You have probably heard the joke about the guy who goes to his doctor more than often. So one day a friend asks him what is going on. ‘My friend doctors have to earn their living, don’t they?’ he replies promptly. ‘Yes, but you also go and buy medicine from the pharmacies’ the friend responds. ‘Why do you do that?’ ‘Well the pharmacist also has to live you see.’ he says with a smile. The friend is astonished. ‘Why then do you not take your medicine?’ he asks. ‘Because I also want to live’, he replies.

Smart guys like this one have always realized that taking too much medicine can be bad for you. Yet lately, the issue seems to be getting more attention than ever. Every year, on World Health Day, WHO warns us again one disease or another. This year however, it decided to warn us against the dangers of the overuse of antibiotics. Really? You ask. We need to protect ourselves from diseases, NOT medicine, you think.

Well it turns out WHO is right, because medicine can be as harmful for our health as diseases. Because we have been gobbling down antibiotics whenever we felt like it bacteria have grown resistant to it. According to WHO, if no action is taken, we will soon enter an era when antibiotics will not work at all and people will start dying from common infections. But this is not the only danger from medicine. Some medicine can have terrible side effects, and others can be fatal when taken in combination with another.
Some of us may feel that in a world where many still live without food and shelter, we should be concerned with the lack of medicine rather than the excess of it. To some extent this is true, but although in one hand many people are not getting medicine, on the other hand, many people, especially in the upper and upper middle classes, are getting sick from too much medicine. In fact a study published in the Journal Medical Science Foundation found that adverse effect of medical treatment is the 3rd leading cause of death in the US, after heart disease and cancer, with 7000 people dying every year from taking the wrong medicine.

Now the question is what role do doctors play in all this? An organization called Health Watch has found that on average, a Bangladeshi doctor spends about 54 seconds with his patient! Is it really possible to diagnose a disease correctly in such a short time? And what about us? Whenever we feel a little sick we start to gobble down medicine. Then when we feel a little better, we stop taking them, who cares if the course was completed or not? Then after six months, we fall sick again and start taking the same medicine again without consulting the doctor. And of course, many of us turn into doctors ourselves when are sick, prescribing medicine for ourselves based on something we have read or heard.

The main problem is our over dependence on medicine. According to Dr. John Robbins our mistaken view of the healthcare system has taken us down this unhealthy path. We think that good health is in the hospitals or drug stores or in the hands of the doctor who will heal us with some miraculous pills or injections. So we change doctor after doctor, medicine after medicine. But in most cases tour condition remains the same.

In fact what is necessary is the correct attitude and lifestyle. You have to know that you have the ability to heal yourself; the doctor can only help you in the process. As long as you don’t believe this, no medicine can cure you. Studies have shown that about 75% of our diseases are psychosomatic. Of the remaining 25%, 15% are because of infections, viruses, improper diet and lack of physical activities and 10% are due to accidents, drug reactions or mistreatment. So simply embracing the right attitude can prevent and cure 75% diseases. Even for the remaining 25%, correct attitude increases the efficiency of treatment.

So from now on try to have as little medicine as possible unless it is serious. And don’t get over anxious about common diseases. Instead change your lifestyle and food habits. For example relaxation is the most effective painkiller. So why take pills for pain when you have such a simple cure in your hand ? And also, the more you meditate the stronger your immune system will become and the less you will get sick. Then you will see be you safe from both diseases and medicine.