The May 3, 2005 Medical News Today reported on a study that showed that Acetaminophen, more commonly known as Tylenol, if used daily was associated with a greater prevalence of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), as well as directly related to decreased lung function. The original study was published in the May 1st 2005 issue of the American Thoracic Society’s peer-reviewed American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
Researchers from Britain looked at data from a US survey involving 13,492 participants who were part of the Third National Health and Nutrition Survey which took place from 1988 to 1994. Participants in the survey were asked whether they had taken aspirin, acetaminophen, and ibuprofen during the previous month. The replies to the survey were then divided into “never users;” “occasional users” (1 to 5 times in the past month); “regular users” (6 to 29 times during the past month); and “daily users” (more than 29 times during the last month). This information was then compared to see if there was a correlation.

The researchers found that those who reported daily use of acetaminophen were nearly twice as likely as non-users to have asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. They noted that the results also showed that neither the use of aspirin nor the use of ibuprofen was associated with the prevalence of either asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Researchers also noted that there was a direct relationship between an increase in asthma and a decrease in lung function, with an increased usage of acetaminophen.

In the published report researchers concluded; “This study provides further evidence that use of acetaminophen is associated with an increased risk of asthma and COPD, and with decreased lung function.” They noted that acetaminophen use can cause an increase in asthma risk with potential effects on the onset, progression, and severity of the disease.

Dr. Rachel’s Take

This is a great study to show that the side effects of drugs aren’t always in the list of side effects, and that just because you are not suffering from the symptoms of the side effects of a drug, doesn’t mean that the physiological changes are not occurring in the body. Every drug or chemical you put into your body causes a physiological change in the body that may not been seen for years.

The Chiropractic philosophy teaches that the body heals itself as long as there is no interference to the body’s natural healing mechanism, which is the brain and nervous system. When there is a misalignment in the spine from an old injury, called vertebral subluxations, the nerve flow can be interrupted and not give the body a complete healing signal. Chiropractors remove these subluxations to allow a full healing signal to get to whatever needs to be healed. In turn, there is less need for drugs and surgery, thus leading to a healthy drug free life, with the only side effect being living a healthy active life to 100 years and beyond.

A series of stories appearing on May 28, 2004 through PRNewswire and other news outlets reported on a study released the day before by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM). The study reveals that 36 percent of Americans are incorporating non medical types of care, what the study refers to as, “complementary and alternative medicines (CAM)”, into their health care regimen.

The government’s survey, the most comprehensive look yet at the use of alternative medicine in the US, found more than a third of American adults used some form of non-medical care in 2002. The study pointed out that those who went to chiropractors seem to have even less confidence in traditional medical care than others who had sought other forms of non-medical care.

Richard Nahin of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, part of the National Institutes of Health, explained that more people are using natural products such as herbs or enzymes to treat chronic or recurring pain. He stated, “Many conditions are not easily treated with conventional medicine. It may be the public is turning to complementary and alternative medicine because it’s not getting relief from conventional medicine.”

The survey also showed that 19.9 percent of American adults reported having chiropractic care at some point in their lives; this represented approximately 40 million Americans in total. On a yearly basis the study showed that about 8 percent, representing about 15 million people, sought help from chiropractors during the previous 12 months.

Dr. Rachel’s Take

More than 1/3 of all Americans are seeking out complementary and alternative medicine (CAM)! This is an awesome opportunity for more Americans to learn to be healthy without drugs and surgeries. The study also shows that people whom sought out Chiropractic care had even less confidence in modern medicine. There is a good reason for this! They also found that people were seeking alternatives because the conventional medicine wasn’t helping or providing any relief. There is a good reason for this also.

Our creator made our body with everything it needs inside of us to heal and take care of itself, as long as there is no interference in the communication center or lifeline (nervous system). Chiropractors remove the interference from the nerves coming out of the spine by correcting the vertebral subluxations (or CAUSE of the problem). Conventional medicine only treats the symptoms you are having not the cause of the problem. What is causing the organ or system to malfunction has to be removed. That is why Chiropractic patients have less tolerance and confidence in the medical field. They realize their body can heal itself if their nerve system is working properly, and removing the cause of the problem verse treating the symptoms, allows for this healing to take place.

