The November 29, 2018 headline in the Wall Street Journal states, “U.S. Life Expectancy Declines Further.” The article reported that life expectancy for Americans fell for the third year in a row. The writer blamed the fall on the increase in suicides and rise in deaths from opioid drugs. Furthermore, the rise was correlated to an increase in deaths from influenza, pneumonia and diabetes.
Life expectancy is one of the best ways to measure a nation’s prosperity. The writer stated, “The 2017 data paint a dark picture of health and well-being in the {United States}…”
For over 20 years, I have been lecturing and writing about how we are wasting so much of our money on a failed health care system. We currently spend the most on health care—nearly 20% of our GNP. No other country comes close to what the U.S. spends on health care. Presently, the U.S. ranks 29th in life expectancy—below every other major Western country. Why do we spend so much and get so little back? Why do we put up with this failed paradigm year after year?
Perhaps we need more vaccines? That is ludicrous as we are the most vaccinated people in the history of the world. Our children are the most vaccinated in the world. Show me the studies where our children’s health is improved due to more vaccines. U.S. children, compared to other Western children, take more medications, receive more vaccines and have worse health indicators.
Perhaps the decline in life expectancy is due to the opioid crises we are facing. I am sure that is part of the decline. Who is to blame for the opioid crises? The Powers-That-Be in health care are to blame. About 10-15 years ago, I began to receive letters from Big Pharma companies, the American Academy of Family Practice (AAFP) and others that stated opioids are not addictive to someone in pain. These letters encouraged the greater use of opioids to treat pain situations. There were meetings scheduled to teach doctors how to prescribe more opiates.
I read those letters and filed them away quickly. I never believed that opioids weren’t addictive-I could see the addictive properties in my patients who were taking them. Yes, some need opioids. But, encouraging the greater use of opioids was beyond ridiculous to me.
If the mainstream medical organizations like the CDC, AMA, AAFP and others were truly working for the common good, they would have quickly rejected Big Pharma’s notion that doctors need to prescribe more opioids.
They did not.
It is not just opioids that are a problem. Americans take far too many ineffective and toxic medications. We take amphetamines like Ritalin at ever-increasing numbers. We medicate our children with these amphetamines and wonder why our children’s health is declining. Antidepressant drugs, which are no better than placebos or exercise, are prescribed in increasing amounts to both children and adults. How does this happen? How do doctors blindly prescribe these toxic medications for long time periods and expect their patients to get better?
Conventional medicine is beyond frustrating. It is broken and in urgent need of repair.
You cannot depend on anyone but yourself when making medical decisions. You must educate yourself about the risks and benefits of every prescribed medical intervention. Twenty years ago (oy vey!) I began writing books on what I saw that worked in my holistic practice. The main reason I began to write books was to educate my patients in order to help them make better health care decisions. Your doctor should be educating you about why he/she has prescribed the medication for your condition. Then it is up to you to decide for yourself if the benefit outweighs the risk. It is better to become an educated patient rather than solely relying on the health care provider.
We need a new paradigm in medicine. I used to practice in the old paradigm of drugs, drugs, and more drugs. It was not fun. Back then, I followed all that I was taught and followed all the dictates from the Powers-That-Be. After realizing that my patients were not getting better with more and more toxic drug therapies, I began to search for a better way to treat my patients. I found a new approach—holistic medicine–and found it was much safer and more effective than what I was previously doing.
So, what should that new paradigm be? That paradigm should take the form of holistic medicine where doctors aren’t so quick to prescribe medications that poison enzymes and block receptors. I have seen the benefits of providing the body with the raw materials (e.g., vitamins and minerals) it needs to maintain health and overcome illness.
I just wish the rest of medicine would open their eyes as well.
To All Our Health,
~DrB
I am giving my annual lecture titled, “Holistic Medicine For The 21st Century’ on Saturday, February 2nd, 2019 which will take place at the VisTaTech Center at Schoolcraft College in Livonia, Michigan. I have been utilizing the best of holistic and conventional medicine for over 20 years. During my lecture, I will share with you how safe, natural therapies may help you to overcome illness and achieve your optimal health. Topics that I will discuss include:
– Ozone: The Miracle Therapy
– Iodine: The Most Important Nutrient
– Hormone Balancing: Needed More Than Ever
– Stem Cell Therapy
– Do We Need More Vaccines?
