Sustainable Living Hong Kong

To what extent have we been over-drugged? Hot on the news of the Council of Europe’s decision to launch a probe into whether pharmaceutical companies pressured the World Health Organization into declaring swine flu a pandemic in order to increase profits came the news that, except for severe cases, anti-depressants are no better than placebos.

The pharmaceutical industry is a trillion-dollar business. So profitable is it, new illnesses have been invented to entice us to buy drugs that we don’t really need. For details, pick up the book Selling Sickness.

A meta-study – an overarching study of studies, so to speak – has uncovered unpublished studies that show anti-depressants do not work, as well as the fact patient expectations influence the outcome of trials to the advantage of the anti-depressants – the side effects affecting those given the actual drug are so bad they become convinced it must work, while those given the placebo suffer no side effects and are correspondingly disappointed.  For details, read the full article.

We all know how it works well: every time we visit the doctor, we expect to be given bags of medicines to take home; it’s the reassurance that we are “being treated” that often does as much to help us recover than the drugs themselves. This habit of expectation can have devastating effects: viruses are developing resistance more quickly than ever because we expect to be given a big bag of antibiotics for the slightest cold. Worse still, it’s quite easy in Hong Kong to get prescription-only medicine from some chemists or via ‘friends’.

Surely the best medicine is a healthy lifestyle?