The problem according to the article is that aspirin is not effective on everyone and it can cause other health problems. Those include prolonged bleeding, ulcers, high blood pressure and allergic reaction. It should also be noted that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration does not allow claims about heart disease prevention to be made on aspirin bottles. In the settlement with the FTC Bayer will be forced to run ads in four magazines, distribute a free brochure with a similar message, and set up a toll-free number for consumers. The total that the aspirin giant will spend on this campaign is one million dollars, a relatively small portion of the company advertising budget.

Dr. Rachel’s Take

WOW! This says it all! Unfortunately, the public only gets to hear the supposed pros to taking a medication! In addition to this enforcing of the truth be told, it is proven that taking an aspirin a day can actually increase your chance of strokes.

Chiropractic adjustments allow for the brain and nerve system to function at 100% healing and health in the body. The nerve system controls and coordinates all the functions of the organs, systems, cells, tissues, and muscles. Unfortunately, an injury to the spine can interfere with the body’s ability to get a full signal from the nerve system. When the spine is injured, the vertebra can become misaligned causing a “pinched nerve” affect in the body. When this happens, it is
called vertebral subluxations. These “pinched nerves” or subluxations can lead to symptoms such as pain, tingling, numbness, paralysis, or organic dysfunction in the heart, lungs, liver, spleen, stomach, etc. Ensure your body has 100% of the nerve supply it needs to function properly and to stay active and healthy. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

For years parents have worried about their children getting fevers. And for years many authorities, including most chiropractors have said that fevers were a normal response of the body to certain situations. Now several health publications such as Mothering Magazine, WebMD and Reuters Health have reported in several 2001 issues about how fevers are a normal part of a child’s defense system. However, according to a study in the June 2001 issue of the journal Pediatrics, parents fears and views about fevers have not changed significantly in 20 years.

The author of the study, Dr. Michael Crocetti of John’s Hopkins Bayview Medical Center in Baltimore, Maryland, described parents misconceptions by stating, “In some parents’ minds, childhood fevers are linked to the risk of brain damage, seizures, and even death. And this fever fear may result in parents over-medicating their children. These types of fears are most likely passed down from generation to generation, and if you look back over the centuries, fever was thought to be the worst thing that could happen to you.”

In the current study, Crocetti and his colleagues questioned 340 health care providers–including parents, grandparents and guardians–on their thoughts about childhood fevers and what to do about them. The researchers then compared their new findings with those from a similar study conducted 20 years ago. They found that 56% of participants in the current study were “very worried” about the potential harm of fever in their children, and 44% mistakenly believed that a temperature of 102 degrees Fahrenheit was a “high” fever.

Paula Elbirt, MD, assistant professor of pediatrics at Mount Sinai Medical Center and School of Medicine, in New York says, “Fever is not a disease, it’s a signal that the body is working to battle an invasion from bacteria or a virus. Far from a sign that something has gone horribly wrong, a fever can actually be an indication that the body is actively fighting illness.” Dr Elbert elaborated by stating, “Fever signals the immune system to produce antibodies and, in fact, taking away a fever may even hamper the induction of the immune system to do its job. It’s not necessarily a direct horror show if you take the fever down, but the fever can have a positive function.” Elbirt concluded “Parents have to learn about the true meaning of fever and how to respond to it,” “Fever is not 99° — it’s not even 100°. It’s over 100.4° in a newborn or over 101° in an older child.”

The study also indicated that because of the fear of fever, parents and other caregivers are over-medicating children just because they are running a temperature. The research team found that 14% of parents gave acetaminophen and 44% gave ibuprofen at rates that were too frequent. “This practice increases the potential for toxicity from the medications,” Crocetti added. He concluded, “It is going to take a real concerted effort on behalf of pediatricians and other healthcare providers to help parents understand what fever is and how to handle it.”

Dr. Rachel’s Take
The article says it all! The body knows what it needs to do to take care of itself and keep you alive as long as possible, as long as there is no interference to the body’s ability to take care of itself. Leave it alone, our creator knew what he was doing. If your body is doing something, it’s doing it for a reason!!!!!