– And, Much More!
Price: $25.00 pre-order or $35.00 at the door.
Space will be limited, so you will need to register in order to attend. All proceeds from the registration fee will be donated to local charities in the Detroit Metro area.
If you have any questions, please email my office at info@centerforholisticmedicine.com. You may also call us at 1-248-851-1600 to pay by Visa, Master Card or please make a check payable to:
Center for Holistic Medicine, PLLC
6089 West Maple Road Suite 200
West Bloomfield, MI 48322
We do need a lot more doctors who dare to open their minds. It’s known that medical doctors are the most closed minded segment of our society, and when someone manages to free themselves from the cult that conventional medicine has become, that’s always worth celebrating. I raise my glass to you Dr. Brownstein.
Toxic medications, in other words everything that an MD would prescribe because all of it is toxic really, does play a huge role in how conventional medicine mismanages and degrades our health, but the rabbit hole runs even deeper than this.
The more central problem is a philosophical one, where we seek to treat symptoms rather than disorders. As it turns out, there’s a lot more money to be made treating symptoms, because not only do people not get better, they get worse,. Symptoms are the body’s means of seeking homeostasis, of seeking to either heal itself or prevent things from getting worse, and when y9uo subdue them, you have less adaptation and the condition, which isn’t being treated anyway, can have more free rein.
As a simple example, if our blood sugar is high, they just seek to lower it, without realizing that it is high because this is the level our bodies have set, what we require right now in our present state, at least as far as the response is concerned.
Sure, we could lower it by eating a more appropriate diet for someone in this condition, but they don’t want us doing too much of that because then they’d have nothing to do and no sheep to fleece.
This would be an example of treating the real problem, overconsumption of carbs in this case, and seeing our response, the blood sugar, be reduced naturally by reducing the stressor, in this case, the excessive insulin levels of T2 diabetes.
When we have a condition such as this, there is a reason for it, its causes, and if we want to move toward better management we’re going to need to address the real problem and seek to remedy it.
What has actually happened is that our cells have been poisoned by over-nutrition, so looking to accelerate that with medications is simply a horrible idea. We check our blood sugar though and it’s lower for now and give thanks, and no one realizes that we’re making ourselves worse and worse from this.
This is just one example and this is exactly how conventional medicine treats chronic diseases, thinking things like if there’s too much cholesterol in your arteries then we need to reduce that, when this cholesterol is the body’s attempt to deal with arteries that have become injured and need to heal.
They tell us to lower our blood pressure without caring why it is so high, and especially that we need this right now to get adequate blood flow, and inadequate blood flow is not a worthy goal. They tell us to cut down on salt even though this has been shown to reduce our life expectancy and mess up hormonal balance. What does it matter though how many people die as long as we can keep prescribing and keep serving those who keep us so brainwashed that the strongest evidence for anything that doesn’t fit their financial goals just gets ignored shamelessly.
It’s not just about life expectancy here, it’s about quality of life, it’s about our lives being spent in the grasp of toxic side effects and an approach to medicine that does not seek to heal but instead have us spending as much money as possible.
We will probably not live long enough to see a significant transformation of conventional medicine, and they will no doubt go down kicking and screaming. It is very refreshing though that more and more have taken the step towards enlightenment and are also so eager to spread the word and educate people, as this blog so well serves to do.
Let’s never stop raising our fists and trying to point the way, and whenever a single person has their mind opened a bit, this adds to the momentum and the more the momentum, the greater the change.
