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This should come as no surprise as our effort at better living through chemistry is barely in its infancy. Millions of people take drugs prescribed to them by
by scotch_drinker 15y ago
This should come as no surprise as our effort at better living through chemistry is barely in its infancy. Millions of people take drugs prescribed to them by their physicians with the implicit understanding that they are safe because the USDA says they are when in fact we have precious little idea if they really are.
The potential revenue from new pharmaceuticals is huge and the pressure to get new drugs out into the market is immense. It's initially comforting to see that people are working on this problem of drug interactions since as the article mentions, we couldn't do it in the clinical trials. Still, the cynic in me thinks this is just another step in getting everyone taking more and more prescription medicines. If the pharmaceutical industry can show that two drugs have no interactive side effects, it's much easier to convince a patient to begin taking a new drug. Western medicine is already heavily dependent on fixing the symptoms instead of the cause.
It's clear that in many cases we have almost no clue why a particular drug works. It's thrilling to see risks removed from the system by finding drug interactions previously unknown. However, it's frightening how much more likely it is that physicians will rely on prescribing a pill because it's easier than convincing the patient to change.
- weavejester 15y ago"Western medicine"? As opposed to what?
- scotch_drinker 15y agoAs opposed to a more holistic approach beyond "You have high cholesterol, take this pill for the rest of your life". Some of this is our natural inclination to do things that are easy (taking a pill is easy, fixing your diet is not) but as we become more and more reliant on prescription medicines to treat symptoms and disease, we will naturally become less and less inclined in the medical profession to advocate strongly for a different patient lifestyle before putting them on the meds.
- onemoreact 15y agoAll Doctors treating the average american say to eat better, exercise more, and get more sleep. The only difference is when people don't do these things they still get better with "Western medicine" vs. blaming the patent.
- scotch_drinker 15y agoThat's not true on several fronts. One, doctors spend little time explaining options to patients oftentimes because they don't actually know the options. Drugs are almost always the first line of defense. Obviously, this is partially because drugs are easy. It's also because doctors don't have to worry about it since the USDA says it's fine whereas if they tell a patient to alter their diet and take supplemental iodine to treat hypothyroidism, they have no support for that treatment plan. Secondly, many times patients do not get better. Statins are prescribed in astronomically large numbers in this country to lower cholesterol when the science behind the benefits of lower cholesterol is highly mixed. In many of the supposedly supporting studies, overall mortality is unchanged in groups taking statins. This has nothing to do with blaming the patient. It has everything to do with the fact we have little comprehensive understanding of the long term ramifications of our increasing reliance on chemicals to help us live more healthy lives. Hopefully finding ways to identify drug interactions is a first step towards current complications but it doesn't change the fact that this will only make it easier to prescribe medications for symptoms without treating the underlying cause.
- carbocation 15y agoTeach the controversy! In the meantime, the data supporting statins are among the best ever compiled. The advances contributed by groups calling themselves "holistic" are entirely absent. And the willingness of modern medicine to introspect and change in the face of data is slow but meaningful. I asked this same question the other day and still have yet to get a meaningful response: what is the "holistic" treatment for HIV?
- DanBC 15y ago> what is the "holistic" treatment for HIV? There are, unfortunately, people who believe in treating HIV / AIDS with nutrition or folk remedies. A bit of debunking before they arrive. African Potato hinders AIDS treatment (http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=38168 http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=38168) Ugandan Health Minister claims to know 3 people cured of HIV through prayer. (1.2m people living with HIV, 150,000 children; this is especially troubling because Uganda is often cited as good example) (http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=93411 http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=93411) South Africa's health minister delayed ARVs for years; President doubts links between HIV and AIDS; 330,000 people die as a direct result. Even after ARVs introduced minister claims olive oil, beetroot and garlic are effective. (http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=87470 http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=87470) South Africans, with the worlds highest HIV caseload, trust traditional medicine because it's wisdom passed on. (http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=73872 http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=73872) South African Deputy Health Minister sacked after rolling out widely welcomed plan (http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=73679 http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=73679) Swaziland government fails to tender properly; a shortage of drugs is covered up by that government promoting folk remedies. (33% of the sexually active adult population were HIV+; about 66% of the population lived on less than $2 per day) (http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=62579 http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=62579) Dr Matthius Rath is evil. (http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=38577 http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=38577) Just in case you think all those links are old, it still happens. Here's a link about people selling 37ml of Ubhejane for $210. (About 80% of the Ugandan population earn less than $1 per day.) (http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=94679 http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=94679) It's not all bad news, all that death was useful for some businesses. (http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=62655 http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=62655) (http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=62604 http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=62604) (http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=38262 http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=38262)
- usaar333 15y agoI cringe whenever I hear the term "Western medicine" being used to describe modern evidence-based medicine. There's little Western cultural bias to this approach; a drug, lifestyle, whatever either has significant effects on health or it doesn't. Just as the unproven components of traditional Western medicine (leaches anyone?) are mostly bunk, so are such aspects of traditional Eastern Medicine/alternative medicine/whatever.
- threejay 15y agoYou mean the FDA? No offense, but just because you are well versed in one subject does not mean you really understand the idiosyncracies of another. Every time I see a drug / medicine related thread on HN I cringe. Much in the same way you would if you read a technology related post on a forum geared towards doctors and pharmacists.