Why are drugs wrong?

[Auntie Em]

These days it seems we live in a highly pharmeceutical society. If you have
an ache or pain - take an Aleve. If you have the sniffles there are more
than 100 different types of cold medicines available from which to choose.
Diarrhea? Constipation? Oh there are pills for that as well. Can't sleep?
Oh their are over the counter goodies, or if you are really, really in bad
shape, your doc will write you a scrip for Ambien.

More than ever before there are meds for depression, anxiety,
sleeplessness - even alcoholism! Nobody seems to bat an eye if you get any
one of a dozen different "trendy" types of medication for any real or
perceived ailment.

Ok, so why is it such a god-awful sin to want diet pills? Does it show a
shocking lack of self discipline? So what? For some reason, we are supposed
to SUFFER when we are losing weight. Does it make us better people if we
suffer? I doubt it. Will we think twice about gaining the weight again if
we suffer? Probably not.

I am reminded of a lady that I worked with once, during the late 1970s when
"natural childbirth" was all the rage and you were considered a BAD MOTHER
if you asked for medication during childbirth. My friend said to me..
"Hell with that! If I had a kid I would take every bit of medication
available. Being in pain doesn't make you a better mother".

So why is there so much negativity here, and everywhere, about dieting
medication? Inquiring minds want to know.

Em

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[Jim Bard]

"Auntie Em" <Auntie > wrote in message
...

> So why is there so much negativity here, and everywhere, about dieting
> medication? Inquiring minds want to know.
>
> Em

A pill will not change the habits that led to the condition. A dependency
is not my first choice.

[Kasey]

>>Ok, so why is it such a god-awful sin to want diet pills?<<

Um, I never said it was a sin.

I want to be able to eat Dove ice cream bars all the time and weigh
150 pounds. I also want to dip Hugh Jackman in chocolate and take him
to Oz.

We all want things.

>>So why is there so much negativity here, and everywhere, about
dieting
medication?<<

Everywhere? Not on the infomercials I see.

>>For some reason, we are supposed
to SUFFER when we are losing weight.<<

Says who? Not me. Like anything in life, there might be unpleasant
moments.

I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and presume you're not
a troll.

First, it would help if you were a little more specific. By "diet
pills," do you mean appetite suppressants?

If so, then the information I found on legitimate scientific sites
indicates that these medications a) only work as long as one takes
them, and often stop working with extended use; b) give users only a
modestly more weight loss than those who use diet and exercise alone;
c) can have dangerous side effects.

here are a few links:

http://www.niddk.nih.gov/health/nutrit/winnotes/fal_wi96/Pharmoco.htm

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/uspdi/202069.html

If, in consultation with your physician, you decide to take appetite
suppressants along with diet and exercise, and you understand and
accept their risks and limitations, you shouldn't concern yourself
with alleged negativity.

As always, YMMV.

Kasey
365/262/???

[Jeri]

"Auntie Em" <Auntie > wrote in message

<snip>
> Ok, so why is it such a god-awful sin to want diet pills? Does it
> show a shocking lack of self discipline? So what? For some reason,
> we are supposed to SUFFER when we are losing weight. Does it make us
> better people if we suffer? I doubt it. Will we think twice about
> gaining the weight again if we suffer? Probably not.
>
> I am reminded of a lady that I worked with once, during the late
> 1970s when "natural childbirth" was all the rage and you were
> considered a BAD MOTHER if you asked for medication during
> childbirth. My friend said to me.. "Hell with that! If I had a kid
> I would take every bit of medication available. Being in pain
> doesn't make you a better mother".
>
> So why is there so much negativity here, and everywhere, about dieting
> medication? Inquiring minds want to know.

IMO it's because diet pills were meant to be used as aids to weightloss.
They do make it less painful as you're learning how to eat healthfully. But
most people don't use them that way. They want the quick fix. They use them
to lose weight without ever putting forth any effort to learn how to
maintain that weightloss.

I'm not saying everyone is like this. There are people who do use the
medications the way they were meant to be used. And those people have
maintained their weightloss not because they used meds but because they
learned how to eat. But the majority do not.

