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 I
am 72 years old and retired in 2000 as Chief of Medical Illustration
for the National Institutes of Health, after 42 years of service.
As a graduate of the medical and biological program of the Johns
Hopkins School of Medicine, I hold an appointment as Associate Professor,
where I teach part-time.
My health was OK until 1997 when I started experiencing shortness
of breath and had to slow down when walking – I was not overweight.
I noticed after 10 minutes on my stationary bicycle I started having
what seemed like indigestion. My cardiologist didn't believe
me when I told him I thought I had a heart problem, because he had
done a Treadmill Stress Test (TST) on me a year earlier and that
one was normal. Finally, I was so worried that I placed myself in
the emergency room of the local hospital. When the cardiologist
saw me in the hospital he accused me of being a hypochondriac; his
attitude changed after my next TST.
"Bartner," the doctor performing the TST barked, "you
have coronary heart disease (CHD)! Now get off the treadmill and
let's get you set-up for the thallium scan!"
Interestingly, that same treadmill test showed no signs of CHD
a year earlier. Could they be in error? How could this be happening
to me? Unlike my family and close colleagues, I thought I had been
doing things right, restricting myself to "healthy foods"
and exercising when I could. I was in complete denial. My weight
was pretty good, occasionally a friend reminded me to ‘suck
in my gut' and throw my shoulders back. "See how much
better you look." My blood pressure was 144/90 and could go
higher, but was controlled with a combination of medications. "Whatever
you're doing, Howard, keep it up," my cardiologist encouraged
me.
My lipid profile was not a great concern to my cardiologist. Total
cholesterol was in the desirable range – a little less than
200. Triglycerides were so high my doctor ignored the numbers; they
bounced all over the place anyway. He told me that I could raise
my HDL by taking niacin and that the LDL would go down in time.
"Let's not obsess, Howard, your present diet with exercise
and medications should keep you in good shape." He was being
contrary. These remarks were coming from a doctor who was following
the Atkins diet and really didn't look as well as I did if
you were measuring his waist line. I was left to my own means to
save myself.
So why all of a sudden did I need an angioplasty? I thought I had
been doing so well. What could I possibly be doing to harm myself?
How could I take control of my own health? Was the problem with
my "good diet?" I thought my food choices were an improvement
over the typical American diet. I ate no red meat – stayed
away from the fast food places. I did eat chicken, but not before
removing skin and all visible fat. Fish was my best and favorite
meal. All great sources of protein for building muscle. Downed at
least 2 glasses of low-fat milk daily – good source of calcium
for strong bones and teeth. My cardiologist encouraged me to use
olive oil, telling me it was great for the heart. Oh, yes, no ice
cream – only frozen non-fat yogurt.
My family and friends could not believe that I needed an angioplasty
(2 stents). My cardiologist reminded me that I was no spring chicken
– however he assured me that I would be up and running in no
time. I remember feeling down and discouraged after my wife got
me home with 2 stents inserted in my coronary arteries. Why wasn't
I jumping with joy? I would lie in bed and feel so terrible. My
post angioplasty TST suggested that my stents didn't close
down – that was good news.
My cardiologist put me on any combination of drugs he could think
of to control my blood pressure. He told me I was going to be on
these for life. One medication, the beta blocker, made me depressed.
The Hyzaar would swell my ankles and the diuretics had me up and
to the bathroom all night long and I couldn't even drive to
work without stopping several times to urinate. The doctor tried
ACE inhibitors and calcium channel blockers. This was a "medication
changing" game – This one works, this one doesn't,
this one causes too many side effects, let's try this one –
switching one medication for another, but never willing to stop
any of them. Finally, I told my doctor this wasn't doing anything.
I tried going without the medications and noticed no difference
in my blood pressure when I took the drugs and when I didn't.
But, as soon as I stopped one drug, the doctor would be right there
to start me on another one.
By chance, a friend and fellow illustrator from work dropped by
to cheer me up. She asked me if I had ever heard of Dr. John McDougall,
author of the McDougall Program – 12 Days to Dynamic Health.
