High Blood Pressure Be Gone

Posts Tagged ‘hypertension drugs’

Side effects of hypertension drugs

Anti-hypertension  medications are often the first thing that a doctor will prescribe when high blood pressure is detected.  This leads to millions of people taking them everyday.

This has resulted in soaring profits for the pharmaceutical industry. But what about the people taking these drugs?

Unfortunately anti-hypertensive medications do not cure high blood pressure  but merely regulate it.  Which means you have to take them everyday for the rest of your life – or your blood pressure will climb back up to dangerous levels.

Another negative aspect of blood pressure medications is bad side effects.

Below is a list of common blood pressure medications and their associated side effects:

ACE inhibitors

The most common side effect is a dry cough

Rarer side effects include:

• Lightheadedness,
• dizziness,
• rash,
• reduced
• appetite,
• increased blood potassium,
• changes in the flavor of foods and swelling.

Alpha Blockers

dizziness and feeling faint when sitting up or standing up.

Additional side effects include:

• headache,
• pounding heartbeat,
• nausea, weakness,
• weight gain.

Angiotensin II receptor blockers

Side effects (relatively rare) include:

• Diarrhea,
• dizziness,
• headache,
• lightheadedness,
• back and leg pain,
• sinus congestion,
• kidney failure,
• liver failure,
• allergic reaction,
• lowered white blood cells,
• swelling.

Beta Blockers

Common side effects include:

• Cold hands, dizziness,
• fatigue, and weakness.

Less common side effects include:

• Depression,
• reduced libido (sex drive),
• insomnia (trouble sleeping),
• shortness of breath.

Beta-blockers may cause severe asthma attacks.  They can also block indications of low blood sugar (like a racing pulse) in diabetics.   Beta-blockers can affect cholesterol and triglyceride levels, typically temporarily.   Abrupt discontinuation of beta-blockers can increase risk of heart attack and other heart issues.

Calcium channel blockers

Common side effects include:

• Constipation, drowsiness,
• flushing,
• headache,
• nausea,
• rapid pulse,
• swelling in the lower legs and feet.

Some calcium channel blockers react with grapefruit and foods that contain grapefruit by blocking the liver from properly removing them from the blood – resulting in dangerous concentrations.

Central-acting agents

Side effects include:

• Constipation,
• depression,
• dizziness,
• dry mouth,
• drowsiness,
• fatigue,
• headache,
• impotence,
• impaired thinking,
• weight gain.

Abrupt discontinuation can cause dangerous spikes in blood pressure – especially when taken with a beta-blocker.

Diuretics

Side effects include:

• Increased urination,
• too much potassium in the blood (with potassium-sparing diuretics),
• too little potassium in the blood (with thiazide diuretics),
• breast enlargement in men,
• increased blood sugar,
• increased cholesterol,
• erectile dysfunction (ED, impotence),
• low blood sodium,
• rash,
• gout (joint inflammation),>
• menstrual irregularities.

Vasodilators

Side effects include:

• Chest pain,
• dizziness,
• flushing
• headache,
• fluid retention,
• heart palpitations,
• nausea,
• sinus congestion,
• racing pulse,
• vomiting
• excessive hair growth.

(anti-hypertension medication side effects list source:  www.bloodpressuresecret.com)

Side effects from blood pressure medications is not something I’ve simply read about.  It’s something I’ve experenced.

When I was first diagnosed with dangerously high blood pressure I was prescribed Rampril, an ACE inhibitor commonly used here in the UK.  Just like it says on the  list above, I developed a persistent dry cough. All day and night. (For the two months I was on Rampril I kept a glass of water besides my bed. Taking a sip of water was the only way I could relieve the irritation long enough to get back to sleep after waking up every few hours needing to have a bout of coughing.)

After two months of this slow  torture and my blood pressure remained high with no sign of coming down. I could have gone on to other medications but instead made a commitment to try to get my body back in balance using alternative methods without the use of drugs.

Four months on and my blood pressure had dropped to 135/100 range – a drop of some 55 points. Now, 8 months after following natural methods my blood pressure in in the 120/80 range.

So the good news is  – there are ways to lower your blood pressure naturally that really work – without having to take medications and putting up with side effects.

The only catch is that it doesn’t come in the form of a pill. It takes time and practice. It also requires a change in diet and lifestyle.

