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Samantha MacLaren 3/21/13 English 1102 Memo For the Context, audience, and Purpose assignment I chose to create an informative blog post on natural alternatives to prescription drugs in response to the CNN News article Are you taking too many meds? In my blog, I indicate that prescription drugs are, in fact, over prescribed and over consumed. However, I used this information to direct blog readers towards more natural treatment of medical illnesses, to explain why natural alternatives can be more effective, and to inform about the dangers becoming addicted to prescription drugs. I posted my blog to Eblogger, as I feel that this site is a more academic blog forum and is well known in association with Google, in hopes that the information will contribute to the conversation about prescription drugs. Rice, Sabriya. "Are You Taking Too Many Meds?" CNN. Cable News Network, 31 May 2011. Web. 13 Feb. 2013. Link: http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/05/31/med.nation.too.many.meds/index.html

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Blog http://naturalalternativestodrugs.blogspot.com/ The average American fills twelve prescriptions each year and that number of prescriptions filled each year has grown 39% between 1999 and 2009 (Rice). With Americans spending $234 billion on prescription in 2008, this data shows that many doctors and patients are quick to look at pharmaceuticals as the most reliable solution. Even for common day to day problems like a headache, well pop an Ibuprofen and go about the rest of the day. Dont quick fix it! Taking medicines alone does not change the overall healthiness of his/her lifestyle. Medicines do not fill you with proper diet, exercise, and often can cause the actual needs of the patient to be over looked. In reality, pharmaceutical drugs should act as a last resort for medical issues. Why? If a medication works, why not take it right? Wrong. Medicines are usually designed to treat symptoms and not illnesses. So, taking that ibuprofen is just a quick fix as it alleviates the headache, but does not treat the actual cause such as tiredness, stress, or lack of nutrition. The human body is best supported by its needs. While medicines undoubtedly save lives, prescriptions can sometimes mean the masking of symptoms without out getting to the roots of the medical issue. Additionally, prescription drug addiction has grown to be a major problem facing Americans. Natural products are often must more mild, and supply the body with the fuel it needs. I have come to think of most medicines as a quick fix; whereas, the real solution lines in changes in diet, exercise, and healthiness. Through research, and through talking to your doctor specifically about alternatives to prescription drugs, you can generally find a number of healthiness changes that can be used to replace many

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of the most prescribed drugs and that will help tremendously with many medical conditions such as, pain, high blood pressure, acid reflux, heart disease, anxiety, and insomnia. Not only are prescription drugs often not entirely necessary, many prescription drugs are powerful and addictive. Back in high school, I could barely quantify the number of teens experimenting with prescription drugs either bought on the street, stolen, or found in their parents medicine cabinet. Today, I face the fact that many of these old high school friends are cycling through prescription drug addiction. No less than two weeks ago, my best friends grandmother, at age 63, became addicted to prescription drugs. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse In 2009, 16 million Americans age 12 and older had taken a prescription pain reliever, tranquilizer, stimulant, or sedative for nonmedical purposes at least once in the year prior to being surveyed (Prescription Drugs) Often times, as in my friends grandmothers case, prescription drug addiction begins with a simple prescription to alleviate pain or sleeplessness. Had patients and prescribing doctors considered a variety of natural alternatives, the patient would never have faced the risk of developing a prescription drug addiction, or allowing others in their home access to pills that have value on the street. Whether its herbs, vitamins, food, acupuncture or yoga, there are many natural approaches to healing. Pain medication is one of the most popular controversial prescription drugs. While it is effective in relieving pain, they have become a widely sold street drug due to their addictive qualities. Physicians wrote more than 131 million prescriptions in 2011 (Corbett). It seems as though doctors believe in the drugs ability to

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alleviate pain. However, the Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation shows individuals with lower back pain show greater improvements in disability and pain with just four acupuncture sessions in two weeks compared to receiving traditional treatment (Corbett). Fortunately, some more broad-minded doctors are moving away from pharmaceuticals towards more natural options that encourage body replenishment. Sleep aides are one of the most habit forming drugs. Although, they can be prescribed for regular use dependency is easily developed. Whereas, many foods inhabit your sleepiness in the way that turkey makes you want curl up on the couch after thanksgiving dinner. According to Marissa Abruzzo Before bed, try eating your choice of bananas, figs, turkey, milk, whole grain crackers, or yogurt, these foods are high in tryptophan, which promotes sleep (par. 5). I personally snuggle up in my bed with a cup of bedtime tea which contains the natural sleep aid valerian root. Dr. Teitelbuam reports on prevention.com that trying melatonin, a hormone naturally produced by the pineal gland that you can also get over-the-counter with the optimal dose being 0.5 mg (Corbett). Exercise for 30 minutes to an hour a day works effectively to prepare for sleep at the end of the day. Pain and insomnia are two conditions we generally think to be incurable or hard to cope with even using prescription drugs. However, natural treatments of illnesses are less harsh on the body, less habit forming, and just flat out healthier. When considering your medical conditions and the treatment options on your next trip to the doctor, dont quick fix it! Find the root of the problem and look to natural ways to promote healthiness in your body in the long run. Your body could just be missing a few vital vitamins.

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To read more about natural alternatives : http://www.prevention.com/mind-body/naturalremedies/top-10-prescription-drugs-and-natural-remedies/9-insomnia#ixzz2OebmkwsB

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Works Cited Abruzzo, Marissa. "My Natural Alternatives to Prescription Drugs." Katie. 14 Nov 2012. Web. 1 Apr. 2013. Corbett, Holly C. Proc. of Natural Alternatives to the Top 5 Most Prescribed Drugs. Prevention Magazine. FOX News Network, 24 Feb. 2012. Web. 09 Apr. 2013 "Prescription Drugs." National Institute on Drug Abuse. 12 Dec. 2012. Web. 10 Apr. 2013. Rice, Sabriya. "Are You Taking Too Many Meds?" CNN. Cable News Network, 31 May 2011. Web. 13 Feb. 2013.

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Proposal In the Context, Audience, Purpose Project, I wish to engage with and respond to, CNN medical producer, Sabriyna Rices article Are you taking too many meds? This article will be used to formulate my response on natural alternatives to pharmaceutical drugs. In a Blog, I will write an article outlines ways to avoid taking to many medications in response to the chosen article. The target audience for my project will be mostly young adults and medicine takers as I wish not only join the conversation, but encourage awareness in others. Mostly this article will aim to be informative, discouraging to prescription drugs, and helpful to those wondering about natural alternatives to prescription drugs. My personal opinion that prescriptions are over prescribed should be apparent from my stance on the topic and my response to this article. I may also choose to look at how other countries manage to prescribe less, maintain health, and what they choose to cure illnesses depending on space and relevance to the subject as I begin the writing. Overall, the Blog post should direct the American online viewers to less prescription drug dependency and more natural dependency on the Earths materials. Pre-Writing Research In the research for my blog post, I mostly used Google, and the first three valid results that it returned in order to give information that anyone could find as it would be helpful to my target audience. While it did not need to be included in my works cited, I looked up several examples of good blog posts, and worked with a friend in business communication to create an academically sound blog post on a well-recognized site. Although I did not use any citations from the first project in class, this blog post was

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greatly inspired by the information that I found in our auto-inquiry and closely related to the topic. I used the information that I found in the auto-inquiry to inspire the creation of this blog and to join the conversation on my topic of this semester. Additionally, Owl Perdue contributed greatly to the formatting of my blog post in compliance with MLA format.