Gluten/GMO/GMO soy/food with a label…hormones in meat/dairy/soy/BPA/The Pill/fat/chemicals…..Roundup/bad pesticides/Chem trails/vaccines/low sunlight/low exercise/lack of good water/lack of grounding/fake food/fast food/stress/bad relationships and more may hurt people. Drugs may hurt and make depression/suicidal thoughts worse etc. due to having Fluorine that blocks thyroid lowering oxygen in the brain/body. Lyme/coinfections may hurt people. Vaccines…too young/too many at one time/too many total and have mercury/Al and other bad ingredients. Drugs may cover symptoms, but not help. People may not do preventive/natural help since it is out of pocket. Insurance may pay for what doesn’t work and may hurt. Giving pregnant women vaccines and Hept B and Vit K shot at one day old is not ok. Eating organic and grain free for pets/people may help them thrive. Sitting too much and now EMF/5G may hurt. Chemicals may hurt mitochondria. Expensive drugs/tests may not help. Blood tests may not tell the truth. Hair tests/Zyto scan/electrodermal testing/Genova tests may help. Each generation gets less healthy due to all of this increasing and parents/family tree was not healthy. Suicides are increasing …22 Vets a day due to maybe Antidepression drugs instead of Celiac help. Tests may not work to diagnose Celiac, but gluten may hurt most people. GMO may hurt..even animals avoid it. NO gluten/dairy/soy/sugar/GMO/food with a label..taking vitamins/good oils/minerals..probiotic..LDN…detoxing may help.
Dr. Brownstein, you are “right on” about the horrors of conventional medicine. Up until 4 months ago, I considered myself as one of the healthiest 71-year-old guys walking this earth. Then on 9/19/18, I was diagnosed with an aggressive form of multiple myeloma with 3-6 months to live if I did nothing. Although my oncologist recommended chemotherapy and other invasive procedures, I elected to follow an unconventional path to treat my bone marrow cancer. I write about my journey on my website. Here is a link to one of my recent updates: https://drdanenberg.com/i-am-open-minded-but/
Dr. Brownstein I have the most respect for you! I was raised to see through the drug it, cut it out and kill it out methodology offered by Allopathic medicine, all too often! That, was back in the early 60s. I was born in 1961 and a Native to California where I intentionally developed into what I know to be Original Medicine; a Medicine person, as the title of “Doctor, ” is now exclusively given to those who attend and learn from the AMA.
I applied myself to be an Herbalist, Massage Therapist, over 15, nearly 16 years and became an Expert level in Detoxification, Mind Body Medicine, Yoga Teacher and a lot more with the passion that I just wanted to learn them!
I wrote my second book, Detox & Heal Your Thyroid HIGHLY inspired by you, I bought your DVDs, books and I told everyone as I taught scores of thyroid workshops and I taught Thyroid Madness a class at our local Whole Foods store. I gave credit and thanks to you inside of my book!
I moved from California at 42 years of age and in 2008 I was diagnosed with Ovarian Carcinoma and true to typical fashion, as my Grandmother and my developed self would know to be true, I healed that too. I had extensive amalgams (silver fillings) and had relocated to a place where mercury is an issue, there were also Mind Body Medicine issues.
I offer Coaching and how I wish I had an Allopathic Doctor or several to partner with, where we had mutual respect and care for the ways we each can contribute. I’m looking around for options as I do not plan to stay in NorthEast Minnesota much longer and writing a few more books which are medicine from decades of experiences; my own and helping others; in the first many years I never charged a dime; eventually, I had to to recoup the tens of thousands of dollars I paid out of pocket for the 100s of books, courses, credentials and more. I study just about every day.
I’m a raw and vegan chef, plant based nutritionist, who got rid of her TV over 30 years ago and never allowed a microwave into my home. I’m 57 and aside from a close family member becoming Opioid addicted I am in great shape! No medications, ever! No pain, and, I’ve been through a lot.
Coaching, hair testing, detoxification, Mind Body Medicine, Yoga Teacher, and I infuse a great deal into my sessions done through video, sure wish I had the umbrella of a team working together, or, my aim is to create a Retreat Center and Retreats off shore like Costa Rica where people can infuse Nature, relaxation, and healing with time honored wisdom.
I sure appreciate you! I speak your name on my answers on Quora and I’m confident that you know what time it is!
Buy all organic and before you get pregnant, check out WestonAPrice.org to learn how to eat for a really healthy baby. Continue this diet for the rest of your life. Stick with doctors like Dr. Brownstein. Stay away from mainstream medicine as often as possible.
