I have really enjoyed this debate about the effectiveness, or otherwise, of blood pressure drugs.
Nothing in science is ever a closed subject. Scientific progress is fueled by informed debate. A scientist, including a doctor, welcomes detailed scrutiny. Those that seek to stifle informed debate are anti progress and anti knowledge.
I suspect the motivation for this complaint and subsequent legal actions are the result of my comments in Walking Magazine about blood pressure drugs being largely ineffective. This is a case of playing the man and not the ball. A case of suppressing healthy debate about matters that affect countless lives.
"Hello, I wish to pass on my sincere gratitude to Mr Moller for his excellent articles on Blood Pressure. I am a 67 year old female and been "on" meds for 30 years and at all stages experienced side effects of medications and run fowl of all sorts of G.P's for daring to say I experiencing side effects and the best thing that has happened is the internet and at hand knowledge which by some G.P's is frowned upon. I should (I now know) never been prescribed them in the first place which I won't bore you all with the reasons for that statement but for reasons unknown to me now, I just kept swallowing them cause I told I had to. Thats what my generation and upwards do. My mother is 92 and in the last ten years had inpatient events and they all to do with medications so I say to her you have lived in spite of them.
I work at the hospital here, I read consultants letters from patients attending and the despair of patients as they - men and women, complain of side effects, indeed last week a 57 year old man made the decision to consultant to abandon all and take his chances to have "quality of life" he noted.
I have had to go off Atacand due to Pharmacs ruling so once again been subjected to new pills and my blood pressure is extremely high now on the taking, but the side effects of these different pills most debilitating.
My back ground is serious runner, now realise more serious at 5.00am when effects of pills wearing off, that was when I was at my best, only gave this up four years ago, I now tramp seriously, eat well and never done anything wrong. I am on a mission to never have any of my four children prescribed any of this junk, my daughter is being monitered in her pregnancy very carefully as she had pre eclampsia in the last, the GP suggested BP but she said she would rather not and try an alternative. Good for her, what she is getting is regular check ups and excellent care. Last time it was pills given, into hosp and out within 24 hours!
Once again, thankyou, keep it up, my magazines been shown to all friends on medication, they express gratitude as well.
Regards XXX" (Name supplied but withheld)
"Good on you Gary. I have just read your rebuttal in the July Walking Magazine of the ascerbic letter from a member of the medical profession about drugs and blood pressure.
I have not, and never have had, bp issues but I do have what the doctors tell me is too high a cholesterol level. I have been under pressure for 15 years (Iam 64) to take statins and have resisted, the reason being that I have seen no proof that high cholesterol will lead to heart attack or similar. Indeed, I have read an article (which I would like to attach to this email but you do not allow that) that specifically opposes the use (or should I say wholesale prescribing) of statins.
The doctors seem to have been influenced by the manufacturers and not taken a holistic view of the issue."
(Name withheld)
_________________________
Thanks very much for the support. Here is the letter this person is referring to, the offending article that was published in
http://www.walkingnewzealand.co.nz/ (you can subscribe here) and my riposte:
To the editor
Dear Frank,
As a keen reader of your magazine I was very concerned to read the May 2013 article by Gary Moller, suggesting that most blood pressure medications do not work and that many blood pressure medicines cause weight gain around the waist and therefore increase the risk of heart attack.
These and other statements in his article display an inadequate knowledge of the high blood pressure and a woefully inadequate knowledge of how blood pressure medications work.
There is a high risk that a gullible reader might stop their blood pressure medication and suffer a heart attack or, possibly more likely, a stroke.
I am amazed that Mr Moller can blithely comment that he cannot back up his 'sweeping statement' with research yet continue to disparage blood pressure medication.
I advise that you:
1. Consult the NZ Heart and Stroke Foundations for their comments about the article
2. Publish a statement that the opinions expressed in the article are not necessarily the opinions ot the magazine
3 Advise your readers that anyone who follows Mr Moller's advice and suffers a heart attack or stroke report Mr Moller to the Health and Disability Commissioner.
Thank you. I look forward to your response.
(Dr) Murray Shaw
General Practitioner
Amesbury Health Centre
Palmerston North.
 |
| Has improving health been supplanted by the motivation for profit? |
Play the ball and not the man!
