Miracle medicine

Inciardi, James A. and Jennifer L. Good. 2003. OxyContin and Prescription Drug Abuse Miracle Medicine or Problem Drug Consumer s Research Magazine 86(7) 17. 

Kiefer, D. M. Chemistry Chronicles Miracle Medicines. Today s Chemist 10, no. 6 (June 2001) 59-60. 

The discovery of insulin at the University of Toronto in 1921-22 was one of the most dramatic events in the history of the treatment of disease. Insulin s impact was so sensational because of the incredible effect it had on diabetic patients. Those who watched the first starved, sometimes comatose, diabetics receive insulin and return to life saw one of the genuine miracles of modem medicine. They were present at the closest approach to the resurrection of the body that our secular society can achieve, and at the discovery of what has become the elixir of life for millions of human beings around the world. 

Holt SMD, Linda C. (1998) Miracle Herbs How Herbs Combine with Modern Medicine to Treat Cancer, Heart Disease, AIDS and More, Caro Publishing Group. 

Nobel Prize in medicine in 1948 for his discovery of the insecticide potential of DDT. By 1950 DDT and several related compounds were viewed as miracle insecticides that were inexpensive and that could be used indiscriminately. 

Lenzer, Jeanne. Medicine s Magic Bullets Discover 29, no. 7 (July 2008) 46-52. Rather than produce miracle cures, prescription drugs are more likely, according to this article, to cause adverse reactions. The author describes problems ranging from biased clinical trials to excessive claims of benefits in advertising that lead to the widespread use of unsafe drugs and make clear the need for FDA reforms. 

The healing power of Christ figures as his greatest demonstration of power, and shows him to be but a type and symbol of our Catholic Medicine, the panacea for all the ills that flesh is heir to, and if man can but unfold this power, then indeed HE becomes the incarnate Christ, able to perform even greater miracles than those recorded of Jesus. 

Many of today s most important medicines come from obscure plant and animal species. A mold is the source of penicillin, the miracle drug an herb is the source of quinine, a cure for malaria. Scientists are testing countless plant and animal species around the world for sources of cures for major diseases. 

The current public view of modern medicines, ably fuelled by the mass media, is a compound of vague expectation of miracle cures with outrage when anything goes wrong. It is also unreasonable to expect the public to trust the medical profession (in collaboration with the pharmaceutical industry) to the extent of leaving to them all drug matters. 

THC is a new miracle medication. It is being used in the form of marijuana throughout the world for medical uses. During the 1990 s many states began decriminalizing the plant for personal cultivation by patients. Patients that use cannabis medicinally are not criminals. 

Most patent medicines claimed to work miracles, but ultimately did nothing to heal people, and in some cases caused actual harm, as was the case with Pittsburgh millionaire and industrialist Eben Byers. In 1928, Mr. Byers injured himself at a post-game party following the annual Yale-Harvard football game. On the advice of his physician, Byers drank three half-ounce bottles per day of a patent medicine called Radithor to ease his pain and overcome his injury. He continued this treatment for two years, but stopped abruptly when his teeth started falling out. Though the manufacturer claimed that Radithor was harmless in every respect, the concoction contained radium, a radioactive element, that not only caused Byers loss of teeth but also ate away the bones of his jaw and skull. It caused his death in 1931. 

Siegel, B.S. 1986. Love, Medicine, and Miracles Lessons Learned about Self-Healing from a Surgeon s Experience with Exceptiorud Patients. New York Harper and Row. 

Drugs, prescribed or illicit, are also a cause of criminal activity. In 2005,3.6 billion prescription drugs were purchased in the United States. Many of these drugs offer patients the possibility of modern day miracles. In 2004,82% of the people in the United States reported taking at least one prescription drug, over-the-counter medicines, or dietary supplements in the week before surgery. 

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