The Diagnosis Trap — How Modern Medicine Turns Symptoms Into Life Sentences

Most people who are sick spend years trying to find “the right diagnosis.”

They bounce from doctor to doctor, chasing second opinions, getting blood drawn, reading specialist reports, joining forums, trying new meds or protocols. At first, it feels like progress. Then they realize they’re stuck in the same loop, just with different names.

They don’t get well. They just get redefined.

Why Diagnoses Feel Good at First

When you’ve been dismissed by doctors, gaslit, or told “everything looks normal,” finally getting a name for your symptoms can feel validating. It gives you a framework. A plan. Maybe even a community of people who understand what you’re going through.

But that diagnosis—fibromyalgia, MS, ADHD, IBS, chronic fatigue, POTS, MCAS—starts to become an identity.

You stop asking what’s really going on beneath the surface. You stop looking at the terrain. You start saying “my illness,” “my condition,” “my [insert label].” And then you’re stuck.

You Can Manufacture Diagnoses

Here’s something no one wants to admit:

You can make yourself sick enough to qualify for nearly any chronic, non-infectious diagnosis in the book. Just eat processed food, live under fluorescent lights, stay up late, avoid sunlight, sit all day, don’t move, stress constantly, and drink poison in a can labeled “energy.”

You’ll tank your hormones, destroy your microbiome, trigger inflammation, and crash your nervous system. Boom: autoimmune disease. Mental disorder. Gut issue. Fatigue. Neurological dysfunction. Pick your diagnosis.

But here’s the kicker—you can reverse most of those symptoms just as easily. Change the terrain, and the so-called “disease” disappears.

The label didn’t fix you. The system didn’t heal you. You rebuilt the conditions that allow health.

There Was Never a “Correct” Diagnosis

People think they were misdiagnosed because the next doctor gave them a new label that “fits better.”

But here’s the reality: the symptoms changed because the terrain changed. The diagnosis didn’t evolve—the illness did. Modern medicine can’t keep up because it’s trying to classify something dynamic using static categories.

Chronic illness is fluid. It’s not a fixed condition—it’s a process.

And you don’t fix a process by naming it. You fix it by interrupting the cycle.

Diagnoses Are a Dead End

Labels don’t heal. They distract.

They make people think they’ve found the problem, when all they’ve done is described the surface.

You don’t need a new diagnosis. You need:

  • Better drainage
  • A functioning gut
  • Clean food
  • Movement
  • Nervous system regulation
  • Connection
  • Purpose

You need to stop living in an environment that breeds sickness.

Stop Chasing the Name. Start Fixing the Terrain.

Here’s the truth: your symptoms are real. Your suffering is real. But the story you’ve been told about it is broken.

You are not your diagnosis.
You’re not missing a pill.
You’re not too sensitive.
You’re not just “unlucky.”

You’re living in a world that destroys internal ecosystems—and the only way out is to rebuild yours.

So stop chasing labels. Start changing your life. Reclaim your terrain. And never let anyone else tell you who you are based on a printout and a code.



The Truth About Gut Healing: An Updated Protocol for Restoring the Body’s Inner Ecosystem

For years, we’ve been told that gut health starts with probiotics, yogurt, or a gluten-free diet. Some of those things have their place, but they don’t come close to solving the real problem. What you’re dealing with—what most people are dealing with—is a collapsed internal ecosystem.

Gut healing isn’t just about digestion. It’s about systemic recovery. When your gut is broken, everything is broken: mood, immunity, energy, sleep, skin, brain function, hormones, inflammation—you name it. But here’s the truth: the gut isn’t fragile. It’s not weak. And most of what people think of as “gut issues” are terrain issues—which means they’re fixable.

This is the updated, no-BS guide. Based on years of helping people reverse disease, and updated with everything we’ve learned since: about the microbiome, parasites, antifungals, food as medicine, and microbial socialism.

The Ecosystem Model (Not the Germ Theory Model)

Your gut isn’t just a tube. It’s a living, breathing forest—home to trillions of microorganisms that maintain everything from digestion to detox to neurotransmitter production.