She and her husband were trying to follow the program but were not
committed yet. I thanked her for the book; little did I know in
that moment my health was to change dramatically for the better.
The book quickly became my bible. I read it from cover to cover
in one evening and found it fascinating and at the same time challenging
and even a little scary. There is always the fear that if you stop
eating animal products you're going to die of protein deficiency.
I told my wife that I wanted to try the program for a month to see
if it did anything for me. She supported me but she could not commit
herself at that time, so I was on my own.
After two weeks I noticed I had lost 3 pounds, had more energy,
and enjoyed a feeling of well-being. I was excited about sharing
my positive experiences with family, friends, and my cardiologist.
Alas, the response I had expected, or hoped for, didn't occur.
No way! Not following a starch-based diet. Carbs make you fat; where
do you get your protein? The calcium? More of these common questions
were thrown at me.
My cardiologist warned me that the diet would cause my triglycerides
to go off the charts. Discouragement from my cardiologist and friends
made it easier for me to make my decision to follow the McDougall
Program. I hate bragging, but my last lipid profile reports 142
total cholesterol, down from 189 two years ago.
I shared my lab results recently with my aging cardiologist who
has developed a small gut. His response? "Whatever you're
doing, Howard, keep it up."
Psychologically, getting off the medication was hard for me –
I was raised to believe in my doctors and in pills. On a McDougall
Adventure trip to Alaska, after encouraging me many times to stop
a medication that increases my risk of dying from heart disease
and cancer (calcium channel blockers), Dr. McDougall finally told
me out of frustration, "Howard, if you can't stop taking
the pills, then why don't you just put them in your mouth and
then spit them out?" Because we were on a cruise ship, I didn't
want to poison the fish.
I am on no medication, except one baby aspirin a day, and feel
great! My one problem was getting my great love in life, Elayne,
interested in the diet. She was falling behind on our walks with
her arthritis in her leg and her weight gain. Her father died at
60 years old – the last thing he did was eat a gallon of ice
cream for his birthday – he died in his sleep that night. I
didn't want the same for Elayne. Not only did I worry about
our health, but more importantly, about one of us becoming a caretaker
for the other -- I wanted to put that dreaded prospect off as long
in life as possible. I have decided that to live for pleasure without
seriously considering the consequences seems selfish.
For the last 5 years Elayne has resisted my enthusiastic change
to the McDougall diet. It became a point of argument between us.
But I am pleased to say that has all changed after Elayne spent
a 10-day stay with the McDougalls at their clinic in California.
A wonderful change has come over her – we can finally both
say what we are eating together is delicious. Just last night, she
made a "beef" vegetable stew that was comfort food fit
for the Gods. She enjoys cooking again. We now have a future –
I look forward to another 20 years or more of productive life. Having
John and Mary's support has been invaluable.
Medical doctors should be furious about the intrusion of the pharmaceutical
industry into their medical practices.
- These giants hawk prescription drugs
directly to the consumer with radio, TV, magazine and newspaper
advertisements, essentially bypassing your doctor in medical
decisions.
- Your doctor's education since medical
school has been organized to sell drugs with billions of dollars
paid by vested interests.
- One pharmaceutical company or another
sponsors almost all lunchtime "medical" conferences.
- The experts teaching at these meetings
are paid to sell the sponsoring company's drugs.
- The drug companies finance most of
the scientific studies used to make medical decisions that your
life depends on.
- From the time doctors enter medical
school, they are wined and dined by drug companies.
- Once in practice, drug salespeople
visit their offices daily.
When I started in medicine 25 years ago,
most of the pharmaceutical representatives were well-educated,
distinguished men. These days, attractive young women make up
the majority of the sales force. That change was not a coincidence
wasted on a male-dominated medical business.
The drug companies leave doctors almost
no choice in your care. Clinical practice guidelines are papers
written by experts to help practicing doctors (too busy to review
the scientific literature themselves) decide how to treat their
patients. These summary papers are designed to influence the practice
of a large number of physicians. A study published in 2002 in
the Journal of the American Medical Association found eighty-seven
percent of authors of these position papers had some form of interaction
with the pharmaceutical industry.1 Fifty-eight percent had received
financial support to perform research and 38% had served as employees
or consultants for a pharmaceutical company. Of the 192 authors
in the study, only 2 revealed this relationship in their publication.
