Contents Introduction Ancient Medicine Chinese Roots It’s Chemistry Plucked Owls and Roast Kittens Green Medicine Willow Power Finding a Magic Bullet Moldy but Deadly Natural Killers Sugar in the Blood Medicine Through Time The Right Prescription Glossary Index 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 31 32
INTRODUCTION When someone gets sick they need the right medicine to help them get better But just what is the right medicine That’s a problem that has been plaguing doctors since ancient times Throughout history doctors have come up with some really great ideas for healing people but also some very very bad ones Germ Killers Some medicines are designed to help people get better by fighting infections Antibiotics for example are medicines that kill or attack the germs that make people ill Antibiotics only work against bacteria To fight viruses you need special antiviral drugs Correcting Mistakes Sometimes the body makes too much or too little of certain chemicals Some medicines are designed to replace missing chemicals or block their production when the body is making too much Diabetics for example are given insulin which used to be taken from the pancreases of pigs to replace the insulin their bodies are unable to make 6
Soothing the Symptoms Some medicines are not meant to cure people they are just designed to make them feel better by relieving the symptoms For example pain relievers can make headaches or sore throats less painful And creams can make skin less itchy Medical Business Americans use as much medicine as the rest of the world put together Every year they buy and use a third of a trillion dollars worth of medicines In other words every single American uses one thousand dollars worth of drugs every year So they must be very well or very sick Aspirin 7