When these organisms are in balance, they feed on waste, prevent infection, repair tissue, produce vitamins, and communicate with every major system in your body.

But when that balance is lost—through antibiotics, sugar, alcohol, stress, processed food, synthetic hormones, birth control, plastics, vaccines, chronic inflammation, environmental toxins—the terrain becomes hostile. Opportunists move in. Candida overgrows. Parasites take hold. The beneficial microbes shrink. And the body starts losing control.

The Problem Isn’t “Bad” Bacteria

There is no such thing as a good or bad microbe—only microbes that are in or out of balance.

Candida, E. coli, even Clostridium difficile all serve useful purposes in the right context. They help manage waste, signal immune responses, and even protect against certain toxins. But when the ecosystem collapses, they proliferate unchecked and start harming the host.

Candida, for example, naturally exists in most people. But when the terrain favors yeast over bacteria (too much sugar, not enough fiber, etc.), it switches from spore to fungal form. That’s when it builds biofilm, releases toxic aldehydes, breaks through the gut wall, and triggers systemic immune confusion.

Same for parasites. They’re not just a third-world problem. Most people living on a modern diet have some level of parasitic load—especially when the gut wall is compromised and there’s stagnant food, stress, and inflammation.

What About the Lower Intestine?

Old-school biology claims that the lower intestine doesn’t digest food—it just absorbs water and electrolytes. That’s outdated.

The truth is, the lower intestine digests—but differently. Here, the gut flora break down resistant starches and fiber through fermentation, producing short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) like butyrate, which:

  • Feed colon cells
  • Reduce inflammation
  • Improve brain function
  • Regulate blood sugar

Gut flora also produce vitamins B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B12, biotin, and vitamin K2—and yes, many of these can be absorbed in the colon through passive diffusion or specialized transporters. So when the lower gut is compromised, you don’t just lose digestive function—you lose vital nutrient synthesis.

Leaky Gut Is Real—and So Is Systemic Infection

Leaky gut isn’t a fringe theory anymore—but even that term misses the mark. All guts are permeable. That’s how digestion and absorption work. Nutrients have to pass through the intestinal lining to enter the bloodstream.

The real difference is in the filtering mechanism. In a healthy gut, the microbiome acts like an intelligent processing layer, breaking down complex molecules, neutralizing toxins, and deconstructing foreign proteins before they reach the gut wall. What finally passes through is clean, usable, and recognized by the immune system as safe.

But when microbial diversity breaks down—due to antibiotics, processed foods, stress, or chronic inflammation—that filtering system collapses. Now, intact proteins, microbial waste, fungal byproducts, and toxins bypass the gatekeepers and enter the bloodstream unprocessed.

The immune system sounds the alarm. And when it can’t distinguish friend from foe, it begins to attack everything.

This is the root of:

  • Autoimmune disease (RA, MS, Lupus, Hashimoto’s, etc.)
  • Chronic fatigue
  • Skin issues (eczema, psoriasis, acne)
  • Brain fog, depression, anxiety, ADHD

These aren’t isolated conditions. They’re symptoms of a failed filtration system—a collapsed terrain.

How Gut Collapse Happens

  1. You take antibiotics or eat a high-sugar/processed diet
  2. Beneficial bacteria die off
  3. Candida and parasites expand
  4. Gut wall breaks down
  5. Liver and kidneys get overburdened
  6. Toxic load increases
  7. Immune system overreacts
  8. Inflammation becomes chronic

This cycle keeps going until you stop it.

How to Stop It (The Updated Protocol)

This is the new order of operations—the most effective, direct path to rebuilding your gut. If you do just the first four steps well, you’ve already won 95% of the battle. Everything after that is bonus.

1. Eliminate Corporate Food

Stop eating anything made by corporations. If it has a barcode, a commercial, or comes from a factory—it’s out. You make every single thing you eat from scratch.

