Globe Syndicate

For release Friday March, 26, 2004


The Sandwich Generation . . . Helping Your Aging Parents

by Carol Abaya, M.A.


ALTERNATIVES CAN WORK BETTER THAN DRUGS
Part 1 of 2 articles


Some readers were upset about my recent column mentioning the benefits of alternative medicine. They said I should not dispense medical advice as I am not a doctor. My mission as a columnist dealing with aging and family issues is to (1) answer questions, (2) provide accurate, useful information and (3) provide what I call “food for thought.”

I therefore stand by the information in that column, and will expand the scope of discussion here.

My opinion: Too many medical doctors prescribe too many drugs that may create serious health-related problems, including death. Too many people take too many drugs (OTC and prescription). In the specific situation in question, I told the daughter to ask her mother’s doctor a lot of questions, and I listed them. Anyone taking multiple drugs for multiple problems needs to ask a lot of questions and be appropriately answered by the doctor! I think this is sound advice.

In reference to problems created by drugs, the following information is important:

FACT: One of the top three reasons people over 65 end up in hospital emergency rooms is from adverse and often life threatening reactions to medicines.

FACT: The other two top reasons for ER visits are falls and malnutrition and/or dehydration. Often falls occur because people are confused, dizzy or wobbly from medicines. More than one million seniors fall each year and suffer injuries.

FACT: Malnutrition: If people don’t feel well, they are not likely to eat properly. This is especially true if a person lives alone. Many medicines leave a bad taste in the mouth, result in dry mouth, and/or negatively impact taste buds. Inadequate nutrition can lead to malnutrition.

FACT: A Frontline TV expose last year of the FDA and drug industry showed that adverse effects from regulated prescription drugs are a leading cause of death.

In a report titled “Death by Medicine” released last October by The Nutritional Institute of America, a group of researchers noted:

(1) More than 2 million people are hospitalized each year from adverse reactions to prescribed drugs.
(2) The number of deaths, in the year under study, caused by conventional medicine was 783,936.
(3) The number of deaths (2001) from heart disease was 699,697 and from cancer, 553,251 (The National Center for Health Statistics.)

One does not have to be a rocket scientist to come to the same conclusion I have about too many drugs being prescribed and used by Americans

In that column, I briefly mentioned several alternative medicine strategies that have and can help with serious medical problems and which are much less dangerous to health and life itself.

More about chiropractic adjustments, magnet therapy, and sensitive foods and serious health problems, in next week’s column.



Are you juggling doing errands for your aging parents, your children, yourself and working at the same time? Are you tired, stressed out and upset that your once vibrant parent is now frail and needy?

Do you feel alone? Rest assured you are not alone! The Sandwich Generation is dedicated to the 50 million Americans who may have elder/parent care concerns and/or responsibilities.



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Do you have a question? Send it in. Although letters cannot be answered individually, appropriate letters will be answered in this column whenever possible. Letters may be edited. Send letters to Ms. Carol Abaya, mail direct to her at PO Box 132, Wickatunk, NJ 07765-0132 or contact her through her web site: thesandwichgeneration.com.

Carol Abaya is an international-award-winning journalist and creator of the unique magazine The Sandwich Generation: You & Your Aging Parents.

NOTES TO EDITORS: text = 476 words; other material = 160 words

We would appreciate it if you would include the "Globe Syndicate" bug at the end of the column.