Capitol Hill Blue Forums Science and Technology Health, Medicine & the healing Sciences Zicam vs Lipitor

I've been taking Zicam lozenges, a homeopathic treatment for colds, for the past couple days. This morning I heard that Zicam (nasal application) can cause loss of the sense of smell. 130 cases in the last 10 years. Those products have been removed from the market and the FDA spoke out against Zicam:


CNN report on Zicam

I then looked up side effects of Lipitor, the popular prescription medication that reduces cholesterol. The following is just the beginning of a long list of possible side effects. (Apparently this is the list physicians receive. Consumers get far less information):


Lipitor side effects

What's wrong with this picture? And why do we put up with it?

Because we're mere plebes and we're weak against the almighty government. The only way to meet the government and see eye-to-eye with them, is to higher a lawyer, which elevates us, literally, to the grand-high level of the government.

...bascially, a lawyer gives us access to the elevator that takes us up to where the government is.

Else, we plebes are simply looked down upon, scoffed at, and big brother government will tell us what we need to know, and when.

I hate Big Pharma with a passion so this answer is written with reluctance.

I haven't done any research on this, and everyone I know who's been threatened with Lipitor has run for their lives, but - the other things that would need to be weighed would be
1) How frequently the side effects arise,
2) Whether they're reversible,
3) Whether they're worse than the condition being treated, and
4) Whether there are multiple options.

Having said that, permanent loss of smell is a serious hardship; ask anyone who's had it even temporarily. I think anything that can cause that after a single dose should be used as seldom as possible. Given that there are many treatments for the common cold (okay, none of them really work, but still...) - I can understand banning it. The risk is too great for the benefit received.

I don't know anything abut Lipitor, although I've seen people go through recovery from heart surgery. There are a lot of risks there, no doubt. If there are better drugs to help prevent high cholesterol and heart disease, they should be the drug of choice. But are there are so many options in this field that it should be completely banned? (Warning: layperson. I haven't a clue.)

And of course all this is written as though Big Pharma didn't own us all. They do, so all bets are off.

I once took Zocor for cholesterol until I read what the possible side effects could be. I switched to red rice yeast. Now with raw food diet I don't eat cholesterol. I'll have my blood tested this fall and we will see.

I don't trust Big Pharma.

You are a sensible man, SM.

I wouldn't dream of taking something prescribed by a doctor until I had done some research to find out how much it was going to poison me.

The Greek word pharmakos originally meant "medicine" and "poison"!

Clear-sighted, realistic people, those Greeks!

.

I am no fan of big pharma but a lot of the time that list of possible side effects is just them covering their butt. I've suffered from migraines most of my life. Every single prescription drug I've ever taken to treat said migraines has headaches as a listed side effect (how would you tell?) Now I can understand that for drugs that have found a second life as preventatives like beta blockers, calcium channel blockers and the like, but the stuff that has actually been developed to stop migraines having that as a side effect is just silly.

Every drug on the marketplace whether over the counter or prescription has side effects. Take enough Tylenol long enough and in high enough doses you'll ruin your liver just as sure as if you drank Scotch every day. Ibuprofen can both burn a hole in your stomach lining and it's hard on the kidneys over time. Asprin, it's really hard on the stomach, I'm not allowed to take it anymore due to a few holes I've punched into mine.

It's a balancing act, what can you stand, what can you not. Not everyone's body chemistry is the same and just because one person reacts to a drug one way doesn't mean everyone does.

As far as Lipitor goes, from what I've read, you are better off going for a run and having a bowl of oatmeal, but IANAD.

'

Perhaps one should think long and hard before starting down the slippery slope of pharmacological dependency.

Soon you are taking drugs to counter the negative effects of the previous drugs you have been taking .... and so on.

Great fleas have little fleas upon their backs to bite 'em,
And little fleas have lesser fleas, and so ad infinitum.
--- John Dryden

That chortling sound you hear is from Big Pharma carting away your money while your body deteriorates from the side effects.

.

For most people with high cholesterol numbers, the problem isn't that they consume a lot of cholesterol. The problem is that they consume a lot of saturated fat, so their own body manufactures a lot of cholesterol. Going on a diet very low in saturated fat can knock those cholesterol numbers way down very quickly.

A raw food diet is one possibility, but there are other mostly- vegetarian diets that work for most people. Some people won't be able to handle all the fiber in a raw food diet.

One thing everybody should try is to stop eating big servings of meat every day: Get the 4 oz burger instead of the 8 oz "monster burger". Cut meat portion size down to no larger than the palm of your hand. If you are having eggs every morning for breakfast, try cutting that down to just once or twice a week or try an egg-white omelet instead.

Lots of life-style stuff to try before signing up for Big Pharma's Big Moneymakers.

I took Atenolol for 5 years for blood pressure control. Had frequent palpitations. Started cutting back on the med and the palps decreased. Eventually I tried an herbal. Have been on it for a few years and my BP is consistently within normal range and no palpitations.

During those 5 years I was diagnosed with diabetes. Apparently atenolol has a negative effect on insulin levels.
Atenolol/insulin

Now I take no prescription meds and plan to keep it that way for as long as possible.

That's the only nice thing about having something that isn't life threatening, just quality of life threatening. If I don't like the side effects of a treatment or a blood test shows the side effects are bad (like beta blockers sending my triglycerides through the roof), then I can stop, there are other treatments out there for migraines. I've gone through 3 in the last year alone. I wish I could afford to have acupuncture done on a regular basis as its actually afforded me some of the best results when I actually have one but I can't get it done enough to prevent them.