2. Eat Huge, Diverse Salads Every Day

Your gut craves diversity. Large, colorful salads with raw vegetables, bitter greens, herbs, sprouts, and prebiotic fibers give the microbes the environment they need to thrive.

3. Drink Cranberry Lemonade (No Sugar)

Real, unsweetened cranberry juice with fresh lemon and a little stevia. Drink it daily. It clears the urinary tract better than anything else, supports the prostate in men, and likely supports ovarian and uterine health in women. No science needed to prove what people can feel.

4. Take Undecylenic Acid (formerly SF722)

Everyone in the modern world has too much Candida. Undecylenic acid is the most effective Candida-targeting supplement available. It works without wrecking the microbiome and doesn’t require cycling. It’s the foundation for everything else.

5. Optional Supplements (Helpful, but Not Necessary)

Use targeted antifungals and antiparasitics only if the core steps above aren’t enough. Rotate them occasionally:

  • Wormwood
  • Black walnut
  • Clove
  • Berberine
  • Neem
  • Oregano oil
  • Grapefruit seed extract
  • Ivermectin (off-label, powerful, use with care)

6. Support the Organs That Keep You Clean

  • Liver: Milk thistle, dandelion, beets, turmeric
  • Kidneys: Parsley, lemon water, herbal teas
  • Lymph: Rebounding, dry brushing, sauna, walking
  • Drink real, unsweetened cranberry juice. It clears the urinary tract better than anything else. It supports the prostate in men and likely the ovaries and uterus in women. The science hasn’t caught up—but the results are undeniable.

Gut Healing Is Systemic Healing

You can’t isolate the gut. You heal the gut, you heal the system.

Your brain clears up. Your skin improves. Your allergies fade. You lose weight. Your sleep deepens. Your emotions stabilize. Your resilience returns.

This isn’t theory—it’s what happens when people stop chasing symptoms and start rebuilding their terrain.

Final Words

You don’t need a diagnosis to know something’s off. You don’t need permission to get better.

If you’re bloated, tired, anxious, inflamed, breaking out, or brain-fogged—start here. Don’t wait for the medical system to catch up. It’s still pretending your microbiome doesn’t matter.

This is your terrain. This is your inner ecosystem. And you can take it back.

Let’s rebuild it.



Why Your Pulled Back Muscle Isn’t Healing — And Why It Probably Wasn’t “Just a Muscle” to Begin With

People think they pulled a muscle in their back. They blame bad posture or lifting something wrong. But half the time it wasn’t the movement—it was the swollen gland or inflamed organ underneath that set the stage for injury.

Most back injuries don’t start in the muscles.
They start deeper—and that’s why they don’t heal right.

The Hidden Cause: Gland and Organ Swelling

When you strain your back just picking up a sock or twisting slightly, it’s not because your body is fragile. It’s because something inside was already swollen, congested, or inflamed, and it had been building pressure quietly for days or weeks.

That “something” is often the prostate (in men) or the ovaries (in women).

Both are tucked into the lower abdomen, close to the spine and the urinary tract. When they swell:

  • They restrict flow through the urinary system.
  • That slows drainage and builds pressure through the pelvis and into the lower spine.
  • Nearby muscles stiffen, tense, and eventually spasm under normal movement.

The back “goes out,” but the gland was the issue all along.

Urinary Tract Congestion = Spinal Tension

When the urinary tract gets compressed or sluggish:

  • Urine doesn’t flow freely.
  • The bladder struggles to empty fully.
  • Tension radiates into the pelvic floor, lower back, and surrounding muscles.
  • Fascia tightens, blood flow drops, and nerve signals get distorted.

This is the origin of so many chronic lower back issues that seem mechanical but are actually internal system failures.

Drink Cranberry Juice

This should be obvious by now, but I’m going to say it straight:

Drink cranberry juice.

And I don’t mean that sugary cocktail garbage. I mean real, unsweetened cranberry juice—dark, tart, and potent.

It clears the urinary tract better than any drug, supplement, or herb—period.
It’s good for the prostate, and I’m convinced it’s just as beneficial to the female reproductive system—ovaries, uterus, the whole terrain.

