Avoid These Prescriptions!

Raena Morgan: Dr. Kohls, in your experience, what are some of the prescriptions that patients should avoid? And that you avoid prescribing? 

Dr. Gary Kohls: Well, practically all of them. 

RM: Oh, really?

GK: Because I always try to use natural approaches first, rather than jumping in with a medication that’s costly, side effects, withdrawal symptoms and then they’re hooked on it the rest of their lives. Patients don’t want that. They would like their problems cured. 

RM: They think taking a pill is going to that, right?

GK: Yeah. And especially for mental ill health, none of those drugs cure anything. They just mask symptoms. 

RM: Well, what are the ones they should positively avoid?

GK: I think all the psychotropic drugs should be avoided and attempts made to use non-drug approaches. That’s the curative way to deal with everything, anything. As far as non-psychiatric drugs, and certainly there’s justification for antibiotics.

RM: Oh, right.

GK: But that’s short term. You know, and psychiatric drugs are prescribed for the rest of your life. Here you have this mental disease and you don’t know what it’s cause, it’s probably genetic, all these are false. And you have to be on this now the rest of your life because it’s got to rebalance your mythical imbalance of neurotransmitters. It’s kind of a big scam in many ways and then it’s just too much work. You know, patients don’t even—they just want to go in and get a drug, “give me a drug, doc” is sort of the attitude oftentimes.

RM: Give me something.

GK: And doctors have lots of choices. They have free samples and everything like that. So, but it’s a lot of work and doctors are no different than anybody else. We kind of like the easy way out and writing prescriptions is a real easy way out for a busy schedule. I was in private practice and treating patients on a busy schedule. My practice was mostly non-psychotropic, though. I was dealing with sore throats and heart conditions and things like that.

RM: Right.

GK: But now that doctors are programmed to be the dispensers of psychiatric drugs, and the drug industry’s at fault there. It used to be years ago, 20 years ago, that only psychiatrists use these drugs. And now, they’re—the drug industry is marketing to family physicians and even nurse practitioners are being wined and dined to be okay with prescribing medications. Even social workers are being wined and dined now.

RM: They are?

GK: Yeah.

RM: They can’t prescribe.

GK: They can’t prescribe, but they’re being trained now to be okay with it and not objecting to the drug industries.

RM: Oh, alright.

GK: So, there’s influence there. There’s advertising and there’s supporting. They always support seminars and conventions and things like that.

RM: Basic line of defense is to not take any prescription drugs. 

GK: I think short term treatment—there’s certainly non-drug approaches for high blood pressure, certainly approaches for blood sugar elevation—hyperglycemia is often diagnosed as diabetes, but it’s just hyperglycemia and there’s approaches to that that are non-drug, dietary, etcetera. High blood pressure—have I mentioned that? In the book—the best book that I know of is The Prescription for Nutritional Healing by Balch—b-a-l-c-h, where—it’s an 800 page book. It’s got all the information anyone really needs about the vitamins and the minerals and the amino acids, etcetera. Then they have huge sections on different physical abnormalities and suggestions on nutritional approaches for them. That should be our first approach. If you can find a naturopath or physician or practitioner interested in nutritional health, go that route first. And try to avoid having to be on something the rest of your life.

RM: Absolutely. Thank you.

GK: Yeah, you’re welcome.