This should go without saying, but some people don’t really understand the purpose of Prescription Medications and their role in healing. Drugs treat symptoms, drugs do NOT CURE, only the body can cure. It’s really just that simple.

Drugs are foreign to the body, synthetic substances created to alleviate a symptom. When you fall ill you don’t fall ill because of a drug deficiency. I have too often read posts of patients suffering and their treatment includes a handful of pills. These people continue to take these pills over and over, and guess what? They do not get better? Why? Because the medications are not designed to “fix” the cause, they are designed to treat the “symptom”.

Now I am not about to suggest that “Drugs are Bad”, I am only going to suggest that you consider what your medications are doing for you and your recovery. So many people start a medication, then another, then another to the point where they really have no idea what is helping and what is not. And their Doctors are not sure either. Read the fine print on prescriptions and dig a little into the research behind a particular medication and you’ll uncover statements like “The exact mechanism of … are unknown”.

Drugs are required to pass an evaluation period under FDA Supervision. This means the drug has been tested for a specific purpose. This does not mean the drug is “safe”. All drugs have side effects. It’s your responsibility to dig in and figure out what those side effects are and how they effect you as a patient. It’s your responsibility to keep your Physician in the loop.

Here is an example of Side Effects for the Drug Neurontin (Generic: Gabapentin)

Approximately 7% of the 2074 patients > 12 years of age and approximately 7% of the 449 pediatric patients 3 to 12 years of age who received Neurontin in premarketing clinical trials discontinued treatment because of an adverse event.

The list of “Adverse Events” for this Drug during clinical trials is staggering and include specific conditions far to vast to list here. How ever I will list the parts of the body that events were reported:

• Body As A Whole – Frequent
• Cardiovascular System – Frequent
• Digestive System – Frequent
• Endocrine System – Rare
• Hematologic and Lymphatic System – Frequent
• Musculoskeletal System – Frequent
• Nervous System – Frequent
• Respiratory System – Frequent
• Dermatological – inFrequent
• Urogenital System – inFrequent
• Special Senses – Frequent

Here is an example of the conditions for the “Special Senses” category:

Special Senses: Frequent: abnormal vision; Infrequent: cataract, conjunctivitis, eyes dry, eye pain, visual field defect, photophobia, bilateral or unilateral ptosis, eye hemorrhage, hordeolum, hearing loss, earache, tinnitus, inner ear infection, otitis, taste loss, unusual taste, eye twitching, ear fullness; Rare: eye itching, abnormal accommodation, perforated ear drum, sensitivity to noise, eye focusing problem, watery eyes, retinopathy, glaucoma, iritis, corneal disorders, lacrimal dysfunction, degenerative eye changes, blindness, retinal degeneration, miosis, chorioretinitis, strabismus, eustachian tube dysfunction, labyrinthitis, otitis externa, odd smell.

Gabapentin was originally approved in the U.S. by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1994 for use as an adjunctive medication to control partial seizures (effective when added to other antiseizure drugs). In 2002, an indication was added for treating postherpetic neuralgia (neuropathic pain following shingles, other painful neuropathies, and nerve related pain).

So the FDA has approved Neurontin/Gabapentin for 2 conditions! However it is prescribed by Physicians to treat a huge list of ailments. Those Aliments were not part of the clinical trials! And Neurontin/Gabapentin is one of those “exact mechanism of action is unknown” drugs. This simply means it seemed to work in clinical trials for most people (The 7% who were not forced to drop out due to adverse effects), but is widely prescribed for conditions for which it has not even been tested! Kind of scary don’t you think?

Be very cautious, as the intention of these medications is to relieve pain while your body heals. If your body does not heal while on the Meds then you risk becoming physically dependent. Medications ALL have side effects. Narcotics ruin your liver. Benzodiazepines are extremely dangerous to your brain and behavior, and wreck havoc on your liver, may give you undesired hallucinations, and may rebound on you and make it impossible for you to sleep.

