MAGIC PILL

                         KEEP YOUR LIFESTYLE BUT TAKE THIS PILL

    The extent to which the medical profession and the pharmaceutical industries are conjoined at the hip can hardly be better illustrated than by their recent recommendation that Lipitor should be in general use across the population to lower cholesterol levels.
    
  Why would anyone, after reading the various side effects of Lipitor, which are amply defined on the internet, fall for this line? The list is long and includes such things as muscle pain and weakness, dizziness, insomnia, chest pains, peripheral edema, urinary tract infection, back pain, arthritis and memory loss. Also attention must be paid to possible interactions with other drugs. And oh yes, if you are pregnant or breast feeding, definitely do not take this drug.
    
   Lipitor has been  around for a little over twenty years. What of the long term effects of taking this drug? There is understandably no information on this aspect of its use.
    
   Another concern is that the drug is available as a generic, manufactured in places like laboratories in India. There has been at least one recall of generics that were produced in foreign laboratories.
    
   Of course, the medical profession would be serving the public better by informing them on what foods to consume, in what quantities, what foods to avoid,  and recommended proportions of food types, leaning on nature to hold cholesterol at acceptable levels.
    
   But no. Live it up, citizens. Our magic pill will keep you out of trouble.