OTC Antibiotics: A Bad Idea

By Dr. Evelyn Higgins

The health care crisis stems from the bottom up. That is the foundation of our thinking. We are entrenched by the thoughts that the pill is the answer to every health problem. Let's trace the roots of that origin. We use a disease model for health care in this country - backed by a $50 billion pharmaceutical marketing budget. Given those two facts, why would any citizen think any differently than this: live as though your health was a given, wait to get sick, take a pill, wait to get better, and the best part is that there is no personal responsibility involved. We even give out FREE antibiotics in our stores as incentives to get shoppers. We even have the budget to have the free antibiotic commercials to play during prime time television advertising slots - free and they still have a budget for it.

The reality of free antibiotics is a serious mistake. It has been called "well-intentioned but obviously ill-advised." Well-intentioned by whom? The disease specialists at the CDC are painfully aware of the damage being done by antibiotics abuse. Serious problems for all of society arise when the dispensing of free antibiotics creates drug-resistant strains of bacteria. Such a situation alarms infectious disease specialists who say they have been fighting for years to reduce the demand for antibiotics. Years of physicians' education coupled with public education.

Look at the big picture here. If we never offer an alternative, the demand will never be reduced. Doctors have even said they prescribe them for patients with a cold, where antibiotics are not the drug of choice, simply because they don't work on viruses just to "shut a patient up" because they went to the doctor to obtain a prescription, plain and simple. But of course they do. We tell them they need it. We bombard them with advertising. Health care crisis, indeed! How will we ever rise from our current economic situation if we never change the fundamentals of our problem: prescription reliance? If we continue to prescribe unnecessary drugs to patients who ask their doctors for them, there will always be a budget deficit in the health care sector. [more...]

The True Pathology of America

By Evelyn Higgins

If you look at the $50 billion dollar marketing budget that the pharmaceutical industry spends to convince us that drugs, pharmaceutical drugs, are the only resolution to our self proclaimed "pathologies," you would easily understand that this is the why we think the way we do. It has become a part of our culture. It would also lend itself to figuring out why we are sitting right smack in the middle of a looming health care crisis. We have little to no conceptual idea of what wellness and prevention means when our answer to every medical problem or imperfection of humanness is met through pharmaceutical routes. Unless we start revving up our engines for wellness and prevention and see health as more than simply the absence of disease, we will never come out of this crisis. Our imperfections lie in our mindset! You would also believe that each and every one of us, in our humanness, actually have "pathologies" that must be treated with medications. In reality, the situation is that every day we have human experiences, which can result in occasional anxiety for a given social situation, perhaps one that even left you baffled because it never happened before nor again. The pushing of drugs for our "illnesses" has come to an all time high - or low depending on how you look at it. The new "drugs for everything" approach to life, has left us bankrupt in the lifestyle changes department - bankrupt in the area of those situations or complications which actually make us grow in wisdom and character and develop us physically, emotionally, intellectually as well as spiritually. We have come to the societal conclusion that for one to be healthy and happy, requires medication. What a crutch we choose to stand on, which takes away our most valuable lessons as a result. [more...]

Obesity Tax... At What Cost?

By Dr. Evelyn Higgins

New York Governor Paterson proposed an 18 percent sales tax on non-diet soda and juice drinks in an effort to reduce the state's budget deficit. The tax would not affect bottled water, diet soda, coffee, tea or milk and is estimated to raise more than $400 million in its first year. So we had the usual complaints from the people. First, government should not be involved with personal behavior such as what people eat. The beverage industry also says the proposal would harm industry jobs in New York. New York sees an easy way to raise money and other states will follow. New York is far from the most obese state, so this could raise considerable revenue for other states. In reality, government has already been intimately involved in what we eat in negative ways. For instance, by allowing sugar laden beverages to be promoted in schools or by failing to restrict marketing of unhealthy foods to children. To me, the issue is deeper than the obvious. It is the risks associated with the diet sodas. The water is a wonderful idea! Aspartame is considered to be about 200 times as sweet as sugar. It is calorie free. Aspartame in reality is a poison... [more...]

The CEO and Healthcare By Dr. Evelyn Higgins

We've heard Obama say, "I am going to give health insurance to 47 million Americans who are now without coverage." The question is: are these 47 million people Americans citizens? We need to take a hard, realistic look at this question, not in theory but in reality - the reality of running a business we call The United States of America. The 47 million includes, yes, illegal immigrants. Most all of illegal immigrants do not have health insurance. The numbers game tells us that every one in four needing insurance is an illegal. Three quarters of the illegal immigrant population is concentrated in California, Florida, Texas, New York and Illinois. Go to any emergency room in the country and you will be amazed at the number of illegals receiving care for life-threatening conditions. So, before you jump on what is and what isn't, I suggest a field trip to your local ER and see how the United States provides for those who have nothing. Another fact is that this population needs health care more than any other group. How do you fund that? [more...]

Back To Basics By Dr. Evelyn Higgins

Call me "old fashioned," but there are some things in life, which just stand the test of time and consistently prove to be habits of winners. As a country, we are looking at some very tough economic times. Our leaders are calling us to get back to basics. That is because basics work. Habits are developed at a very early age, and some habits are very good for us and prove beneficial in our life and some habits are negative, extremely negative. A habit as simple as a family dinner can have major lifelong effects. The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University has consistently found that children who have frequent family dinners are less likely to use marijuana, tobacco and drink alcohol. Personally, and professionally, I have found that to be true as well. At a time when our nation is in need of some serious back to basics in every aspect of our culture, nothing could resonate more clearly to the family unit that the need, that's right, the need for children to have dinner with their family. [more...]

A Nation of Overly Medicated Consumers By Dr. Evelyn Higgins

Consumer Reports has some new information in their October issue advising people who suffer from frequent headaches to talk to their doctors before reaching into their medicine cabinets. Overuse of prescription and over-the-counter pain medications can in fact make headaches worse. They go on to say that consumers inadvertently create their own headaches. CR tells us that people tend not to think of headaches remedies, especially those they can buy without a prescription, as "serious" drugs. It even says that the headache can even be made worse and result in "medication overuse headaches," which affect up to two thirds of patients who seek help in headache treatment centers. Why is it that we are willing to spend unlimited amounts of money and lives on drugs but prevention is a foreign thought process? We truly are a nation of consumers, but at what cost? [more...]

Is Anyone in Washington Listening? By Dr. Evelyn Higgins

According to a study published in the journal Obesity, by the year 2030, 86 percent of American adults will be overweight. By 2048 the study suggests that all U.S. adults will be at least mildly overweight. Frightening? I do hope so! This affects each and every citizen both directly as well as indirectly. It is time to take this epidemic seriously and make some timely changes before it's too late. It seems during our present presidential campaign season the word "change" is often heard, yet in the reality of our nation, we pay for very few health care services that have to do with prevention and wellness, no less education. Such a link to lack of preventative services is going to skyrocket our healthcare costs; and many of the lifestyle diseases - cardiovascular disease, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, osteoarthritis and certain cancers - have already been linked to obesity or weight related problems, yet we simply prescribe a pill and hope for the best. Wouldn't it make more sense to allocate educational funds for media campaigns to explain the benefits of living a healthy lifestyle and maintaining a healthy weight, and how that can help each and every American? [more...]