Pills

I don’t know whether it is because I am a closet hypochondriac or just 20-years under the US health system, but I realized this week I drop an awful lot of pills. Now, I will hasten to add, many are vitamins and supplements but still. In hospital this week I realized that the doctors there have a system and it goes like this. Side effect? Ah, take this. After a while, you are taking pills for a side effect of the pills you took for a side effect of the antibiotics! We have become a society who simply believes that there is a pill for everything haven’t we?

When you have time on your hands and nothing to do but browse the net, you start looking at things. For example, I have been taking a pill to reduce stomach acid for years now everyday. It’s called a proton pump inhibitor. It struck me, should I be taking such a thing for years? Apparently not! Despite the doc happily writing the prescription every 90-days,from what I can see, these are pills for short-term use only and no one knows the long term effects. One thing that is worried about is the role that stomach acid plays in stopping digestive tract infections! This is just one example. I could go on.

So, once I am well, I have decided to try to eliminate all the pills. Well, all the chemicals. My probiotics will stay. I shall try to do this by adjusting my diet and I’m going to give the paleo diet a shot. I can’t start for a while but I will keep you all posted on how it goes. Meanwhile, think about the pills you take everyday. We are what we eat they say…..

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