I don’t know exactly why it works this well. But I know with 100% certainty that it does.
Flush the tract, and the pressure on your spine drops.
Do it consistently, and the whole system starts to balance.

Check out the lemonade recipe here

Why It Doesn’t Heal

Muscles heal fast—when they can breathe.
But when there’s ongoing internal pressure, the surrounding tissue stays inflamed.

  • Prostate inflammation restricts flow and presses against the low back.
  • Ovarian swelling subtly shifts pelvic posture and fascia tension.
  • If your kidneys are sluggish and your colon is slow, nothing drains—and your back becomes a pressure valve.

Painkillers, massage, and stretching won’t fix any of that.
You have to go deeper.

Why It Can “Happen Out of Nowhere”

You didn’t injure yourself picking up a pencil. You injured yourself by carrying internal pressure for months.

The actual movement was just the trigger. The condition had been building invisibly, and your body finally reached its breaking point.

How to Actually Fix It

If you want to heal, stop chasing the pain and start clearing the terrain.

  • Poop every day. If waste isn’t leaving, it’s recirculating.
  • Flush your kidneys. Water, lemon, herbal teas, real food.
  • Support your prostate or ovaries. Herbs, rest, castor oil, heat, and targeted nutrition.
  • Drink cranberry juice. No sugar, no additives. Just real cranberry.
  • Move lymph and break fascia. Walking, rebounding, massage, deep hydration.

Reduce pressure on the inside, and the back releases.
Support the organs underneath, and the muscles above will finally heal.

Final Word

Your back pain didn’t start with a movement—it started with dysfunction.
If it’s not healing, there’s still pressure somewhere that hasn’t been cleared.

You don’t need more medication.
You need drainage. You need flow.
You need to support the organs that support the spine.

The body doesn’t fail without warning.
It speaks. The back is just how it screams.



Microbial Socialism: Why Your Gut Is the Last Free Society You’ve Got Left

Let’s stop pretending we don’t know the answer.

The gut doesn’t just digest your food. It runs your immune system, trains your brain, regulates your moods, detoxifies your blood, manufactures your vitamins, and decides whether you live or rot. And it doesn’t do this with your “body” alone—it does it with trillions of invisible citizens you were taught to fear: bacteria, yeast, archaea, even viruses and fungi.

But they’re not enemies. They’re neighbors. Partners. Socialists.

The Myth of the “Good” vs. “Bad” Bacteria

There is no such thing as a bad microbe. Only bad terrain.

Candida, E. coli, Clostridium difficile—these are not villains. They’re cleanup crews, first responders, garbage men. They’re only “pathogens” when your terrain falls apart. When your internal society breaks down, they move in to do damage control. The issue is overgrowth, not existence.

Modern medicine acts like the body is a battlefield and microbes are invaders. But the truth is simpler: you’re a walking ecosystem, and bacteria are your residents. If you clearcut the forest, weeds grow. If you pave paradise, expect rats. But if you cultivate balance, you get a self-regulating, self-sustaining society.

Off-Gassing, Sinus Infections, and the Ticking Throat

Ever walk through the detergent aisle and feel that tickle in your throat? That’s not your immune system being “hypersensitive.” That’s toxins vaporizing into your sinuses, causing micro-lesions, which give opportunistic microbes a foothold.

In a dysbiotic person—someone with a corrupt microbiome government—the invaders set up shop, reproduce like Wall Street bankers, and spread their waste downstream. You get the sinus infection. You get the flu. You get sick.

But in someone with microbial diversity, the parasites don’t stand a chance. You’ve got thousands of species monitoring each other’s behavior. One’s waste is another’s fuel. The off-gassing from one species is metabolized by another before it becomes toxic. There is no waste in a functioning gut—only cycles.

That’s microbial socialism.

Socialism in Action: How Microbes Keep Each Other in Check

  • Candida stays in spore form when other microbes are present to suppress its fungal form.
  • E. coli produces B vitamins in balance and helps train your immune system.
  • Butyrate-producing microbes feed your colon cells, keeping inflammation in check.
  • Some bacteria literally feed on the waste gases of other microbes. You’re carrying around a living, self-regulating air filtration system in your gut.

