When I was in the Navy during the Vietnam War, there was a sign posted just outside the base where I was stationed in California. The sign provided the running total of the number of U.S. military personnel who had died in Vietnam during the war versus the number of U.S. citizens who had died on U.S. highways during the same period of time. The numbers weren’t even close. The casualties on our highways were much higher.

Now, a new threat has risen to outpace traffic accidents as one of the top killers of Americans: prescription drug poisoning. According to an investigative article that appeared recently in the Los Angeles Times,1 “drugs exceeded motor-vehicle accidents as a cause of death in 2009, killing at least 37,485 people nationwide.” By comparison, the death toll for the Vietnam War is reported at 58,148 for the entire 10 years in which U.S. troops were deployed.

According to the article, pain meds and anti-anxiety drugs are the most deadly. OxyContin, Vicodin, Xanax, Soma and newcomer Fentanyl rank as the drugs that have taken the most lives. Every year, these drugs kill more people in the U.S. than heroin and cocaine combined.

What is most frightening is the aggressive trend the death tolls have taken in recent years. According to the authors of the Times article, between 2000 and 2008:

“(Prescription) drug fatalities more than doubled among teens and young adults”
“Deaths more than tripled among people aged 50 to 69″
“(T)he death toll is highest among people in their 40s.”

Not surprisingly, the prescription and dosage rates for these drugs are also increasing at an alarming rate. According to the Times article, in California alone, the prescription rate for pain meds increased by 43 percent while the doses grew by 50 percent, a deadly combination.

Sadly, the majority of the people who overdosed on these prescription drugs were only looking to ease the pain in their body. Many probably believed they could live comfortable lives with regular dependence on their pain relievers.

Clearly, the chiropractic message was not being heard by these people. Many obviously chose regular drug ingestion over regular chiropractic care. I’m sure that a large percentage stopped looking for the cause and settled on what they believed was an acceptable “cure.”

But this is not the end of this pharmaceutically-induced nightmare. In fact, it may only be the beginning. The current trend shows little signs of leveling off. We will certainly see even more deaths from prescription drugs once the 2010 and 2011 figures come out, and it is likely that the numbers will increase every year thereafter.

What can we do? Many have said that Big Pharma cannot be stopped. That may be true, but perhaps we can slow it down. If nothing else, maybe we can communicate a different message to our communities. Perhaps we can educate our patients to appreciate just how dangerous prescription drugs really are and encourage them to tell their friends, family and co-workers to “try chiropractic first.”

Go to the Los Angeles Times Web site, print out their investigative article and share it with your patients for the next few weeks. Ask them about the people they know who are living with pain by using prescription drugs to get through life. Ask them to talk to the people they love and encourage them to come see you instead. You may even want to offer a free exam to “see if chiropractic can help them with their pain.”

Considering the millions of pain-medication users, even reaching a small percentage could make a real difference. Not only will we be improving health, but we will also be saving lives.

It took me about three hours to research and write this article. In that relatively short time, more than 13 people in the U.S. alone died of prescription drug poisoning. It didn’t have to happen.

Reference:

“Drug Deaths Now Outnumber Traffic Fatalities in U.S., Data Show.” Los Angeles Times. Sept. 17, 2011.

Notes from Dr. Cohen: I sometimes hear at parties how great pain drugs work, almost as if it’s a joke. Medications are quite serious and this article puts it into perspective by comparing medications to traffic fatalities and the Vietnam war.

The take home for me is that pain meds and anti-anxiety drugs are the most deadly and both are conditions we can treat conservatively with limited or no medications.

Two of the top man-made medical breakthroughs in the past 100 years may also be two of the deadliest and most harmful to you and your loved ones. Further, odds are nearly 100% that you and your loved ones have already been treated with these two “breakthroughs” — and may be at risk of the effects now or in the years to come.

Three-quarters of U.S. children have taken antibiotics by the time they’re 2 years old. What does this mean for their future health?

1. Antibiotics

Antibiotics can work wonders when they’re prescribed for bacterial infections like pneumonia, tuberculosis and meningitis. In this way they truly have been a breakthrough that has saved countless numbers of lives.

The problem with antibiotics is that they are often prescribed to treat viruses — against which they are useless. Viruses like upper respiratory infections, measles, mumps, chickenpox, flu, and gastroenteritis are all viral infections, which antibiotics do nothing for.

Antibiotics, however, do kill bacteria, and they do this quite well. The problem is that they not only kill the bad bacteria that may be causing your illness, but they also kill ALL bacteria, including the good kind in your digestive tract that your body needs, leaving barren territory for all sorts of trouble to brew.

If you have taken antibiotics unnecessarily, for a virus, for instance, you may have therefore killed off all of the good bacteria in your system.

You are exposed to antibiotics not only by prescription medications, but also in animal food products and possibly your drinking water. In fact, about 70 percent of all antibiotics produced in the United States are given to livestock and poultry, which you then feed to your family.

