatic devices.

Prostaglandins, then, are a control mechanism for secretion. As ulceration is believed to result from erosion of the mucosa by excessive quantities of gastric juice, the physiologic synthesis of prostaglandins by the stomach may protect the mucosa against ulceration by regulating its secretion.

If aspirin interferes with the biosynthesis of prostaglandins, then ulcers could more readily occur and this accounts for a common side effect of aspirin therapy.

So aspirin not only results in a great energy depletion within our body in its attempt to deal with it, its presence also interferes with many normal physiological functions. People create more harm than they realize when they ingest this commonly prescribed tablet.

10.4 Antacids

An antacid is an agent given to neutralize acidity in the stomach. It interferes with the body’s homeostatic attempts to maintain acid-alkaline balance, adds toxins to the body and never promotes health. The cause of acid indigestion must not be indulged. Here again, faulty diet must be corrected. If a person were to fast and then go on an all-raw food program of fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds, all bodily functions would return to a healthy state.

Dr. Kiki Sidhwa says, “Milk and antacids, the mainstays of therapy for peptic ulcers, may led to metabolic alterations potentially more serious than the primary disease being treated.” He further says that such treatment might produce many changes in the system, including the development of gout. Explanation of the trouble was that this treatment upset the acid-alkaline balance in the system and led to alkalosis if long continued.

Antacids containing aluminum hydroxide inhibit the absorption of dietary phosphate since it binds this mineral in the lumen of the gut. Along with calcium, phosphorus contributes to mineralization of bones and teeth and’ is intimately involved in human metabolism. There is an important ratio between calcium and phosphorus which must be maintained. Great harm can result if any interference with this ratio occurs such as the binding of phosphorus when drugs are taken. A certain drug taken for a particular reason always has systemic effect.

10.5 Antibiotics

Antibiotics mean anti-life and indeed they are against life. They are administered to kill life in the form of microorganisms. Since disease is incorrectly thought of as an attack by bacteria, germs, etc., the antibiotic is given to kill these “invaders.” Instead they poison vital cells, that is, the body itself is killed to some degree. The body’s efforts must then be redirected toward eliminating this new poison.

The cause of disease is not the germ that is present, but the mental and physical habits that have broken down the body. Let the office of the germs be what it may, they cannot cause disease. The theory that germs and parasites have to be destroyed in order to “cure” disease is a delusion.

Respiratory distress has been associated with ampicillin administration. Researchers have also demonstrated that several other widely employed drugs including isoniazid (an antibiotic) have produced clinical patterns of chronic (active hepatitis, resulting in cirrhosis. The scientists have found that drug reactions involving the liver result in liver toxicosis from the drug itself. In patients with drug-induced acute hepatitis, the incidence of bridging necrosis was increased. (Bridging necrosis is death of the threads of protoplasm which pass from one cell to another in the liver.)

The use of antibiotics has also been proven to result in many blood disorders including leukemia.

10.6 Antidiarrheals

Diarrhea is not in itself a disease but an action of the body against some form of toxic irritation, mainly from unsuitable or unhygienic foodstuffs. Dr. Sidhwa says that antidiarrhea drugs can result in kidney and liver disorders, skin and sight defects and even death.

Why should we poison ourselves and risk the chance of possible kidney or liver disease when all we have to do is simply provide the conditions for health and allow our body to repair itself? In this way we may be sure that we are not doing harm.

10.7 Cough and Cold Preparations

It is foolish to take any medication whatsoever when one manifests symptoms of a cold. From the Hygienic point of view, the cold is the “cure.” The cold is the result of systemic poisoning and it is the body’s effort to rid itself of some of its toxic overload. Any preparation taken to suppress these symptoms will only add to the toxins and will create another obstacle for our body to overcome while it is doing its “housecleaning” of toxic debris.

All drugs, including laxatives, sleep aids, stimulants, depressants, diet pills, etc., are aimed at treating symptoms. Hygienists do not treat symptoms but work at removing the cause of toxicosis which occasioned the disease in the first place.

As a student of Life Science you should always keep in mind that the body does not work in separate independent ways but it is a unified whole. The body performs all of its functions as a whole and even though a certain symptom of disease may manifest itself in a particular part of the body it does not mean that the whole system is not involved.