Side Effects? Or Direct Effects!

- The Laboratory Process
- Common Effects of Drugs
- Think Long Term 


The Laboratory Process
The most common question that individuals ask before they ever take a prescription drug is, “What are the side effects?” Before you pop another pill, you must understand how medications’ side effects directly affect your body today and in years to come. 

Medications are tested in a laboratory until the chemical reaction that they are designed to achieve is reproducible. The direct effects of this lab testing must be consistent before these chemicals are ever tested on animals or people. Once human testing begins, scientists measure the impact of these medications to see if they cause the same direct effects that were induced in a laboratory. If these effects are reproducible, the testing continues to see if any other effects occur. These are called “Side Effects” because they were not present in the laboratory setting and their impact on humans was outside of their intended effect. In actuality, these side effects are direct effects of these drugs on the body. Because we are all unique in our body chemistry, direct effects, labeled side effects, impact people differently, and they are much more common than people think. 

Common Effects of Drugs
The direct effects of Lipitor, for example, are constipation, gas, headaches, stomach pain, weakness, rash, hives, itching, difficulty breathing, chest pain, swelling of the mouth or face, bone, joint or tendon pain, change in urination, fever, chills, sore throat, flu-like symptoms, joint pain, muscle pain, tenderness, weakness, bowel changes, skin changes, swelling of the hands or feet, yellowing of the eyes or skin. This “incomplete” list, according to www.drugs.com, shows that while Lipitor may affect cholesterol levels in the body, there can be dozens of other direct effects that impact you in an unhealthy way.

Drug companies prepare a list of side effects for the consumer, while also listing additional side effects that doctors should be aware of. If you go to www.drugs.com and type in any common drug, then select “side effects,” you will notice that the side effects to the consumer take up half a page while the side effects/direct effects for the physician to be aware of might be up to a dozen pages. Most people are unaware of all the effects that medications can cause, and often treat these symptoms with other drugs. This is dangerous because the interactions between drugs can cause even more severe direct effects. Too many people unknowingly go down this road until their body chemistry and health is completely screwed up.

Think Long Term
Additionally, as in the case of Lipitor, there are twelve different listings of side effects/direct effects showing adverse reactions in greater than 2% of the cases. When you add the numbers of each direct effect, you will notice that nearly 60% of cases are experiencing at least one of these effects.

The direct effects of these medications, combined with the reality of our extended life spans to 80, 90, 100 years and beyond, and knowing that drugs only need to be tested for about 8 years before they are brought to market, makes it obvious that living a lifestyle that keeps you independently healthy and free from the need for medications is your best long-term option. 

Thomas Edison saw this coming over 100 years ago stating, “The doctor of the future will give no medicine but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, in diet and in the cause and prevention of disease.” The future is now. Our office will help you and your loved ones adjust your lifestyle so that you enjoy good health for a lifetime.


© 2012. TFP, Inc and www.100yearlifestyle.com. All Rights Reserved.

How Much Pain Can You Tolerate?

www.100yearlifestyle.com

- The Cost of Pain in the U.S. and Canada
- The Risks of Masking Pain
- A Better Option
- The Critical Transition

“How much pain can you tolerate?” is a very interesting question. Some people have a high pain threshold and are very “macho” in their approach as they act like they can handle anything. On the other hand, many others have a mild to moderate threshold and search for a “cover up” to eliminate their unpleasant feelings. Based on the astronomical statistics of pain medication use, our level of tolerance has gone way down.

The Cost of Pain in the U.S. and Canada
In the United States the total cost of health care related to pain is approximately $600 billion and the cost to employers dealing with employees who have reduced work productivity due to pain is in the neighborhood of $100 billion per year. An Auburn University study showed that 67% of children suffered muscle soreness, 51% back pain, 24% numbness and 15% shoulder pain. Studies from John Hopkins Children Center and many other places have shown that backpacks cause back and shoulder pain and poor posture in children. Between 1997 and 2005, the medical expenses for individuals with spine problems grew from $4,695.00 to $6,096.00 per person.

According to CBC News, 54% of Canadian seniors report that chronic pain is interfering with most of their activities. The National Population Health Survey found that seniors who saw their pain increase over a two-year period were more likely to be unhappy or have a negative impression of their personal health at the end of that period. In younger Canadians between the ages of 12 and 44, 10% are already experiencing pain that is affecting their life and limiting their activities.

