The Healing Path

The Healing Path A soulful journey from suffering to grace

Dr. Gregory T. Lawton

The Healing Path Toxic Medicine A common question that arises during my consultation with patients is how they can, or if they can, get off prescription medications that their medical physician has placed them on. This question frequently is raised due to drug side-effects the patient is experiencing or the fear of future adverse reactions to the medication. I do not remove patients from their medications and I always refer the patient to the physician that prescribed the medication or another qualified physician. One out of four of my students is on some form of psychiatric medication as are almost eight million American children, junior youth, and youth. Seven out of ten Americans are on prescription medication and many of them are on one to four different medications. In this article I will address the many issues related to the chronic use (abuse) of prescription medication.

Why do patients want to get off prescription medications?

There are many reasons why a patient might want to get off prescription medications and these include cost, inconvenience, the medication makes them sick, the medication is causing serious side effects, or they want to try alternative, holistic health, or herbal medicine and are concerned about adverse interactions between these two forms of health care.

Should you take yourself off a medication without your doctors’ knowledge?

No. If you stop taking certain medications, you may experience a dangerous adverse reaction. Always discuss going off a medication with a physician. The longer you have been on a medication, and the stronger the medication is, the more likely is the chance that you might experience an adverse reaction.

I have had patients who, after approaching their medical physician regarding going off a medication and/or attempting alternative, holistic, or herbal therapy, the doctor has discouraged the patient from doing so and/or threatened to terminate them as a patient if they do so.

Medical physicians as the 3rd leading cause of death in the U.S. Safety experts at Johns Hopkins, analyzing medical death rate data over an eight-year period, calculated that more than 250,000 deaths per year are due to medical error in the U.S. Their data, published May 3rd in The British Medical Journal, is larger than the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) third leading cause of death, respiratory disease, which causes approximately

150,000 people to die per year. In addition, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), 100,000 Americans die from reactions to prescription drugs each year, making prescription medications the fourth leading cause of death in the U.S., or even more deaths than from illegal drugs like heroin or OxyContin.

What do the Baha’i writings say about toxic medications that make patients sicker?

The Baha’i writings on health and healing state that if a remedy (drug) makes the patient worse then the treatment with that drug should be stopped. This guidance has caused me to question medical prescription drug treatment for many conditions.

From the Baha’i writings: “If a remedy is the cause of disease it would be better to do without the remedy.” (Compilations, Baha’i Scriptures, p. 349) “Any remedy that causes disease does not come from the great and supreme Physician.” (Abdu'l-Bahá, Paris Talks, p. 130) “If the remedy brings on disease, then put it aside.” (,Abdu'l-Bahá Selections from the Writings of Abdu’l-Baha, p. 248) Why do synthetic prescription drugs make people sick?

The study of how drugs work is called pharmacology and pharmacology is broken down into three categories; pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics and pharmacogenomics. Pharmacokinetics is the study of how the body affects and processes (absorbs) the drug, pharmacodynamics is the study of how the drug affects the body and its cells, tissue, and organs. Pharmacogenomics is the study of how an individual’s unique genetic structure may affect a drug in a manner that is different than most of the population that uses the drug.

Side effects and adverse drug reactions may be a frank result of a drugs toxicity, or a “normal” response to the pharmacodynamic effects of a drug, or an individual’s reaction to a drug based upon their unique genetic structure.

One example of how a person might have an adverse or fatal reaction to a prescribed medication is how a patient might respond to a diuretic prescribed for high blood pressure. There are several different classes of diuretics, but one common drug is chlorothiazide. Chlorothiazide is used to treat hypertension, edema, and kidney disorders. It is also known to cause irreversible damage to the kidneys. A patient might be medically treated for high blood pressure but end up on dialysis or need a kidney transplant. An older patient may have had hypertension for many years but die of kidney failure or electrolyte imbalance due to the use of the diuretic.

Drugs, every action has an equal and opposite reaction.

