At a small grocery store I’m standing in line behind a man waiting to pay for my items. I had noticed him shopping and I had the thought ‘probably on statins’. This is a class of highly prescribed cholesterol lowering medications that have alarming rates of serious side effects that are often ignored. He purchased a single item for $1.79. The clerk gave him his change and thanked him. The clerk begins to ring up my groceries but is interrupted by the previous customer claiming he was short changed. The clerk had given him the proper change. This is a common mistake so I didn’t pay much attention until the man apologized and mentioned how bad his memory was getting and he didn’t understand why.

Besides the more prevalent muscle damage from statins, I have often heard people report nerve damage and memory loss as well. The earlier observations of his difficulty walking, overall stiffness and a confused look on his face can be signs of statin drugs. Hearing the man acknowledge his memory loss prompted me to speak up and break a ‘code of silence’ that pervades the medical world. Obviously, these can be signs of many conditions, and I am not attempting to diagnose anything. I am not a doctor. These are simple observations. So, do I file the impressions away as ‘interesting’, ‘mind my own business’ and go on my way?

If you see a car with a low tire or a brake light out it is a common courtesy to inform the driver of the safety issue. Likewise, we are thankful to find out when our car has a problem. We don’t remain silent and ponder how much the ticket might be for the person or speculate on what kind of car wreck and injuries they might experience. We don’t expect a policeman or mechanic to be the only people authorized to alert the driver.

Enter the field of health and medicine. It has become an information free-for-all of doctors, therapists, experts, frauds, internet gurus….and you, to try to make some sense of it all. The common disclaimer on supplements and health products is “ask your doctor”. The level and depth of proficiency that each doctor has is highly variable and questionable. Certifications and licenses imply a standardized level of knowledge. They do not guarantee the doctor or practitioner keeps up with new discoveries. Usually the higher a person climbs on expert and professional ladders the louder the CD. The CD will never achieve the obscurity of the 8 tracks! Fear, obedience, denial and dogmas permeate all professions and human conditioning.

Cognitive dissonance (CD) is the mental stress and turmoil that occur when trying to accommodate new information that appears to be true but is not in line with existing beliefs. I would add to this ‘AO’, authoritative obedience. When is it safe to speak up in the face of glaring new evidence that shows the consensus understanding needs to be tweaked? There is an active movement of whistleblowers speaking up to bring attention to suppressed or ignored scientific findings. Both CD and AO are aspects of human nature that also serve to slow down the advancement of science and medicine. Authority and status can often censor free thinking and innovative research.

I did ask the man if he took statins. He said yes, and added that his memory loss and muscle pain started within weeks of beginning statins. I suggested that he talk with his doctor and educate himself. I often refer people to Dr. Graveline’s website www.spacedoc.com. He is an MD that has authored several books on statins including ‘Statin Damage Crisis’. He lost his memory after taking a low dose statin for only six weeks. It took about nine months to reverse most of the statin effects. I was willing to take a few minutes and talk to him because so many people have thanked me for suggesting they talk to their doctor and educate themselves. Many discovered it was the statins causing their problems and found safer ways to deal with elevated cholesterol.

For years I recognized my own CD and the AO associated with it, but was too fearful to speak up. Science, religion, education, politics….all have questionable rules and behaviors. It is a daily opportunity for me to untangle from the ‘group think’ and find more of me, and live more of me. It has taken experiences that have shaken me to my core to really understand the true cost of the ‘price of silence’.

Did you watch any of the Winston cigarette ads that used to play regularly on TV in the previous blog? The cleverly designed ads that drove people to addiction, suffering and often an early demise. Most offensive was the direct targeting to children. The ads expanded the limits of what it takes to be ‘cool’. My mother likes to tell the story of how her mother tried to get her to take up smoking because it was supposed to curb the appetite and help control your weight. Tobacco companies distributed cigarettes to servicemen with the eventual inclusion of cigarettes into rations. The industry bought their own doctors and medical ‘experts’ to help push their message. There was also a focus on the younger audience to prepare people to be lifetime customers and addicts. Major cigarette companies advertised on popular shows like the Flintstones and the Beverly Hillbillies.

