NSAIDs, Fish Oil and Pain

Most people come to our office because they are in pain, and they've tried just about everything to help themselves get better. But the pain remains, and even worse, the pain is typically at it's highest levels by the time they come in.

I would venture to guess that a vast majority of people at some time have taken over the counter pain medications to help get rid of the problem. But if you stop and think logically about it, taking pain medications only masks the problem, in addition research shows us that these medications, both prescription and over the counter, have many harmful effects associated with them... including death.

In a recent post The American Chiropractor touched base on this same topic and reviewed a research article titled:

Omega-3 Fatty Acids (Fish Oil) as an Anti-inflammatory: An Alternative to Non steroidal Anti-inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) for Discogenic Pain.

I wanted to highlight a few key points and recommend a few actions steps.

Please keep in mind that this article review only focus's on a small portion of the benefits gained with proper Omega 3 to Omega 6 balance. To learn and understand more join us this Monday, August 10th. You can see more details here.

Here are some of the points taken from Dr. Dan Murphy article review:

1. The use of NSAID’s is associated with extreme complications, including gastric ulcers, bleeding, myocardial infarction, stroke, and even death.

2. In this study, after seventy-five days on fish oil, 59% of patients who were taking NSAID’s for chronic spinal pain and who had degenerative spine disease were able to discontinue their prescription NSAID’s, and 88% stated they were satisfied with their improvement and that they would continue to take the fish oil.

3. The beneficial anti-inflammatory effects of high-dose fish oil include the reduction of joint pain from rheumatoid and osteoarthritis, improvement in dry eyes and macular degeneration, reduced plaque formation, reduced arrhythmia's, and reduced infarction from coronary atherosclerosis.

4. In this study, fish oil supplementation was not associated with any significant side effects.


Action Steps

1. Join us August 10th for our open workshop on The Importance of Omega 3's. All are welcome!

2. Become a student again. Realize that what we are told is good nutrition is only a small piece of the puzzle. If the typical recommendations for being healthy were accurate, then there would be very little sickness and disease. (By the way, we are currently the sickest species on the planet.)

3. Next time you're in our office, ask how you can find some of the best fish oil available.

4. Receive you regular adjustment. Chiropractic is not about pain, although it can help, chiropractic is a lifestyle and a method utilized to keep your body running at its optimal performance.

5. Share this information and your chiropractic story with your friends and loved ones. Currently, most people have heard of chiropractors but don't have a clear view of how chiropractic works.

Do you believe in Wellness?

I often hear people comment about how they either believe or don't believe in certain "alternative" or holistic heath care methods. There is no malice in their words, usually. However, the very choice of the word believe would imply that very real and very researched non-medical therapies require the same level of belief as one would give the Easter Bunny or Santa Claus.

We place our absolute confidence in medications today that will be considered obsolete or even too harmful to prescribe in 5 years. Yet, time tested natural methods continue to require a belief system to be consider accepted. It just doesn't seem logical. So I thought I would offer a little bit of information to help you believe in wellness and maybe even Chiropractic.

I received a periodical the other day and found this awesome article by one of my favorite Chiropractors, Christopher Kent, DC, Esq. He wrote about wellness and specifically how Chiropractic fits in the wellness model. The references he leaves you with are compelling. Take a moment to go to the article or at least read on a little further. I have quoted the article and hope you find it interesting.

If we are worried about health care bankrupting our future. Check out these interesting results of a 7 year study. "Significant decreases in the utilization of medical services, and their attendant costs, were noted when Chiropractors or other “CAM-oriented” practitioners were used as primary care providers. In an Independent Physician Association (IPA) which permitted patients to select a doctor of chiropractic as their primary care physician, clinical and cost utilization based on 70,274 member months over a seven year period demonstrated decreases of 60.2 percent in hospital admissions, 59.0 percent hospital days, 62.0 percent outpatient surgeries and procedures, and 85 percent pharmaceutical costs when compared with conventional medicine." Imagine what a reduction of 60.2% hospital admissions would mean for our national health care budget. (http://www.chiroeco.com/news/chiropractic-news.php?id=7223&section=127)

