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Comment by megablast | Hacker News Reader

What you are saying is disingenuous. Clearly the pills made for pharmaceutical are incredibly dangerous, even when taken as per the instructions. That is why they are prescribed.

Avoiding taking prescription drugs unless you really have to (ie are going to die), as I do, is not a bad way to live. Just because natural things will kill you, does not mean we should not avoid man made things. So I do not take pills for headaches, for sleeping, etc...

You thinking is because you can die by a bear, you should not look before crossing the road.

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"Clearly the pills made for pharmaceutical are incredibly dangerous, even when taken as per the instructions. That is why they are prescribed."

Nope. Simplistic, backwards thinking.

There's nothing dangerous about taking a valium to help you sleep once in a while, unless you have a specific allergy. And that is what you would be instructed to do if you were suffering from insomnia or panic attacks.

They are controlled because they are dangerous in large amounts and addictive if used frequently.

Some antibiotics are controlled because people see them as a magic cure-all and would take them for everything, which would even more rapidly lead to resistant strains of bacteria and make the antibiotics useless.

So sure, some drugs are dangerous when used as instructed, but many are only dangerous when abused, and some have wider implications for society.

Just because natural things will kill you, does not mean we should not avoid man made things.

But consider the flip side; just because some man made things can kill you, does not mean we should avoid man made things.

You thinking is because you can die by a bear, you should not look before crossing the road.

You are really reaching.

Paracetamol (acetaminophen) is a very safe drug if you do not take too much.

Being in pain when there is a simple, cheap, safe, effective medication is a bad way to live.

The problem I have with it is that it lowers the bodies natural ways of dealing with pain. You become more reliant on it, rather than just handling the pain yourself.

This works for non extreme pain, of course.

You are describing the phenomenon of chemical dependence. Can you point to a trial, cohort study, or even case series showing evidence that acetaminophen is a compound on which people develop dependence?

People in pain tense their muscles, they walk in a different way, they stop exercising, they stop moving around so much.

All of these things help keep pain going on longer.

For long term pain with no worrying cause you should carefully take pain killers and keep moving. Things like lower back pain (which can have serious causes, so get it checked) get much worse if you stop exercising, but get better if you get appropriate exercise.

Depends on the pills. Melatonin for sleeping is great for example: http://examine.com/supplements/Melatonin/ http://examine.com/blog/better-sleep-probably-no-caveats/

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