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I don't want to downplay the importance of investing in your health early, but I generally disagree with the sentiment. Pills are possibly the best form of trea

I don't want to downplay the importance of investing in your health early, but I generally disagree with the sentiment. Pills are possibly the best form of treatment that exists (so long as there is a pill that can treat your condition, like there's no pill to treat a severed finger). People have been taking medicines for mellenia, and pills are just medicine that has been measured and packaged in a convenient way. Its the difference between telling patients "Go find a willow tree and eat some of its bark" vs. "take two aspirin".

rubicon33 7y ago
I don't disagree that they're the best form of treatment right now. I can see how the tone of my post definitely disregards the importance of pills right now. I just feel like they are a disappointing "solution" to a yet fully understood problem. I'm hopeful that we (humanity) continue to invest in real cures, rather than treatments that often come with side effects.
- TheSoftwareGuy 7y ago
  I think you are disappointed in the practice of treating symptoms when no cure is available, rather than disliking pills as a delivery mechanism for medicine, which is how your first comment reads. It's entirely possible that some diseases will be cured by pills, as they are just a delivery mechanism for medicine (and I would like to reiterate they are pretty great at that). To your main point about treating symptoms vs. creating cures, yes its pretty unfortunate. But most likely, we will be finding cures for diseases one at a time, and there will always be conditions where we can only treat the symptoms.
Gys 7y ago
Or: 'Sure, you can have diner at MacDonalds every day. Just take those pills after each meal'. Big Mac and Big Farm love you ;-)
Scoundreller 7y ago
> there's no pill to treat a severed finger I’m pretty sure we have a pill to stop you from worrying so much about that problem.
wolco 7y ago
The best form of medicine? That should be food or whole plant medicine. When we isolate components into pill form we lose the aspects we don't understand yet.
- TheSoftwareGuy 7y ago
  Food is not medicine though, so it did not come into consideration

rubicon33 7y ago

I don't disagree that they're the best form of treatment right now. I can see how the tone of my post definitely disregards the importance of pills right now. I just feel like they are a disappointing "solution" to a yet fully understood problem. I'm hopeful that we (humanity) continue to invest in real cures, rather than treatments that often come with side effects.

TheSoftwareGuy 7y ago
I think you are disappointed in the practice of treating symptoms when no cure is available, rather than disliking pills as a delivery mechanism for medicine, which is how your first comment reads. It's entirely possible that some diseases will be cured by pills, as they are just a delivery mechanism for medicine (and I would like to reiterate they are pretty great at that). To your main point about treating symptoms vs. creating cures, yes its pretty unfortunate. But most likely, we will be finding cures for diseases one at a time, and there will always be conditions where we can only treat the symptoms.

Gys 7y ago

Or: 'Sure, you can have diner at MacDonalds every day. Just take those pills after each meal'. Big Mac and Big Farm love you ;-)

Scoundreller 7y ago

> there's no pill to treat a severed finger I’m pretty sure we have a pill to stop you from worrying so much about that problem.

wolco 7y ago

The best form of medicine? That should be food or whole plant medicine. When we isolate components into pill form we lose the aspects we don't understand yet.

TheSoftwareGuy 7y ago
Food is not medicine though, so it did not come into consideration