If you need to lower your blood pressure without taking medications  I can give no higher recommendation than Kevin Riley’s 12 week program  Get Natural! This program is a pleasure to read and follow – with no bad side effects.

The Get Natural! program is now bundled in as a free bonus as part of the BreathEasy program. This program also helps to lower blood pressure through following regulated breathing exercises 15 minutes a day.

I would  recommend the BreathEasy program too. I do a 15 minute slow breathing exercise most nights before bed. It’s very relaxing and even in the span of 15 minutes my blood pressure will often drop 5 – 10  points systolic.

You can check out some free samples of  BreathEasy audio tracks at this link:  www.highbloodpressurehq.com

These two programs have worked for me. What has worked for you?

The acceptable range of blood pressure is debatable. The new regime of defining everything over 120/80 as hypertension (or pre-hypertension) is more a “confluence of interests” than scientific fact.

The former “rule of thumb” for acceptable blood pressure levels went like this:

- systolic 100 + your age

In other words, it was accepted that blood pressure would rise as one aged.

The new regime is must simpler. It says that 120/80 and below is OK. Up to 140/90 is “pre-hypertension”. And anything over 140/90 is hypertension.

The 120/80 is now the one-size-fits all model. “Pre-hypertension” is regularly treated with prescription medication to prevent it from turning into “the dreaded silent killer” hypertension.

The new regime has resulted in a multi-billion dollar boom to the pharmaceutical industry dealing in blood pressure regulating medications leading some to question this shift to regulating blood pressure at lower levels.

Is it more motivated by profit than health?

Doctor are caught between a rock and a hard thing regardless of their own professional judgment. They are bombarded almost daily by sales literature from powerful pharmaceutical companies that can and do sway the prevailing opinions of accepted medical practice. Doctors leave themselves open to malpractice litigation if they don’t follow the newly established measurements and procedures.

But a blood pressure measurement of 120/80 is not necessarily ‘normal’ – rather it’s an ideal.

If your BP is consistently near to 120/80 range then pat yourself on the back. It doesn’t get much better. The other  95% of us in our 40s and above require a range a little more flexible to remain in reality and avoid becoming a lifelong medication junkie.

The upper ’safe’ range has been suggested to be 140/100 and below.

If you are on or below this range, and over the age of 40, you don’t have life-threatening high blood pressure. Now is the time to think about lifestyle changes to ensure it doesn’t get too much higher.

In other words, it’s normal to have slightly higher blood pressure levels as one ages. Welcome to the human race.

What isn’t normal is to have desperately high blood pressure levels. If you’re measuring in at over 150/110 It’s time to act.

That doesn’t necessarily mean running to your doctor to get a prescription.

High  blood pressure is an indication that your body is out of balance. You can get your body back in balance through exercise and diet. See my Natural Cures Review for more information.

I brought my blood pressure from close to 200/120 down to 130/90 range in four months through diet and exercise. Six months on it is now usually below 130/90. And I’ve never felt better.

Mind you I only embarked on alternative remedies for high blood pressure after two months of medication (ACE inhibitor).  That medication was a total failure for me.  It gave me a persistent dry cough and didn’t bring my BP down at all.

Had I stayed with the medication route I’m sure the doctor would have found some combination of chemicals that forced my BP to lower levels but that’s hardly a cure. And it would have turned me into a lifelong pill popper.

So, three things to remember:

1. If your BP reading are consistently under 140/100, relax, you’re OK.
2. If your readings are consistently over 140/105 then it’s time to take action.
3. There are better ways to reduce your blood pressure to acceptable levels than taking daily doses of blood pressure lowering drugs.

Best wishes,

Simon

You don’t have to spend too much time searching the web to find dire warnings about hypertension “the silent killer” urging you to run to your doctors and start a lifelong enslavement to the pharmaceutical industry.

Here’s an example from South Africa (www.findarticles.za.org):

High blood pressure rates are also growing among American children, paralleling an epidemic of obesity. Hypertension in grownups will usually be measured on at least two different trips to the doctor before a diagnosis is made. It can be treated by both modifying lifestyles, usually as the first step, and, if necessary, with medications. Diuretics work in the kidney and flush out excess water and sodium from the body.

