Warning: I am not a doctor. Self medication and even extreme nutrition can have serious consequences. Always discuss any changes to medication with your medical advisor(s).
Now, first, a little about me, and why I am often going to disregard medical advice! Don’t get me wrong, I tell our doctor exactly what I am doing, and why. She doesn’t necessarily believe me, but good health tends to override objections. However, my wife and I are on a journey of stroke recovery, and going to reject most of the advice we get on pharmaceuticals. I will detail exactly what we do and why, along with progress in other posts, but this is post is to explain why I consider myself a little better prepared to step outside the “system”.
I have an honours degree in organic chemistry. I started a doctorate to study the structure of superoxide dismutase (someone eventually succeeded, see image below), and that year, I lectured first year medical students in organic chemistry with a little elementary pharmacy thrown in. I dropped out after a year as I needed a higher income to support my growing family.
I also spend a few months as a medical representative, and learned how the pharmaceutical industry works from the inside. After some years teaching, I went into computer software, and developed the leading New Zealand dispensary software, at one time in over half the chemistry shops in New Zealand. I “sold out” early on in the project to a large pharmacy wholesaler, and was employed as the project leader for the software for some years. I was again on the inside of the pharmacy industry, visiting pharmacists, being involved with pharmacy conferences etc.
I developed automatic warning labels, and automatic warnings to the pharmacist on drug interactions – where different medicines interfere with others. So I delved quite deep into the problems of pharmaceuticals, and determined to avoid pharmaceuticals wherever possible.
Life went on for many years. In 2014, on the suggestion of a friend, we started down the low carb/ketogenic lifestyle, to try to halt my wife’s primary progressive multiple sclerosis which she had had for some years but wasn’t diagnosed until 2012. I was, by now, her full-time carer, and I became heavily involved in researching biochemistry, nutrition, and MS. reading biochemistry textbooks, and original research papers.
In Part 2 I intend to discuss the problems with most medical research. (to be continued)