Let us also think about the geriatric population. Many health care economists predict that the baby boomers will become a huge economic burden as they enter their declining years. We often discuss the long-term benefits of Chiropractic maintenance care with our patients. Dr. Kent referenced this next excerpt concerning wellness and maintenance care in his article in the January 20 edition of Chiropractic Economics. "A larger study surveyed 311 chiropractic patients, aged 65 years and older, who had received chiropractic maintenance care for five years or longer. Chiropractic patients, when compared with U.S. citizens of the same age, spent only 31 percent of the national average for health care services. The chiropractic patients also experienced 50 percent fewer medical provider visits then their comparable peers. The health habits of patients receiving maintenance care were better overall than the general population, including decreased use of cigarettes and decreased use of nonprescription drugs. " (http://www.chiroeco.com/news/chiropractic-news.php?id=7223&section=127)

Take a brief moment to consider these very real references and what you believe in.

Risky Combinations of Medications

1. One in three adults age 57 to 85 take at least
   five prescription drugs
2. Mix of prescriptions, over-the-counters and
   diet supplements could be dangerous
3. 175,000 older adults visit the ER every year
   because of adverse drug events
4. Women are more likely to take prescription
   drugs and dietary supplements

In a recent study reviewed by CNN and Yahoo News US researchers found nearly one out of every 25 people aged 57 to 85 took dangerous combinations of drugs with the potential for serious interactions, and mixing of medications with non-prescription drugs are the culprit more than half of the time.

"The public has an awareness that two prescription medications used together might be dangerous," said study author Stacy Tessler Lindau of the University of Chicago Medical Center.

"But what people don't fully appreciate is that non-prescription drugs can interact with prescription drugs and even other non-prescription drugs."


If prescription drugs are so good, where are all the healthy drug takers?

In article posted by naturalnews.com

“Drug companies claim that pharmaceuticals can do wonders for people: lower their cholesterol, end clinical depression, reverse osteoporosis, eliminate allergies, calm your children and many other similar promises. But if prescription drugs are so good for people, where are all the healthy medicated customers? “

There aren't any to speak of. There's nobody taking twelve prescriptions that have a clean bill of health. In fact, the more prescriptions a person takes, the worse their overall health. And if you approach the healthiest people you can find in a local fitness center and ask what prescription drugs they're taking in order to be so healthy, they'll give you a rather confused look: they don't take prescription drugs!

What You Can Do

Make sure you are receiving regular chiropractic adjustments

Attend FREE workshops at Back to Health Chiropractic to discover what your body requires for exercise, nutrition and emotional health

Chiropractic treatment is becoming mainstream medicine

There is a growing trend in healthcare today. Patients are increasingly more unsatisfied with the treatment they receive from the medical physician. In these situations, it is often because the persons problem is not one in which medicine is the best treatment choice.

The numbers of people seeking out alternatives to medical treatment is on a steady rise. You can see medical facilities offering alternatives and "wholistic" treatment in outpatient hospital related settings. These facilities are oftened staffed by providers that are not as skilled or experienced as those in private practice. Here'sa brief excerpt from an article I came across the other day.

"A study published in the Journal of American Medical Association way back in 1998 showed that visits to alterative practitioners increased from 34% in 1990 to 42% in 1997, in such disciplines as herbal medicine, massage, megavitamins, self-help groups, folk remedies, energy healing, and homeopathy. The probability of users visiting an alternative medicine practitioner increased from 36.3% to 46.3%, which totaled an estimated cost of over $21 billion, with at least $12 billion out-of-pocket, that is, paid by the patients themselves and not insurance companies. This increase was attributed to more people seeking complementary care, and not to more visits per patient.

More than one-third of hospitals now offer one or more complementary therapies, according to a survey by the American Hospital Association completed last September. The hospitals with these services tend to be located in urban areas, with the southern Atlantic states offered the most CAM services. The types of services offered vary from hospital to hospital, but include acupuncture, chiropractic, homeopathy, nutrition, herbal medicine, and massage therapy. (Massage is one of the most requested services.) Over 80% of patients requested complementary services, even though they are not covered by insurance."

Of all the specialties that fall under CAM Chiropractic care is by far the one most utilized, most researched and most effective.

Pasted from <http://www.healthnews.com/blogs/melanie-grimes/natural-health/alternative-medicine/is-alternative-medicine-new-mainstream-2100.html>

For more info about the statistics concerning CAM usage go to this website, www.b2hc.com, and send us an email.