The Risks of Masking Pain
Too many people look to manage their pain by numbing their feelings with non-prescription or prescription drugs. Certainly in extreme cases this may be helpful as any compassionate person would agree; however, managing pain with medication as part of a lifestyle rather than getting to the cause can lessen your body’s natural pain tolerance and cause horrible side effects including nausea, sleep disruption, lack of mental clarity, lack of energy, depression and potential damage to key organs such as the liver, kidney and heart. 

Overuse can create unintended addictions to pain medication that can lead to even more challenges and difficulties in your life. 

A Better Option
Chiropractic care is a much better option for both acute and chronic pain sufferers. First of all, a chiropractic examination can locate areas in the spine that are out of balance and are putting pressure on nerves which can contribute to nearly every type of pain condition. 

Crisis Care, the type of care that is delivered when someone is in pain or suffering from a health problem, is delivered with frequent visits close together to begin realigning the spine, reducing inflammation and pressure from the nervous system, which usually provides relief and stability within a few weeks or months.

The Critical Transition
The next phase of care, called the Critical Transition, is critical because it provides consistent care with less frequent visits stretched out over a longer period of time regardless of how people feel so the spine, nervous system and body can begin to regenerate. It is this phase of the care that is necessary to support an active, healthy, long life that is either free from chronic pain or certainly makes pain much more manageable. 

Unfortunately too many people ignore this critical transition because they feel better and they go back to the destructive habits that caused their deterioration in the first place. This behavior, including numbing their pain with drugs, can only lead to more deterioration and pain even though you experience relief from the pills. Continuing your chiropractic care through the Critical Transition breaks this cycle and gives your body the chance to adapt and truly heal for the long haul.

Isn’t it time that you decide to not tolerate a pain and medication based lifestyle and the deteriorating future that it promotes? Take care of your spine and nervous system so that your body can heal itself and enjoy the quality of life you deserve. 



© 2012. TFP, Inc and www.100yearlifestyle.com. All Rights Reserved.

How Is Your Sleep?

            With all the labor-saving devices of our modern society, somehow we never seem to have more time to sleep.  We just seem to have more activities to fill our time.  Studies have demonstrated that most people do not believe that they get enough sleep.  This, despite the fact that everyone knows that getting the proper rest is essential to health and well being.  It is also interesting that you never hear someone say, “Boy, I’ve been getting too much sleep lately, I need to cut back.”  They may say that about exercise or eating but never sleep.  In fact, if a person continually gets a great amount of sleep they usually still do not feel rested and the conclusion often is that there is something physically wrong with them!

            So how much sleep does the average person need?  Actually, no one cares what the average person needs.  Everyone really wants to know how much they need, and frankly, no one can tell you that.  The amount each individual needs is an individual thing.  It varies from person to person, and also from day to day depending upon physical and mental activity, as well as physiological changes taking place in your body on a given day and the general stress level in your life.  If no one can know how much we need, how can we know what is the necessary amount of sleep?

            The answer lies in listening to our bodies.  Our bodies tell us when we are tired, when we need to go to bed and get some sleep.  In a similar manner, we can know when we have gotten enough sleep, that is when we wake up refreshed and feel like we have more energy.  We do not get drowsy during the course of the day and when we finally go to sleep at night, we quickly fall into a deep restful sleep.  That is the way it should be, and for many people life is like that.  These are the people whose bodies are working as they should.  Their body is producing the right chemicals in the right amount for them to get a restful sleep and to wake up refreshed.  We know chemicals make us sleep and keep us awake.  After all, people take chemicals in the form of drugs to go to sleep or stay awake.  The problem is that it is not the natural way.  The body is not producing those chemicals and as a result, they have to have harmful side-effects.

            How well your body is producing “sleep chemicals” and “awake chemicals” is a function of your innate wisdom and the nerve system which directs the production of those chemicals.  How quickly and how deeply you fall asleep is also a direct function of your nerve system.  When there is an interference in the nerve system due to a vertebral subluxation, your body just cannot function as it should and the sleep-regulating system, as well as every other system in your body is negatively affected.  By checking your spine regularly, your chiropractor can correct these subluxations as soon after they occur as possible.  This results in a minimum of nerve interference to the sleep-regulating mechanism.  As a result, your body works better.  You may be able to get to sleep sooner, get to a deeper, more restful sleep and awaken refreshed.  Chiropractic adjustments cannot provide more hours of sleep time in your day but it can make the hours that you do sleep more productive, more refreshing and more restorative and that may be even better than having more time to sleep.

By checking your spine regularly, your chiropractor can correct these subluxations as soon after they occur as possible.