Many Doctor's Are Drug Pushers

I think that the biggest drug pushers in our societies are doctors. No offense to anyone, but that's what I think and that's what I've come to realize through personal experience. Maybe I'm wrong, but if I am, it's only because doctors keep (and have all my life been) prescribing various drugs to me.


These drugs have sometimes led me to some very bad reactions and side effects. They've put me in the hospital. Many times the cure was worse than the disease.

In many cases, these drugs have been poison. They have really screwed me up.


Here's today's example: Recently, I have had a cough and I feel like I have indigestion. I've felt this way for the last three days. I guess coughing and indigestion is not uncommon for a drinking man who likes to go out with friends and enjoy life and good food....


The cough is a strange one. I had the same cough when I was a cigarette smoker. But I quit cigarettes cold almost three years ago. So you can't say my current cough is because of cigarettes. 


The weirdest part is that I only have the cough when I am taking a nap in the daytime, and when I sleep face up. Really. 


Really, I only have a cough when I am sleeping on the sofa face up.


I don't cough if I sleep on my side or if I am awake. Weird, eh?


I decided to go to the doctor (well, actually my wife insisted that I go). Who knows? Maybe I have a tumor or an ulcer or some other nasty growing in my tubes or lungs. 


One can only hope.


Even so, I hate going to the doctor when I have a specific ailment. Here's why:


In Japan, because of the way the medical insurance system is designed, doctors get paid to see you and they get more money for dispensing drugs. The more drugs they dispense, the more money they make. Sounds like a scam (and it is) but it's still a heck of a lot better than the USA! I can go to the doctor and get a check up in Japan and medicine and be out the door for about $40 (USD). 


Today, I had an X-ray, four blood tests, a heart check, and a typical doctor's check up that ran about $70. Tomorrow I will pick up the medicine that he prescribed and that will set me back another $40 so, all in all, it still blows the USA out of the water.


Did I mention that Japanese people live, on average, at least 4 years longer than Americans do (8 years for women) even though America spends much more money on health care than any western nation in the entire world.)


But darned if I don't hate the fact that the Japanese doctor wants to give me 5 different medicines for what ails me every time I go there.


He wants to give me a medicine that stops the coughing; In order to make sure the coughing medicine doesn't screw up my stomach, he wants to give me medicine for that; He also wants to prescribe a medicine to make sure that the medicine he already prescribed to stop the coughing and to protect my stomach, doesn't cause side-effects.


I've dealt with this before. One time, when I was a (legal) druggie (and before raw food) I was taking a drug that my doctor prescribed for stress. That drugs side effect caused me ( and many others) to cough uncontrollably and lose conciousness. No kidding. 


I passed out several times waking up with my head resting on my computer keyboard and myself dribbling and drooling uncontrollably. What fun that was!


Yes, that drug worked well: When I am out cold and collapsed on the floor, I had very little stress.


I'm not making this up. This kind of bad side effects from drugs that doctors prescribed for me goes on and on. 


After I "graduated" from rehab, I was prescribed Lithium. That was hell on wheels! Whenever I took Lithium it was like Mike Tyson punched me in the stomach! Nevertheless, the doctor insisted that I take that drug until I put my foot down and said, "No more!" I do not take Lithium at all and will not. 


I don't care what the doctor says. 


I wrote about this sort of nonsense before in Gout Sufferers of the World Unite!

The doctor told me that the medicine he was prescribing for me was the standard gout medicine. (Hey! I am not a doctor!) He also told me that this medicine was powerful stuff and that my body had to get used to it first so I wasn't supposed to take full dosages, but to build up to a full dosage over a two-week period.

I was to take the pills and cut them into quarters and take one quarter every day for eight days. Then, after that, cut the pills in half and then take another half every day for another eight days. Once I did that, I was to start taking one full pill every day after that. Simple. Right? Sure, but things didn't work out so well.

On December 12th, I started taking the quarter pills and increasing the dosage as the doctor prescribed. Finally, after doing this religiously every day, on December 30th, I was up to a full dosage; one pill a day in the mornings.

