The Real Reason Drugs Are Killing Us

Dr. Frank Shallenberger, MD

August 28, 2023

 

The third leading cause of death in the United States is the drugs that doctors give their patients. Why is that?

One reason is that although the safety profile of each drug is checked by the FDA, the safety of different drugs taken together is unknown. So when one of your doctors gives you drug A and another one of your doctors gives you drug B, know this: The FDA has literally no idea what the interaction of these two drugs taken together will do.

It might work out or it might not. The point is that no one has ever studied it. Multiply this predicament by three or more drugs and you can see the problem. But this is not the only reason that drugs kill people.

A few years ago, researchers published a very important paper entitled, “Drugs interfering with mitochondrial disorders.” This paper ought to give doctors and patients alike some serious pause. Everyone should know what mitochondria are. So, before I get into the meat of this report, let me give you a brief refresher course on what mitochondria do.

Human beings are like Eveready bunnies. As long as our batteries are fully charged, we can do all the things we’re supposed to do. Things like move, think, smell, digest, detoxify, repair, etc. Literally every single human function is completely dependent on having adequately charged batteries. If our batteries start to lose their charge, we slow down just like the Eveready bunny. How do we keep those batteries charged? We do it in our mitochondria.

Each cell has thousands of tiny bubble-like structures called mitochondria. It’s in these mitochondria that the miracle of life starts and ends. It works like this. All that oxygen you breathe in has only one destination — your mitochondria. Your red blood cells and circulation carry the oxygen down to your cells. The oxygen enters your cells and then enters your mitochondria. Your mitochondria harness the energy from the oxygen to charge your batteries. As long as you are breathing, and as long as your mitochondria are working well, your batteries will stay charged and you will function like a fully charged Eveready bunny.

But what if you had a mitochondrial disorder and something was wrong with your mitochondria? What if they couldn’t harness the energy from the oxygen they were getting? In that case, every single function in your body would start to fail. Your heart would become weak. You would see a decrease in your brain and nervous system function. You would start to lose stamina and energy. Your immune system would not be able to protect you as well. When you became sick, it would be hard to get well again. In short, the quality of your life would decrease, you would age faster, you would fall apart sooner, and you would die sooner. This is what happens to people with mitochondrial disorders. And now it’s time to get back to my point.

The authors of this report point out that there are a great many drugs that are known to be toxic to our mitochondria. These drugs are so common, you might be taking one or more of them right now. The list is long. And it includes corticosteroids, seizure medications, sedatives, anesthetics, muscle relaxants, statin drugs, fibrate cholesterol drugs, various diabetes drugs, beta-blockers, amiodarone (a heart arrhythmia drug), some antibiotics, some chemotherapy drugs, anti-viral drugs, such as the ones used for herpes and HIV, and “various other drugs.” The authors of the study state that, “These agents should be avoided or given only under close monitoring.” And “Avoiding or discontinuing mitochondrion-toxic drugs in patients with mitochondrial disorders can have a significant impact on the course and outcome of these patients.” So what does all this have to do with you and the death rate from drugs?

It’s simple. Some people are born with genetically induced mitochondrial disorders. But others develop mitochondrial disorders as they get older. In fact, it’s the decreased mitochondrial function that happens with age that causes all of the symptoms, weakness, and frailty of aging. Every single one of us will get a mitochondrial disorder if we live long enough.

In 2003, I developed a way to test mitochondrial function in my patients. I patented the procedure and called it Bio-Energy Testing®. Since then, I’ve tested the mitochondrial function in thousands of people of all ages. What I’ve learned by doing this is described in my book Bursting With Energy, and in several scientific publications I’ve written. But here’s the bottom line.

Mitochondrial disorders are not nearly as uncommon as the medical profession believes. In fact, more than half of the population over the age of 50 has a detectable decrease in mitochondrial function. And this increases to more than 90% by the time a person celebrates his 75th birthday. As I said earlier, it only gets worse as we get older. And that’s one of the major reasons why the death rate from drugs is so high – we’re giving them to so many people who already have mitochondrial disorders.

As you may know, I’m not an anti-drug guy. I know that there are many times when drugs are needed and many times when they save lives. This is not the point. The point is that our medical system relies exclusively on drugs and ignores the many therapies out there that are safe and natural alternatives to medications.

Sir William Osler, MD is considered the father of modern medicine in the United States. One of his more famous quotes is, “One of the first duties of the physician is to educate the masses not to take medication.” Good old Doc Osler would surely roll over in his grave if he saw the patients of today who are often on three-plus drugs. In fact, one of the first things I do when consulting with patients who are on multiple drugs is to immediately work to get them off the drugs. In many cases, it’s the only way they will ever have a chance at feeling and functioning well.

So how can you use this information? I think the first thing is obvious. Go and have your mitochondrial function measured. Soon, this will be an everyday practice with alternative health-minded practitioners. But right now there are only a handful of doctors around the country doing this. You can find a list of them at www.bioenergytesting.com.

If your mitochondrial function is optimal, then you can have some champagne. Your lifestyle is perfect for your genetics. If it’s less than optimal, it lets you know that you’re going in the wrong direction, and you can make the appropriate changes.

Often, one of those changes is to either get off a medication that’s toxic to your mitochondria or change it to another one that isn’t. You will have to work with your doctor on that. Don’t stop a medication on your own without some medical advice.

Other factors that can play a role are nutrition, exercise, ozone therapy, hormonal replacement, detoxification, getting better sleep, cleaning up your diet, and chelation therapy. I discuss all of these things in my newsletter, and you can read all about them on my website. You’ll know when you have it all together because your mitochondrial function will start to improve, and you’ll feel great.

Sources:

Finsterer, J. and L. Segall. “Drugs interfering with mitochondrial disorders.” Drug Chem Toxicol. 2010 April;33(2):138-51.

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