Thursday, January 11, 2007


WHO WOULD KEEP US IGNORANT?


I just turned 66 and am taking zero drugs. I can't remember the last time I took a prescription drug; maybe 25 years ago when I had an infection from an accident. We aren't taught to trust the intelligence of our own bodies... Who is it that would keep us ignorant?

"There is an at-risk portion of the population that is being taken advantage of and unfairly targeted as a market for prescription drugs. We wouldn't allow (at least not yet) drug companies to broadcast Ritalin as well as other drug ads on Cartoon network or the Disney channel because morally it wouldn't be right. Children are too susceptible to influence and very gullible. Well the same applies to elderly adults over the age of 65 yet they are probably one of the most heavily targeted portion of our society when it comes to prescription drugs."

From Drug Ads, Prescription Drugs and the Elderly, some first-hand insights into the US elderly prescription scene...

7 comments:

kenju said...

You are lucky. I am 66, and I take a pill for my heart and a diuretic. Plus a multi-vitamin, Vitamin D, fish oil, baby aspirin, potassium and sometimes an nsaid for arthritis. In spite of all that, I am basically very healthy. I don't seek drugs of any kind, but they are touted to us ad nauseum on TV and in print media.

Anonymous said...

You are indeed a very lucky man, Robert. I just completed my 64th trip around the Sun, and by most standards I am a healthy American. But like almost everyone our age in this country I have high blood pressure. Too many years of not eating smart and driving a desk instead of getting adequate exercise. And of course, there is a heavy genetic component that we can do little about. My high bp is managed within a tolerable range by taking a pill each morning, along with my multi-vitamin.

I've been noticing more and more that Americans -- with no regard of age, gender, race, religion, national origin, or sexual preference -- are fat. It is more politically correct to say 'obese', but we are just FAT. Sitting on a bench at the mall for an hour and watching is quite eye-opening. Obesity is symptomatic of several disorders, and travelling companion or cause of many others. And, yes, we are deluged in electronic and print media (not to mention spam) with cures or preventions for everything. Please ask your doctor...

Anonymous said...

Way to go Robert! Glad to hear you are medicine-free.
I believe if in the last 30 years, our world hadn't gotten "too big for its britches", so to speak, more human beings could be medicine-free; or at least, in a much better situation that the majority are now.
What I mean is, in our age of technological intelligence and advancement, things that were once worked out manually, are now push-button. We live in push button societies where some things that should require more thought, do not; and, things that shouldn't be so stressful are! Natural foods without so many preservatives, gardens worked by the sweat of the brow,children using creativity and their own imaginations for play, exercise, home-cooking, a balance of work and play, less television, more reading, etc. and so on...all virtually a thing of the past. Now we have pills for everything; just as we have computer programs for everything. We often need those pills because of all the reasons I've listed above. If we had only found balance in the past 30 years or so!! Rapid advancement, rapid everything, has become our detriment, I am afraid. People don't even think to breath properly anymore! Makes me want to start all over again; if only!

Joy Des Jardins said...

That's quite a feat in this day and age Robert...Congratulations. I hate taking pills or any kind of medicine. I take a couple every day for BP and Cholesterol and have for the past three or four years...quite an adjustment for someone who was pretty pill-free up until then.

Hey, did you just have a birthday? Mine's coming up on Sunday, the 14th. Happy Belated Birthday fellow Capricornian.

Robert Brady said...

Thanks, Joy; I turned 66 in November. And Happy Birthday to you, from your fellow Scorpio.

Joy Des Jardins said...

Ah, now that makes a little more sense to me Robert. Scorpio...intense, powerful, profound, secretive, energetic, determined, emotional, intuitive, passionate, exciting and magnetic. Yeah, that makes all the sense in the world my Scorpion friend.
Do you have a little obstinate streak in you? Just wondering.

Robert Brady said...

O yes, I certainly do have an obstinate streak, which is one reason I prefer the countryside, where obstinacy has room to move.