Medicine

Medication is a substance used to take away pain, heal, or sedate people all around the world. Used by doctors to treat patients, and filled by pharmacists medicine helps everyday to prolong and save life. Thanks to the study of medicine the life expectancy of the average human has increased over time. This of course differs from country to country due to the access to such drugs, and the wealth a given country has. The access to medicine a country has, can determine how much a will prosper, and effects every other aspect of that country as well. If the people of a country are not healthy, it is virtually impossible for it to grow and compete in the global economy. Medicine is often used to cure many medical conditions including cancer, diabetes, ADD, dementia, cramps and headaches, and many more. Additionally, medication is used to ease the pain after surgery, accidents, and even toothaches. The worst thing medicine is used for however is to cure emotional pain. Medicine can become an addictive measure taken when someone is hurting and can’t get rid of the funk associated with it. Often times this leads to addiction for the long term and makes medication a detriment to health rather than a preventative measure. When dealing with medicine it is crucial that people take into account how easily it can be used and abused and ultimately cause disease and even death.

The positive side to medication is that it serves as a cure for many things. Chemotherapy is a form of medicine used to help kill off bad cancer sells. Although there is no actual cure for cancer, this is an affective way of making the cancer sleep, or go into remission. This form of deterrent is harmful to the immune system and makes a patient more susceptible to other viruses. Patients often lose their hair, and suffer the yellowing of their teeth due to chemotherapy, which can be a huge downside to this type of medication. Many patients will wear wigs and hair pieces to keep from sticking out from the crowd. Chemotherapy has helped many patients live suffering from cancer live a lot longer than even a couple of years ago. Many new forms of this medicine are tested everyday and much money is placed into cancer research to assure that this medication continues to exist for a while to come. Radiation is another form of medication given to patients that have cancer in an attempt to place the attack in remission. Radiation is also very affective however is done on a much rarer basis because of all the harm this can do to the body. Many times when going through radiation patients experience extreme fatigue, and often throw up, lose weight, and hair as well. Many organizations take the time to raise money to help look for cures to cancer, including the very popular relay for life. The relay for life is a voluntary marathon help many times throughout the year on college campuses and in organizations. The whole point is to get sponsored and raise money to provide funds for cancer research and hopefully new medication to cure it.

Diabetes is a disease that can be fatal if not taken care of and monitored properly. Diabetes has a lot to do with weight, diet, family genetics, and exercise regiment. For some this disease is preventable, and for others it is not. There are two types of diabetes type one and type two. One is more severe than the other, however, they both pose risks if proper medicine is not taken. The medicine used to help monitor diabetes is called insulin. This is a form of glucose that the body needs to function properly. When a person has diabetes they either produce too much insulin or not enough. In both cases, a needle is used multiple times in a day to draw blood and monitor the sugar levels a person has. If too low or too high a person will inject insulin into there bodies to level out their system. Diabetes is a non curable disease and can cause many other complications for a person that suffers from by it. This is one of the many reasons that a persons diet is extremely important. If a person suffers from a poor diet, and fails to take their medication many things can occur. Some examples include; loss of sight, loss of limbs, death, etc… Many times people go into diabetic commas and suffer fatally because they failed to take their medicine.

ADD or attention deficit disorder is when a person has a hard time focusing and or staying still. This disease is not as serious as the previous two, however medication is recommended to help people, especially children focus. This disease makes it difficult to focus in important arenas like school, work, sports etc…, and can cause people a lot of trouble in life. Ritalin or a substitute is usually prescribed to patients that suffer from this disease. Medication as such is ok to a point, however studies have shown that people who take this medication are more prone to suffer from addiction. It might be because of the habit of popping a pill into ones mouth, which makes it more comfortable to pop a pill of more extreme nature instead. This medication also makes people very quiet and zombie like which isn’t good either in settings like school, or work.

Dementia is a disease where a person starts to lose their memory, and its a early size of Alzheimer’s disease. This is a disease that affects older people, and is not curable by medication. Although incurable, sedatives can be given to keep people stabilized and out of harms way. Preventative measures taken include twenty four hour care and bed rest.

Cramps and headaches are really not diseases but they are two situations in which a person may require medication of some sort. Aspirin or Tylenol can be taken to take care of the minor aches and pains associated with these problems. For cramps or migraines however, stronger medicine is recommended.

After surgery medication is given to a patient to ease the pain of typically being cut open, which usually hurts a lot more than some cramps or a headache. When this occurs most doctors prescribe serious pain killers like vicoden, oxy codeine, and many more. This is when many people develop addictive behaviors related to these same drugs. Also medication is given to those that suffer emotional disorders or distress. This includes depression, bipolar disorder, turrets and much more. The problem here is when children are given these medications early on, they develop not only dependence on them but they also develop a habit outside of them. This can be caused by the taking of the medicine itself and the whole habit of it, or from the emotional distress suffered throughout life due to the disease as a whole. Many times a correlation can be made between the use of prescription medication and all that is listed above, which becomes a problem for the health departments as well as individuals as a whole.

Due to addictive behavior that comes naturally to humans, many people experience addiction to medicine after being on it for a long period of time. People begin to feel that they cannot survive without the medication and indulge into other harmful drug activity. Like stated above, many people use heroin, coke, crack, acid, inhalants, marijuana and nicotine as medicine to avoid going to see a doctor and ask for the drug. People that use these drugs and choose to go into recovery are not allowed to use any strong sedatives, or even aspirin. This is so because any medication no matter how dull effects the body, and once addicts feel this feeling they no longer wish to stay sober. All it takes is one time for someone to feel any unnatural sensation to a medication before they self medicate themselves and then begin to harm their bodies. This becomes harmful because when a person gives themselves medicine they do not monitor the intake and consume for than what is a healthy dose on a continued bases. This problem has become increasingly serious and is causing doctors and pharmacists to create harsher regulations on medicine. Medicine serves an important purpose in prolonging life expectancy and even preventing death. This is only true if something is actually wrong with a person and medication is needed. Too often people get there hands on very powerful medicine and become addicted quickly. One addiction leads to another and sooner than later they are full blown drug addicts addicted to worse drugs. Regulations are important when prescribing medication, and controlling the availability of illegal forms of different drugs for medicine to remain a positive aspect of life. For the most part however, many would agree that medicine is needed to help in situations like cancer, diabetes, and surgery, and without it in these cases many people would die. This makes the job of a doctor and pharmacist of the up most importance in society today.