Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Are Medicines really making us healthier?

The world is developing at rapid pace and the field of medicine is no
exception.We have medicines for almost all the health problems. But
are we really healthier? Comparing ourselves with people who lived,
say 100 years ago, we
get a big NO as an answer.

The first thing a person does when he has a slightest hint of body
disorder is
taking a medicine. He does not know which bacteria or
virus is causing the
disorder. He assumes to have a disease and takes
medicine for it. If he is
lucky the medicine works and he recovers
(else the story is totally different!!).
But he is prone to get the same
disease again(as it was the medicine which
cured him). There
after,the person constantly depends on medicines, even
for the
simplest of disease. Moreover most of the common drugs have

side-effects (especially in the case of developing countries where
many drugs
available in market are banned in developed countries
for their dangerous
side effects).

In one way,the situation is similar to Afghan war. The U.S led
troops came and
completely destroyed the Al-Qaeda. Now we find
the rebirth of Al-Qaeda and
the local govt is asking for outside
help again. This would not have happened if
the local government
was strong enough to counter the Al-Qaeda by itself.


Human health is not how quickly one recovers from any disorder
by taking
various medicines, but how well one’s body is able to
fight the disorder by
itself. Does anyone care to remember
that we have something called immune
system in our body???
Our immune system has enough strength to fight
against the
bacteria or viruses causing the deadliest diseases provided we give

the system time to fight the foreign organisms. But people don’t
even believe
the existence of immune system, leave alone giving
time for it to fight the
disease.If you don’t believe in the powers of
your body, who else will?


In those days when the medicines were not easily available people
were
completely depending on their immune system. And their
immune system
was strong enough to combat the common
diseases. With the development
of science and technology our
dependence on medicines increased the role of
immune system
decreased, which in turn decreased its strength.

By Charles Darwin`s `On the Origin of Species':

“….while individuals more suited to the environment are more
likely to
survive and more likely to reproduce. The individuals
that survive are
most likely to leave their inheritable traits to
future generations.”

for more details see The Origin of Species

This means that if we keep using the medicines, our immune
system
becomes weaker. And this “inheritable trail” i.e. weaker
immune system
will be transmitted to future generations.
This may lead to a vicious circle
i.e. humans dependence on
medicines weakens the immune system which
in turn increases
the dependence on medicine!! Such events can lead to

dangerous results.

This doesn`t mean that we should close all the drug companies.
There
are deadly diseases (most of them created by “the
extraordinary Human
intelligence”) which require medicines.
Medicines should be used only
when it is beyond the human
powers to recover automatically. It should
support immune
system, not take over its job. For example, If you have

a fever, give a day or two to your immune system and take
complete rest.
If you are cured all by yourself, I bet you won’t
be affected by the
same disease again. If it still doesn`t
cure, you need a doctor. Health is Wealth.

So take it seriously.

1 comment:

  1. Good article Pavanesh! God has provided us with everything in nature to sustain our bodies overall health. Fruits, Vegetables, grains, seeds and proteins are all in nature to keep our body strong and healthy. Medicines should be used only as a last resort.

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