Recently, I received a very, very expensive letter, delivered by hand, from one of the the most expensive law firms in New Zealand. It was a letter threatening me with a law suit! A doctor had done a meticulous fishing expedition of my online materials, much like that being done by the NSA Prism Spying Programme, aiming to dig up the dirt on Gary Moller. I'm far from perfect. He found something - a minor matter; but one sufficient to make a formal complaint to Med Safe. Med Safe then passed this complaint onto the large drugs company concerned which then set the lawyers onto me. All very over the top when the matter could have been resolved with a single phone call!I suspect the motivation for this complaint and subsequent legal actions are the result of my comments in Walking Magazine about blood pressure drugs being largely ineffective. This is a case of playing the man and not the ball. A case of suppressing healthy debate about matters that affect countless lives.
"Hello, I wish to pass on my sincere gratitude to Mr Moller for his excellent articles on Blood Pressure. I am a 67 year old female and been "on" meds for 30 years and at all stages experienced side effects of medications and run fowl of all sorts of G.P's for daring to say I experiencing side effects and the best thing that has happened is the internet and at hand knowledge which by some G.P's is frowned upon. I should (I now know) never been prescribed them in the first place which I won't bore you all with the reasons for that statement but for reasons unknown to me now, I just kept swallowing them cause I told I had to. Thats what my generation and upwards do. My mother is 92 and in the last ten years had inpatient events and they all to do with medications so I say to her you have lived in spite of them.
I work at the hospital here, I read consultants letters from patients attending and the despair of patients as they - men and women, complain of side effects, indeed last week a 57 year old man made the decision to consultant to abandon all and take his chances to have "quality of life" he noted.
I have had to go off Atacand due to Pharmacs ruling so once again been subjected to new pills and my blood pressure is extremely high now on the taking, but the side effects of these different pills most debilitating.
My back ground is serious runner, now realise more serious at 5.00am when effects of pills wearing off, that was when I was at my best, only gave this up four years ago, I now tramp seriously, eat well and never done anything wrong. I am on a mission to never have any of my four children prescribed any of this junk, my daughter is being monitered in her pregnancy very carefully as she had pre eclampsia in the last, the GP suggested BP but she said she would rather not and try an alternative. Good for her, what she is getting is regular check ups and excellent care. Last time it was pills given, into hosp and out within 24 hours!
Once again, thankyou, keep it up, my magazines been shown to all friends on medication, they express gratitude as well.
Regards XXX" (Name supplied but withheld)
"Good on you Gary. I have just read your rebuttal in the July Walking Magazine of the ascerbic letter from a member of the medical profession about drugs and blood pressure.
I have not, and never have had, bp issues but I do have what the doctors tell me is too high a cholesterol level. I have been under pressure for 15 years (Iam 64) to take statins and have resisted, the reason being that I have seen no proof that high cholesterol will lead to heart attack or similar. Indeed, I have read an article (which I would like to attach to this email but you do not allow that) that specifically opposes the use (or should I say wholesale prescribing) of statins.
The doctors seem to have been influenced by the manufacturers and not taken a holistic view of the issue."
(Name withheld)
_________________________
Thanks very much for the support. Here is the letter this person is referring to, the offending article that was published in
http://www.walkingnewzealand.co.nz/ (you can subscribe here) and my riposte:
To the editor
Dear Frank,
As a keen reader of your magazine I was very concerned to read the May 2013 article by Gary Moller, suggesting that most blood pressure medications do not work and that many blood pressure medicines cause weight gain around the waist and therefore increase the risk of heart attack.
These and other statements in his article display an inadequate knowledge of the high blood pressure and a woefully inadequate knowledge of how blood pressure medications work.
There is a high risk that a gullible reader might stop their blood pressure medication and suffer a heart attack or, possibly more likely, a stroke.
I am amazed that Mr Moller can blithely comment that he cannot back up his 'sweeping statement' with research yet continue to disparage blood pressure medication.
I advise that you:
1. Consult the NZ Heart and Stroke Foundations for their comments about the article
2. Publish a statement that the opinions expressed in the article are not necessarily the opinions ot the magazine
3 Advise your readers that anyone who follows Mr Moller's advice and suffers a heart attack or stroke report Mr Moller to the Health and Disability Commissioner.
Thank you. I look forward to your response.
(Dr) Murray Shaw
General Practitioner
Amesbury Health Centre
Palmerston North.
Here's the offending article:
