Two Drugs 100M+ Americans Take That Don’t Work
(SSRIs Do Nothing for Depression & Anxiety; Statins Don’t Prevent Heart Attacks)
Two classes of drugs have been taken by literally half of America, and they don’t work. Let’s review both drug categories, and the evidence that they’re placebos, at best, but with negative side effects.
1. SSRIs
The jury is in. After decades of selling us “selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors,” or SSRIs, 50M+ Americans have taken them. But for more than a decade, multiple studies have conclusively proven that they’re no better than placebos (sugar pills).
In fact, exercising is twice as effective as a placebo or an SSRI at combating depression.
It turns out, if you’re anxious or depressed, it’s not because you have a problem with “serotonin reuptake.”
Still, SSRI use in the US is epidemic, and growing. In March of 2020, some 37 million of us were taking antidepressant drugs, which are most commonly SSRIs. Can you imagine how that number has skyrocketed after two and a half years of social and economic mayhem and germophobia-mitigation protocols?
While this is beyond my scope in this short piece, there are other depression and anxiety meds, but popular drug Adderall, for instance, is extremely similar molecularly, to methamphetamine. Try googling it, and you’ll see the perfect example of how Google has scrubbed search results of anything but positives about Pharma.
Per FTC guidelines, please assume links on this newsletter may be affiliate links that benefit us, though if so, the price is not marked up. Thank you for supporting our mission.
2. Statins
A second example of how the pharmaceutical industry leads you astray is that statins have been all the rage for people with “high cholesterol” since they hit the market in 1987, and some MDs still prescribe them.
But, what they thought about cholesterol for decades (“LDL is bad, HDL is good!”) simply hasn’t turned out to be true. We’ve spent billions of dollars on remedies for this seductive oversimplification of what constitutes health (“just take a pill!) … but it’s false, all the way around.
Statins lower “cholesterol,” which you were told is correlated with heart health. But after 38 years of prescribing them (to 40 million of us annually by 2010, a number that has more than doubled since then), studies going back more than a decade have clearly shown them to be uncorrelated with cardiac events!
Yes, you read that right. As is the case for so many drugs, your doctor likely told you “You must take statins for life!”
If you do take them, you might tend to celebrate when your “cholesterol” numbers come down. But artificially lowering your cholesterol, it turns out, causes all kinds of other health problems.
Common statin side effects include abdominal pain, abnormal heartbeat, accidental injury, allergic reaction, arthritis, back pain, bronchitis, chest pain, constipation, diarrhea, dizziness, flu symptoms, fluid retention, gas, headache, indigestion, infection, inflammation of sinus and nasal passages, insomnia, joint pain, muscle aching or weakness, nausea, rash, stomach pain, urinary tract infection, and weakness. (Whew!)
The most serious side effect, however, is a form of muscle damage called “rhabdomyolysis,” which occasionally causes death. One study found muscle cell damage in more than 70% of people on statins (which hardly seems “side,” to me) … and many of them did not even experience pain.
What’s more, for all this risk, statins haven’t even proven to prevent heart attacks, strokes, or other cardiovascular diseases or events! New research dated March of this year shows a paltry absolute risk reduction for all-cause mortality (death by any cause) of less than 1% … which means you will die just as soon, but with better-looking numbers.
I’m not even convinced their “healthy range” for cholesterol is valid whatsoever. I’ve always had low cholesterol. Both the kind they said was “good,” and the kind they said was “bad.” But, so does my whole family.
The only medical care I get is annual hormone labs, since my last child was born 22 years ago, and doctors used to tell me, “You have the cardiovascular biomarkers of a triathlete, but you should eat some beef and eggs.”
No thanks. I know too much about beef and eggs. (If you eat them, it’s okay, don’t get mad — some of the longest-living people on Earth eat a little bit of clean animal products. They also all average 90 to 95% plant based, or more. Not because they read a diet book, but because it’s their culture, and because most of them are financially disadvantaged.)
My whole family was recruited to be in a heart disease study, since not one of us has ever had a cardiac event in three generations, and the Romneys are a massive family. (I said no to my family having needles in our arms, and being tracked.)
