THE MOUTH, THE MIND, OR MEDICINES?

New Zealand Listener, Volume 30, Issue 769, 15 April 1954, Page 16

THE MOUTH, THE MIND, OR MEDICINES?

N 1952, Mr. or Mrs., Master or Miss New Zealander, you ate or drank or had injected into you, the result of almost ten million prescriptions. Your expectations of medicines following a doctor’s visit were gratified, and it cost you over three million pounds, or 28/4%% for every man, woman and child in the country. Many a time your doctor has little faith in the medicine he gives you, but -you ask for something to take, and he gives it to your pressure, Medicines and drugs are legion, and down through the ages man has pinned his faith in them. There was little science behind their use until modern times. Experimental work and research has shown a great many drugs to be worthless. On the other hand, it has’ modified some remedies and made them

worthwhile, and eeéaced’ new wonder drugs and antibiotics that have amazing success. Your doctor does know how to discriminate, but he doesn’t say no to you because of your false belief that there’s a medicine for every ill. I personally wish he would say no to you many a time and break you of the bottle of medicine habit. Do gargles get rid of big tonsils or help much

with sore throats? Cough medicines |}cure a cough? Not really; they soothe only, while your body resistance puts up the fight! Liniments that you rub in through the skin mostly do but little good, but there’s still a touching faith in them. In tonics you have an ardent belief. Vitamin pills must be wonderful, for your acceptance of these tots up about one-tenth of the national pharmaceutical bill, You waste much medicine and money through prescriptions for these pick-me-ups. They have no hope of curing troubles that have their roots in your diet or your manner of living. Well-being doesn’t come from | tonics, but from a pattern of living. This pattern is moulded in good feeding, good housing, good social adjustments, and good mental health. Doing

|} 8 00a Gays work | for our pay is part of this good mental health process. It is better that both 'doctor and patient -admit frankly that many ailments have no drug cures; that, for example, while the doctor can now- = cure a pneuhis prescriptions will not cure the common cold. Back in 1943 we spent approximately ten shillings per head on medicines. In ten years we —

have almost trebled that. ~And ‘don’t forget this is prescription medicines, leaving out all that vast amount of proprietary and patent medicines that you keep on buying. Are you any healthier for this huge total of medicaments? No, not really! Your faith "in them seems false, for you are taking more and and more of them, and the health you are seeking is elusive. Health is not to be found in the medicine cupboard. Indigestion occasionally arises from disease, but much more commonly has its roots in faulty eating, in emotional upsets and unhappiness, and in anxiety and worry, Recognise these things, take counter measures, and the. indigestion disappears without any medicines. But something like five per cent of our national drug bill goes in. indigestion remedies. Some of this is legitimate, most of it is useless expenditure. When you chase health through medicines, you are on the wrong trail, and the health you seek will keep slipping away round the corner. You have provided for you every kind of service for curing ills, for diagnosing, for treating, for putting you back on your feet, and in your minds hospitals and medicines loom so largely that you think of these as synonymous with health. We must have these, but they’re not the track to health, Food is one way to health. Balanced meals-the right protective foodstuffs every day, this is a definite key to resistance to bodily ills. Rest and relaxation are important items to offset the tenseness and drive in modern life. Steady hard work in working months, followed by the annual holiday-this is a part of being healthy. Fresh air,

sunshine, bodily cleanliness, play their part. Mental adjustments to life’s difficulties are as important as right food. The. mind, unhappy and~- uns settled, transfers its worries into body aches and pains, for which medicines are just waste time. The Mouth, the Mind, or Medicines! Which? The first two keep you healthynot the medicine cupboerd. ;