About Ten Years Ago
About ten years ago I hired a neighbor/friend/colleague to work for me. She had just completed her BSN education and was new to nursing, her second career. She brought a good education, but she also brought television drugs. Having never watched much television and having never put a lot of interest in “ over the counter†drugs and “self medicationâ€, I was amazed that she knew so much about remedies for almost everything, from hypertension to poison oak.
Having been “laid off†recently from a big insurance company that dismissed 650 managers across the country, I have had time to watch television. The drug ads are appalling to me. And having had some recent visits to my medical practioners, I have the feeling that their practice is also driven by the drug advertisement culture, which I find scary.
I was hospitalized for almost two weeks this summer for a perforated ulcer. I am sure some of this had to do with my stresses in my life. However the mix of medications I was given, for better or for worse, most definitely led to this crisis. They were prescribed for me, in good faith, but also, I believe, because that is what physicians do now. We live in a pharmaceutical culture, and practitioners do not have, nor want, to take the time to look at the big picture. Holistic medicine seems to be a thing of the past. It just takes too much time and energy.
[tags]bsn education, laid off, insurance company, medical practitioners, drug advertisement, perforated ulcer, pharmaceutical culture, holistic medicine[/tags]