Drugs heal nothing! They merely give you a chance to feel less pain and suffering while you work on finding the CAUSE of your problems.

Wake up! It’s not healthy to douse your brain in chemicals! And drugs don’t just go to your Brain (Where most drugs are intended to effect) they travel to every organ and every tissue that has blood supply.

Drugs Treat Symptoms

Drugs do NOT cure disease! Drugs treat symptoms of disease. There is no pill that will restore your health. You have to determine the underlying cause of your problem and treat the cause. Drugs are stop gaps to help with the discomfort of the symptoms caused by the disease. People don’t understand this relationship. This is why so many people continue to take Prescription Medications. They erroneously believe the Drug is treating the cause!

If Drugs treated the cause of disease you would take them, be “fixed”, and then you could stop taking them. The only thing that heals the body is the body! And healing is a complex process that requires a commitment to Nutrition and Lifestyle changes. Healing also requires time and in some cases surgical intervention to remove or repair a diseased body part that is not capable of repairing itself due to excessive degeneration. When you are ill the cause of your illness is NOT (___________ Insert any drug here) deficiency!

Drugs Dangerous Side Effects May Surprise You!

Drugs are synthetic and unnatural to the body. At the time of the original post (Summer 2005) – I was trying to come off the Benzodiazepine Clonazepam. The side effects (for me) were wicked. I had developed tolerance to my prescribed dosage. I had nausea, balance problems, slurred speech, etc. According to my Doctor (At the time) I was taking a relatively low dosage 1mg at night for sleep. I had been on Clonazepam daily for 5 months. The taper was extremely difficult (Cutting tiny little pills into pieces wasn’t easy either). I cut from 1mg to 1/2mg. During the taper I would awaken every 2 hours all night long. I felt sick, nauseas, sweaty and incredibly uncomfortable for weeks. Night were the worst.

People think that Benzodiazepine drugs are “Safe” because they are Class 4′s or their Doctors say not to worry. YOU SHOULD WORRY! Please visit Benzo.org.uk and investigate the Benzo’s you may be taking. If you are on any of these drugs – Ativan ( generic/chemical name Lorazepam), Klonopin (Clonazepam), Valium (Diazepam) then you are on a Benzodiazepines. These are just a few as there are more than a dozen commonly in use.

Benzo drugs all work in the same general way on the same areas of the brain, but there are many differences in how long they stay in your bloodstream and the potency of an individual dosage. So you CAN NOT substitute 1:1 one for another. Please don’t use these drugs recreationally just because they are Class 4 (Supposedly “safe”). There is a reason these are prescription drugs!!! I would never have thought I would one day be a prescription drug addict. And while I may not be psychologically addicted I am definitely physiologically addicted.

Prescription Medicine – Drugs – Pharmaceuticals Help or Hindrance?

Prescription Medications are what’s commonly referred to as “Drugs”. You may call them what you want, but our preferred term is medicines or medications. We prefer this definition to separate these substances from their illegal cousins which are manufactured for purposes other than healing. Medicines are made in laboratories by Pharmaceutical companies. They don’t grow on trees, you can’t harvest them in the spring, and they do not occur naturally in the environment.

When most people think of drugs they think of “relief” not “cure”. To some they come as a great help, to others they bring on thoughts of fear. With recent recalls of popular pain relievers such as Vioxx, and Celebrex (known as Cox 2 inhibitors) people are concerned, and rightfully so about the long term effects of using these synthetic chemical substances in their bodies.

In the USA the Federal Drug Administration is the governmental body overseeing the legal distribution of drugs. The FDA classifies and determines what doctors can and can not disburse to patients. Unfortunately Drugs are not the answer to disease, they are a comforting agent or a “Stop Gap” that can be necessary to save your life. We are thankful, yet cautious of drugs.

