"FDA... Does that stand for Fuckin' Drug Administration?"

Thank you, but I wouldn't like you to administer any more drugs to me. I'm fine, now... Thanks to a certain health supplement which you decried and banned the sale of.

". . .High oral doses of this bleach, such as those recommended in the labeling, can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and symptoms of severe dehydration.

. . .MMS also poses a significant health risk to consumers who may choose to use this product for self-treatment instead of seeking FDA-approved treatments for these conditions.

The FDA continues to investigate and may pursue civil or criminal enforcement actions as appropriate to protect the public from this potentially dangerous product."

http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/2010/ucm220747.htm

Have I ever had nausea from taking MMS? Yes. Was it more severe than the nausea I experienced from "FDA-approved treatments." Actually, no. Most of the FDA-approved treatments I have tried--and they are more numerous than I will here state--make me extremely ill, including severe nausea, vomiting, stomach pain, burning of the skin, seizures, formication (that means feeling like there are bugs under your skin), akathisia (this is too unpleasant to describe), chronic endocrine problems requiring surgeries (which were then botched by "one of the best hospitals in the country"), and... the list goes on. And MMS generally makes me feel much better after I've stopped being nauseous. FDA-approved medications make me feel worse for several months or years after I stop taking them, while I am going through detox from addictive FDA-approved drugs, or have residual side effects that last for a very long time afterward. Sure, the drugs usually do what they claim to--to a degree--but it's generally not worth the HELL they put me through.

If the worst thing MMS causes is dehydration and nausea, GIMME A FEW MORE BOTTLES!

It has kept me out of the hospital on multiple occasions---thank God, because every time I go in there, they want to cut me up and put me on pills and IV antibiotics that make me see things and cause my skin to crawl and give me excruciating digestive problems. . . Well thank God for MMS, pro-biotics, and energy medicine, anyway. At least there's still HOPE in the world!!!

PLEASE WATCH THIS NICE MOOVIE WHICH I DID NOT MAKE

"I don't want people thinking I am a conspiracy theorist... because, in fact, there is no theory behind what I am telling you, it's all provable."

Dear FDA,

"Adverse Reactions to Psychiatric Drugs

Use the following search tool to view a summary of adverse reactions experienced by patients taking psychiatric drugs, culled from Individual Safety Reports submitted to the FDA's Adverse Event Reporting System (MedWatch) between 2004 and 2008. (An extended report with a report by adverse reaction lookup feature can be found here.)

Atypical Antipsychotics		Reported By
Adverse Reaction	Cases	MD	CN	OT	PH	LW	NR
Suicidal Ideations	677	350	188	177	27	28	136
Attempted Suicides	759	607	79	160	40	25	110
Completed Suicides	774	540	68	263	87	10	93
Deaths Not From Suicide	5,649	3,113	835	1,560	536	788	1,614
Homicidal Ideations	63	36	15	28	1	4	15
Homicides	52	28	18	3	3	3	16
Hypomania/Mania	410	284	73	82	17	12	68
Heart Disease	1,652	1,138	253	361	163	143	256
Movement Disorders	4,910	2,546	940	1,370	407	114	566
Birth Defects	169	153	18	47	10	1	15
Premature Births	73	60	9	18	5	1	4
Prenatal/Neonatal Deaths	196	165	34	63	16	3	10

These are the Atypical Antipsychotic drugs that were reported to MedWatch as the Primary Suspect Drug (the drug suspected of causing or inducing the adverse reaction in the patient) in one or more Individual Safety Reports:

Abilify (aripiprazole), Aripiprazole (aripiprazole), Clozapine (clozapine), Clozaril (clozapine), FazaClo (clozapine), Geodon (ziprasidone), Invega (paliperidone), Leponex (clozapine), Olanzapine (olanzapine), Paliperidone (paliperidone), Quetiapine (quetiapine), Risperdal (risperidone), Risperidal (risperidone), Risperidona (risperidone), Risperidone (risperidone), Rispolept (risperidone), Seroquel (quetiapine), Seroquel XR (quetiapine), Zeldox (ziprasidone), Ziprasidone (ziprasidone), Zyprexa (olanzapine), Zyprexa Zydis (olanzapine)

Reported By is the occupation of the person who submitted the report: MD - Medical Doctor, CN - Consumer, OT - Other Healthcare Professional, PH - Pharmacist, LW - Lawyer, NR - Not Reported. The total Reported By will exceed the number of Cases (patients) if more than one report was submited for an Adverse Event; repeating Cases (same Case in multiple reports) are only counted once.