Newton’s third law of motion tells us that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. This is not only true for physical objects, but it is also true in chemistry and for prescription medications. Drugs are prescribed as medications because they have specific actions on the cells, tissues, and organs of the body, but in accordance with Newton’s third law they also produce a reaction from the cells, tissues, and organs of the body. If everything is working out as designed the reaction is the health benefit that the prescribing doctor hoped to achieve, but the patient may have a reaction that is not beneficial and that may in fact be harmful or fatal.

The bulk of my health care practice has been in the treatment of musculoskeletal and neurological disorders and chronic pain. I also have taught hundreds of students how to assess and to treat these disorders. I have an adage that I teach every incoming group of students, “Pain drugs increase pain and anti-inflammatory medications increase inflammation.” This is not just my clinical observation based on over four decades of health care practice, it is also the result of an understanding of Newton’s third law and a chronic pain study that I participated in in the mid-1970’s.

In the mid-1970’s while serving as the vice president of a psychology practice, I was also assisting in the operation of a multidisciplinary chronic pain clinic. Our research which was presented at an international pain conference showed that pain medications increased pain resulting in patients being prescribed higher and higher doses of medication and stronger and stronger drugs. We found that the response to anti-inflammatory drugs was the same as it was with the pain medications with patients “stair stepping” from milder medications to stronger and stronger medications.

Medicines and remedies are found in nature.

In the Baha’i writings there is excellent guidance regarding health and healing. The writings of AbdulBaha describe the direct causes of disease, largely a poor diet, and the methods by which diseases may be treated.

“Treat disease through diet, by preference.” (Bahá'u'lláh: Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era, 1980 ed.,p.

106) “It is, therefore, evident that it is possible to cure by foods, ailments and fruits; but as today the science of medicine is imperfect, this fact is not yet fully grasped. When the science of medicine reaches perfection, treatment will be given by foods, ailments, fragrant fruits and vegetables, and by various waters, hot and cold in temperature.” (Abdu'l-Bahá: Some Answered Questions, 1982 ed., 257-259) The competent physician.

When ill Bahá'u'lláh instructs a Baha’i to seek out the services of a “competent” physician. Abdul-Baha describes the duty of a “skilled” physician as”: “It is the function of a skilled physician to determine which constituent of his patient's body hath suffered diminution, which hath been augmented. Once he hath discovered this, he must prescribe a food containing the diminished element in considerable amounts, to re-establish the body's essential equilibrium. The patient, once

his constitution is again in balance, will be rid of his disease.” (Abdu'l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha, p. 152) How is a medical physician who has one week or less of nutritional education going to be either “competent” or “skilled” in the practice of medicine as it is defined by both Baha’u’llah or Abdul-Baha as based upon a foundation of dietary therapy?

All medicine and all healing are from God. The Baha’i writings help us to understand that all healing, whether it is material or spiritual healing, is from God. Some people are of the opinion that knowledge is of two kinds. They believe that scientific knowledge is from men and women, and therefore is independent from God, and spiritual knowledge is from God. Worse, is the idea that manmade knowledge and science are superior to spiritual knowledge.

All knowledge comes from a single source. There is one sun in the sky and that sun is responsible for all life on earth. Every living thing on earth derives its light and heat from that one sun. In like manner, divine light is the source of all knowledge whether that light is the creator of invention, science, the arts, or religion, all knowledge originates from one source.

“Knowledge is one point, which the foolish have multiplied.” (Bahá’u’lláh, The Kitáb-i-Iqan, p. 183) “Knowledge is one of the wondrous gifts of God. It is incumbent upon everyone to acquire it. Such arts and material means as are now manifest have been achieved by virtue of His knowledge and wisdom which have been revealed in Epistles and Tablets through His Most Exalted Pen—a Pen out of whose treasury pearls of wisdom and utterance and the arts and crafts of the world are brought to light.” (Bahá’u’lláh, Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 39) “All is in the hands of God, and without Him there can be no health in us!” ('Abdul-Bahá, Lights of Guidance, p. 286) “Healing takes place through the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Abdu'l-Baha, Some Answered Questions, p.

256) “God is the great compassionate Physician who alone has the power to give true healing.” (Abdu'lBaha, Paris Talks, p. 19)