Modern medicine can do wonderful things. I benefited from remission of an extremely rare form of cancer that was made possible by advances in the last couple of decades. At the same time, a great deal of what is done in medicine is controlled by the Medical-Industrial Complex, which causes untold waste and harm. These posts document the tip of that iceberg as my health journey has led me.
I've long had a concern that what doctors do often doesn't follow the clear evidence. For example, here's a case of blatantly ignoring standard practice with something simple.
https://www.blackliszt.com/2016/12/what-can-cats-teach-us-about-healthcare.html
No big deal. But then I encountered something far more serious. I tell the start of my story here, about heart symptoms caused by blood pressure pills.
https://www.blackliszt.com/2022/07/the-destructive-treatment-of-hypertension.html
The next part of my story is when I discovered there’s a large study demonstrating that taking blood pressure pills more than doubles your chances of getting AMD, which makes you blind.
https://www.blackliszt.com/2022/07/blood-pressure-pills-can-make-you-blind.html
It’s a study that none of the relevant doctors ever tells you about.
I backed up and studied hypertension. Expert opinion on the subject is united.
https://www.blackliszt.com/2022/05/the-experts-are-clear-control-your-blood-pressure.html
When you dig past the pronouncements of authorities, you discover that hypertension isn’t even a disease.
https://www.blackliszt.com/2022/06/the-facts-are-clear-hypertension-is-not-a-disease.html
So what happens when you stop taking the pills? At least in one anecdotal case, things change in good ways, and in any case, no harm.
https://www.blackliszt.com/2022/11/how-to-cure-amd-macular-degeneration.html
More digging led me to the bogus, incredibly destructive diet-heart hypothesis, proven false by the evidence but promoted on food packages and everywhere else.
https://www.blackliszt.com/2021/12/trusting-science-the-whole-milk-disaster.html
The idea is that eating red meat and full-fat dairy leads to heart disease.
https://www.blackliszt.com/2022/02/the-experts-are-clear-dont-eat-much-saturated-fat.html
When you dig past the propaganda, you learn that saturated fat is an essential and healthy part of your diet.
https://www.blackliszt.com/2022/03/the-facts-are-clear-eat-lots-of-saturated-fat.html
Eating saturated fat is supposed to increase your blood cholesterol, which leads to heart trouble, they say.
https://www.blackliszt.com/2022/02/the-experts-are-clear-keep-your-cholesterol-low.html
The widely-prescribed drugs that lower cholesterol don’t help with heart disease and cause problems of their own.
https://www.blackliszt.com/2022/04/the-facts-are-clear-dont-take-cholesterol-drugs.html
There is strong evidence that bad diet recommendations based on the bogus diet-heart hypothesis is a leading cause of the obesity epidemic that continues to worsen.
https://www.blackliszt.com/2022/04/the-forbidden-question-what-caused-the-obesity-epidemic.html
The current recommendations for diet and medical treatment of obesity continue the madness.
https://www.blackliszt.com/2022/09/the-medical-treatment-of-obesity.html
Many people receive reminders to get things like blood pressure and cholesterol checked so that drugs can be prescribed “if necessary.”
https://www.blackliszt.com/2023/02/be-healthy-and-dont-schedule-your-heart-health-visit.html
Disease Prevention and Testing
Disease prevention sounds like a great idea. So does early detection of bad things. When you dig into the evidence and the numbers, a different picture emerges.
Screening for colon cancer is a multi-billion dollar industry. The only large-scale study that’s ever been done shows that it doesn’t result in longer life.
https://www.blackliszt.com/2023/01/value-of-colon-cancer-screening.html
Everyone is supposed to get an annual flu shot. The CDC’s own numbers and massive studies show that you’re better off without it.
https://www.blackliszt.com/2022/12/flu-shots-propaganda-reality.html
Vaccine efficacy is often mentioned. Its technical meaning can be found, but the authorities rarely mention it. A large efficacy can still mean that you only have 1 chance in a hundred of being helped by the drug.
https://www.blackliszt.com/2022/09/does-vaccine-efficacy-of-95-mean-i-wont-get-sick.html
Your chances of being helped (NNT, Number Needed to Treat) must be considered along with the chances of being harmed, a thing that is too-often ignored.
https://www.blackliszt.com/2022/09/nnt-for-benefits-and-for-harms.html
The studies that are supposed to show treatment effectiveness are too often biased, and (shockingly) backed by data that is kept secret by law. If the treatment is wonderful, why keep the data secret?
There is a proven path to make drug discovery and testing a quantum leap better. All the authorities and experts ignore it.
https://www.blackliszt.com/2017/01/using-software-methods-to-speed-drug-discovery.html
Given the results, the common-sense idea of wellness visits stops making sense in most cases.
https://www.blackliszt.com/2023/02/be-healthy-and-schedule-your-annual-wellness-visit.html
Of course there is a great deal more to be said on this subject. There are true experts, far more qualified than I am, some of whom are referenced in the above posts. My intention is these posts was to detail the journey that a normal patient took from trusting and naive to the opposite. Again, there are wonderful benefits for patients from doctors and hospitals; but not everything that is recommended is wise to take/do.
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