The answer to curing disease lies in the body’s own healing mechanisms. Medicines play a role in healing, and may facilitate the process, but they are not the cure in and of themselves. However for some individuals drugs bring the relief needed in order to begin work on creating the necessary nutritional, exercise, rehabilitation, spirituality, and mental outlook required for recovery. I could not imagine having a filling repaired at the dentist without the use of anesthetic drugs. And while I brush, and floss I still have acquired decay. So I am grateful for the research that has gone into the production of these medications. Drugs are neither bad nor good – they are tools in the battle against death and discomfort.

There is a growing trend in the United States to classify any substance being touted as “curative” – a Drug! We won’t jump into the “It’s all the Pharmaceutical Companies Fault Argument”. Any intelligent adult knows there are huge dollars at stake in the “Drug Industry” and is free to make their own decisions, assumptions, and conspiracy theories. Health Synergy Rx is about healing via the most effective means. regardless of source or profit. So we’re going to take the Geneva Switzerland stance and plead the 5th on this issue; the profit motive behind the FDA’s rules. (You can read more in the next section below and draw your own conclusions.)

You can not post a commercial website saying your companies vitamin substance will “cure” anything. While it may actually cure a disease, unless you have the research (and that research has to meet FDA standards) to back it up, you had better be very careful about what you say. This is designed to “protect” (or at least that is the intent) us from modern day “snake oil” quick buck artists. The effect however may be just the opposite as it may prevent some vitamins and minerals from being widely distributed or from legitimate alternative medical practitioners from disseminating information. In short you may not hear about an herb or alternative vitamin therapy that could help you because alternative medicine practitioners have to be so very careful how they word their “claims” or the FDA will be all over them like ants on a picnic basket.

It’s unfortunate, but the very agency that is supposedly protecting us may actually be hurting us! While at the same time we live in a world of quick buck artists with ZERO ethics, so agencies like the FDA MUST enforce rules in order to protect us. It’s a vicious “Catch 22″. So what is the answer?

• Be very careful with your use of prescription medications.
• Do you’re homework – use the internet to read about the substances you are using for your ailments.
• Talk to your pharmacist, talk to multiple pharmacists, Doctors study Medicine in Medical School, but they get their Drug information from Pharmaceutical Companies who have a profit agenda. So there is a built in conflict of interest
• Take care of yourself in “preventative ways”. How many times do you have to be told to NOT smoke, get some exercise, eat fresh Organic Fruits and Vegetables
• Find healthcare providers that treat you before your symptoms arise. If you can’t openly discuss your problems with your doctor, they can not acquire the necessary information to prescribe the correct medications.
• Seek second opinions and ask for alternatives – if your condition is not life threatening why not try a vitamin or herbal remedy BEFORE you use Prescription Medicines.
• Keep this simple fact in mind. One day we all die. Life is not about quantity it’s about quality. If drugs improve your quality of life then they are “working”, if they don’t then they are not.
• Finally – keep a positive outlook – the power of the body to heal itself if greatly increased in a state of mind of happiness, encouragement, love, and hope.
• Don’t assume because it’s new or was developed in a laboratory it’s your best option. “Modern Medicine” has been around for 50 to a 100 years, man has been on the earth for many thousands (you pick a number you believe) and along the way man figured out many natural healing herbs and treatments that worked to some degree then and still do.
• Should you decide that Drugs are the correct treatment for you at this time pay close attention to your doctors advice (especially with antibiotics). Take your prescription for the full length of time your doctor tells you – don’t stop just because one day you feel better. Drugs change your body chemistry you need to ease off of them in the same way you ease into them
• Don’t do stupid things like take Viagra or Cialis or buy and try drugs over the internet to help with a supposed problem without consulting your doctor first. You may actually have an underlying disease condition that is different from what you thought it was.

Drug Companies Spend Staggering Millions Lobbying

From the April 25, 2005 edition of USA Today comes an expose` story showing how much influence the pharmaceutical industry has over US lawmakers. The article starts by describing how drug companies allow their corporate jets to be used by politicians, and that the politicians are only legally required to pay the cost of a first class commercial flight.

