Is there a limit to medication?

I told the doctor that was not a high enough risk for me to embark on a daily routine that may possibly lower my blood pressure but also result in an expensive routine that may have side affects. My cholesterol was 231 which is also elevated somewhat and the doctor wanted me to start taking cholesterol medication, another suggestion that I rejected.

Perhaps you think I am being cavalier about my health and am playing Russian roulette with potential health risks. However, my explanation is that I reject the increasing trend to medicate people into health. Everyone knows about the side affects of taking medication that are unknown until the damage is done as in the case of the heart attack victims who took Merck's Viox for arthritis. And of course there is the expense. Not many pharmaceutical companies are losing money nowdays nor are hospitals or doctors going broke.

I guess what I am rejecting is not just the insane trend of trying to make everyone super healthy but also to do it the easy way - pop a pill. Want to change tv channels - press a button, want to buy something - get on the internet and give them your credit card. Want to achieve health, take a pill. It all adds up to a lazy culture in which instant results and gratification must be obtained in the easiest manner possible.

I am not advocating unhealthy lifestyles such as continuing to smoke or drink to excess or become sedentary. To the contrary, I am trying to watch my diet, drink in moderation and exercise. But that's it for me. My mother spent most of her life worrying about her blood pressure and her cholesterol only to die at age 75 of Lou Gehrig's disease. On the other hand, my father ate whatever he wanted all his life, was not too active after retirement yet lived to be 94 although he did take heart medication. Good intentions or behavior do not ensure a long life.

I am old enough to remember the get togethers with family and friends where the conversation was lively and fun filled and no one seemed to be concerned about whether what they were eating was good for their health. In those days, health was something that you couldn't do much about and so you didn't waste your time worrying about it because there were too many other things to worry about. I certainly don't remember people taking many pills.

Today our health mania results in the ludicrous situation in which 95 year old people in nursing homes are put on a low fat diet. Why? At that age you should be able to eat chopped liver for breakfast. Smoking is outlawed in our restaurants and potlucks are outlawed in some areas. There seems to be no end to our quest for optimum health, no limit to the freedoms we are willing to give up to achieve it and no limit to how much it is going to cost us to pursue it. Having been freed from the worries of the basic needs of life during the Depression days we now are living in a world in which our worries are ratcheted up to the next level of materialism as we strive for eternal youth and immortality.

Our doctors and scientist work in a vacuum as they come up with new medication to treat whatever ails us. Scientists are paid to create medications and doctors are programmed to prescribe it to us based on our symptons. My doctor never asked me any questions about my lifestyle to determine why my blood pressure was elevated such as was I drinking too much or taking too much salt. Nor did he suggest alternative ways of lowering my blood pressure such as meditation or other relaxation techniques. He just fast forwarded to page 642 of the medical book which said take this particular pill - next patient please. Nothing imaginative or creative, just rote memory. Sort of like my mechanic telling me that my car engine needs new rings because blue smoke is coming out of the exhaust.

My philosophy is that it is advisable to live a healthy life style, especially now that we have so much more information on what constitutes good health. However, I am not going to try to maximize my health potential through medication. When my body says its time to go, then that's it. When you get over 65 years of age, one should consider years after that a bonus to savor - not a reason to see what you can do to live beyond what the Good Lord meant for you even though Merck would probably not agree with my philosophy.