For New Year's we were invited by my wife parent's to stay at their house in the country. So, coincidentally, we were at their home from the 28^th of December. Things were going fine, but by the evening of the 30th, my right knee started to hurt. I thought nothing of it and went to bed. The next morning I took my medicine, as usual, and, once again, by the evening I noticed that my right knee was really starting to hurt a lot.

The next morning was "Happy New Year!" We all got up and did the traditional Japanese New Year things that people here do; go to the shrine, eat rice cakes, visit family and relatives… Of course, I took my medicine again.

But darned if my right knee wasn't really hurting really badly that New Year's morning. It felt as if I had twisted my knee doing some sports but I hadn't done anything for the last few days except get out of bed. By 5 pm that night, my right knee was killing me. It had suddenly swollen up like a grapefruit and I just couldn't take the pain anymore so off to the emergency room at the local hospital I went.

It just so happens that, when I got to the hospital, there was a doctor who was a specialist on gout on duty and he attended to me. He said that what happened to me was a fairly common reaction of some people to the gout medicine I was taking. He used a syringe to pull about 200 milliliters of liquid out of my knee and gave me a bunch of painkillers. He also told me to stop taking the medicine and go back to my regular doctor and tell him what happened.

What a miserable New Year's Day that was!


Well, a few days later, I did go back to my doctor. He told me that he wanted me to take the same medicine, but only this time, he was going to give me another medicine to prevent the side effects of the first medicine! 


.....That's when I decided that there had to be a better way.....

That's when I went on a raw food diet. Today I am about 70% raw food. I feel like I am 17 years old now.

No joke. I want to and need to become 99% raw and am aiming for that goal.

At today's meeting with the doctor he told me that he needed to put a camera down my throat to see my tubes to discern exactly what is wrong. I don't have a problem with that at all. I do have a problem, though, with the 4 medicines that he was going to prescribe to me.

Look. I am the patient. He is the doctor, I have rights. So do you. Don't allow yourself to be railroaded into taking a bunch of drugs you don't want. 

I told my doctor that I wasn't interested in taking this drug cocktail that he was prescribing. He backed down.

Now, I will take the one minimum drug he wants me to take before swallowing the camera. That's OK. I can live with that.

I am not a doctor but this is my body. I refuse to take drugs just because my doctor thinks that's what is best.

I've had bad side-effects and even been in the emergency room because of these drugs. I won't do that anymore.

I am the patient and I am the customer. I pay the money. So are you. Never forget that.

If my doctor cannot convince me that these drugs are the best I can do, then I don't want them. Blindly following a doctor's advice is just plain stupid. Don't do it. It's your life and your body. If your doctor cannot explain why you need a certain regime or drug, then don't take it. 

I don't.

I suggest that you do the same. 

Marketing Japan: Why Google Worries About its Own Future....

By Mike in Tokyo Rogers

Google is dominating the Internet scene today and seems like they have destroyed the competition. But did you know that there are rumblings below the surface? Did you know that Google themselves fear for their position in the long run? It's true.

If you stop to think about it for a few moments, you can see where Google may be headed for some bad times in the very near future. Some reasons have to do with Google being so good at what they do that they have created a hole in their armor that can be exploited.

Today, I will lay out just a few of the reasons that Google and outside Internet experts alike seem to think that Google won't be king of the hill for too much longer. Here's why....

Have you ever asked the question, "Where will Google be in 10 years?"

I think a look at what has happened to major terrestrial TV broadcasting stations, or what has happened to Rock "hit" radio in recent years is a good indicator of what might probably happen to Google. If you consider the shape these two entities - TV and radio - are in today, as compared with their dominant position just 15 years ago, then it's not too far of a stretch of the imagination to see Google as, perhaps not a bit player, but not the dominant player.

Why?

I think it has to do with a few things; first the fracturing of the audience and the variety of choice given to us by the Internet due to the Long Tail. Because the Internet allows us so much choice, that choice allows people to exercise their quite unique individual tastes. This is damaging the "hit" market and exponentially growing the "niche" market. When people have many choices, they will exercise that choice.

When there were only 4 types of jam for toast, for example; strawberry, grape, blueberry or orange marmalade, people bought one of those. Now that there are hundreds - and the online stores can carry thousands - people are buying the peach, plum, or Canadian Boysenberry.