In addition to flights and numerous other perks, the article chronicles the vast amount of money that the drug industry contributes to political candidates. They note that drug companies and their officials contributed at least $17 million to federal candidates in last years elections. Additionally it was noted that they contributed nearly $1 million to President Bush and more than $500,000 to his opponent, John Kerry.

The Center for Responsive Politics, who keeps track of contributions, listed that in the year 2004 the drug companies spent $158 million dollars to lobby the federal government. They spent $17 million in campaign contributions in 2004 to federal candidates, and an additional $7.3 million in support for the 2004 political party conventions.

The article theorizes that the reasoning behind this scale of activity is that drug companies are heavily dependent on federal decisions. They note that it is the federal government that determines which products drug companies can market and how they’re labeled. The article also pointed out that the government buys large quantities of drugs through Medicaid, the Veterans Administration and several other programs. When the new Medicare prescription drug benefit takes effect in 2006, the government will be paying 41% of Americans` drug bills, up from 24% at present.

Money also buys manpower. According to Amy Allina of the National Women`s Health Network, 1,274 people were registered in Washington to lobby for drug makers in 2003. Of that amazing number, some 476 are former federal officials, including 40 former members of Congress. Ms. Allina commented, “They are one of the strongest, most well-connected and most effective lobbies in Washington. Going up against them is more often than not a losing battle.”

New Study Highlights Dangers of Over the Counter Pain Medications

ABC News reported on an April 17, 2005 Associated Press story stating that over the counter pain medications increase the risk of death from cardiovascular disease. According to a study performed in Norway, smokers who took such drugs for at least six months had twice the risk of dying of a heart attack, stroke or other heart-related problem.

Previously, the main concern was for so-called cox-2 drugs Bextra, Vioxx and Celebrex. This study suggests that there are also problems associated with the family of medications known as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDs, which include naproxen, ibuprofen and virtually all other over-the-counter pain relievers except Aspirin and Tylenol.

Dr. Andrew Dannenberg, a Cornell University scientist who helped do the Norway study noted, “To the best of our knowledge, these are the first data to support putting a box warning on NSAIDs, not just cox-2s.” The original purpose of the study was to determine if these pain relievers could prevent oral cancer. However, the data revealed that the NSAID users were dying at twice the rate of the others from heart-related problems. The risk was highest among ibuprofen users, who were nearly three times more likely to die of cardiovascular disease than non-NSAID users.

Concerns over the prescription drugs Vioxx and Bextra have already caused then to be pulled from the market. Now this study has raised disturbing questions about the heart safety and long-term use of the very common over-the-counter pain relievers such as Advil, Motrin and Aleve.

The battle rages on. Drugs can help and Drugs can hurt, it’s up to you to educate yourself BEFORE you start dumping chemicals into your body.

Clonazepam is the DEVILS CANDY!

Clonazepam is a Class IV (4 or Four) drug in the United States. That means that you can not legally get it without a prescription from your doctor. As a member of the Benzodiazepine Family (Xanax. Ativan, Valium, etc.) it serves to sedate and tranquilize by acting on YOUR Brains GABA receptors.

If you want more technical details you can certainly find them online. I am not here to discuss the chemical make up or EXACT way in which the drug interacts with the GABA Receptors (Which is actually not entirely known). I am here to tell you a little story about the HELL the drug can be to get off once you are using it past a couple of weeks.

First there is no real schedule as to how long a Doctor should prescribe Clonazepam. It’s prescribed millions of times worldwide for Anxiety/Panic Disorder (I won’t get into that other than to say FIND SOMETHING ELSE! NOT DRUGS!), convulsions, and for me and many others INSOMNIA!

Don’t get suckered into taking this drug for more than a week. This is definitely a STOP GAP measure. Suffer the pain or the anxiety you will be glad in the long run. Look into ANY non drug alternatives (and not that doesn’t mean SSI blockers like Paxil, Zoloft, etc.). They can be hell to get off of as well). Anyways lets talk about WHY this is DEVILS CANDY.

Clonazepam – Scarey Wicked Withdrawals!