September 17, 2007
by Sierra Koester

We visit doctors when we are physically ill. We often expect compassion, warmth, and knowledge from the medical professionals we choose to see for our ailments. We also expect to be listened to and empathized with. Yet medical schools do not typically focus on training physicians in compassion, empathy, or communication skills. A new study published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine shows that participating in acting classes helps medical school residents communicate more effectively with patients.

Dr. Alan Dow, associate director of residency training at Virginia Commonwealth University, along with Aaron Anderson, a professor in the theatrics department at the same university developed a program to focus on the doctor-patient relationship in 2004.

Twenty medical school residents participated in this study. Fourteen medical students attended four 90-minute sessions taught by four theatrics professors at Virginia Commonwealth University focusing on the need to develop patient trust. The classes focused on the significance body language, voice inflection, overall expressions, and breathing patterns can have on patients. In addition to listening to lectures in acting classes, medical school residents took part in role-plays where the professor acted as the patient, which allowed the students to practice the skills they learned. Six medical school residents acted as the control group and did not participate in acting classes.

All 14 students who participated in the acting classes underwent at least one evaluation of a primary care clinic visit before the class and at least one evaluation after the class. The six students in the control group had similar evaluations of primary care clinic visits.
The researchers discovered that nearly all the medical residents who participated in the theatrics classes communicated better with their patients after the classes, scoring significantly higher on observations of empathy than students in the control group.

Dr. Dow asserts the findings of this study are significant because it is already known that understanding patient’ viewpoints and emotions are key to obtaining better information from the patient, getting patients to listen to doctors, and to developing better
relationships between doctors and patients.

Thus, it seems apparent that focusing on developing doctors’ communication, empathy, and compassion skills should become an integral aspect of medical school. Future research may concentrate on the most effective and efficient way to teach these types of skills to medical school students aspiring to become physicians.

Dr. Rachel’s Take
All I can do is laugh at this! Medical Dr. students have to go to acting classes to learn how to act empathetic and compassionate towards their patients. Come on! Where is the old fashion God given compassion and empathy that God has shown us? People shouldn’t act they should be!

Participants attending this secret meeting, convened by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, were repeatedly reminded that there would be no making photocopies of documents, and no taking papers with them when they left. The meeting was called to discuss a disturbing new study that raised alarming questions about the safety of a host of common childhood vaccines administered to infants and young children.

Tom Verstraeten, a CDC epidemiologist had analyzed the agency’s massive database containing the medical records of 100,000 children. He found that a mercury-based preservative in the vaccines (thimerosal) appeared to be responsible for a dramatic increase in autism and a host of other neurological disorders among children. He commented, “I was actually stunned by what I saw.” What Verstaeten told the group was that since 1991, when the CDC and the FDA had recommended that three additional vaccines laced with the preservative be given to extremely young infants the estimated number of cases of autism had increased fifteenfold, from one in every 2,500 children to one in 166 children.

The article notes that the attendees were shocked. One doctor, Dr. Richard Johnston, an immunologist and pediatrician from the University of Colorado whose grandson had been born early on the morning of the meeting’s first day commented, “Forgive this personal comment — I do not want my grandson to get a thimerosal-containing vaccine until we know better what is going on.”

However, as the Robert F. Kennedy article further reported, instead of taking immediate steps to alert the public and rid the vaccine supply of thimerosal, the attendees of this secret meeting spent most of the next two days discussing how to cover up the startling data. Kennedy noted that under the Freedom of Information Act, transcripts showed that many at the meeting were concerned about how the damaging revelations about thimerosal would affect the vaccine industry’s bottom line.

Dr. Robert Brent, a pediatrician at the Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children in Delaware stated, “This will be a resource to our very busy plaintiff attorneys in this country.” He continued, “given the sensitivity of the information, we have been able to keep it out of the hands of, let’s say, less responsible hands.” Dr. John Clements, vaccines adviser at the World Health Organization, took a stronger approach and stated that the study, “should not have been done at all” and warned that the results “will be taken by others and will be used in ways beyond the control of this group. The research results have to be handled.”
Mark Blaxill, vice president of Safe Minds, a nonprofit organization concerned about the role of mercury in medicines was quoted in the article by saying, “The CDC is guilty of incompetence and gross negligence. The damage caused by vaccine exposure is massive. It’s bigger than asbestos, bigger than tobacco, bigger than anything you’ve ever seen.”

