NationStates Jolt Archive

When you look at a worldwide picture of medication and the use of it, it can seem a little strange how many illnesses and disorders are treated with medicine when that is not really what they need.
People claim that peopl in Denmark have shorter lives than in people in Sweden and Norway, because shorter lives walk hand in hand with the fact that people in denmark take less medication. People in Denmark seem to convince themselves that the best way to get better is by drinking tea, keeping warm, using normal logical thinking as the body and mind's needs to sort out their problems, rather than taking medication. But are Danish people making the wrong choice? Are the polls right? Do we live shorter lives because we choose not to take a pill everytime something doesnt feel quite right? Or is it because taking medication goes hand in hand with going to the doctor, and we Danes generally choose to visit the doctor less?

You'd have to look into what other factors cause the Danish lifespan to be shorter, but you seem already to be making the conclusion that BECAUSE Danish people do not go to the doctor and get proper treatment, THE EFFECT is a shorter lifespan.

I think there actually needs to be a study to figure out if indeed this is even a factor. Other things like smoking, illicit drug use, various misadventures, unhealthy eating, et cetera may actually have more bearing on this matter.

It was a study done a couple of years ago, showing that people in norway and sweden live longer, and they take more medication for their illnesses...I think the people who did the study took the other factors into consideration...but i dont know that for a fact...

It was a study done a couple of years ago, showing that people in norway and sweden live longer, and they take more medication for their illnesses...I think the people who did the study took the other factors into consideration...but i dont know that for a fact...

Find the actual study and I can tell you how dependent doctor visits are

i prefer to not do either, i don't like being ill.

that being said i think people shouldn't take to much medication, especially not antibiotics. to many unnecesary antibiotics cause drug-resistent bacteria, wich is extremely bad. and drugs are also very expensive for our already overburdened healthcare system.

leaving the unknown causes of the differences in longevity behind...

it depends on the illness. if you refuse to take treatments for cancer, youll most likely die soon. if you refuse to take treatments for the common cold, youll be just fine. how sick you have to be before you see a doctor is a personal choice.

I'll happily take medicine for any physical ailment i might have, but would be a lot more wary about any mental illness drugs i might take. I wouldn't want to change my mind a great deal, alcohol aside.

trecle mine you made this from my ADHD post

i hate aderal it gives me twitches

If memory serves, Danes smoke more, their quality foodstuffs are more expensive, they drink more, their labour protection is worse, their social safety-net's worse, and they're significantly worse at integrating immigrants.

If medication really does have anything to do with it, it probably has more to do with welfare cuts and convoluted bureaucracy stonewalling unemployed and immigrants, than it has to do with Danes refusing medication.

Education and general lifestyles are not significantly different in the three countries, for any other sort of explanation to sound credible, I think.

As far as danish welfare is concerned, well i cant really say that we live all that bad lives. We pay alot of taxes for free schooling and medical help. So that cant be the reason we dont go to the doctor. As for the food we eat, Denmark is one of the top countries in europe as far as organic food is concerned.

Immigrants, og dont get me started. You dont live here - immigrants in this country dont want to be integrated. Trust me if they did, we give them ALL the possibilities in the world. However they insist on having schools that teach in their own language - most of the muslim women who have come to denmark over the past 50 years, still dont speak danish, because their culture doesnt permit them to go out and meet new people...especially not new people of another culture. The immigrants that come to denmark, are hardly like the ones who go to Canada - The immigrants who go to canada are the ones who have money, the ones who come here, come to take advantage of the system.

I live in an area of denmark where there are alot of immigrants, and as a hard working danish person, i have to admit i get a little bitter, when i see immigrants who go to the lokal social support office, once a month, to fill out some forms, and collect a lot of money (which is earned for them by me, because of the 39% taxes i pay) for doing absolutly nothing. They spend their days doing nothing, they go down there once a month, sign some papers collect some money, and then they go home, to continue doing nothing - is that the way to show that you wish to get integrated? The danish employment market is crying out for people who are willing to work as builders, they need builders like never before. The level of unemployment in denmark is too low(7%) - Because of the low level of unemployment, there are lots of companies who just cant get the workers they need - this will without a doubt result in inflation of the market. Back to the immigrants, please, someone agree with me on this:
If you knew you were working your ass off day in and day out - and your neighbor was a man, who claimed economical exile in your country, does nothing but collect money at the social help office, once a month - wouldnt you get just a little tired of hearing about all their rights, and how badly they get treated, when he drives a bigger and better car than you? I mean come on! Get real! If i was to be an immigrant anywhere in the world, i would pick denmark, they have so many more rights than the people who are danish - it is boarderline rediculous!!

As for the unemployed...well as i just said there arent too many of them. And the ones that are unemployed i dont feel sorry for. They too can get money from the government to help them along, they get sent through programs that help send them into jobs that seem well suited for them, i mean if people in this country are unemployed - my friend it is very much their own choice.

The homeless - now that we are feeling sorry for all the people in denmark who dont deserve it - the homeless are homeless by choice. In denmark the constitution states that every man and woman has the right to a roof over their heads. Meaning that all the homeless person has to do, is make an appeal to their local goverment representative, or their regional office - who will find somewhere for them to live - Århus (which is where i live) own 25% of all appartments in århus, which they provide as housing to the "homeless". Homeless people also recieve monetary support from the goverment - they did an analysis a week ago or so, which shows that the average homeless person (who gets money from the goverment and who sells these magazines that they make called "hjem forbi" which means "home is over" - they cost about 3 US dollars per magazine) earns more money that the average hard working nurse in one of the biggest hospitals in this country...

Now you tell me - who is getting screwed? Cuz in my opinion it sure aint the homeless, the unemployed, or the immigrants.