As I write this I am going through withdrawals from this insidious drug. Clonazepam is no joke. I researched it extensively (or so I thought) before I started taking it for my Insomnia (Due to my neck problems – herniated discs). All the initial research you find online says something like “Not very addictive” or “Habitual”.

The recommend taper schedules of .125mg every three days or even suggesting that you can easily get off this stuff in a couple days is a joke! It takes weeks to months to years. Don’t pay any attention to the big Pharmaceutical Studies (Look at the damage that Celebrex, Viagra, etc. have caused and you will understand that something is very fishy in the world of Big Money Drug Companies). Can you trust a study funded by the company that stands to gain substantially by it’s FDA Approval and resultant sales? Think of this for just one moment of a really big dollar amount – In 2004 -26 BILLON Dollars was a pretty big dollar amount wouldn’t you agree?

Let me help you understand how much money 26 Billon Dollars in profit really means. $26,000,000,000 – that’s a lot of zeros! It’s a million million! Crazy! A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive! Well he’s still alive, but he was walking around here on Earth! Multiply that by 26! It’s more money than these countries generate in a year (GNP): Kazakhstan, Slovakia, Guatemala, Croatia, Slovenia, Dominican Republic, Syria, Ecuador, Oman, Tunisia, Iraq (no kidding!), Lebanon, Costa Rica, Luxembourg, Sri Lanka, Bulgaria, Uruguay, Belarus, El Salvador, Qatar, Lithuania, Sudan, Yugoslavia, Panama, Kenya, Cuba… and on and on. Does that surprise you? It shouldn’t!

Now lets put the $26 billion into perspective. That’s how much money was spent in 2004 on the Statin Drugs (You know the ones that supposedly reduce your dangerously high cholesterol levels). Drugs like Pfizer’s “Lipitor” (atorvastatin). You think they want to pull it off the market? Hardly. You think they care if it is NOT preventing Heart Attacks? Hardly. It about the money folks WAKE UP. Statins are just one small group of drugs in a Vast and Unbelievably PROFITABLE Drug industry. And Statins are NOT preventing heart attacks!

Why do we see advertisements on TV to “Ask your Doctor about _______”. It’s the money! If our Doctor truly has our best interests in mind he won’t prescribe a “Brand” he will prescribe a treatment that is best suited to our condition. But in the Grand Ole USA it’s about the MONEY! Doctors are puppets to the Pharmaceutical companies and the almighty dollar.

What Six Months of “Low Dose” Clonazepam Has Done to Me

It’s made me into a Zombie. My short term memory disappeared. Try talking to a friend and midstream realize that not only are you stuttering, but you can not even remember what you were going to say next. You have to ask them what you were talking about. It’s scary! I could not concentrate on anything (I’m still having problems with concentration). It makes tying to follow along with a Movie story line a lot of fun. You forget what has happened and you just can’t follow it. So I quit watching movies.

I have become depersonalized! I am still having very weird dreams that make no sense at all, and have people in them from my past that I have not seen in years. They are not terrifying just very weird. It’s like being forced to watch a very bad movie. But not for long because I can not stay asleep for much more than 2 hours, so they are short lived dreams.

I am tapering now from a dose of 1mg per night for insomnia. And now my insomnia is worse! I was only on this dose for 3 to 4 months and prior to that .5mg for a month or two. Within 2 months I was stuttering, quite badly actually. Each monthly visit to my doctor he assured me I was taking a “low dose” and not to worry. The stuttering (slurred speech) was a result of the drug but not to worry. I was very relieved at first to get the drug – I slept all night for the first time in months. This was after taking Zanaflex, Ambien, Trazadone, Gabapentin (Neurontin), Allegra, among others. I only took them for 7 to 10 days (excepting the Gabapentin which I took for about 30 days concurrent with .5mg of Clonazepam). I mention the Gabapentin because I stopped it cold turkey after the 30 days and didn’t notice anything because of the Clonazepam. I can’t believe the cocktail of drugs the doctors kept prescribing. It was basically a “Try this and see if it works” approach. Cut and Drug! That’s what they know how to do. And the Drugs are not the answer. NEVER use drugs longer than very short periods of time unless you are experiencing a life threatening condition and the drug is the only thing that prevents you from dieing.

