I read a Reuters news report not long ago that said a recent study showed that adverse drug reactions were one of the leading causes of death in American hospitals. The low end estimate would put it at the sixth leading, while the high end put it at the fourth leading cause. Drug abuse, noncompliance with instructions, and administration errors were excluded from this study, so that tells you that the deaths reported really were from adverse reactions.

I've long been worried by drug use in America. And I don't mean illegal drugs, either. That's an alarming subject all its own. I'm referring to what I see as being peoples' ignorance about what they're putting into their bodies and, in many cases, ignorance of the long-term effects of over-prescription of them.

We abuse over-the-counter medications full of man-made chemicals that cause all kinds of side effects. Aspirin can cause tinnitus and gastric bleeding. Acetaminophen can cause liver damage. Ibuprofen can cause kidney damage. And these are just pain killers!

I've seen medicine cabinets in some peoples' homes that look like pharmacies. It's astounding to me that we have some sort of drug to take for every little ache and pain, every little symptom of just about anything you can imagine.

The point is that these substances, while having beneficial effects, also are detrimental to us in some way or another. You can't pick up anything at the local drug store without seeing side effects listed on the box. Some people are far more prone to experiencing them than others, it's true, but not one of us is unaffected by them. And if taking over-the-counter medications can have nasty effects, what about prescription medications? They're loaded with side effects. Television commercials now include recitations of them at the end of the pitch. Sometimes I wonder if it's not just better to live with your malady, rather than suffer the side effects of the medication.

Our legal drug problem goes deeper, though. We're also endangering others besides ourselves. We routinely over-prescribe antibiotics, for example. Studies have shown that our overuse of them is causing resistance, and in some cases immunity, in germs. Sooner or later, our drugs will fail to work on them at all. And then where will we be?

Despite the plethora of drugs we have in our society, the fact is that we don't take germs seriously enough. We don't respect them. We think that we can wipe out disease, allowing our victory over smallpox to go to our heads. We thought we'd wiped out tuberculosis, too, but it's back, and growing in severity all the time. Our drugs didn't eradicate it, but strengthened it.

And just as germs become resistant to our medicines, so do our bodies. Just as a narcotic addict requires more and more of a substance to get high, we build up tolerances to other drugs, like pain killers. Who hasn't known someone who seems to need more and more pain killers to get rid of their headache or backache? They start with one tablet, then two, and sooner or later they're taking four tablets of ibuprofen or eight aspirin at a time.

Western culture is slowly catching on to the fact that there are alternatives to man-made chemicals to ease our suffering. Herbal remedies have far fewer side effects and are often just as effective as our over-the-counter, and in some cases prescription, medications. The benefits of St. Johns Wort for depression and other maladies is well-documented, for example. Accupressure can relieve most headaches, usually much faster than medication. And massage can do wonders for all kinds of things, from body aches to carpal tunnel syndrome. Plenty of studies show that many non-standard treatments can have significant results on our ills.

So before you reach for your common medicine of choice, think of what you're really doing to yourself. Examine other options. In the long run, it may be for the best.