This isn’t a war. It’s a city. A cooperative. A society that runs on contribution, not domination. When it works, it’s perfect.

The Real Estate Analogy (Gut as Property)

Picture your gut as a neighborhood.

  • If you leave a vacant lot unattended, squatters move in.
  • If you fill it with thriving businesses, schools, community gardens, and security cameras, crime doesn’t happen.

A healthy microbiome doesn’t kill pathogens—it denies them room to grow.

Meanwhile, in Mainstream Medicine…

The medical establishment still acts like the colon is just a trash chute. They still pretend bacteria are dangerous. They still carpet-bomb guts with antibiotics, kill off biodiversity, and wonder why autoimmune disease is exploding.

They call people “crazy” for believing parasites and yeast cause fatigue or brain fog. But who’s crazy—those who observe reality, or those who deny it while holding a prescription pad?

They say, “We don’t know why fecal transplants help autism, IBS, and depression…”
No, you do know. You just don’t want to say it out loud.
It’s microbial socialism. It’s community. It’s ecology.

The Final Defense Against Collapse

Here’s the brutal truth: your gut is the last autonomous zone you still control.
It doesn’t need government permission.
It doesn’t obey corporate patents.
It can’t be censored—yet.

If you lose your gut sovereignty, you lose everything else: your energy, your clarity, your resilience. But if you defend it, if you rebuild it, you get back more than health.

You get freedom.

How to Support Microbial Socialism:

  • Eat the rainbow (plants, ferments, fibers)
  • Kill freeloaders (herbs, fasting, detox, strategic antimicrobials like ivermectin)
  • Rebuild terrain (soil-grown probiotics, compost-grown veggies)
  • Stay dirty (avoid antibacterial everything)
  • Stay decentralized (avoid pharma dependency)

Your body isn’t a battlefield.
It’s a thriving civilization.
Treat it like one.



Why We Will Be Better Off With RFK Jr. As Our Secretary Of Health and Human Services

Xavier Becerra is currently the 25th secretary of Health and Human Services. He was born to working class parents, and has stated that his childhood witness to the struggles of the working class has driven his career ambitions to reform healthcare by establishing universal healthcare for all Americans. He promised to achieve this by building on the Affordable Health Care Act. More specifically, he promised as part of the Biden administration’s agenda, to lower prescription drug costs and lower health insurance costs. Has he kept these promises and what have been the results of their implementation?

We at OLM have extensively exposed the corruption of Big Pharma and have explained precisely how pharmaceuticals damage the body in our articles such as; Some Antibiotics May Blind, Cripple, Or Kill You, Why I Stopped Taking Prescription Drugs, HyperTension; How To Lower Your Blood Pressure Quickly And Naturally, and Vaccine Propaganda Versus Vaccine Truth and more. The case in point for Xavier Beccra’s promise to lower prescription drug prices, and how they were actually raised, is his promotion of Big Pharma’s agenda.

Due to the public’s false understanding of pharmaceuticals, their adverse effects on the body and the public’s widespread misunderstanding of the effectiveness and necessity of pharmaceuticals, the American people also are ignorant of the true lasting effectiveness of natural alternative solutions that support the body’s inbuilt immune system and regeneration. The American public will get drug prescriptions regardless of how much more expensive they become. The raising of prescription drug prices under Xavier Becerra was taking advantage of the American public by profiting off their ignorance and benefiting Big Pharma. Herein is the proof of how Xavier did not lower prescription drug prices but instead they rose. According to a Issue Brief by ASPE (Assistant Secretary of Planning and Evaluation): Office Of Health Policy;  the average price increases was larger in 2022 then in the months in previous years: it was 150 dollars per drug ( 10% increase) in January and in July 2022 it was 250 dollars per drug (7.8% increase). There were 1,216 products(drugs) which during the twelve month period between July 2021 and July 2022 exceeded the inflation rate of 8.5 percent for that time period.

