Homeopathy

are we overmedicated? (see someone elses definition, im not discussing).

drugs and doctors may be the third leading cause of death in the u.s

Did even read the link you supplied ? Or were you drawn in by the 'Doctors are the Third leading Cause of Death' tabloid headline and then failed to check out the sources, look in to the credibility of the author or even read the article itself ?

Actually I will take that last bit back, as there really isn't even an article, just the author going on about how he came up the headline - even the original author - hold on !? . . . the original author !? . . . . . ah I see now, this guy just stole the research from someone else . . .anyhow even the original author, who actually did the research disagreed with this fuckwit's conclusion that doctors are the third leading cause of death.

I could go on, but the whole thing is so laughing idiotic it's actually starting to depress me.

Perhaps I am being unfair here - as this is not even the most stupid 'article' on 'toolsforhealing.com'

Scattered around there is usual selection of conspiracy theories that infest these kinds of websites, an article on 'Chemtrails' (fucking clueless idiots), some nonsense about 'HAARP' (fucking clueless idiots), some hilarious stuff on homeopathy (fucking clueless idiots), another on the tired old ("CDC Knew of Potential Link Between Vaccines, Autism") theme (fucking clueless idiots) - but my favourite was the 'Cure for all Cancers' book - "in 1990 I discovered the true cause of cancer" etc etc (fucking clueless idiot).

The website's shop also has some great 'medical' products like The VariGamma* "The VariGamma is a frequency generator that allows you to use all of the frequencies on Dr. Clark’s frequency list or any other frequencies.*"

And I will also be ordering the Terminator (A special-priced bundle of our best-selling Terminator II Zapper with one (1) bottle of ChemBuster HomeoHerbal© remedy, specifically formulated to work with the Terminator II Zapper to break up blockages and restore the body's natural healing ability. Try a bottle of ChemBuster for only $12!)

Or to give it it's proper name 'water', a tiny bottle of water for only $12.

Anyhow, back to the article, here's the really odd thing, the article you linked to does not make claims about overmedication, it mainly deals with fatal ADRs and MAEs.

Like I say, did you even read the article (if you can call it that ?)

Embarrassing stuff.

"im not discussing"

You are right to not want to discuss it.

why most published research findings are false

Again, did you read any of this, did you even bother to read the abstract ? Or were you drawn in by the '[I why most published research findings are false'[/I] tabloid headline and then failed to check out the essay itself ?

How do you think this essay is relevant to the idea that we are overmedicated ? I failed to find the word overmedicated or medicated or even medicine in the essay, or anything on the subject - it seemed to be about something entirely different, it seemed to be a claim (and only a claim) about the veracity of research findings based on the idea that the probability that a single hypothesis is correct is very small (which is something I think would be fairly easy to challenge).

I don't have the expertise to understand a lot of the information (In the presence of bias (Table 2), one gets PPV = ([1 - β]R + uβR)/(R + α − βR + u − uα + uβR), and PPV decreases with increasing u, unless 1 − β ≤ α, i.e., 1 − β ≤ 0.05 for most situations. . . . !!??) so I am open to the idea that you are using this essay to support the idea that we are over medicated, but you would need to explain how this supports the idea.

One small point worth making with the kind of claim made in the essay is that we are getting dangerously close to an epimenides paradox - my suggestion to the authour would be to rename the essay 'why most published research findings are false (except for this published research)'.

pharmaceutical [firms] are inventing disease to sell drugs

Firstly, the headline is quite funny, a little misleading, no one is inventing diseases (the suggestion is that new and novel disorders are being manufactured) - all that is happing is that pharmaceutical companies are attempting to redefine pre-existing conditions as medical conditions in an attempt to sell more product - no one is sitting around in a lab playing with test tubes and then suddenly jumping up and shouting "I've got a new one !!! it's brilliant, your eyes fall out !!!".

Not that you were saying that, but these articles (wilfully) tend towards this kind of equivocation, so I just thought I would establish what it is we are talking about here.

I've taken a very quick look at the background story to this, seems like a fairly plausible claim, that the pharmaceutical, in an attempt to increase profit, are focusing research on conditions that would previously not be considered worthy of medical intervention.

They use the menopause to illustrate this idea - the menopause, the claim is made, is often medicalised as a disorder when it is a normal part of life.

If the pharmaceutical company come up with products that alleviate some of the symptoms of the menopause - and therefore - by definition - are medicalising something that was previously not medicalised - I am not entirely sure of what they are guilty of ?

The important part I think is that this medicalising of 'normal' conditions is a result (not a goal) of finding new remedies. This is undoubtedly driven by profit, but it seems that stepping into new medical territories brings with it the accusation of medicalising these new territories ?

In their own example of menopause, should we back off from this area, and for what reason ? So as to not medicalise it by addressing it (by definition) ? Should we cease the production of medication for menopause related migraine, arrhythmia, incontinence, back pain, joint pain, muscle pain, osteopenia (my mum has osteoporosis brought on by menopause, where two vertebrae in her neck have dangerously crumbled), insomnia, poor memory, depression, anxiety attacks, manic / hypomanic episodes . . . etc

And because this is all 'normal' and would occur without intervention ?

I am sure there is a decent argument to be made for the idea that we are overmedicated, but these links look to have been dug up for their scandalous headlines:

Doctors are the Third leading Cause of Death !!!

Why most published research findings are false !!!

Pharmaceuticals are inventing disease to sell drugs !!!

All very dramatic, but bedside the last article, they don't particularly relate to the subject we were discussing, the second link (the essay on published research findings) is not what I suspect you think it is and the first article only lacks a picture of an alien smoking a joint to tip it over into the realm of internet conspiracy.