Deaths not from Suicide tallies the reported deaths of patients who did not commit suicide. This tally excludes any medication error deaths (accidental exposure, accidental overdose, incorrect dose administered, overdose, wrong drug administered, etc). This tally does not include Prenatal/Neonatal Deaths.

Heart Disease, when it occurred in a newborn, such as a Ventricular Septal Defect (a hole in the wall of the heart that separates the left and right lower chambers), is also tallied in the Birth Defects row.

Prenatal/Neonatal Deaths tallies the reported deaths of unborn or newborn babies where the adverse reaction to the drug was Abortion Spontaneous (miscarriage) or other drug-related abortions, Blighted Ovum (embryo never developed), Death Neonatal, Intra-Uterine Death, Stillbirth or Sudden Infant Death Syndrome."

Dear FDA,

"Mercury exposure may increase susceptibility to diseases"

"Mercury has often been implicated as the culprit for a variety of health issues, from being a possible source of developmental disorders like autism, due to the mercury preservative in vaccines, to being potentially toxic for tuna-ingesting sushi-lovers.

And though mercury poisoning often receives much of the publicity, it is a little known fact that mercury, in the form found in marine wildlife and in many workplaces, can cause severe autoimmune responses and even increase the body's susceptibility to infectious diseases.

"Research on mercury as an immunotoxic agent is relatively new, and these are the first studies to demonstrate effects on immune modulation in humans," said Ellen Silbergeld, the senior author of the study and a professor of Environmental Health Studies at Hopkins' Bloomberg School of Public Health.

When mice were exposed to inorganic mercury, the researchers found that it changed the pattern of cytokine release, which are compounds that function as signaling molecules in the immune system. Mercury exposure caused more pro-inflammatory cytokines and fewer anti-inflammatory cytokines to be released.

"There is evidence that mercury can increase risks of both autoimmune disease and certain infectious diseases," Silbergeld said. "These consequences may involve a set of fundamental mechanisms in which the proinflammatory response is not counterbalanced."

http://media.www.jhunewsletter.com/media/storage/paper932/news/2010/02/04/ScienceTech/Mercury.Exposure.May.Increase.Susceptibility.To.Diseases-3865948.shtml

WFMZ program

"Monday January 18 live from 7:00-8:00 p.m. EST on the Philadelphia CNN-News affiliate WFMZ-TV and streaming online at WFMZ.com, The American Law Journal presents "Ask Your Doctor If 'x' is Right for You— Does Drug Advertising Help or Hurt the Consumer?" Philadelphia-based lawyers and a prominent pain physician address the legal, medical and social implications of direct to consumer drug advertising. Former New Jersey prosecutor Christopher Naughton, a legal commentator and 20-year legal broadcasting veteran, hosts the program."

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/pharmaceutical-direct-to-consumer-advertising-on-the-american-law-journal-81915452.html

Well...

Dear FDA,

I think I could tell you how I feel best in a song.



(You may have to go to youtube for optimal viewing)

"The Year in Medicine" now with commentary

"The Obama effect and the Year in Medicine"

[ONE: ]

Lessons from a Pandemic:

. . . The H1N1 influenza pandemic turned out to be not as bad as some were expecting.

It's impossible to calculate the severity of the outbreak, because the vast majority of cases never come to the attention of public health officials. But using the best available evidence from the United States, researchers at Harvard's School of Public Health and the U.K.'s Medical Research Council, have come up with two estimates.

