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Tuesday
Jan032012

Prescription Drug Trend and How It Affects Your Looks.

Skin On Prescription DrugsAlmost 50% of the American population is on one or more prescription drugs according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  Drugs are toxins to the body and since they must be taken daily their toxic effect continues to wreak nonstop havoc on your body.  Your fragile skin ages severely while on any type of prescription drug.  If you are taking prescription drugs I encourage you to find pictures about 6 months to a year before you began the prescription and then set another current picture of yourself next to it and view the difference.  

Many might say, "Well I need those drugs to stay alive."  A large portion of the drugs being prescribed are for diseases that can easily be managed by simply changing your lifestyle.  For instance, anyone taking high blood pressure medication can exercise, eat healthy, meditate and reduce stress.  Is it really that simple?  Yes.  I've seen this happen with many of my own patients.  The horrible cholesterol drugs are in the same category.  

Simply find a professional that understands nutrition and they will help you change your lifestyle to the point at which you will no longer need your cholesterol or high blood pressure drugs.  The professional you seek out for this is not your medical doctor unless he/she has had post graduate nutritional training.  Further it is not a nutritionist since they don't understand the biochemistry of the body unless they have had extensive post graduate training.

Recently I came across an article that described the percentage of the US population taking prescription drugs.  I felt the need to inform my readers of these statistics which came from a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the National Center for Health Statistic report published in September 2010.

In the years of 1988-94 the percentage of Americans on prescription drugs rose by 39.1% in any given month.  The months of 2005-08 saw an increase to 47.2% of the American population using prescription drugs.  These statistics were not just adults but they include the entire population of the United States.  With this information we can safely assume that in 2012 over 50% of the United States population will be taking at least one prescription drug.  

This is a closer look at the data:

  • 20.8 percent of all people are on three or more prescription drugs.
  • 11 percent of all people are on five or more prescription drugs.
  • 25.3 percent of children and teens (under the age of 18) are on at least one prescription drug.
  • 52.4 percent of all women are on at least one prescription drug.
  • 90.1 percent of seniors (ages 65 and older) are on at least one prescription drug.
  • 65 percent of seniors are on three or more prescription drugs.
  • 36.7 percent of seniors are on five or more prescription drugs.

This study also further breaks the information into particular illnesses being treated.

  • Children (under 12 years of age): asthma (5.7 percent of children are taking prescription drugs for this), asthma/allergies (3.9 percent of children), infections (3.7 percent of children).
  • Teens (ages 12-19): attention deficit disorder (6.1 percent), asthma (5.4 percent), antidepressants (4.8 percent).
  • Adults (ages 20-59): antidepressants (10.8 percent), pain relief (10.1 percent), cholesterol-lowering drugs (8.4 percent).
  • Seniors (60+ years): cholesterol-lowering drugs (44.9 percent), beta-blockers (26.4 percent), diuretics (19.9 percent).

Why am I even writing about this study and information within?  All drugs are toxins, toxins create toxicity and the largest organ in the body is often the avenue to remove those excess toxins.  The skin is a very strong organ when it is provided with the building blocks it requires.  It acts as a first defense immunity by producing bacteria killing oils.  It holds warmth in when the temperature is cold and removes heat through sweating on a hot summer day.  It's an amazing organ!

I have always said and continue to reiterate, the skin is a reflection of your overall health.  If your skin is dry, gray in color, filled with blemishes or has surface spider vessels streaming through it, this is an excellent indication that your entire body is not at it's optimal health.  When we allow ourselves to make poor dietary decisions and our internal body decreases in health we trigger our skins decline.  The spiraling decline continues when we go to the doctor and he prescribes a drug for the internal issue.  The skin continues to look more and more unhealthy with the addition of one, two or three toxic drugs.  People are thinking, "Boy she's aged and looking haggard in the last year" or "He's not as sexy as he used to be".  

According to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report people seem to be more comfortable with taking a drug then actually changing their lifestyle and allowing the body to heal itself.  

FDA down a dark hallway unmarkedI'm going to bring another governmental agency in on this conversation.  The FDA states that disease of any kind can only be cured by: Cutting It Out, Irradiating It, or Drugging It.  They don't acknowledge that your body has the innate capacity to heal itself.  In fact if you were to have two bodies lying next to one another, one being dead and the other alive and you were to use a knife and cut both bodies what would happen?

The dead body would have no blood.  The live body would immediately have blood seeping out of the cut.  After a while the live body would stop bleeding and the healing of the cut skin would begin.  Within three weeks the cut would be healed if it were a small cut.  The FDA does not recognize that your body can do this.  Oh and what happened to the dead body?  It's still dead. 

The Food and DRUG Administration is there to ensure the safety of food and drugs.  Their oversite of this is very poor at best.  They've allowed Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) foods to hit the market giving large corporations like Monsanta Carte Blanche to use the US population as a research project because they don't know what's going to happen with long term use of Genetically Modified Foods.  A side note: All of Europe has banned the use of GMO's.  What does that tell you?

The FDA's other responsibility is drugs.  Well if there is a government agency that oversees the safety of drugs then one would understand the FDA is making sure the drugs will never KILL PEOPLE.  

This was taken from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website.

Unintentional Poisoning Data & Statistics

"Every day in the United States, nearly 82 people die as a result of unintentional poisoning, and another 1,941 are treated in emergency departments."

So let's do some math.  If 82 people die on a daily basis as a result of 'Unintential Poisoning' (a nice way of saying, "Well we thought we knew how much drug to give the patient but evidently we didn't") we multiply 82 times 365 days which equal 29,930 people die per year due to prescription drugs!

You think that number is big?  Let's do the math for emergency room treatments due to 'Unintentional Poisoning'.  1,941 people receive 'Unintentional Poisonings' on a daily basis, multiply that by 365 days and you get a whopping 708,465 people being poisoned by prescription drugs per year!

This is why I'm writing about the effects of prescription drugs.  Every single person taking a prescription drug is at risk of being one of the twenty nine thousand people that die a year or one of the over seven hundred thousand people that go to an emergency room because their doctor poisoned them.

If prescription drugs can negatively affect this many people just imagine what it is doing to your body and the cells that make up your skin.  

I've decided to passionately devote myself to alternative healing modalities with an emphasis on using Cosmetic Acupuncture to increase the health of the entire body.  Further, I encourage and recommend ways for clients to change their lifestyles so they may be able to remove themselves from prescription drugs.  

Remember you never get a second chance to make a first impression!  If you are unhappy with your facial looks I encourage you to get help.  Go to someone who has the expertise to turn your downward spiral around by recommending lifestyle changes.  If you are looking for a person who has a proven track record helping individuals regain their health and vitality please contact me so we can at least meet to do a free consultation.  

By this simple call you may stop yourself from being one the the statistics of 'Unintentional Poisoning'.  Remember there are 29,930 people killed from prescription drugs a year, don't be another statistic!

Dr. Richard Betts 

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