It is always smart to avoid overusing medication. Two recent studies are convincing reminders of this wisdom.
In one study, 2 million Britons using statin drugs were found to have unexpectedly increased risks of cataracts and kidney failure. While other problems like liver and muscle damage, are well-known, these links were a surprise.
Also surprising was the finding that using certain common blood pressure lowering medications was associated with a rather dramatically increased risk of cancer. Combining data from over 200,000 patients, researchers found a 1% increase in cancer rates, most notably lung cancer. While a 1% increase is not a big number, when you consider how many people take these medications, it adds up. This echoes an old but ignored study that found an association between breast cancer and higher usage of prescription medication.
It is always important to do the basic things, eating right, exercising, etc, before jumping to prescription medicines which are often powerful but often more likely to be toxic than helpful. I am consistently impressed by the power of seemingly mundane lifestyle changes. The truth is that they do more than prescription medications and in a much broader, more comprehensive way. More wholistic/holistic to use those old but quite serviceable terms. I also see that, contrary to the expectations of some, making these changes is not a sacrifice. People feel so much better that their most common regret is that they did not make the changes long ago.
