If you are old enough you will remember Thalidomide. This drug was prescribed to pregnant women between 1957 and 1961 for morning sickness and sleep aid. At the time it was one of the medical miracles or a supposed truth in health. The problem with this medication is that it caused severe deformities in the children being born. Many of the children were born with flippers rather than hands. To this day there are Thalidomide Victims Associations across the continent.

What about DES? Women were prescribed it up until 1975 to combat miscarriage and morning sickness. The problem arose when they discovered that the women who had taken it had a high risk in breast cancer. More recently it has been revealed that daughters of women who took DES have a 40% increased risk with breast cancer.

In the fifties and sixties most children had their tonsils removed as it was the surgery de jour. Why? Often it was for convenience… a prophylactic against tonsillitis. Usually, it was due to the fact that the tonsils would become enlarged and swollen. They were removed because parents were told that we didn’t really need them. News flash…the palatine tonsil is part of the immune system and helps protect against infection. The lymph system acts as a filter. Does it make sense that when they are swollen they are doing their job?

In the seventies and eighties if anyone had course to be involved in an abdominal surgery they automatically removed your appendix. Again this was thought to have no apparent use however it has been since revealed that the appendix provides the body with a natural laxative.

The magic potion and lotions have not stopped through the years. They only change as they are usually revealed to be not a truth and more so a detractor of health and wellness. More in Part 3

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