Better life through chemistry?

...someday..., we'll medicate human experience right out of the human experience.

~ Dennis Lehane

I am concerned about a persistent and worrying trend - the promotion of better living through chemistry. In fact, we now have the technology to convert human cells into drug-making factories.

Our priority seems to be to minimize symptoms - provide immediate gratification - at the risk of causing unsustainable personal and systemic long-term harm.

Symptoms are the body’s cry for help. Numbing them is akin to turning off the warning light in a car.

There is no doubt that medication can save and improve the quality of life. Nearly 1 in 5 Canadians report that they do not have prescription drug coverage, which may impair their ability to get life-saving medicine. But many are consuming excessive amounts of questionable prescription drugs.

Over-treatment is not sustainable for long-term personal health and the viability of the health care system.

Focus on prevention

I believe focus and spending on prevention is the route to sustainable health.

From my perspective, prevention is not just about testing and immunizing. We can’t test to health. And given a healthy internal ecology, the right balance of "good" to "harmful" microbes, we can prevent most infectious disease and autoimmune condition.

Health starts with birth into a harmonious home that lavishes the infant with feelings of safety, love and belonging in the formative years. Clean water, clean food, clean air, sunshine, access to personalized health care, a sense of purpose and active daily living are essential too.

Lobbying for more drugs

In Canada, we have organizations lobbying governments to deliver more free drugs to seniors, as if they aren’t getting enough. 1 in 4 seniors was prescribed 10+ drugs in 2016.

To monitor the effects of poly-pharmacy, a senior has to do bloodwork and review it with their family physician every three months. Specialist appointments are often needed too. Progressive harm caused to the liver and kidneys must be monitored.

Other organizations are working hard to get more free drugs to kids. About one-half of Canadian children get at least one prescription medication annually, and the average child receives four prescriptions per year. Children aren't born drug deficient.

We seek to increase lifespan, while reducing health-span and quality of life, due to drug and other invasive treatment side effects. Never mind the economic burden imposed.

Social determinants of health

A recent headline caught my attention: Canada's health system ranked second last among 11 other high-income countries. Relative to other affluent nations, the report says Canada spends less on social programs, such as early childhood education, parental leave, and income supports for single parents, which impact healthcare services.

It takes a community to raise a child. But it starts with a healthy, happy, resilient mother in a supportive, harmonious and loving partnership, surrounded by extended family and/or community supports.

The fetus becomes accustomed to mom's resonance in-utero and relies on proximity to her to help attune its developing central nervous system.

Research shows that the absence of primary attachment figures, usually mothers, in the first three years of life, when 85% of the right brain develops, can set one up for stress disorders later in life.

Unless an infant is soothed as needed and receives cues of safety in the formative years, brain development, and central nervous system function, will be impaired.

Yet, we've had former generations trained to let babies cry it out to get to sleep, and beliefs that children are meant to be seen and not heard.

We live in a culture that applauds early back to work efforts post child birth and diminishes the value of child care.

When we outsource child-care services, compensation to caregivers is often insufficient. Much needed affectionate touch is discouraged. A child does not develop a secure attachment style when caregivers come and go.

Any person who has ever stayed home to raise a child from infancy, without help, will admit that it is the most demanding job they have ever done. They are on-call 24/7. Many can hardly wait to get back to work where they can enjoy a peaceful lunch, coffee breaks and intellectually stimulating conversation with colleagues.

Health starts in infancy

Children are like wet cement whatever falls on them makes an impression.

~ Haim Ginott

Prioritizing the needs of children, and providing the supports needed for stay-at-home parents, will reduce the burden to health care over time.

A harmonious and safe community to live, learn, work and play in, is fundamental for optimal health and well-being.

Families are the building blocks of a healthy society. Providing the support families need to raise happy, healthy, resilient children will yield better outcomes than promoting better life through chemistry.