In this era of drugs for everything from preventing erectile dysfunction to anti-wrinkle creams and any number of medications that may or may not work... it really does make you wonder who is lying to you more.
The Big Pharmaceutical companies producing patented drugs with tonnes of side-effects (ensuring that you need to take additional medications just for the side-effects).
or
The small time Naturopathic Healers pushing herbal remedies (although to be fair, many modern drugs like Aspirin were discovered thanks to herbal remedies and determining what the active ingredient is... acetacylic acid found in birch bark = Aspirin).
For example purposes I would like to avoid mentioning companies I don't actually like, so lets start off with the companies I do LIKE.
LIKE
Ibuprofen 400 mg (aka Advil)
Acetaminophen 650 mg (aka Tylenol Arthritis)
Echinacea (not for colds, I buy it for its tissue regrowth properties)
Creatine (found in red meat but also available as a pill it boosts energy sent to muscle tissue, and when combined with Echinacea it DRAMATICALLY boosts muscle tissue regrowth)
Any kind of multivitamin
Vitamin D
Iron Supplements
I also have some muscle relaxants I sometimes use when I hurt myself weightlifting, they're in a drawer somewhere but I can't seem to find them.
Now most of these medications you can find in your local pharmacy. But what happens when you CANNOT find them? ie. I sometimes have trouble finding pharmacies that sell Creatine.
Well then you will have to look online for DCA (cancer killing drug that isn't patented and thus big pharma won't produce it) or whatever you happen to be looking for.
For example lets say you are having problems sleeping at night (hair loss or trouble maintaining an erection would be more funny, but whatever lets pick something that is relatively boring).
Some doctors refuse to prescribe sleeping pills because they are worried some patients might abuse the medication (sleeping pills can be addictive) or even attempt suicide with them.
And pharmacists typically won't sell sleeping pills without a doctor's prescription, mostly because they are worried about people becoming dependent on sleeping pills.
So where do you go? What do you do? You could try chamomile tea, red wine, turkey or other herbal remedies, but maybe you've already tried that and want something more powerful.
Enter Eszopiclone. Ahem, aka Lunesta, a mild sedative drug created by Sepracor. Its out there, but you can't always find it in a pharmacy because usually they're pushing the heavier sedatives for people with chronic insomnia.
But if you mild to moderate insomnia then a 2mg or 3mg dose of eszopiclone (Lunesta) would probably do the trick.
In the USA alone there are over 45 million prescriptions for insomnia medications EVERY YEAR. It is a $3 billion annual business for pharmaceutical companies and much of it is based on charging people large amounts of cash for heavy sedatives with lots of side-effects.
Where in contrast eszopiclone (Lunesta) is a mild sedative and has relatively mild side effects like headaches, dizziness, drowsiness, etc which means you should lower your dosage because you are taking too much. For fun I read the full list of side effects (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eszopiclone) and it includes AMNESIA.
Wow. A pill that causes amnesia. I bet there are some women out there who had one-night-stands they would like to forget. Someone should be marketing "Forget-Last-Night Pills".
Anyway the point is you can now buy Lunesta online and many other types of pills. The website in question, buylunestaonline.net, tells you all Eszopiclone benefits, side effects and so on.
And there is a Big Red Button at the top for if you want to order online right now (always handy when websites have that button)... at which point it takes you to an ordering website wherein the minimum price for a bottle of 30 pills is $103.50.
At which point you realize that the pharmaceutical companies are really raking in the dough, but hey, if they make a good quality drug that solves what ails you then more power to them.
Now if they could get around to selling more DCA (Dichloroacetic acid, aka the cure for cancer) then I'd be happier.
Reactin, Claritin, Allegra... they all seem to do the same thing for so many years, then they start to become less effective (you build up resistance to them) and eventually they seem to stop working.
Apparently nobody can make an allergy medication that consistently works permanently.
Another annoying thing is that they don't make an "extra strength" version for very bad allergy days.
Like today... when I encountered hayfever, dust and apparently I am also allergic to peonies.
Okay I am really pissed off at the direction Shoppers Drugmart has taken...
Seriously, go to a Shoppers Drugmart sometime and just browse the aisles... don't actually buy anything.
While there count the numbers of aisles which are for beauty products, food, drinks, birthday / greeting cards, magazines, children's toys, stationary, protein drinks / supplements, etc.
And then count the number of aisles (or half aisles) that actually have medication in them.
The point I am making is that Shoppers Drugmart has become so much more of a convenience store than an actual drugstore. Annoyingly so. The medications are hidden at the back or in between other things for sale.
The only advantage about Shoppers Drugmart is that there is so many of them... often beside a Price Chopper grocery store (which I affectionately call "The Chopper Shopper").
