Makes Me Wonder

So, I just read this thread, and it mentioned AIDS/HIV, and I wanted to ask you guys something about it, as we're pretty like-minded indivisuals. Before continuing, please understand that this is entirely political, and I don't mean to offend anyone with AIDS or anyone that feels for people with AIDS - I certainly feel for them all, and wish to better understand the situation.

For over a decade now, we have been "cracking down" on AIDS similarly to how we've done with drugs. For some reason, while awareness rises, usage goes up - in both cases, it is because people either don't know or don't care (even with such not-even-drugs like weed, it still damages your system and isn't a great idea, which isn't to say that asprin is a good idea, drugs in general are bad).

Here's what I wonder - we've had things like cancer for thousands of years, and AIDS is just this flare disease that, in all reality, has a better chance of burnout than cure - this is to say that before the population figures out how to stop AIDS, they will just stop the transmission. But, all the time, I hear about how we're putting so much into AIDS research, and all it seems to do is put Magic Johnson back in good health. We're not saving the world, we're not even saving our own people, so what is the real point of all of this? Are conspiracy theories right? Is it a plot to bring down population, or destroy Africa (like, 1/4 of Africans have HIV - that continent will be bare in a century), or what? It doesn't feel like a "polio" or "small pox" kind of thing - it feels like everything else nowdays - more bullshit.

With more research than ever, more awareness than ever, more SPENDING than ever, and more contamination than ever, why do these people still have their jobs?

BIG QUESTION: last one - do we [people or the governments that be] want a cure?

<blockquote><hr size=0><!-quote-!><font size=1>quote:</font>

drugs in general are bad<!-/quote-!><hr size=0></blockquote>
boy
you just took a big ol' crap
on modern medicine.
did they teach you that in school ?

<blockquote><hr size=0><!-quote-!><font size=1>quote:</font>

drugs in general are bad). <!-/quote-!><hr size=0></blockquote>
How do drugs have any sense of good or bad?

Joe

Exactly. Drugs are indefferent. They cannot be inherently good or bad... they just are. It is how we humans use them that makes them good or bad. Oxycontin can do miraculous things for people... my wife has to take them everyday for chronic pain just to be able to funtion. But Oxycontin can also be bad for people who use it too much and get strung out on it. Different strokes for different folks I s'pose.

scientifically speaking water is a drug...too much you die and without enough youll die...pharmacist told me this.

We actually just talked about that - I can't recall exactly who pointed it out, but it takes a lot of water. It was about 110 ounces in an hour to be toxic, and your stomach can only hold, like, 3 pints or something - granted, it's water, it digests fast.

Anyway, my point about drugs is similar to others made here. A drug is any substance that is taken into the body in hopes that it will do very specific things. Yes, food, water, sunlight, these are all the same thing - all cause chemical changes in the body - we can break this down all day. I'm not talking about doctors prescribing OxyContin to people that are suffering of pain, I'm saying that if everyone had access to OxyContin, it's predominant use would not be pain relief (at least not the kind Johnny's wife is talking about). Most people, given the way they are, like to use drugs that make them feel better. As long as we're talking about doctors and shitting on the medical field - doctors overperscribe drugs, this is not really new news. I hear more old people say that they don't think they really need the drugs they're on, but they still take them because the doctor says so - at least until the new best thing comes along. Fact of the matter is (to really shit on the medical field), the whole industry is designed not to cure, but to simply make people able to function with their illness - what is the profit in cure?

<blockquote><hr size=0><!-quote-!><font size=1>quote:</font>

doctors overperscribe drugs<!-/quote-!><hr size=0></blockquote>
they also under-prescribe drugs,
most notably pain-killers to poor patients.

they also under-prescribe drugs,
most notably pain-killers to poor patients.

I'll testify to that.

Sometimes there is no cure, as in the case of my wife, but at least one can live somewhat comfortably.

I don't know about the conspiracy of it all, although personally, i feel healthcare prices (notably prescription drug prices) need to be brought under control. The drugs are just too goddamn expensive for the average African to afford them. But I have heard that, through our foreign aid, we've been able to help Africans aquire the drug that will stem the mother to baby transmission of AIDS... so good things are happening.

I think drugs in the future will be much like leeches and bleeding patients seem to us in the present.

There's very good evidence that all human ailments (or nearly all) come from virus infections when we were children. The lasting effect is often times not seen until much later in life. Take for instance the human genome, it's pack clear full of viral DNA for miles and miles. Clearly we're carrying around far more non-human DNA material we ever imagined. This, along with such things as rickets that develop after having had chicken pox as a child, are beginning to gather more and more attention in research labs. There is also evidence that certain forms of heart disease stem directly from childhood viral infections. This reseach, however, goes directly in the face of big Pharma and will meet great resistance as we come closer and closer to the root cause of disease.

This all combined makes me wonder if someday we'll view drugs as being merely a bandaid to slow down a process we really know very little about.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/12/02122 4091204.htm

http://www.immunitytoday.com/chronilandin.html

http://www.emergingworlds.com/ch_article.cfm?link= Studies_Find_More_Heart_Disease,_Infection_Links.h tm

http://www.emergingworlds.com/ch_conditions_detail .cfm?vPageid=81


(Message edited by jj_downstream on June 25, 2004)

we've been able to help Africans aquire the drug that will stem the mother to baby transmission of AIDS...

I didn't know that, that's pretty cool. I'd say the biggest problem Africa has is that there's tribal myths that claim you can rid yourself of sexual disease by having sex with a virgin - you can imagine how well this is going over. Which brings us to...

I think drugs in the future will be much like leeches and bleeding patients seem to us in the present...someday we'll view drugs as being merely a bandaid to slow down a process we really know very little about.

Holla. I've got nothing on that. Like some K-Paxian theory - I totally believe it, though.}

Shredder,
I've heard about that myth... that African men are told that if they have unprotected sex with a virgin, that will cure them of the AIDS virus. Talk about a scary..... jeebus.

Another problem is the culture though. It is unacceptable in African society to talk about such things as sex and condomns. So nobody gets the facts... only sick rumors such as the one you mentioned.

I was prescribed all this for depression. Doctors today are worse than advertisers in terms of selling you shit you don't need. If I remember correctly, the above drugs were 2 or 3 antidepressants, lorazepam, ambien, and seroquel (a major tranquilizer or "antipsychotic). Just ONE of those seroquel had the psychological effects of several mixed drinks combined with valium. At the time I also had 5 refills of them... 5refillsx30x200mg of seroquel. That's 30,000mg. If it were aspirin it would enough for a lethal liver failure alone. I would guess that just 1000mg could lead to respiratory arrest or heart failure.

All this given to a patient who came in for suicidal ideation. I will NEVER trust the medical profession again as far as psychological help. Now that I am off of all the medication, I feel better overall with some low days but everyone has those.

Sorry to be so off topic, but I feel very strongly about this and people should know DO NOT TRUST DOCTORS 100%. Take everything they say with a grain of salt. Afterall, they are only human too and are further corrupted by making commission for selling drugs.

//Rant