Do no harm...

I've recently discovered a new holistic health (and other interests) blog called The Careless Hand. Today Bernie is taking aim at prescriptions medications where the side effects are serious but often ignored.

The article in Consumer's Reports on Larium reminded of an earlier article I read in the Baltimore Sun about accutane, the acne medicine. Accutane causes a host of side effects, the worst of which is suicidal depression. Imagine a doctor telling their teenage patients the truth about accutane. "It will clear up your face, but plunge you into a depression so deep, you'll long for death." Sort of gives new meaning to the phrase "leave a good looking corpse."

Kinda makes you wonder, huh? Bernie goes on to shed some light on the flawed recent Echinacea study:

You probably heard of the study that showed Echinacea is ineffective in relieving the colds of children. The story is based on a press release put out by JAMA, which published the study. So Echinacea is worthless for colds, right? Not so fast. The study showed some positive results that were left out of the press release. The Natural Products Information Center reports while Echinacea did not reduce the severity of respiratory infections, it did reduce the number of infections.

Good information and great writing. Thanks for contributing, Bernie!

Posted by Evo Terra at December 07, 2003 12:08 AM | TrackBack (0)