Nearly 1 in 3 American adults has hypertension. Once It develops, it usually remains for the rest of your lifetime. Fortunately, it can be easily detected, and once you know you have it, you can work with your physician to control it.

About the Author:

About The writer: R. Ealom is the writer of this article and the creator of “Free Articles On Diseases: How To Prevent and Cure Them”. Need more information Please visit us at our websites@Diabetes & Cancer Secrets OR Go To Heart Disease & Obesity Secrets. You have full permission to reprint this article provided this box is kept unchanged.

My response:

Simon Foster

Controlling hypertension through medications should really be left as a last resort when everything else fails. Why?

Medications do not treat the cause of high blood pressure – just the symptoms – which means you’ll have to take them till the end of your days.

Statistics show that people on blood pressure controlling drugs are more likely to die from heart disease that those not on them.

Blood pressure controlling drugs often come with side effects that can significantly reduce your quality of life.

Certain exercises and dietary changes can reduce blood pressure to safe levels in 90%+ of high blood pressure sufferers. The end result is not just the end of severe hypertension but a healthier, happier and longer life.

There’s simple formula that is pounded out day after day on the web and it goes something like this:

“Go to your doctor, get your pressure read, if it’s over 140/90 get a prescription and start your lifelong habit of daily drug taking.”

Ok, that’s an oversimplification but it all amounts to the same thing – too hasty a diagnosis and a preference to patronize the pharmaceutical industry over getting you body back in a healthy balance.

here’s an example from copdnewsoftheday.com:

Always ask your provider what your blood pressure is and write it down. Discuss these numbers with your provider.

Your provider may prescribe medicine to help lower your blood pressure.

Take your medicine every day, or as directed by your provider.
If your blood pressure numbers get lower, it’s because your medicine is working. Don’t stop it or take a lower dose unless your provider says you should.

Blood pressure reading is an inexact science at best. Blood pressure readings vary as much as 10 points from one reading to another taken in succession. In other words, you could be pre-hypertension for one reading and below normal for the next – without your actual blood pressure changing at all. Accuracy can only be measured in ranges, not exact number.

Lowering blood pressure via natural an alternative means is easily achievable for most. Prescription medication should only be promoted as a last an desperate measure for that small minority that can’t do it any other way.

Although not well publicized, people on blood pressure lowering drugs have a greater chance of suffering heart attack and  stroke. That doesn’t necessarily mean that these drugs cause heart attack and  stroke. That’s just statistics.

The bottom line is this:

If you suffer from high blood pressure make the necessary lifestyle changes and get healthy – not drugged up.

From: sicknessmatter.blogspot.com

Hypertension Dangers

… Now according to an article I recently read on the Internet what I have written above is a load Rubbish as our BP changes constantly (I accept that) and that consistent High Blood Pressure can be a sign of a problem (I accept that), But he then says that lowering Blood Pressure with medication does not do any good and if the Doctor can’t find a reason for the High BP then that is what is normal for the individual.

Well how about that, I should tell you that it was written by a Pharmacist who hates drug companies. But I do agree with one point that he does kind of make and that is that Doctors do tend to dish out drugs very readily, which is a bit suspicious when there is such a high profit in them.

If your BP is higher than normal then that is not normal and for anyone to suggest that this is normal for the individual is crazy. So if you come across the same article then don’t take it in, instead consult a Doctor.

Don’t let High Blood Pressure go untreated, because long term you could have kidney failure or have a stroke or heart attack. Talk to your Doctor about your options.

Simon Foster

Fact: Blood Pressure medications don’t cure high blood pressure. If they did, after you took them you’d be OK.

Unfortunately, hypertension medications only treat the symptoms and not the cause – so you have to take them till you die – which according to statistics will be sooner than if you never took any in the first place!

Thankfully there are pleasant, natural and permanent ways to reduce your blood pressure and risk of stroke and heart attack.

I speak from direct experience – not just theory and studies.

To see my reviews on natural remedies click here: Lower Your Blood Pressure – Natural Cures Review

From: myhealthmattersnow.com

Danger-High Blood Pressure

Are you in danger with high blood pressure? What is high blood pressure? What do the numbers mean when you have taken your blood pressure reading?

