A Teaspoon of Medicine Makes the Bullshit Go Down

A Teaspoon of Medicine Makes the Bullshit Go Down

As I have not so gracefully gotten older, my sense of mortality becomes hightened. I read a copious amount on a plethora of subjects including medicine. Then there is free to air television and the University of Washington TV Mini-Medical courses and Research TV.

There is no doubt that the medical profession is on the cutting edge of gaining insight into the workings of the human physical condition. With the current discoveries into genetics and immunilogical responses, new drugs and their applications will become tailored to the individual.

This leads me to a troublesome line of reasoning. First-world humans have a pathological fear of death. We avoid talking about it. We will spend every last cent we can aquire to avoid it. We look to the government to help us pay for Herculean efforts to combat it. The insurance companies love it.

Once I developed this line of reasoning, it wasn't a giant leap to realize that most of what I thought I knew about medicine was wrong.

Perhaps some background might be in order. My mother was an LPN. She had great hopes for me to become a doctor and encouraged me to spend time with the doctor she worked for in order to develop my urge to become a prominent physician. I took a different path, but for a time was an EMT-1.

In all of this, I gained a better than average knowledge base on medicine. From my study of comparitive religion, I learned that humans shouldn't fear death. Shouldn't is a long way from the reality.

What I came to realize is that humans will expend all their wealth in the pursuit of the possibility of increasing their lifespan. A common thread in these treatment regimes is the "quality of life issues."

We have become a nation of drug addicts and cyborgs. Nevermind that the elderly will not be running in marathons or competing in Ironman competitions, a new hip or pacemaker will get you fixed up. We pursue better living through modern chemistry.

Over the years, we have prescribed amphetamines, barbituates, MDMA and before them, there was opium elixirs and even hash candy. Every time we saw a potential abuse of the drug, we outlawed it. Almost every currently prescribed drug has a long list of potential and often serious side-effects. I know people that were prescribed rat-poison aka warfarin as an anti-coagulent. A not so insubstantial percentage of Americans are on MADs; mood altering drugs. Got the blues, take a pill. Your child a bit hyper, we have lithium and if it doesn't work, we can try other drugs.
Daily we here about the drug traffickers and the financial and sociological drain on our society. And during the news broadcast come an advertisement that includes the statement, "ask your doctor if ______ is right for you?"

So what is my take on all this?

The majority of the medical professionals are high priced mechanics and chemists. Most of the highest paid are parts changers or service station attendants. We can swap out a hip, heart or a kidney. We can add an additive to the engine to relieve constipation, lower blood pressure and help with erectile dysfunction.

Then we have the vanity body and fender specialists. They will bob your nose, increase your bust size or turn black to white.

Then lest we forget, we have the software engineers. We will sit you down and ask you how you feel about _______ and then precribe MADs.

"She goes running for the shelter of a mother's little helperAnd it helps her on her way, gets her through her busy day." Rolling Stones

Am I condemning medicine and the practitioners. Nope. We get what we are willing to pay for as long as the desired outcome is within our capacity as a patient and medical capability. I just ask why?

Why do we pursue a lifestyle that by all metrics increases stress. Just like a machine, the more you stress the machine, the greater the likelyhood of something wearing out or failing. Stress has been linked to immunilogical responses. Just like a machine, if we don't fire up the boiler regularly, the thing rusts and corrodes. The bearings fail. The pump leaks.

We are the culmination of millions of years of evolution. Rather than attempt to live within our design parameters, we think we have a better idea. Rather than accept the harsh reality that not every individual is a viable organism, we spend inordinate amounts of money and energy to sustain a lemon.

We have come to the mistaken belief that every individual is so damn precious that we have lost sight of reality. Not every individual is viable. We have an epidemic of C-sections in this country. Partly due to tort prevention, but also because we think that women who have too small of a pelvic openning MUST live and reproduce the same genetic flaw.

We have become a nation of lemons. We reproduce lemons. We demand that every lemon must be preserved for as long as possible. We pass laws and programs to protect lemons.

"In the year 2525, if man is still alive." Zager and Evans