In summing up his article Kennedy stated his passion for doing this investigation, “I devoted time to study this issue because I believe that this is a moral crisis that must be addressed. If, as the evidence suggests, our public-health authorities knowingly allowed the pharmaceutical industry to poison an entire generation of American children, their actions arguably constitute one of the biggest scandals in the annals of American medicine.”

In the Science Times section of the October of 1998 New York Times come an article that also discusses the effect placebos have on healing. The article discusses the ability of someone’s belief in healing to cause healing. According to the article scientists are now starting to understand some of the brain functions that may explain some of the results gotten from placebo treatments. Many drugs that are eventually shown to be ineffective can attribute their original success to the placebo effect.

The Times article goes on to talk about a study in Texas where a group of patients with similar knee problems underwent three types of surgical care. One group had their knee joints scraped, one group had the knee joint washed, and one group had incisions made to look like the other procedures but nothing else was done. Amazingly two years later, the group that got nothing (but believed they had surgery) had the same pain relief as did those who actually had surgery.

From a chiropractic standpoint, the placebo effect can be simply explained. Placebos only work because people believe they are getting some form of real care, so they heal themselves. Fundamental to chiropractic is the premise that the body heals itself. Chiropractors depend on this self-healing ability for the results we see. For over 100 years chiropractors have understood that the body heals itself. We believe that what a doctor should do is remove any interference to that healing ability. In chiropractic, we recognize that the most common form of interference to the body’s ability to heal itself is a spinal subluxation.

A subluxation is when one or more of the bones of your spine (vertebrae) move out of position and put pressure on or irritate spinal nerves. Spinal nerves are the nerves that come out from between each of the bones in your spine. This pressure or irritation on the nerves then causes those nerves to malfunction and interfere with the signals traveling over those nerves. The result of a subluxation is a decrease in the body’s ability to function properly and heal itself. By correcting subluxations, chiropractors allow the body’s healing ability to function at a higher level and healing is the natural result.

PRNewswire, December 16, 2000 published an interesting article concerning the movement of the medical profession toward spirituality. According to Herbert Benson, M.D., president of the Mind/Body Medical Institute of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, “Spirituality and healing are rapidly becoming integrated into mainstream American medicine.”

“Over the last ten years, we have witnessed a substantial growth in the role and application of spirituality and healing in medicine,” said Dr. Benson. “It is our hope that this evolution will continue and build momentum for more widespread acceptance by managed care organizations and insurers.”

Dr Benson noted that since 1990, almost 1,500 research studies, research reviews, articles and clinical trials have been published on the connection of spirituality or religion to medicine and health. This figure is equal to the total of all such pieces published prior to 1990.

Harold G. Koenig, M.D., associate professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Duke University Medical Center states, “We are astounded and thrilled with the explosion of research in the past ten years. These studies have explored almost all aspects of medicine, from kidney disease to sexual dysfunction. The collective findings and positive results indicate that we have just broken the surface. Imagine what the next ten years will bring.”

These views are certainly not just the views of certain individuals. In a 1999 consensus report, the American College of Physicians and the American Society of Internal Medicine suggested that physician care include a review of, and attentiveness to, psychosocial, existential or spiritual suffering of patients with serious medical illness.

Dr. Rachel’s Take

The chiropractic slant on this is obvious. All healing comes from within. All healing comes from above-down-inside-out. Whether you consider it spiritual, nature, innate intelligence, or whatever, the main focus of Chiropractic is to remove interference and allow it to work!

A study published in the February 10, 2007 issue of the prestigious British scientific journal The Lancet, shows a direct and definitive link between antibiotic usage and increased resistance of bacteria to antibiotics. Previous studies have shown a relationship, but this new study has shown a direct cause and effect between the usage of antibiotics and an increase in bacteria’s ability to resist these drugs.

In a Health Day News article, Dr. Herman Goossens, lead author of the report in The Lancet, commented, “A lot of studies have shown an association between antibiotic use and resistance, but all those studies are based on indirect evidence. There have been no randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind studies. Ours is the first study to show directly that antibiotic use leads to resistance.” The study was performed at University Hospital Antwerp in Belgium.