Maybe it’s heredity; maybe it’s because we made a living, for generations, eating the always-available extra produce from the Romney Produce Company warehouses, whereas a meat diet was expensive for us. We were plant based before plant-based eating was a thing.
Observationally, I know a number of families who have very high cholesterol, but members of that family also eat a very “heart-healthy” diet, and exercise faithfully, with no impact on “cholesterol biomarkers.”
One was my aunt-in-law, who ate a salad in every restaurant I ever went to with her; even in a steak house, she’d order the salad and a side of veggies instead. Carolee lived till her late 80s, with her high cholesterol. She, too, turned down the interventions her MDs recommended.
Several times, I’ve seen content by former drug reps, talking about these issues. “Drug pushers” who wake up to how fraudulent these drugs are–once they realize they are neither safe, nor effective. A few of them have written me, over the years.
Here’s one, Gwen Olsen, talking about the fraud in a third class of drugs outside the scope of this article; her 6-minute video is on anti-psychotics, which ALL of my schizophrenic patients were on, when I was a psychotherapist.
None are still in the business they worked in, of course. I’m sure you’ve noticed that whatever butters your bread, you have a tendency not to criticize.
I could carry on about many other classes of drugs that didn’t live up to the hype, but these are two that may give you food for thought, about the flawed nature of Big Medical’s “healthy ranges” and the ineffectiveness of Big Pharma’s petrochemical solutions.
And, while natural-health content like mine, and criticism of pharma, are shadowbanned in the search results almost categorically, the unfavorable published scientific evidence about these two classes of drugs is so vast that you can even find it on Google.
The truth, it turns out, does eventually come out. My issue is, how many are harmed before it does?
On the other hand, we’ve seen countless biomarkers come within “healthy range,” and quickly, when people detoxify. We don’t ever predict for people what biomarkers will change, nor do we suggest that people get off their meds.
Rather, their doctors take them off when they see dramatic improvement in the same labs that caused them to drug their patients.
We’ve had a number of type 2 diabetics return to normal A1c levels after the 26-day program. When you eat entirely clean, healing, nutrient-dense foods, and bring down your toxic load, your body has a tendency to self-correct. Your body is a genius like that.
Consider supporting our work for $10/month if it’s been valuable to you, and if you can. We appreciate being able to share content with you three times a week. Thanks for being here! And, please assume that some of the links I may share, compensate my small business.
RESOURCES:
One in 6 Americans Take Antidepressants, Other Psychiatric Drugs: Study
New Study Says SSRIs Are No More Effective than Placebo in Treating Mild and Moderate Depression
Antidepressants No Better Than Placebo for About 85% of People:
https://www.placebo-world.com/antidepressants-no-better-than-placebo-for-about-85-of-people
Statin therapy induces ultrastructural damage in skeletal muscle in patients without myalgia
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16799920/
Statin use in U.S. up 20% in last 10 years (thru 2020)
Statin Use in U.S. Adults Doubles (2000-2010)
https://www.ahrq.gov/data/infographics/statin-use.html
Meta-analysis questions strength of ties between statin-induced LDL lowering, CV outcomes
Well said Robyn! I believe that if some people would invest their time in looking in the right places for the truth about healing and good health. There probably wouldn't be so many disease epidemics. I've given up on the people I know who are diehard believers in the fake medicine and the fake science narratives and propaganda. And in spite of all of the premature deaths and unnecessary and avoidable suffering. The ones I call glutton for punishment keep going back for more rat poison. I'm starting to believe that drugs besides antidepressants are messing with people's minds. It may be a combination of all of them.
It's sad and tragic that some of us have not awakened to 100+ years of medical lies and fear mongering. As you pretty much mentioned in this article. Dietary changes, antioxidants, detoxing and giving the body a chance to naturally heal before bombarding it with more toxins and carcinogens. These steps alone can do the body a world of good. We have to regretfully face the fact that some people will not believe that they will live or heal without pharmaceuticals for whatever ails them.
By the way have you heard of Dr. Jonathan Landsman's upcoming Stop Cancer Naturally docu-series? Visit stopcancernaturally.com for details if interested. Cheers!