Your blood pressure is the force of your blood pressing against the wall  of your artery. Each time your heart beats, it is pumping blood through your blood vessels. When your heart beats and is pushing your blood into all the arteries, is what they call the systolic pressures. Then when the heart rests, as that is what they call it- when between its beats, is when the pressures decline and that is what they call the diastolic pressure.

When you have your blood pressure taken there are always these two numbers of the systolic and diastolic pressures. Systolic is the top one and diastolic is the bottom number. They say the almost perfect numbers are like 120/80. This is a base for you to go by when dealing with blood pressures of either the high blood pressure and also for low blood pressures.

So what is the danger of high blood pressure? Some risk factors include things like:

1.Stroke

2.Heart disease and heart attacks

3.Kidney diseases

4.Can cause blindness

5.Dementia

Isn’t this list scary enough for you to take charge of your health and the danger of high blood pressure? Remember, it’s sometimes called the ‘Silent Killer’ and there is a reason for that ugly name. Taking your blood pressure is necessary for all of us and with proper diet and exercise can be controlled very well with eating lots of raw fruits and raw vegetables and low-fat  healthy foods.

Simon Foster

There’s been a lot of talk lately about getting everyone down to a 120/80 level – even if it requires everyone to be put on drugs for life.

This is pretty much whats going on these days and distributors of blood pressure lowering drugs are reaping billion dollar bonanzas in the process.

The old rule of thumb of systolic 100 + you age has been turfed – not that you hear the international pharmaceutical companies complain.

The problem with blood pressure lowering medications is twofold.

First, they don’t cure the cause, just the symptoms. Which means you have to take them till death.

Second, studies have shown that those on blood pressure lowering medications are, on the average, at greater risk of heart attack and stroke.

Thankfully there are a number of effective natural cures to high blood pressure that you do.

For a review of natural remedies click here.

From www.nigerianbestforum.com

Using data from national health surveys and from the U.S. National Center the researchers estimated how many lives would be saved and deaths prevented if a risk factor were at the optimal level, creating what they called a comparative risk assessment. The optimal level for smoking, for instance, would be no smokers.

”We put these surveys of levels of these risk factors together with epidemiological studies that tell us how bad they are, and this led to estimates of the number of deaths that are caused by each risk factor,” Ezzati said.

Being overweight or being physically inactive each accounted for 1 in 10 deaths. The dietary risks associated with the highest risk of death were high salt intake, low omega-3 intake and high trans fat intake.

Dr. Ramachandran Vasan, chief of the section of medicine and epidemiology at Boston University School of Medicine and senior investigator for the Framingham Heart Study, said the researchers tried to quantify risk factors that included metabolic, dietary and lifestyle issues.

Their findings have ”a lot of public health importance,” he said. Vasan had no involvement with the study.

Ezzati agreed, saying the study results would show public health officials that ”efforts to reduce smoking and lower blood pressure seem to have run out of steam.”

Asked if the blood pressure risk factor was due to controlled or uncontrolled blood pressure, he said: ”Controlled is an arbitrary term. Many people [with high blood pressure] who are controlled [on medication] are still at risk, because it is still high.”

But Vasan said that, on an individual level, the study offers an important take-home point. ”It reinforces the idea that it‘s a good idea to stop smoking and to periodically visit your doctor to get your blood pressure and your cholesterol checked,” he said.

Simon Foster

Response: The problem with taking medication to control blood pressure is that it treats the symptoms and not the cause – which means you have to stay on them till death.

Other studies have shown that those on high pressure medications have a greater risk of heart disease and premature death.

So what’s worse – high blood pressure or the treatment?

The best response to high blood pressure is a change in lifestyle to get your body back in balance.

From: www.lsblog.org

An international scientific study involving researchers from the University of Glasgow has identified eight common genetic differences which may increase the risk of high blood pressure.

The University researchers, led by Professor Anna Dominiczak and Professor John Connell, contributed to the global study of genes in high blood pressure through participation in the Medical Research Council’s British Genetics of Hypertension study.

High blood pressure – or hypertension – affects at least eighteen million people in the UK and is a major risk factor for heart disease and stroke. Although lifestyle factors such as smoking and diet can raise blood pressure, it also runs in families suggesting a genetic link.

The genes identified by the researchers are thought to influence blood pressure in different ways: for example, through the production of chemicals, known as steroids, which affect how the kidneys process salt; or how the blood vessels regulate blood pressure.