Further, when drugs are excreted in waste, the compounds linger in the environment. In the case of livestock waste, the antibiotic-laced manure is spread directly onto farm crops as fertilizer. From there it may run off into nearby streams.

The result is that bacteria is able to mutate into strains that are resistant to the widely spread antibiotics, paving the way for infections that cannot be easily cured.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 2 million people in hospitals get infections each year, which cause 90,000 deaths. Of these, more than 70 percent of the bacteria that causes these infections are resistant to at least one common antibiotic that is typically used to treat them.

New research from the University of Iowa found a new strain of MRSA in 70 percent of hogs and 64 percent of workers on farms that routinely use antibiotics. Experts are now realizing that these drug-resistant bacteria can spread via the food supply, water runoff and other methods, potentially putting the entire population at risk.

(Stay tuned for an upcoming article on this rapidly growing man-made antibiotic health risk that is causing MRSA outbreaks across the U.S.!)

2. Vaccines

Vaccines commonly contain toxic additives including aluminum, mercury, antibiotics, formaldehyde and MSG.

Like antibiotics, vaccines have been touted as a medical breakthrough that has saved many lives. However, recently there has been growing concern that the country’s one-size-fits all, and sometimes mandatory, vaccination policies are not in the best interest of your individual health.

For starters, the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) points out that vaccines bypass your body’s natural processes for establishing immunity, leading to what some experts call “artificial immunity.” NVIC states:

“Vaccines provide temporary immunity and sometimes vaccines fail to provide even temporary immunity for some individuals. Because vaccination does not exactly mimic the immunity produced after natural infection, which is often longer-lasting or permanent, booster doses of vaccines are often required to extend vaccine-induced immunity.”

Another issue of concern is the potentially dangerous ingredients added to vaccines. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “Chemicals are added to vaccines to inactivate a virus or bacteria and stabilize the vaccine, helping to preserve the vaccine and prevent it from losing its potency over time.”

The CDC continues:

“Chemicals commonly used in the production of vaccines include a suspending fluid (sterile water, saline, or fluids containing protein); preservatives and stabilizers (for example, albumin, phenols, and glycine); and adjuvants or enhancers that help improve the vaccine’s effectiveness. Vaccines may also contain very small amounts of the culture material used to grow the virus or bacteria used in the vaccine, such as chicken egg protein.”

It says right on the CDC’s own Web page that the following ingredients are commonly added to vaccines. You may notice that most of these additives are potentially toxic, and likely substances you do not want injected into your (or your child’s) body:

• Aluminum gels or salts of aluminum, which are added as adjuvants to help  stimulate a better response to the vaccine.

• Antibiotics, which are added to some vaccines to prevent the growth of germs (bacteria) during production and storage of the vaccine.

• Egg protein is found in influenza and yellow fever vaccines, which are prepared using chicken eggs. Ordinarily, persons who are able to eat eggs or egg products safely can receive these vaccines.

• Formaldehyde is used to inactivate bacterial products for toxoid vaccines, (these are vaccines that use an inactive bacterial toxin to produce immunity).  It is also used to kill unwanted viruses and bacteria that might contaminate the vaccine during production.

• Monosodium glutamate (MSG) and 2-phenoxy-ethanol, which are used as stabilizers in a few vaccines to help the vaccine remain unchanged when the vaccine is exposed to heat, light, acidity, or humidity.

• Thimerosal is a mercury-containing preservative that is added to vials of vaccine that contain more than one dose to prevent contamination and growth of potentially harmful bacteria.

The bottom line is that vaccination is not a foolproof way to avoid disease. The shots do cause side effects, and sometimes those side effects are serious, even deadly.

This is why NVIC continues to ask, “Is the atypical manipulation of the immune system with more and more vaccines in early life setting some children up for chronic disease and disability? Is less better?”

They point out that American children are the most highly vaccinated children in the world (receiving 49 doses of 14 vaccines before the age of 6), and are also among the most chronically ill and disabled. The CDC admits that one in six U.S. children is now developmentally delayed. NVIC also points out:

• During the past quarter century, the number of children with learning disabilities, ADHD, asthma and diabetes has more than tripled.
• More than twice as many children have chronic brain and immune system dysfunction today than did in the 1970s when half as many vaccines were given to children.

So before you decide to get vaccinated (or vaccinate your children) make sure you’re informed of the risks and alternatives first.

Already Taken Antibiotics and Received Vaccines?

You’re far from alone.

The vast majority of Americans have received all of the CDC’s recommended vaccines (along with their toxic additives). Further, 63 percent of U.S. children have taken antibiotics before their first birthday, and 75 percent have gotten their first dose within two years of birth.

So what can you do to protect your health from these potentially toxic assaults?

Fortify Your Body With Probiotics

Donna Gates, nutritional consultant, points out that, fortunately for us, our bodies are remarkably intelligent and quite capable of keeping us healthy if we give them the right “tools.” The key to fighting off illness within your body (this includes not only bacterial infections but also viruses too) is to balance the good and bad bacteria in your gut.