Health insurance costs rose as well. According to Health System Tracker, health insurance costs rose from 4.785 trillion dollars in 2021 to 4.876 trillion dollars in 2023. The sharpest rise occurred between 2019 and 2020 in the declared Covid 19 pandemic but the second sharpest rise was from 2022 to 2023 from 4.679 trillion to 4.867 trillion dollars. Health insurance is sometimes used to cover emergency surgeries due to physical trauma, not only to purchase prescription drugs. Xavier Beccra promised to lower health insurance costs and instead they rose at the expense of Americans. The results of Xavier Beccra’s career as Secretary of Health and Human services was only breaking every promise he made to protect and support the health of the American public and the results show with no doubt, America’s need for someone who will keep their promises. RFK Jr. is capable of and has proven committed to doing exactly that.

Robert Francis Kenndy Junior is well known for his environmental activism and his health activism and advocacy. He’s considered by the mainstream media to be a dangerous advocate and activist of misinformation, but what the mainstream media considers him to be highly controversial for is what makes him stands him out as exceptionally qualified. One of his qualifications for the position as Secretary of Health and Human Services is his work at the nonprofit organization called Children’s Health Defense.  He has founded and was chairman of Children’s Health Defense, an organization which provides education and news on vaccines, environmental toxins, the growing epidemic of chronic health conditions in America’s children and more. Children’s Health Defense’s goal is to solve the health crisis plaguing our children as RFK Jr. states: “The greatest crisis facing America is the chronic disease epidemic in America’s children.”

News stories they cover include the coverup and censorship of the damages and injuries caused by the Covid vaccines, health conditions caused by exposure to toxins and the ongoing lawsuits against the companies and industries responsible, the truth behind vaccines, legal battles against the coverup of  injuries and deaths caused by vaccines and more. Children’s Health Defense also has  scientific research projects such as their StateWide Databases (which has provided necessary information for their other projects); Clinical Informatics Program, Pediatrics Health Outcomes Initiative, Genomics Integration Project and more. Their Statewide Databases consist of the granted mediated and provisional access to the Florida Medicaid database. Their other projects consist of the following; The Clinical Informatics Program was started by Dr. Hooker to keep track of and study the medical record of patients who have been vaccinated and those who have not. The Pediatrics Health Outcomes Initiative was started by Dr. Paul to study children who were vaccinated from birth till 18 years of age and those who have not to compare the differences in the children’s health. The Genomes Integration Project has both scientists at Children’s Health Defense and scientists: Ulrike Kaemmer MD, and Kevin Mc Kernan Phd,  investigating  the integration of the spike protein code from the Covid vaccine into the human genome and the resulting effects. All these projects pursure what the mainstream medical community will not: actually studying the results of accepted allopathic medicine  in peoples’ health versus those who have not received such “necessary treatment”.

Donald Trump has said he would put RFK Jr. in charge of the public health agencies and asked RFK  Jr. three things of him as Secretary of Health and Human Services: One, to clean up  the corruption at the agencies, particularly the conflicts of interest that have turned those agencies into captive agencies for the Big Pharma industry, the Big Food industry and the other industries that they’re supposed to be regulating. Two, to return those agencies to the gold standard of science, of empirically based, evidence based medicine that they were once famous for. Number three is to make America healthy again, to end the chronic disease epidemic  and that Trump wants to see measurable, concrete results within two years. In two years he wants to see measurable results in the diminishment of the chronic disease epidemic in America’s children. We at OLM absolutely believe RFK Jr.  will fulfill these promises with the same relentless determination he had founded and accomplished at Children’s Health Defense with.

Sources; Health System Tracker: How Has US Spending On Healthcare Changed Over Time?  ASPE: Office of Health Policy: Price Increases For Prescription Drugs From 2016 to 2022, Rumble : RFK Jr. , Donald Trump Has Asked Three Things of Me by channel Truth Unlimited, PBS NewsHour: Secretary Becerra on bipartisanship, healthcare and immigration, Children’s Health Defense: Science Publication and Projects.


