By Paul Chong     Saturday, 12 September 2015

Now that’s an interesting question & a difficult one to answer. Let’s just take a look at this scenario:

Well, the pink pill protects my heart from the side effects of the green pills that prevents potential liver failure due to the orange pill that minimizes the risk of stroke posed by the blue pill that reduces the blood clots caused by the pink pill.

A real virtual circle of pill popping. Sometimes you get & end up with extra doses or neglect them completely.

The problem is I can’t remember what the illness was that started all this round of pill popping.

I suffer from bad back with acute aches & pain. Most times I couldn’t sleep for nights at a stretch. So I had a painful surgical operation over 10 years ago. Initially after the operation I felt fine without any more pain. But as time dragged by the pain returned & things have never been the same. The surgeon would not recommend another surgery of the L4 & L5 vertebrae, because it would be more painful than the first time & more risky too he said. So care,C caution & medication was what he advocated.

However, resorting to drugs does not help at all. The relief is only temporary & soon you become additive to the pill. It’s called Paracetamol Plus Codeine-15 (Extra strong). The medication produces side effect of constipation & require me to take Movicol. One thing leads on to another & there does not seem to have any end.

Personally I hate taking pills not even supplements. You are like a guinea pig being experimented on & becoming a virtual drug addict.

Finally, I opt out & refrained from taking pills whether they are green blue or black. Exercises & stretching of body parts now rule my morning hours. Now, I feel fine & fit. No more pill popping. instead I opt for daily exercise mainly on stretching & resistance type. Also watching my diet because of my type 2 diabetes.

Global pharmaceutical trade is dominated by two major corporations running into billions of dollars. They wouldn’t be interested in any alternative medicine or simple herbal cure. They would go out of their way to disrupt or cover any other cures that would affect their trade. Their profits are astronomical & often throw kick-backs to doctors who would recommend the use of their drugs. It’s a question of rubbing each other’s back, without any serious consideration to the patient.

The Consumers International report says drug companies use unscrupulous and unethical marketing tactics not only to influence doctors to prescribe their products but also subtly to persuade consumers that they need them, writes Sarah Boseley of Guardian Weekly.

Consumers should be concerned because time and again the companies violate their own industry’s ethical marketing codes. Patients’ health may suffer if a drug such as Vioxx – a painkiller later withdrawn – is over-promoted. Yet, says Consumers International in its report, there is “a shocking lack of publicly available information about the $60bn spent annually by the industry on drug promotion”.

Drug promotion is the industry game
Not curing the illness is no shame!