Then there's also the safety issues. It's such a huge moneymaking industry
now that I'm just not so sure the pharmaceutical companies much care if
weightloss drugs are completely safe anymore. All it took was for me to read
how Redux was pushed through the FDA approval process to seriously question
their motives.
--
Jeri
"Change is inevitable, except from vending machines."

[Patricia Heil]

The whole drug culture is skewed to take money out of your pocket without
really making you healthy. For example, I was taking low dose hormone
replacement pills because at the time it was thought they would help prevent
osteoporosis and dementia as well as make it easier to cope with
premenopausal symptoms. But they now know that isn't true, and the pills
gave me insomnia every 28th night and that led to migraines. So I was
taking Motrin for the migraines and I could have taken a sleeping pill.

Instead, I dropped the hormone pills, exercised more, and the insomnia went
away and so did most of the migraines. When I finished out my Motrin, I
bought aspirin due to a minor heart problem thinking the aspirin might help
if I had a stroke or heart attack.

Because of the heart problem (a minor valve malfunction that only showed up
on an echocardiogram), my doctors were after me to take cholesterol and
blood pressure drugs. I refused. I doubled my exercise and then doubled it
again. My cholesterol has been normal for 3 years and my BP is within the
new restrictive guidelines.

Since I have migraines, I ought to be at increased risk of heart attack or
stroke. But since I fixed my BP and cholesterol, my risk is down around
zero. And I did it without drugs.

Plus the exercise itself prevents osteoporosis and dementia, and diabetes
for which I am at risk because I have been overweight most of my life.
There are no drugs that do these things, there are only drugs that can
reverse the problems.

But then you would spend about $6000 a year on drugs like that.

IF you don't exercise and eat right.

Now every ad I've seen for a diet pill says that you have to exercise and
reduce calories -- and the ones that don't say that eventually get in
trouble with the FTC for deceptive advertising.

So save your money, exercise, eat right, and control the number and size of
portions.




"Auntie Em" <Auntie > wrote in message
...
> These days it seems we live in a highly pharmeceutical society. If you
have
> an ache or pain - take an Aleve. If you have the sniffles there are more
> than 100 different types of cold medicines available from which to choose.
> Diarrhea? Constipation? Oh there are pills for that as well. Can't
sleep?
> Oh their are over the counter goodies, or if you are really, really in bad
> shape, your doc will write you a scrip for Ambien.
>
> More than ever before there are meds for depression, anxiety,
> sleeplessness - even alcoholism! Nobody seems to bat an eye if you get
any
> one of a dozen different "trendy" types of medication for any real or
> perceived ailment.
>
> Ok, so why is it such a god-awful sin to want diet pills? Does it show a
> shocking lack of self discipline? So what? For some reason, we are
supposed
> to SUFFER when we are losing weight. Does it make us better people if we
> suffer? I doubt it. Will we think twice about gaining the weight again
if
> we suffer? Probably not.
>
> I am reminded of a lady that I worked with once, during the late 1970s
when
> "natural childbirth" was all the rage and you were considered a BAD MOTHER
> if you asked for medication during childbirth. My friend said to me..
> "Hell with that! If I had a kid I would take every bit of medication
> available. Being in pain doesn't make you a better mother".
>
> So why is there so much negativity here, and everywhere, about dieting
> medication? Inquiring minds want to know.
>
> Em
>
> --
> ------
> GOT PDF?
> Convert any document into PDF for $1 per 100 pages.
> For more info email .
>
>

[Brad Sheppard]

Drugs aren't wrong, however even the current prescription drugs don't
work very well and have side effects. You may also have to stay on
them for life else the weight will come back. Of course, there are
always promising weight loss drugs just beyond the horizon..

