Side Effects of Medications Become Diagnosis!

Last night, I was reading my Facebook Feed. I came across a testimonial about a person who was able to reverse his fibromyalgia with a plant-based diet. I was able to check NutritionFacts.org and found that Dr. Greger had done a post about this topic which confirmed the testimonial.

In the process, I was led to a video from Dr. Joel Fuhrman which was titled, "Where medicine should be." He stated that calcium channel blockers, which are used for blood pressure, could cause cancer. This was news to me. So, I found an abstract that stated the T-cells and macrophages are effected by the calcium channel blockers. I found another abstract that thought calcium channel blockers may help cancers! He mentioned about statins, which help lower cholesterol levels, causing diabetes. I was able to verify that claim by looking at the drug monographs for statin medications.

This made me think of prescribing cascades where one medication is prescribed because of a side effect of another medications. Then, another medication treats the side effect of the second medication and so on. I think that it would be easier, healthier and safer to adopt healthier lifestyle behaviours than to go down a prescribing cascade. What do you think? Please leave a comment below.