Best to not have babies today, so much environmental contamination and gmo’s and fake foods. Besides, America is on a downslide, drug co’s. control much of medical care and forced vaccines on children. Globalist agenda in full throttle into agenda 2030. Foster or adopt kids. I am helping several group homes.
Just as important as the role of polypharmacy in decreasing life expectancy is the role of the demineralized and chemicalized (via GMO) vegetables and antibiotic-treated animal foods in our diet.
Let’s define a “health year” as the average level of health of an individual compared to a completely healthy individual of the same age. We could add up all of the health year values for an individual at the time of their death to calculate their “health span.” Thus for example a year of 50% per cent health would count as half a year of health span. If we did that for every country, then because of all the preventable chronic illness Americans suffer from I’m sure the U.S. would come out even further down the list, probably below many “developing” countries.
The culprits responsible for that (I’m not sure of the order of culpability) are no doubt the medical-industrial complex, the food production industry and the food processing industry, all of which have become virtual pawns of the chemical manufacturing industry. And then of course we have the government and “regulatory” agencies which are largely under the control of the same corporate interests that they are supposed to be protecting us from.
I think what we need to do most of all is to elect a government that raises protecting us from those culprits with a level of zeal at least comparable to their determination to protect us from the “international terrorists” that they keep trying to distract our attention to. Instead of that, the government we currently have consistently aides and abets those culprits in their crimes against humanity. It’s gotten to the point that we could already justify something similar to the Nuremberg Trials here, including as defendants many elected and appointed government puppets of the policy makers in the corporate plutocracy.
Preach it, DrB! I think a good first step might be banning prescription drug ads on TV. People think it’s just a matter of being informed, but those ads market their lungs out; it ends up with patients going to their doctor for the specific reason of demanding the drug. .
Bette,
You go! Agree 100% and ads should be banned in academic print material as well.
DrB
Bette, I, too, pitched my TV decades ago, but in the course of providing care to an individual with (statin-induced) ‘Alzheimer’s’ I am exposed to drug commercials. One hears firstly what symptom the drug will alleviate, then lists the ‘side effects’ which are stated – often times more than once – to include the very symptom to be alleviated. In example, Drug X prevents bone fractures, followed by Drug X causes bone fractures. The prevention IS the cause! This is so outright ‘in your face,’ how can it be missed? And when did I get surreptitiously beamed from planet Earth up to planet Insanity?
I am glad there are some doctors, like you, that are true advocates for our health!
Thank you Judy,
DrB
Great article, sad though, people believe in their doctors even if it kills them, involuntary euthanasia, death with dignity laws
are behind it all, patients can’t fight it, they’re forced without informed consent, states promote doctor assisted suicide,
it saves them money, people don’t realize we’re priority creditors to the corporate system run by foreign interests.
Hopefully President Trump will serve indictments soon on their leaders.
Well stated. In addition, mass food production is lowering the quality of what we eat and the lack of faith in God. When God is removed from our society, people look to another higher power to save them – government. It used to be if someone was in need, the neighbors or the church would help restore them, now there is an expectation for government to aid them. For poorer populations that used to rely on cultural cures, medicaid, in many cases, has replaced those cultural methods of healing. Further, looking toward government has also disconnected people from one another. What is the effects of social isolation? Regarding mass food supply, just take for instance the production of milk. Now, dairy cows are constantly pregnant in farming practices in the United states, this increases the natural estrogen and growth hormones in present in the milk. Studies have shown children are entering puberty faster as a consequence and how does the increase in these hormones affect the long term health of adults? https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2006/12/hormones-in-milk-can-be-dangerous/
I read that United States factors in premature stillbirths as deaths, while other countries do not. This would make it appear that we have lower life expectancy. I think the statistics need to be adjusted for that before drawing conclusions. But I get your point about opioids and suicides.
Paula,
There are some differences between countries, but the basic premise of the post still holds (IMHO). There is not doubt that US life expectancy is falling and there simply is no excuse for that. We spend nearly 20% of our GNP on health care for lousy outcomes.
DrB