Although the effect of each of the new gene variants is small, when combined their influence could significantly raise a person’s risk of stroke or heart attack.

The role of steroid hormones in controlling hypertension is one of the key areas studied within the British Heart Foundation Glasgow Cardiovascular Research Centre at the University.

Prof Connell, a senior researcher and Professor of Endocrinology, whose research group has a particular interest in steroids and blood pressure, said: “This latest study increases understanding of the underlying causes of high blood pressure, why some people are more susceptible to it than others and opens up further avenues for research into potential treatments.

“It is important to stress that environmental factors also play a big part so diet, smoking and weight control all important methods of controlling high blood pressure.”

In the new study, scientists looked at the human genome for genetic variations affecting blood pressure. They compared 2.5 million genetic variants from more than 34,000 people with measurements of their blood pressure. They found eight genetic differences linked to changes in blood pressure.

The study, published in Nature Genetics, involved over 150 scientists from 93 centres in Europe and the USA with funding from a variety of sources including the Medical Research Council, the British Heart Foundation and the Wellcome Trust.

Source
Nexxus, Scotland

Simon Foster

The link between genetics and high blood pressure is very convincing and goes a way to explain why some people (such as myself) suffer from extreme high blood pressure while living an otherwise healthy lifestyle.

Some people are simply programmed to have high blood pressure.

This doesn’t mean that it’s OK and isn’t a health risk.

It does mean that we are going to have to work a little harder lowering our blood pressure.

It means we are going to have to do more than simply change our diet and exercise each day.

It means we have to re-program our bodies to function with lower and safer levels of blood pressure.

I have discovered that this re-programming is entirely possible without recourse to prescription drugs and their undesirable side-effects.

From: www.turnto23.com

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — New research has challenged the notion that only patients with high blood pressure can benefit from drug treatment.

Doctors from Great Britain analyzed four decades worth of clinical research on hypertension medications and studied more than 400,000 people.Results showed that the blood pressure drugs reduced the odds of stroke and heart disease for essentially all patients, even those with no history of heart disease or hypertension.

The medications cut the risk for heart attacks by about one-quarter and the risk for strokes by one-third.

The authors suggested that all seniors should be offered the blood pressure drugs, even if they have normal blood pressure levels.

Simon Foster

Response:

If this is a reference to the report recently released by the BMJ then I’d remain skeptical.

The two main authors of this report are in the process of creating and registering a mild multi-use hypertension drug that could be prescribed to everyone.

In short, if this report is accepted and adopted for general practice the main authors stand in good position to be incredibly rich.

That makes me a little suspicious.

This just in from www.guardian.co.uk

Should all older people be on high blood pressure drugs?

All adults over a certain age should be offered drugs which lower blood pressure, according to the authors of a major new study. It found that blood pressure drugs can reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes in older adults, regardless of what their blood pressure measurement was to begin with.

What do we know already?

Heart attacks and strokes are the leading cause of death in the UK. Among 65-year-olds in England and Wales, about 10 per cent of men and 5 per cent of women will have a heart attack in the next 10 years, and about 5 per cent of men and 4 per cent of women will have a stroke. As you get older, your risk of having a heart attack or stroke increases.

In most people blood pressure starts to climb as they grow older, but it may not be considered high by current guidelines. If your blood pressure becomes too high, it can damage the walls of the blood vessels, increasing the risk of a heart attack or stroke. Treatment for high blood pressure includes changes in lifestyle (diet, exercise, stopping smoking) and medication. What treatment your doctor recommends will depend on how high your blood pressure is, as well as other factors.

At present, blood pressure drugs are used to reduce high blood pressure to a specific target level. But some studies suggest these drugs should instead be prescribed based on the overall risk of cardiovascular disease, regardless of blood pressure. This would mean most older people would be offered these drugs.

Researchers have now explored this issue in the largest-ever review of blood pressure studies.

What does the new study say?

Researchers looked at 147 blood pressure studies, involving more than 464,000 people aged 60 to 69. The studies focused on 5 major types of blood pressure drugs: thiazides, beta-blockers, angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, angiotensin receptor blockers, and calcium-channel blockers.