Tobacco advertising was one of the most morally questionable industries. Studies would be cherry picked or fabricated to show only positive effects and minimize the negative outcomes. They would stop at nothing to exploit every possible resource- anything to sell more. Do you remember “I’d walk a mile for a Camel”, “What cigarette do you smoke doctor?”, “Us Tareyton smokers would rather fight than switch”‘ “More doctors smoke Camels”, “You’ve come a long way baby (Virginia Slims), “Smoke Old Golds for a treat instead of a treatment”….and many more ploys to engage susceptible people. Joe Camel, Willie the ‘Kool’ penquin and of course the Marlboro Man helped manipulate the mind and emotions into a world of lies and deceptions. At least four of the Marlboro Man models died of smoking related diseases.

There was always a movement of doctors and organizations that knew this was wrong. It took decades for their voice to be heard loud enough for changes to be made. The tobacco industry recruited doctors that would bend science using money and influence. Finally a tipping point was reached as more people jumped on board to protest the lying and obvious manipulation of facts. The last cigarette ad ran at 11:50 pm during the Johnny Carson Show on January 1, 1971. Tobacco was the single largest product advertiser on TV in 1969. The makers defended their industry to attempt to negate the growing evidence that nicotine was addictive and increased cancer rates.

It’s 2016 and has anything really changed? The parallels and similar history of drug ads and cigarette ads are obvious. Selling sickness is a priority of drug dominated TV advertising. Doctors used to have more control on diagnosis and prescribing. Now the patient tells the doctor what they want based on the ad. It was more expensive attempting to directly educate doctors to prescribe their particular medication. Drug companies found direct-to-consumer ads work best. Today drug companies spent $5 billion a year on ads to consumers and another $7 billion for ‘free’ samples. The Nielsen Co. estimates 80 drug ads every hour of every day on American TV. America has the honor of paying the highest costs for drugs in the world.

Almost a third of the consumers who see a drug ad ask their doctor about it, and a majority of the patients get what they request. By appealing to the patients instead of doctors the cost of prescriptions has skyrocketed. Off-label prescribing and misuse of drugs has escalated as well. People commonly joke about the content of the ads and the horrible side effects that are described as a peaceful or fun situation plays to distract the viewer. The only other country that allows direct-to-consumer drug advertising is New Zealand. New Zealand has the highest density of sheep per unit area in the world. I’ll let the reader ponder that. I will try to sharpen my own radar to be mindful of my own gullible tendencies.

The content and devious advertising techniques of drug companies mirror the tobacco industry. Their strategies capitalize on people’s suffering and use celebrities, doctors, sex, children, the military, nostalgia, and strong emotive content to sway serious decisions regarding health. What drug companies are most concerned about is YOU!……You OPTING OUT OF THE HERD.

Free money! My decision to choose where to go to college and what to study was easy to make. I had some scholarships from Montana State in Bozeman to assist me in getting a Civil Engineering degree. As I was walking past Safeco Field, a fairly new baseball stadium in Seattle it reminded me of decisions I made about college. I looked at the huge metal structure and thought of the minds that designed and built it. After a year of engineering school I found I had no real interest in Engineering and knew I had to pursue something else. I didn’t entertain the possibility of taking time off from college and getting to know myself better and maybe find out more about what might interest me. It was just the assumed next step that if you got fairly decent grades then you were going to college. Now I had a greater dilemma because I was quitting Engineering school, didn’t know what to switch my college major to and I was not going to get free money!

I knew I wanted to switch to the U of Montana in Missoula. I didn’t have any idea what to study. I also wanted to pick a major so I wouldn’t wander from course to course trying out different majors and be wasting my time on courses that didn’t count towards my degree. I moved to Missoula and weeks of indecision went by. I read through the catalogue over and over. The School of Pharmacy kept getting my attention as I thumbed through the catalogue. I had an interest in science, sports and health, but something else finalized the decision.

A few years ago I was talking to a man and I realized what the clincher was. What was the real decider? It was the pack of Pall Mall cigarettes in his shirt pocket that was the giveaway. My dad smoked Pall Mall cigarettes and would send me to the corner market a few blocks away. I never liked that he smoked but I always walked to the store and got his ‘smokes’ as he called them. A store named ‘College Pharmacy’ was there as well and I would usually go in and look at ‘stuff’ then hurry home to deliver the ‘smokes’. The subliminal message of College…Pharmacy left strong imprints from being the delivery boy for many years. How many of our ‘free will’ choices are made in the undercurrents of our mind?

Could this be the ‘butterfly effect’ theory that everything matters? That even the flutter of a butterfly’s wings can cause a typhoon halfway around the world. That a pack of cigarettes would ultimately lead me to a path of unique research and discovery. It is fascinating how small causes can have momentous effects. I believe this principle also applies when subtle electrical changes are induced by various materials, or the mind resulting in obvious and measurable physiological changes.