The Depressing Effects Of Antidepressants

SSRIs (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors) are the most common and generally considered the safest antidepressants. They work by preventing the reuptake of serotonin, thereby increasing the amount of serotonin in the brain. They are considered the safest for having the most favorable side effect profile compared to other antidepressants. They are considered first line treatment for severe and or persistent depression, other psychological conditions such as anxiety disorders, bipolar disorder, PTSD and more. They are considered immediately necessary and effective for treating severe depression especially but how truly effective and safe are they? 

The time it takes for SSRIs to start working is 2 to 4 weeks. It is considered that SSRIs are immediately necessary for the severely depressed, as severe depression can compel one to commit suicide, yet they do not work immediately. This is because the brain tries to recalibrate serotonin levels by producing less of it.  If it can take nearly a month to start working, why should it be treated as first line intervention? When it finally does take effect, how effective is it? How significantly does it improve symptoms?

According to the National Library of Medicine, in multiple studies comparing a placebo to antidepressants, it found that 20 to 40% of people taking the placebo reported improvement in their symptoms and 40 to 60% of people taking the antidepressants reported improvements in their symptoms. Simply believing that their placebo pills will help causes a reduction in symptoms, yet for the actual SSRI antidepressants this also only comes to a 20 percent increase in improvement. If depression can be life threatening, why is this rate of improvement accepted as adequate? Furthermore, alongside this rate of improvement, what kind of side effect profile do SSRIs have? 

According to a study done by the National Library of Medicine, out of 401 patients taking antidepressants, 86% experienced at least one side effect and 55% experienced multiple bothersome side effects. These side effects, according to The National Library of Medicine and NHS, include feeling agitated, shaky, or anxious (yet antidepressants are prescribed to treat anxiety disorders), feeling sick, digestive issues such as indigestion, stomachaches, diarrhea, constipation (SSRIs are also used to treat digestive disorders), loss of appetite, insomnia (sleep deprivation increases risk of depression), or exhaustion (exhaustion is one of the symptoms of depression), headaches, loss of libido or other sexual issues. These symptoms usually improve after a few weeks of use, but for many they persist. These symptoms, even if they usually recede, make remission of depression more difficult. These symptoms, so commonly experienced, put users at even greater risk for suicide. Why should people be prescribed SSRIs when these drugs can not only negatively impact their quality of life but worsen the symptoms of their depression? Long term use of SSRIs are also linked to diabetes and cataracts. Rarer side effects of SSRIs include serotonin syndrome, Hyponatremia, and increased suicidal ideation. All these side effects and risks point not only to the lack of effectiveness of SSRIs but to the toxicity of the drugs as well. The toxicity of SSRIs is especially concerning considering  as much as 90 percent of the body’s serotonin is produced in the gut. 

Enterochromaffin cells are responsible for producing as much as 90 percent of the body’s serotonin (other cells in our gut, and microbes also play a major role). The side effect profile of SSRIs point to the concerning toxicity of SSRIs because SSRIs are just like other pharmaceuticals. They have an antimicrobial effect on the gut microbiome. They also, by damaging the gut, disrupt the gut brain axis (the gut brain connection). The brain’s balance of serotonin is directly connected to the gut’s health and this proves that in order to treat depression effectively, supporting the gut’s health should be paramount. 

Further Reading

Sources



The Vioxx Scandal Explained

Vioxx, also known as Rofecoxib, is a painkiller that was prescribed to treat arthritis, migraine and other pain conditions. It was released to the public in 1999 and withdrawn from the public in 2004 due to public health concerns, but what exactly were those public health concerns and should such a drug have been approved at all? 

In November 1998 Merck, a pharmaceutical and global health care company, asked the FDA to approve the painkiller drug Vioxx, having tested the drug on 5,400 subjects in eight different studies themselves. But it was after Merck published their VIGOR study with over 8,000 subjects that the FDA approved Vioxx. This study was successful because it compared the occurrence of GI problems as a side effect with Vioxx and Naproxen. Vioxx caused fewer ulcers and gastrointestinal bleeding than Naproxen as proven in their study. Vioxx is then seemlying a better painkiller drug than Naproxen as proven in their study and the FDA  then approves Vioxx.

