Posted by Sarah T. on March 23, 2005, at 2:13:19
In reply to Re: Of course they do, There was an old woman who., posted by flmm on March 22, 2005, at 21:52:01
I believe it's best to read about and listen to all viewpoints. Only then can one make well-informed decisions. It really is important to know the facts, the truth, and that includes both positive and negative reactions to medications. Most of us on this board do not represent pharmaceutical companies. Occasionally you'll find a pharmaceutical representive here. Sometimes they identify themselves and their affiliation; sometimes they don't. My feeling is that if I want to hear only good things about drugs, then I can pick up a medical journal any day and read hundreds of ads placed by drug companies. On the other hand, if I want a more balanced viewpoint, I can come here. By the way, in 1999, the seventeenth edition of "THE MERCK MANUAL" was published. This edition, the 100th anniversary edition, was sold in a package together with a copy of the first MERCK MANUAL, which was published in 1899. Reading through that first MERCK MANUAL provides an interesting and shocking lesson in history and perhaps a lesson for the future. Smoking tobacco was prescribed to treat asthma and bronchitis. Ammonia and arsenic were recommended to treat baldness. Formaldehyde was prescribed to treat the common cold. Sulfuric acid was prescribed to rid women of female sexual urges. Strychnine was used to treat diptheria, and iodine and turpentine were used to treat meningitis. Supposedly, we've come a long way in the last one hundred years, but I suspect that in less than one hundred years, perhaps in the next 25 or 50 years, people will look back in horror at the medicines we're prescribed today.
poster:Sarah T.
thread:472991
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050322/msgs/474422.html