What Your Stomach says about the Economy

I have battled stomach indigestion problems for nearly 15 years, trying many different remedies until I discovered the apparent cause of my problem just over two months ago. Originally diagnosed as GERD (Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease), I tried many different remedies. At my first appointment with a doctor to figure out the solution to this problem, I received a prescription for Zantac.

Twice this year, I received prescriptions for Prevacid, and two different anitbiotics with the second Prevacid prescription. My doctor gave me these prescriptions to deal with a positive H.Pylori bacteria test that I got both times he tested me for it this year. However, the antibiotics left me feeling sick, dehydrated, and tired. He also diagnosed me with a Vitamin B12 deficiency, which likely caused me to experience occasional numbness and tingling in my arms and legs. I experienced these symptoms on a daily basis this year and they seemd to be getting worse.

I stumbled upon my the cause of all these in the first or second week of September while walking to a small nearby grocer. After feeling miseable all day long with all of the aforementioned symptoms, I noticed that I was feeling much better all-around while walking there. At that moment, I knew I had to figure out why I suddenly felt better. I then realized that I just ate a gluten-free, wheat-free frozen pasta dinner an hour beforehand and have been occasionally eating this food due its light, never too heavy taste for about 2-3 years. Until this year, I thought gluten-free had something to do with diabetes. I learned this year that gluten is the protein in wheat, which more and more people now have trouble digesting. Intolerance to gluten is often referred to as Celiac's Disease, which doctors usually confirm through a combination of endoscopies and blood tests.

Multi-national pharmaceutical companies do not want you to know about Celiac disease because it affects their bottom line. Pharmaceutical companies such as make enormous profits selling drugs to cover up the symptoms of GERD. GlaxoSmithKline, the maker of Zantac, made a profit of the equivalent of $9.1 billion from revenues of about $45.5 billion (U.S. $). Takeda Pharmaceuticals, the maker of Prevacid, also makes enormous profits. For the year ended March 31, 2010, it made a profit at the equivalent of $3.2 billion from revenues of about $15.76 billion (U.S. $). Food manufacturers such as Monasanto make enormous profits selling genetically-modified food. This explains why we should refer to the U.S. healthcare system as a disease maintenance system, not a true healthcare system.