At about the 5 month mark I basically “hit the wall” that’s when the ears started ringing, the ataxia (motor control and balance) reared it’s ugly face, I began to experience difficulty focusing my eyes on the TV or the Computer Screen (let alone reading). I started filling EXTREMELY dizzy! So bad I could not bend over to the bottom shelf at the grocery store without catching myself for 10 seconds or so to hold myself up. My trips outside my home became (and still are) few and far between based on how bad I feel. This stuff just basically takes you and rips your brain apart. Once the benefits have left You will be constantly sedated, tired, have difficulty sleeping, and the list goes on. I would say to anyone even considering Clonazepam to:

1. Look at the list of side effects, pick the 3 worst from the list and ask yourself if you can go through 6 weeks (perhaps longer) with these during withdrawal.
2. Look past the bullshit stories and lies of the Pharmaceutical studies saying how it is NOT ADDICTIVE and how they tapered everyone off so easily. Look at the real numbers. Even in their own studies (one well quoted report suggested 27% had difficulty with withdrawal after only 6 months). Most of the studies are SHORT TERM – 6 weeks or so. There are no long term studies just long term stories by individuals who are in HELL from this Drug after being on it for years.
3. Talk to people who have “survived” this drug about the HELL they went through getting off of it. Don’t talk to the people who are on it and have not yet experienced withdrawal. There day is coming. They can not help you!

Wake up! Don’t just take a drug blindly because your doctor told you to! Find another doctor. Find non-drug alternatives. This is NOT a pain killer, there is no reason to take this drug. There are better solutions to insomnia. I know I have it. Insomnia won’t kill you (At least not quickly), it just is miserable. Eventually it will pass. if you take the time to find the cause and address it.

Always Look for the CAUSE of your problems, not short term treatment of SYMPTOMS. Keep in mind if you do spin the wheel and take you’re chances with any Benzos drug – keep it to 2 weeks or less.
If you have insomnia now, you won’t believe how much worse it is during withdrawal. It is one thing to not be able to sleep, it is quite another to not be able to sleep and be nauseas! It’s your choice if after reading everything you have seen on this page you still want to “try” it then good luck to you. I hope it doesn’t destroy you. I hope you can get off it. I hope you are one of the 20% or less who don’t have much difficulty getting off of it once you wake up to the downside. I do not wish you any harm or bad effects. Many have said this is harder to get off of than Heroin. I now believe them.

MD’s are not God’s they are just body mechanics. Consider Acupuncture, DO’s, Naturopathic Medicine, or other alternatives. Alternative Medicine works with Natural substances which may help you with out side effects. Life can be hard. Sometimes what we really need is just to change our lifestyle, surround ourselves with supportive people, find faith in some “Higher Power”, and learn to meditate and relax. Drugs are not the answer. Drugs do not cure disease. Our bodies cure disease when we treat them with the ingredients necessary – nutrition, stress reduction, rest, relaxation, etc.

Clonazepam was designed for people with seizures, but is now the “minor tranquilizer” of choice along with Xanax. The primary difference being XANAX has a short Half life (several hours) and Clonazepam a relatively long half life (18 to 50) hours. Don’t let anyone (including doctors) tell you this stuff is not potent!

Clonazepam – Devil’s Candy Indeed!

Update July 2008 – 3 Years off of Clonazepam. I still have residual effects from the drug. I have occasional difficulty spitting out and pronouncing words. I have some problems with my short term memory. And I stutter off and on when stressed. None of these symptoms existed before I took this drug. I no longer have any withdrawal symptoms. I’d say I’m 80% better. It took me 3 months after my taper to get 60% better, then a year to get to 75%, and I hope that eventually I’ll get to 99%! I will probably always have some problems with my speech.