"Auntie Em" <Auntie > wrote in message >...
> These days it seems we live in a highly pharmeceutical society. If you have
> an ache or pain - take an Aleve. If you have the sniffles there are more
> than 100 different types of cold medicines available from which to choose.
> Diarrhea? Constipation? Oh there are pills for that as well. Can't sleep?
> Oh their are over the counter goodies, or if you are really, really in bad
> shape, your doc will write you a scrip for Ambien.
>
> More than ever before there are meds for depression, anxiety,
> sleeplessness - even alcoholism! Nobody seems to bat an eye if you get any
> one of a dozen different "trendy" types of medication for any real or
> perceived ailment.
>
> Ok, so why is it such a god-awful sin to want diet pills? Does it show a
> shocking lack of self discipline? So what? For some reason, we are supposed
> to SUFFER when we are losing weight. Does it make us better people if we
> suffer? I doubt it. Will we think twice about gaining the weight again if
> we suffer? Probably not.
>
> I am reminded of a lady that I worked with once, during the late 1970s when
> "natural childbirth" was all the rage and you were considered a BAD MOTHER
> if you asked for medication during childbirth. My friend said to me..
> "Hell with that! If I had a kid I would take every bit of medication
> available. Being in pain doesn't make you a better mother".
>
> So why is there so much negativity here, and everywhere, about dieting
> medication? Inquiring minds want to know.
>
> Em

[Dally]

Auntie Em wrote:

> These days it seems we live in a highly pharmeceutical society. If you have
> an ache or pain - take an Aleve. If you have the sniffles there are more
> than 100 different types of cold medicines available from which to choose.
> Diarrhea? Constipation? Oh there are pills for that as well. Can't sleep?
> Oh their are over the counter goodies, or if you are really, really in bad
> shape, your doc will write you a scrip for Ambien.

We live in a capitalistic society where people are trying to sell you
things by advertising perceived benefits. Most advertising (which is
very expensive) is designed to counter your own common sense. For
example, "You deserve a break today" counters your common sense that you
really ought to stay home and make a salad. IIRC the "It's the real
thing" ad came out when they stopped using sugar and started using corn
syrup in colas. Next time you see a claim in an ad you should stop and
ask yourself why they are paying money to tell you this. Chances are
because it's not true and you wouldn't believe it otherwise.

> More than ever before there are meds for depression, anxiety,
> sleeplessness - even alcoholism! Nobody seems to bat an eye if you get any
> one of a dozen different "trendy" types of medication for any real or
> perceived ailment.

Whose the nobody? Do you mean that the marketing budget for
non-capitalistic truths isn't at parity? How many people know that you
shouldn't take antibiotics for kid's ear infections? Most people are
ignorant, and even the non-ignorant ones aren't going to share their
judgmental view of your pill-popping if they have one. It's your body.

> Ok, so why is it such a god-awful sin to want diet pills? Does it show a
> shocking lack of self discipline? So what? For some reason, we are supposed
> to SUFFER when we are losing weight. Does it make us better people if we
> suffer? I doubt it. Will we think twice about gaining the weight again if
> we suffer? Probably not.

The "god-awful sin" about taking diet pills is that the cost/benefit
ratio doesn't work out in their favor. It's not a sin, it's a fact, and
the sin is being stupid, not being a pill-popper.

I've been taking the most effective fat-loss pill for about a year now.
It's only MILDLY useful, and I wouldn't take it if I didn't like the
unintended side effects (and there are ALWAYS unintended side effects.)
Furthermore, I've got a cheap source of it and easy access. But it
wouldn't make me lose weight all by itself, I'd still have to eat less
and exercise more. Do you own risk/benefit ratio. Is the cost of a
pill, the side effects of the pill, the cost of obtaining the pill all
worth the benefits of the pill?

Chances are the answer is no.

> I am reminded of a lady that I worked with once, during the late 1970s when
> "natural childbirth" was all the rage and you were considered a BAD MOTHER
> if you asked for medication during childbirth. My friend said to me..
> "Hell with that! If I had a kid I would take every bit of medication
> available. Being in pain doesn't make you a better mother".

That's pretty glib. There are risks and benefits to pain medication
during labor: women don't do it just to be macho, they choose to avoid
pain meds because it tends to make delivery faster (pain medication
slows down labor) and taking pain meds vastly increases your chances of
needing a c-section (which definitely makes your a WORSE mother, at
least at first.) I've had three births and done it differently each
time. That was because each situation warranted a different choice
based on its individual facts and circumstances. Sometimes taking pain
meds is NOT the appropriate choice.

> So why is there so much negativity here, and everywhere, about dieting
> medication? Inquiring minds want to know.

Because you don't need it, it's expensive, it has bad side effects, they
are difficult to obtain and better results are obtained by making
lifestyle choices.

There, feel better now?

Dally
244/179/169