But being the sole researchers for their new product that they wished to sell proved to have a conflict of interest. They ignored the other dangerous side effects of Vioxx: heart attacks and strokes. In 2000 The New England Journal of Medicine published an article titled” Expression of Concern”. They had found the data in the VIGOR study and found Vioxx’s risks of heart attacks , strokes and other cardiovascular problems to be much higher compared to painkiller Naproxen.

First table of data shown in ”Expression of Concern” shows these ratios of risks: 17 to 4 is the number of heart attacks of study group subjects taking Vioxx versus taking Naproxen. This is the risk findings of the VIGOR study that does not include three heart attacks that were in the VIGOR study data, but were not submitted to the Journal. These heart attacks were made public in the updated data released by the FDA from a memorandum dated July 5 2000 that was obtained by subpoena in the Vioxx litigation , and was than made available to the Journal.This puts the ratio of risk at 5 times higher than Naproxen. At least two of the three authors knew about the three heart attacks at least 4 1/2 months before publication of their VIGOR study according to the memorandum as well. 

Yet they did nothing. The number of heart attacks caused by taking Vioxx were clearly dangerously higher then from taking Naproxen and yet Merck sought approval for it’s drug Vioxx anyway. The exact number of patients who took Vioxx and suffered a heart attack is not entirely clear but according to Dr.David Graham, Associate director of The FDA Office of Drug Safety, the FDA’s failure to recall Vioxx from the market could led to as many as 60,000 deaths from heart attacks and stroke.

Carol Earnest was the first of tens of thousands who sued Merck over damages they claimed was caused by the drug Vioxx. Carol’s husband Robert Ernest, took Vioxx to treat the pain in his hands and less than eight months later he died of a heart attack in his sleep. Not understanding the cause of her husband’s tragic death, Carol researched until she concluded that Vioxx was the cause of his death. She was awarded 253 million dollars after suing Merck but later had that award reduced and then overturned by a court of appeals that found insufficient evidence that Vioxx was the cause of Robert’s death. 

How were other similar lawsuits handled? In 2007 Merck settled the rest of the lawsuits of the Vioxx cases for 4.85 billion dollars. Merck then had to settle Department of Justice criminal charges for 950 million dollars in 2011. Merck then settled  a class action lawsuit by investor’s lawsuits for 830 million dollars in 2016. By settling these lawsuits  they avoided having to dispute any more lawsuits brought against them and avoided actually taking responsibility for the charges brought against them.

After the Vioxx scandal, there was great public outcry for reform in the FDA’s ability to regulate and restrict the release of new pharmaceutical drugs to the market. The FDAA then passed the Amendments Acts of 2007, to better manage drug safety and past market surveillance, as well as transparency towards the public.

 Some critiques have made on the lack of change in transparency in this Act by The New England Journal of Medicine and others, but the underlying problem remains. The FDA views Big Pharma as it’s client it must cater to, not properly regulate.According to a FDA User fees PDF, in fiscal year 2022, user fees represented 46% of the FDA’s total budget of 6.2 billion dollars. Dr David Graham stated on CBS news among other concerns that ”If you’re a scientist, and you raise a safety question, almost all of the time, almost 100 percent of the time, pressure gets brought on you to change your opinion”. This makes sense as so much of the FDA’s funding comes from Big Pharma. The FDA doesn’t want to disappoint it’s client if it can possibly avoid it. 

The Vioxx scandal is a clear and tragic example of Big Pharma’s corruption as well as the FDA’s indifference to Big Pharma’s corruption. The corrupted structure of the FDA’s relationship with Big Pharma remains the same. Nothing has changed to protect the public from another Vioxx and so there is no protection at all, from Big Pharma or the FDA from any new dangerous pharmaceutical drugs.  

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