The researchers did a meta-analysis, which means they combined the studies’ results to see what conclusions they could draw from the research as a whole. They looked specifically at what happened when drugs lowered systolic or diastolic blood pressure by a given amount. (Systolic pressure is the top number of a blood pressure reading and gives the pressure when the heart pumps the blood out. Diastolic pressure is the bottom number, which is the pressure when the heart is relaxed).

They found that:

• Lowering blood pressure by a given amount reduced the risk of heart attacks by about a quarter and stroke by a third.
• These improvements applied to everyone, regardless of whether their blood pressure had been diagnosed as high before treatment.
• All 5 drugs worked well for reducing the risk of heart attacks and strokes.
• The risk of heart attacks and strokes continued to decrease as blood pressure dropped even lower. This suggests, say the researchers, that doctors should adopt a ‘lower is better’ approach to managing blood pressure, rather than trying to reduce blood pressure to a target level and keep it there.

Tell me more about the study’s findings

The researchers also looked at how combining three drugs at half doses might affect the risk of heart attacks and strokes. To do this, they merged their results with those of 2 other studies.

They found that using 3 drugs at half doses could cut the risk of heart attacks and strokes by twice as much as using 1 drug at a standard dose. This provides support, say the researchers, for offering a ‘polypill’ to anyone with a higher risk of these problems, including most older people.

How reliable are the findings?

These findings are based on a large number of studies, with nearly half a million people in total. This gives substantial weight to the results. However, combining the findings of so many studies can be problematic, as there are differences in how the studies were conducted and what types of patients they included. This leaves room for error and misinterpretation.

The research did not report on the side effects of blood pressure medicines. From other research, we know these can include dizziness, tiredness, sexual problems, and nausea.

Another drawback is that the study doesn’t compare the effects of offering drug treatment to all older adults with the effects of lifestyle advice, such as exercise, reducing salt levels, dietary changes, and stopping smoking.

The study’s conclusions on combining drugs are less reliable, as no studies have actually looked at using 3 blood pressure medicines at half doses. The researchers based their findings on the assumption that combining these drugs would add up to a larger benefit, but we need more studies to know if this is correct.

Where does the study come from?

The study was done by researchers at the Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine, at Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry. It was published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), which is owned by the British Medical Association.

Two of the authors hold patents (granted and pending) on the formulation of a combined pill to reduce four risk factors for heart attack and strokes, including blood pressure.

What does this mean for me?

If you are an older adult, this study suggests you may benefit from taking blood pressure drugs even if your blood pressure isn’t considered high. In future, you might even be offered a ‘polypill’ that combines low doses of different blood pressure drugs to help prevent heart attacks and strokes. However, the guidelines on who and who should not be treated with blood pressure drugs are unlikely to be changed at present.

What should I do now?

You don’t need to do anything as a result of this study. But if you are concerned about your risk of having a heart attack or stroke, be sure to talk to your doctor. You can have a risk assessment to estimate your chances of heart attack or stroke. This will look at a range of risk factors such as your exercise levels, weight, and family history, as well as your blood pressure. All adults over 40 should have a risk assessment, and adults of all ages with a strong family history of early heart disease or stroke should have one.

From:

Law MR, Morris JK, Wald NJ. Use of blood pressure lowering drugs in the prevention of cardiovascular disease: meta-analysis of 147 randomised trials in the context of expectations from prospective epidemiological studies. BMJ 2009; 338: b1665.

Response:

Simon Foster

On the surface you’d think: ‘Hey, that’s a good idea. Put everyone on these mild multi-drugs and save lives!’

Read a little closer and its starts to appear more sinister.

First, how many subjects in the test? Answer: “a large number”.  That could mean anywhere from 5 to 5,000. Vague answers are simply evasions.

Q: Who’s publishing the results?

A: The Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine – two of the authors hold patents (granted and pending) on the formulation of a combined pill to reduce four risk factors for heart attack and strokes, including blood pressure.

In other words, this study is anything but objective. If accepted by the medical community the authors may become multimillionaires overnight.

This article is indicative of how the entire medical industry shifted its central role of caring and healing sick people to becoming a giant dispenser machine for the pharmaceutical industry.

Don’t expect the Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine to champion exercises and diets to live healthy and long. There’s no money in that!

Excuse my cynicism but the more I examine the fine print in the goings on of the medical establishment (and the world in general) the more suspicious and cynical I become.