The study was performed on more than 200 healthy volunteers and compared two types of antibiotics against a placebo pill. Researchers took several samples of bacteria from the volunteers both before as well as up to six months after giving them antibiotics to see if they had developed any resistance to the drugs.

The results showed that both groups taking real antibiotics showed a bacterial resistance increase from 50 to 53 percent within 4 to 8 days. This was compared to the placebo group that showed no increase in bacterial resistance to antibiotics in the same timeframe.

Dr. Stephanie Dancer, a consultant microbiologist at Southern General Hospital in Glasgow, Scotland, noted her concern that was verified by this study, “I do feel very, very strongly, as my colleagues do, that we are running out of [effective] antibiotics,” Dancer said. “This study is so nice, because it gives concrete evidence underpinning everything we have suspected.”

The authors of the Lancet study concluded, “Physicians prescribing antibiotics should take into account the striking ecological side-effects of such antibiotics.”

Dr. Rachel’s Take

New studies show a direct and definitive link between antibiotic usage and increased resistance of bacteria to antibiotics. WOW! Long suspected, but now proved. Yeah! Bacteria are a living organism and have been proven, just like any other living organism, to have the strong ability to adapt to anything. Each time you take an antibiotic for anything, the bacteria are getting smarter and adapting much more quickly. Everybody is affected by this cause and effect of antibiotics. An example follows: Your friend gets an infection, virus, or fungus. They take antibiotics because that is what the Doctor suggested. Did the Dr. do a lab test to find out the cause of the problem before prescribing the antibiotic? Viruses don’t respond to antibiotics, neither do fungi. Yet, we are taking these antibiotics for anything and everything. With each round of antibiotics the bacteria becomes more and more resistant.

Are you doing everything you can to help the environment and others from these antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria? Get in tune with the 7 factors of health and do your part to ensure your well-being and the well-being of others. It has been shown, if Dr.’s prescribed antibiotics for their one and only original use, which is to stop a “life threatening” illness only, the pharmaceutical business would go bankrupt in and of itself. WOW!

Ben Eliyahu DJ

OBJECTIVE: To prospectively investigate the effect of chiropractic management on clinical and anatomical outcome of disc pathomorphology in previously magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-documented disc herniation of the cervical and lumbar spine.

SETTING: Private practice.

SUBJECTS: Twenty-seven patients with MRI-documented and symptomatic disc herniation of the cervical or lumbar spine. A prospective clinical case series.

DESIGN: All patients were evaluated before commencement of chiropractic care by MRI scans for presence of disc herniations. Pre-care evaluations also included clinical examination and visual analog scores. Patients were then treated with a course of care that included traction, flexion distraction, spinal manipulative therapy, physiotherapy and rehabilitative exercises. All patients were re-evaluated by post-care follow-up MRI scans, clinical examination and visual
analog scores. Percentage of disc shrinkage on repeat MRI, resolution of clinical examination findings, reduced visual analog pain scores and whether the patient returned to work were all recorded.

RESULTS: Clinically, 80% of the patients studied had a good clinical outcome with post-care visual analog scores under 2 and resolution of abnormal clinical examination findings. Anatomically, after repeat MRI scans, 63% of the patients studied revealed a reduced size or completely resorbed disc herniation. There was a statistically significant association (p < .005) between the clinical and MRI follow-up results. Seventy-eight percent of the patients were able to return to work in their predisability occupations.

CONCLUSION: This prospective case series suggests that chiropractic care may be a safe and helpful modality for the treatment of cervical and lumbar disc herniations. A random, controlled, clinical trial is called for to further substantiate the role of chiropractic care for the nonoperative clinical management of intervertebral disc herniation.

When you get an adjustment, it boosts your immune system by stimulating the nerves that tell the immune system to work efficiently. Your immune system sends out immune cells (phagocytes) that go and eat foreign material in the body. Your immune system recognizes a bulging disc as a foreign material since it is no longer in its normal encased area. The phagocytes eat the part of the disc that is bulging and reabsorbs that material back into the body to be excreted, reducing the size of the disc bulge. Thus allowing the nerve more room to move around without interference, and as a side effect the symptoms of the bulging disc disappear.