People who suffer with acne are in pain. A constant pain I might add. Within the US context, this pain is so bad that The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has highlighted pain as their primary focus in their annual report card on US health.
One in four Americans suffers some type of pain for at least 24 hours. The use of pharmaceutical drugs to treat pain is up significantly. When these drugs are taken, side effects come right along with them.
A 1999 Institute of Medicine (IOM) report on medical errors, revealed a shocking truth. At least 44,000 and as many as 98,000 Americans die each year from preventable medical errors committed in hospitals. These errors result from properly prescribed pharmaceutical drugs.
After the number one and number two killers of Americans, namely heart disease and cancer respectively, guess what the number three killer of Americans is? And it has held down third position for well over ten years. In other words, it has been a consistent killer.
The number three killer is the adverse reaction to properly prescribed pharmaceutical drugs. When all of the disparate categories are combined, a grand total of 225,000 deaths each year are accounted for.
This is what a few doctors say about pharmaceutical drugs and disease:
• Every educated physician knows that most diseases are not appreciably helped by
medicine.
- Richard C. Cabot, M.D. (Mass. Gen. Hospital)
• Medicine is only palliative, for back of disease lies the cause, and this cause no drug can reach.
- Wier Mitchel, M.D.
• The person who takes medicine must recover twice, once from the disease and once from the medicine.
- William Osler, M.D.
You can safely bet that acne plays a role in this. To what extent, your guess is as good as mine. I am just presenting the acne scourge from another perspective.
When doctors have to prescribe drugs like Isotretinoin for acne, we can understand why deaths from adverse reaction can occur. The brand name for Isotretinoin is Accutane.
When all other acne drugs have failed, Isotretinoin is brought in. This is the bad boy of acne drug treatment. Before you even consider taking this heavyweight drug you are advised to speak with your doctor at length about all aspects of your acne condition.
Before taking this powerhouse drug you will be asked to sign a form indicating that you fully understand the serious side effects accompanying this super drug. Signing that form indicates your move into the big leagues.
Are you pregnant? Do not take this drug if you are. Isotretinoin causes severe birth defects in an unborn baby. It also can cause miscarriage, premature birth or baby death.
If you are sexually active while taking Isotretinoin you must protect yourself from getting pregnant. As a matter of fact this drug is so dangerous to an unborn child that you are advised to use two reliable forms of birth control at the same time.
In addition, pregnancy tests must be performed every month. If you do become pregnant you must inform your doctor immediately. That is crucial!
There are many more side effects that result from taking this drug. Two chilling ones are depression and suicide. Seeking a natural treatment for your acne is worth investigating. Speak with your doctor about the natural treatments that may be good options for you.
Those suffering with acne should arm themselves with as much information about acne as they possibly can. Do you know about your acne? This book will give you all the latest information on acne and its treatments. Grab the link here: acne.