Definitely. We work way too much, which is crazy considering the unemployment rates; we eat lots of unhealthy food, we spend way too much time sitting on our fat arses in front of tvs and computers and we excercise way too little. You don't need a rocket scientist to conclude that the body will complain. But, instead of taking care of ourselves and doing something about our cappy lifestyles, we take pills to silence the screams of pain from our poor bodies.
I'm not exactly celebrating whenever I read about new stress pills or whatever because I know that all those pills do nothing to cure us, they just hides the pain; and that's dangerous.

Another dangerous aspect is that the body gets addicted to the pills if we take them too often, and after a while the body is used to it meaning the pills no longer have any effect, so we have to take more or heavier stuff until we are more or less drug addicts.

It's all business though, and the corporations doesn't care about us destroying ourselves, as long as they make tons of money.

The first sentence in the OP is basically saying that medicin is a good thing, and I agree with all the things you've outlined.

My point however, was that when things in your life are making you feel bad, giving you headaches or whatever, then taking a pill is not the right course of action. You need to fix the problem in your life that is causing you these hardships. If you're getting headaches because of your job, then try to do something about your job to change that, and not just take a pill to make the pain go away momentarily. The pain will come back if you don't fix the problem.

@ Galaki

It's the same situation that I described above. If something in your life is causing you to get these headaches, then a painkiller is nothing then something that allows you to ignore what's wrong.

Taking a painkiller because you can't fix things at the moment is fine, but taking pills is not the solution, and that's what I'm talking about. We need to look at what is causing the pain in our daily lives and deal with that, rather than just trying to make the pain stop for a moment. If you're feeling pain, your body is telling you that something is wrong.

@ Xen and forest-spirit

That's what I'm talking about, glad to hear your opinions on the matter.

Well I've been heavily medicated since I was a kid. When I was young I had ADHD apparently so I was on Ridalin. Anything went wrong and here's another pill. I finally got off pills for a few years but then stopped being able to sleep naturally. So 15 pill tryouts later I found a drug that puts me to sleep, but its an anti-psychodic and it makes meel feel Meh about everything I can't get overly happy or depressed and I have no modivation to do anything.

I tried getting off the pills immediatly I felt 100x better, but couldn't sleep and within a week was haluscinating and blacking out. So back on the dang pill. Tried reducing dosage but that meant less to no sleep.

I hate being on drugs, I also caught MRSA a infection that is resistant to anti-biotics. Was in the hospital 2 hours twice a day for like 3 months for IV anti-Biotics.

I just got a cold that lasted over a month. I went into the doctor and he perscribed 5 pills. I went home and took them a day before deciding "No more freaking pills" so I stopped taking them.

It sucks but pills are forced down our throats! And in some cases like my Insomnia they are nescessary but they always have side effects. Always something negative, they say their is nothing free in life, well their is no such thing as a cure without paying something else for it!

Great post!

By chance, has anyone here read Brave New World? I don't understand why people are so surprised than in a capitalist society health has become an industry to be exploited by pharmaceutical companies.

@Rainbird and sapphi_snake:

thanks ;)

You find me some soma and I want it now. Yes, I read the book.

At least it is not required by law to take drugs/soma.

""By his heretical views on sport and soma, by the scandalous unorthodoxy of his sex-life, by his refusal to obey the teachings of Our Ford and behave out of office hours, 'even as a little infant,'" (here the Director made the sign of the T), "he has proved himself an enemy of Society, a subverter, ladies and gentlemen, of all Order and Stability, a conspirator against Civilization itself. For this reason I propose to dismiss him, to dismiss him with ignominy from the post he has held in

"And if ever, by some unlucky chance, anything unpleasant should somehow happen, why, there's always soma to give you a holiday from the facts. And there's always soma to calm your anger, to reconcile you to your enemies, to make you patient and long-suffering. In the past you could only accomplish these things by making a great effort and after years of hard moral training. Now, you swallow two or three half-gramme tablets, and there you are. Anybody can be virtuous now. You can carry at least half your morality about in a bottle. Christianity without tears-that's what soma is."

These words remind me of socities over use of antidepressant pills witch are consumed by so many without any real evidence they work and without any knowledge of what long term effects they have on peoples brain functioning.

5 pills for a cold?! Wtf?! Did he at least tell you what each of them was for?

And I think people need to do their own research rather than just accepting their Doctors recommendations. It's not the medicine that's the problem in a lot of cases, but the people prescribing them. I especially hate the idea of giving kids drugs like Ridalin. There are just too many unknowns in a developing mind and body. I feel sorry for you having had so many pills forced down you at such a young age, it just sounds like overkill.

Humans have been taking pain-numbing chemicals for years though. They just weren't in tablet form. I don't think in the case of pain killers we're really over medicating ourselves that much more than in the past even with the hectic life-styles. At least now we have definitive numbers and concentrations for how much we should be taking.

Also, it's worth remembering that a lot of these pain-killers have secondary benefits as well as side-effects. Aspirin is commonly used for people suffering from heart disease, Ibroprofen has additional benefits in reducing swelling and paracetamol can help prevent kidney failure in specific circumstances.

What's worse is that by doing this people don't actually try to fix their problems.