I was not aware that the Pall Mall brand was the first “premium” cigarette introduced in 1899 in an attempt to cater to the upper class. Pall-mall, a game similar to croquet, was introduced to England in the early 17th century by James I and in 1630 London had its first pall-mall court. And here I am in Montana with a “premium” product originating in London that I get to hand deliver to my dad. I wonder if my dad even knew this! They are named after a popular street in London where the game was played. Pall Mall was the number one brand in America in 1960 until it was edged out by Winston cigarettes. No brand could compete with their advertising campaign “Winston tastes good like a cigarette should”. The slogan Pall Mall used was “OUTSTANDING …and they are MILD”, but they would never regain their position. Probably had something to do with the tune that went with the Winston jingle. You’re probably already hearing it inside your head or maybe singing it by now if you were alive during that time.

Doing live demonstrations for 20 years with thousands of people has given me a better understanding of how the body functions in the more subtle electro chemical world.  Every biochemical reaction transpires because of finer interactions of energies that are very difficult to measure. This leads to easy dismissal of results that millions of people receive from the use of non traditional magnets, copper and a cornucopia of other items. With the the emergence of better ways to do science there is a stronger polarization between the believer and nonbeliever. The nonbelievers saying that opinions should be developed using science, logic and reason. And, I agree. So why not some better research as to why people report amazing results that are medically verified. This poses a dilemma for authorities and medical professionals when another new ‘health product’ enters the market. Old dogmas and group think persist as a new field of quantum biology makes discoveries that have yet to be accepted by the consensus.

The dilemma is not about whether the product is a safe or not, but that it cannot be scientifically explained. Millions of people experience a better quality of life from a diversity of products fully aware there is no logical reason. ….yet they still work for them. They often ask their doctor for an opinion about their journey as they venture on the path of WOO. Patients often assume that the doctor has examined the pros and cons of the detour from the mainstream their patient has embarked upon. That’s a whole topic unto itself on how the doctor patient relationship can change with such a disclosure from the patient. I have heard many stories of their doctor telling them:  it’s voodoo, witchcraft,  if it works use it!, it’s junk science, it’s quantum WOO, I use them too, stop using it and the old standby……it’s snake oil.

I have been a pharmacist, but was not satisfied with blanket dismissals and ridicule of alternative products from mainstream ‘experts’.  ‘For What It’s Worth’ is a popular protest song from the 1960s with the beginning lyrics “THERE’S SOMETHING HAPPENING HERE . BUT WHAT IT IS AIN’T EXACTLY CLEAR.” I had to try and make scientific sense of underlying principles that seem common to results I consistently observe and people report.  I guess this is a protest as well, to what I consider mediocre,   incomplete research and poor protocols when trying to evaluate something new…..or something conventional like the copper bracelet grandpa used to wear. I am not referring to the ‘it’s all in your head’ version of placebo. This is just one aspect of the placebo effect but most outcomes are ignored and passed off into this abyss.

‘Logic and evidence’ is a foundational premise of science. Logic is science that deals with the principles and criteria of validity of inference and reason. Other expressions of logic include sound judgment, convincing forcefulness, and persuasiveness which are all interpretations of prior speculations. It is like ‘guessing on steroids’ when prior conclusions are unknowingly inaccurate and the unsound logic accelerates. Evidence gives stronger foundational support for an assertion. Physical measurements of before and after changes can be repeated consistently and give further confirmation.

Logic is often used to invalidate evidence. There can be good evidence presented that is clear and based upon measurable outcomes but ‘logic’ determines the evidence is implausible so it is dismissed. Case closed…..”it’s quantum WOO”, “it’s quackery”! It seems like the placebo effect is a trash bin or net that can capture almost any unexplainable ‘happening’. There is a ‘happening place’ that I call the Syntropy Zone. It is accurate that there is an aspect of the placebo effect where nothing really happens. The Syntropy Zone is the quantum download hotspot of the placebo effect. Where NOTHING REALLY IS HAPPENING! In my upcoming book ‘WOO 2 WOW…….When It’s Not Supposed To …..Works!’ I explore my observations and discoveries about the world of quantum WOO. It has been my quiet protest and obsession into a deeper understanding, fascination, humility and gratitude that ‘THERE’S NOTHING HAPPENING HERE’.