Under one set of data and assumptions, they concluded 1.44 per cent of people with H1N1 symptoms were hospitalized and 0.048 per cent died. Under another set, 0.16 per cent were hospitalized and 0.007 per cent died, according to their study published earlier this month in the online journal PLoS Medicine.

That works out to a potential range of 7,800 to 29,000 deaths in the United States from H1N1, compared to the annual flu, which kills 36,000 in that country.

. . . Does that mean public health officials over-reacted to the perceived threat? No, says Dr. Lipsitch. “It's a sign of good judgment in public health to prepare for something worse than actually happens, because you can't know until it happens how bad it's going to be. . .It's still bad. It's still putting people in hospital and it's killing more children than normal seasonal flu, So it's not harmless, but it's milder than other pandemics have been. . . "

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/new-year/the-obama-effect-and-the-year-in-medicine/article1415223/

Pandemic? Yep. There was totally reason to panic. Give me a break.

Now, just for kicks, let's see how many people are killed by prescription drugs annually.

"For the first time, law enforcement officials are saying that prescription drugs have passed illegal narcotics as the drug of choice among addicts. . . More than 7 million Americans are abusing prescription drugs - more than the number who are abusing cocaine, heroin, hallucinogens, Ecstasy, and inhalants combined, said Miller of North Wildwood, N.J. "Abuse is most prevalent among 18- to 25-year-olds," Miller said. "Prescription painkillers are now causing more drug overdose deaths than heroin and cocaine combined. They exceed the deaths from gunshot wounds."

http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=181158

Hard to compare without cold numbers. Let's look at what's ACTUALLY killing enough people to be of public concern, according to statistics that float around on the web space:

"The Preventable Causes of Death in the United States: Comparative Risk Assessment of Dietary, Lifestyle, and Metabolic Risk Factors

. . .In 2005, tobacco smoking and high blood pressure were responsible for an estimated 467,000 and 395,000 deaths, accounting for about one in five or six deaths in US adults. Overweight–obesity (216,000) and physical inactivity (191,000) were each responsible for nearly 1 in 10 deaths. High dietary salt (102,000), low dietary omega-3 fatty acids (84,000), and high dietary trans fatty acids (82,000) were the dietary risks with the largest mortality effects. 90,000 deaths from other cardiovascular diseases, cancers, liver cirrhosis, pancreatitis, alcohol use disorders, road traffic and other injuries, and violence."

http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pmed.1000058

In other words, physical inactivity kills five times as many people in the US as the regular flu, and about 20 times as many people as H1N1 "swine flu." Yet, the mass media would have you convinced that your health risks can be solved with vaccination. How come the news shows don't get excited about nutritional deficiencies and deaths caused by prescription drugs used as directed, which vastly outnumber flu deaths?

Speaking of which, let's verify some rough facts. The top five causes of death this year, from the New York Times 2009 Almanac:

629,191 people died from heart disease,
560000 from cancer,
137265 from stroke,
124614 from lower respiratory disease,
117748 from personal injuries/accidents

http://www.ritecode.com/aerobicgardening/topkill.html

And one more thing, directly from CDC.gov:

"From 1999 through 2006, the number of poisoning deaths nearly doubled from almost 20,000 to more than 37,000 In 2006, over 90% of poisoning deaths involved drugs.

Opioid analgesics were involved in almost 40% of all poisoning deaths in 2006, up from about 20% in 1999. The death records for about one-fifth of poisoning deaths each year indicated drug involvement, but did not specify the substance involved; an unknown proportion of these deaths involved opioid analgesics."

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db22.htm



"The Obama effect and the year in Medicine"

[TWO]

Folic acid folly?

For more than a decade, food manufacturers in Canada and the United States have been required by law to add folic acid to bread, pasta, flour and other grain products. The fortification effort is meant to ensure that women receive adequate levels of folic acid in case they become pregnant. The B vitamin is critical in the early stages of fetal development. And, by all accounts, the mandatory program has been highly successful in reducing certain birth defects such as spina bifida, which has plunged by 50 per cent to about 110 cases a year in Canada.