So your doctor learns what, how, when, how much, how long, how
often and why to prescribe blood pressure, diabetic, heart, pain,
and most other pills directly from the manufacturer making billions
in profits.
One class of medication commonly used to
treat heart disease and hypertension is called calcium-channel
blockers (antagonists). The use of this kind of medication is
particularly controversial because they have been found to increase
a person's risk of dying of heart disease, cancer and suicide,
and suffering from excessive bleeding and loss of mental function.
But they are an 8 billion-dollar-a-year business. A study published
in 1998 in the New England Journal of Medicine questioned authors
who wrote opinion papers discussing the use of these medications.2
They found, "authors who supported the use of calcium-channel
antagonists were significantly more likely than neutral or critical
authors to have financial relationships with manufacturers of
calcium-channel antagonists (96 percent, vs. 60 percent and 37
percent, respectively).
Supportive authors were also more likely
than neutral or critical authors to have financial relationships
with any pharmaceutical manufacturer, irrespective of the product
(100 percent, vs. 67 percent and 43 percent, respectively)."
To free yourself from bad health and overaggressive
medical treatments, you must realize your doctor – sometimes
without realizing so – is a puppet of the pharmaceutical
industry. So now what do you do?
- First, make every effort possible to
become well so you can get out of the medical business. Healthy
people don't take drugs and don't see doctors. The
only way to get your health back is to correct the cause of
your problems; and in the vast majority of people in Western
societies that cause is a diet "fit for kings and queens,"
not enough exercise, and "bad habits."
- Second, learn all about the medications
you are taking. A package insert obtained from the pharmacist
or a Physician's Desk Reference from a bookstore will give
you the basic facts. The internet is a great resource. Spend
time at the National Library of Medicine at www.nlm.nih.gov
(free access).
- Third, every time you see your doctor,
ask him/her to justify continued use of any prescriptions. Don't
accept the flippant remark, "You'll die if you stop
them." This is rarely the case.
- Fourth, every time you see your doctor
ask if the medications can be stopped or reduced in dosage.
Ask for a trial without the medication. Also ask for a safe
manner for stopping the medications – some, like beta-blockers,
should be stopped gradually.
- Fifth, never accept a new prescription
(unless it is an authentic emergency) without learning about
the drug, and the alternatives; and before getting a second
opinion. You are being asked to take this for life in most cases.
Applying these principles for my patients
over the last 25 years, it has been my experience that over 90%
of medications can be stopped, and most of the remainder greatly
reduced. Unfortunately, few of you will have a doctor willing
to help you with these goals. Many times they are unwilling to
take you off medications simply because they have no experience
doing this – the most they are willing to do is to switch
brands of pills for you. They also fear criticism from their fellow
doctors, and worse yet, they fear the most severe of all criticisms
– a medical malpractice suit. Whether or not a doctor wins
a lawsuit depends upon following the Community Standard of Practice
guidelines. This essentially means, regardless of the benefit
or harm done to you by your doctor, as long as the doctor down
the street would have done the same, your doctor is not guilty
under the law.
Most people find their way to the McDougall
Program only after they have been failed and hurt repeatedly by
the medical business. They went to the doctor for a cure and what
they got was a handful of pills and bunch of excuses. Realize
that you are supposed to look, feel, and function well for a long
lifetime – and if that is not what is happening to you, it
is not because you are not taking enough medication or undergoing
sufficient numbers of surgeries.
Now you understand what you are up against.
However, like Howard Bartner, you can win the battles against
the medical and pharmaceutical businesses and become drug free
and healthy – with sufficient effort. Don't give up
– your life is at stake and worth the trouble.
1) Choudhry NK. Relationships between authors of clinical practice
guidelines and the pharmaceutical industry. JAMA. 2002 Feb 6;287(5):612-7.
2) Stelfox HT. Conflict of interest in
the debate over calcium-channel antagonists. N Engl J Med. 1998
Jan 8;338(2):101-6.
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