When a customer, buys one product, like Canadian Boysenberry, that's money displaced that takes away from a purchase of generic strawberry. That is what is called, "the Long Tail."

(See brief information on the Long Tail see "A Primer on the Long tail" here and "Is the Long Tail all Junk" here. For an in-depth analysis, please read Chris Anderson's definitive work in The Long Tail.)

The Long Tail

What does all this have to do with Google? Ah, there is the crux.

Think of Google search engine like a TV station. The TV station must have very broad appeal in order to survive... Today, this broad appeal actually has started working against them in the long run.

Take the example I often use of TV Tokyo. Let's compare TV Tokyo and, the Food Channel on TV:

TV Tokyo has over 1,000 employees.
Food Channel TV has about 20 employees.

TV Tokyo has a extremely wide target audience of anywhere between 6-years-old kids to 84-year-old seniors.
Food Channel TV has a focused target audience of women between 34-years-old to 50-years-old.

It costs about $150,000 (USD) to buy 25 commercials on TV Tokyo.
It costs about $8,000 (USD) to buy 25 commercials on Food Channel.

Now, the question is; "You are a manufacturer of kitchen appliances and cook ware. Where will you advertise?"

It is obvious that you will take the focused marketing that the Food Channel offers.... Now, extrapolate this into every segment of manufacturing, goods, services and possible sponsorships. What do you get?

You get a market that demands specialization. Isn't it obvious? Isn't that the way everything has been going? What restaurants do well? The family restaurant that has everything, but nothing is especially tasty, or the specialization restaurant that only serves, say, Italian food, or the sushi shop, or the Chinese restaurant?

The catch-all shops are, in many ways, still useful and profitable (see WalMart), but they are getting fierce competition from specialization and will be in the future. People, when given a choice, will choice specialization.

I touched on that in more detail here in "Marketing Japan: Why Digital Conversion Will Destroy TV Tokyo and TBS":

When there are 300 TV channels competing for your attention and sponsor's money - both of these critical factors to the survival of TV (audience and money) will be more widely dispersed.

Think of it this way: You are the maker of, say, outdoor goods like tents, bicycles and barbeques. Say, the price for 25 TV ads on a TV station like TV Tokyo is about $150,000 (USD). The price of 35 TV ads on the sports channel is $14,000. Sure there are more viewers on TV Tokyo, but Sports TV offers a targeted audience of men who like sports (and, by the way, many are probably are married, have families, and like the outdoors).... TV Tokyo's audience ranges from 10-year-olds to 80-year-olds; Sports TV target audience is mainly 30 ~ 50-year-old men.

Now, where would you spend the money if you were the sponsor? 

It is obvious that you would go for the Sports TV. It will be the same for all manufacturers whether they make diapers or women's fashion brand shoes. The diaspora of audience will make targeting even more important as time goes by.

Now, keep this in mind... Sit back and consider... Like I said, if Google were a TV station... Google is a catch all search engine... Whatever you want to search for, Google search engine has...

But wait a minute! What about specialization?

What if some smart Internet site, say a Food Channel, decides that they wanted to corner the market for Internet searches for "Food" and anything at all related to just food and food only.

Some might say, well, "Google will make one too..."

No, they won't... They can't... They might try though...

Think back to the Long Tail and all the millions and billions (more!) niches there are! There are niches inside of niches! Google cannot compete with that...

But a small company focusing on their niche and that niche only can... And they can do very well at it.

Then imagine that every niche in the world had their own search engine. Think of it; anything to do with cars might have their own specific search engine, travel only (then inside of "travel only" sub-niches like "Travel in Western Europe" or "Travel in Lower New Jersey"); the same with sports, medicine, shopping for women's clothes, you name it.

Can you see? Google could never keep up with that.

Google would become like today's catch all TV station and the niche search engines would eat them up.

From what I am seeing, I am beginning to think that this is inevitable... I suspect that Google does too!

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Keywords:
Google search engine, mike rogers, Marketing Japan, Google, Long Tail, travel, food, TV, TV Tokyo, sports, medicine, cars,  The long Tail, Chris Anderson,  Mike in Tokyo Rogers, niche, niches