However, other research has hinted that there might be a dark side to fortification – fuelling cancers in the general population. Two studies, published earlier this year, suggested folic acid supplements may boost the odds of getting prostate and colon cancers. Then, in November, yet another study showed an overall increase in cancer cases and deaths among Norwegians taking folic acid pills. Although these findings are worrisome, experts generally agree there's not enough evidence to justify pulling the plug on folic acid fortification."

[THREE]

Perplexing rise of celiac disease

Celiac disease was once considered to be a fairly rare disorder. But an increasing number of people are being stricken with the digestive ailment. And there is good reason to be concerned – it can lead to an early death. A study by researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., revealed the disease is 4.5 times more common today than it was about 50 years ago. “It now affects about one in 100 people,” said Joseph Murray, lead author of the study published in the journal Gastroenterology.

Celiac disease is an autoimmune disorder that damages the small intestine, interfering with the absorption of nutrients. It is triggered by gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley and rye. Dr. Murray says something must have changed in the environment to make the condition more common. He speculated that modern food production and processing could be to blame. But, he readily acknowledges, “it could be something entirely different. . .”

It could be, but let's face it. It's the food. I omitted part of the article about a "cure for MS" because it didn't seem very promising. Yes, you can put yourself through complex surgery in order to fix all the problems the body has developed, or you can simply change your lifestyle to accommodate the body's needs, i.e. stop eating industrial foods, which the human body never really learned how to deal with.

And check out the followg.

[FOUR]

Faux journals

Pharmaceutical companies will often use favourable studies and review articles published in peer-reviewed journals as part of their sale pitches to doctors. “See, look how well our drug works,” the drug reps will say as they hand physicians reprints of the seemingly objective reports. But what if there is a lack of published material? Or, more to the point, no articles with a positive spin?

Well, if you're especially audacious, it seems you just create a journal out of thin air. Pharmaceutical giant Merck paid an undisclosed sum to publishing firm Elsevier to produce several editions of what looked like peer-reviewed medical journals, The Scientist magazine revealed earlier this year. The pseudo-publications, part of a Merck marketing effort to raise the profile of the company's drugs among Australian physicians, came to light during court proceedings. One of the publications was titled The Australasian Journal of Bone and Joint Medicine and included glowing reviews of Merck's osteoporosis drug Fosamax and painkiller Vioxx, which has since been pulled from the market. This goes on a significant amount. The FDA sent me an email that stated I should rely on my doctor as my primary/sole supplier of medical information. Meanwhile, it's common knowledge that the information the doctors are receiving is incredibly skewed.

This goes on "a significant amount," yet the FDA is still telling consumers--as they told me specifically via email--that we should rely on our doctors as our primary/sole source of information about our medical care. So it is common knowledge that doctor's knowledge is molded insidiously by pharmaceutical interests, and the FDA is basically telling you that you should trust someone with your medical care who (unknowingly) is being fed false information about the dangers and advantages of the treatments you are receiving.

Yes, it is clear that the FDA is looking out for the consumer. That's why they spent their resources recalling "mislabeled juicy-juice" while approving medications for children that may lead half of recipients to have permanent movement disorders. We can't have juice in our children's hands, masquerading as a nutritional supplement or drug. We need to have real drugs in our kids hands. Drugs like the atypicals. Drugs that cause diabetes.

I was on low doses of the antipsychotics, and then of hormonal birth control, for under a year during my adult life, and now, months and months after stopping the drugs, and staying on a healthful diet, my body is essentially diabetic. I cannot eat sugar or starch. Eating any of either of those things is essentially debilitating.

Thanks, FDA. Thanks for protecting me from juicy juice. Because I can't drink it any more, now that the drugs have made my body incapable of processing its sugars.

I will not make further additions to this review of the year's medical happenings, as they are contained in the previous several posts.