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DrugWatch.com - An Important New Resource for LINKS 4 LIFE

Dear Friends:

A growing percentage of the U.S. population, including and increasing number of young children and teens, is taking prescription medications. Many of these individuals are taking several different prescription drugs simultaneously, for treatment of conditions ranging from ADHD to osteoporosis. More and more of us are taking antidepressents and antianxiety medications - sometimes, in a potentially dangerous scenario, we are taking several different drugs for several different purposes prescribed by several different healthcare practitioners.

Without passing judgment on the large pharmaceutical companies, the Food and Drug Administration (the FDA) and the healthcare community, the sobering reality is that many of these drugs have dangerous side effects, dangerous (and potentially lethal) contraindications when combined with other medications (both prescription and over-the-counter nutrients). Due to a healthcare sytem in need of some logistical and ethical realignment, each of us, as a patient, or as a friend or family member who cares for someone who takes prescription medications, must be his or her own researcher and advocate.

While there are many sources of information about the side effects, contraindications and interactions associated with medications, most of the information available is provided by the large pharmaceutical companies -- the same companies which sponsor most drug research and testing -- the same companies which stand to profit by maximizing drug sales through expanding the prescription drug culture through lobbying in Washington and at the "grassroots level" -- hospitals, physicians and other healthcare practitioners are inundated with marketing materials and attention from representatives of drug companies eager to increase marketshare by increasing awareness on the part of practitioners of the availability of new drugs, each packed with a very substantial margin of profit while under patent.

There is a potentially dangerous conflict of interest when drug companies yield such sway over the Legislature and over the healthcare practitioners and virtually all of their professional organizations. Go into any practitioner's office and you will see an array of sticky notes, scribble pads, paperweights, pamphlets, pens and advertising specialties bearing the names of various new drugs or drug manufacturers.

Your doctor might have free "starter samples" of various drugs given to him to encourage him to give them out to his or her patients as if they were treats, or Halloween candy. Doctors' offices and healthcare institutions are beseiged by representatives from these companies every single day, and they are courted for their "business" non-stop.

Before you fill a prescription for yourself, or for someone in your family, you must get unbiased, uncompromised information from some reliable sources about what the potential is for negative effects from those drugs, either when taken alone, or when taken in conjuction with other substances. If you have certain health problems, some of these drugs have the potential to make them worse. Certain people can have allergic reactions or suffer terrible, irreversible side effects when given either the wrong medications, or doses which are simply too high for safety's sake. Be your own advocate, and an advocate for those whom you love.

Before you take any medication, even if your doctor strongly advised you to take it, get information about the medication. Firstly, ask your doctor -- he or she has an obligation to advise you, to the best of his or her knowledge and ability, as to how important it is that you take the medication, the appropriate range of dosages, possible side effects and potentially harmful drug interactions. Don't be afraid to ask questions. and after you have gotten some information from the prescriber, do your own research.

An excellent new resource for information of about drug dangers, interactions, side effects can be found at http://www.DrugWatch.com. They are a self-funded organization without affiliations with any medical associations or pharmaceutical companies, and they have a constantly updated data base of information about all of the most commonly prescribed medications. I have found their information to be well-detailed, well-researched (well-supported by evidence) and organized in a very user-friendly and accessible fashion..

As of today, LINKS 4 LIFE is adding DrugWatch.com to its resource list. We'll be placing a direct link to their website on this site and on other sites and media with which we have an affiliation. Please note that neither LINKS 4 LIFE nor any of its sponsors has any financial or other business interest in DrugWatch.com.

I would also suggest that you make a list of the prescription medications which you are taking (as well as the prescribed dosages), and look them up on DrugWatch.com's site. It pays to educate yourself, and when it comes to matters of your health, sooner is always better than later.

Their information follows below:

Faithfully,

Douglas Castle

LINKS 4 LIFE is sponsored by The National Networker Companies, The Castle Consultancy and Global Edge Technologies Group LLC.

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