Probiotic supplements have recently become increasingly popular in the United States for this reason, but there’s another way to get good bacteria in your system — and it’s quite tasty! Cultured foods, things like kefir (a fermented milk drink that tastes like tart yogurt) and traditionally fermented sauerkraut, natto and other vegetables are among the best sources of probiotics around.

This is especially important if you have taken antibiotics. Gates says:

“It is absolutely essential to eat probiotic foods and drink probiotic beverages like kefir if you must take an antibiotic. They are a much smarter “antibiotic,” as nature, which is far smarter than humans, has equipped them with the innate ability to know which bad bacteria to attack, and which bacteria to leave alone.

If you consume them during antibiotic therapy, they will continually replace the good bacteria that the antibiotics wipe out. Then continue eating them for a minimum of three months to ensure that you renew a new, healthy “inner ecosystem” in your intestines. Best yet, incorporate these delicious new foods into your diet forever. You’ll be very glad you did.”

So whichever method you choose (choosing both the supplements and the cultured foods is best), be sure that your body is getting a steady source of good bacteria. Once your gut is balanced and healthy, you’ll have to worry much less about illness in the first place, because at this point your immune system will be functioning at its optimal, disease-fighting level.

In choosing a probiotic supplement for yourself, choose one of a high therapeutic dose if you have been on a round of antibiotics.

It can be used where a more aggressive therapeutic approach is required, such as if you are coming off antibiotic therapy. Probiotic Supreme™ delivers 15 billion organisms per dose in a caplet form and uses a patented delivery system to ensure delivery of the highest number of live organisms to your intestinal tract.

Studies have shown that probiotics may be helpful with both immune system modulation and allergies, plus they’re imperative if you’ve recently been on antibiotic therapy. It’s a simple step that may help keep you and your family in the best health possible.

Detox Your Body of Heavy Metals From Vaccines

Along with taking probiotics to fortify your gut health, we highly recommend detoxing heavy metal toxins from your body on a regular basis.

There are many ways of removing toxic chemicals heavy heavy metals from your body, but most of them involve expensive treatments where a doctor injects you with drugs or vitamins intravenously via a drip. Many of these drugs will also strip the good minerals from your body, something that is not recommended since it is difficult to replenish these important substances.

Like other chemicals, heavy metals can accumulate in your body not only from vaccines, but also from silver dental fillings, contaminated seafood and other foods, cosmetics, pollution, contaminated water, and other sources, so it would be wise to disarm this potential “time-bomb” now before it causes serious illness in the future.

Since most of you reading this have likely already been exposed to the secret health risks of antibiotics and vaccines described above (and probably for many years now), consider asking me in my San Francisco office about detox options and probiotics to rebuild healthy flora.

Although the quality of trials was generally good “some aspects of the reporting of these trials was poor.” In particular
“serious gastrointestinal events such as bleeding were poorly reported” and “other serious adverse events (including renal toxicity) were not mentioned in any trial.”

In this study, under the auspices of the Medical Research Council and led by Professor Paul Dieppe from the Department of Social Medicine, University of Bristol, there was a comparison of patients in the trials and patients who actually use NSAIDs in the community. The study focused on osteoarthritis (OA), because NSAIDs are used primarily for arthritis and OA is the most common form. The study’s overall conclusions are that the risks of NSAIDs use are under-represented in the controlled trials which, apart from excluding many types of patients at risk and focusing on those known to be benefi ting from NSAIDs, are small (average size 67 patients) and brief (mostly focusing on use for a period of six weeks or less, whereas NSAIDs are commonly used over a much longer period in the community). More community studies now need to be done.

Terrett has reported that there are 32,000 hospitalizations and 3,2000 deaths per year in the US because of GI bleeding and other complications for patients receiving NSAIDs for OA. (Current Concepts in Vertebrobasilar Complications following Spinal Manipulation, Terrett AGJ, 2nd edition 2001, NCMIC, West Des Moines, IA, 118-119.) These figures may now be conservative. Prolonged use of NSAIDs should be avoided if possible.

-Written by David Chapman-Smith LL.B. (Hons.) 2004

I’m not the biggest Eminem fan, but when I saw him on “60 Minutes” a few weeks ago, I was a bit charmed. It seems he’s matured exponentially and while he is still quite edgy he seems much more grounded. Turns out it’s because he’s now clean. Those of you who follow Marshall Mathers, or Eminem, know since the beginning of his career he rapped often about drugs including ecstasy, ‘shrooms, and coke. Basically, any drug seemed fair game for him to use or talk about.

What struck me most about the interview was a brief moment – about ten seconds – when he said it was medications that took him down. It’s almost lost in the interview, but he explains that his addiction was to prescription drugs. He became dependent on Vicodin, Vallium, and Ambien.

It’s very common that when a patient comes into my office s/he is in pain and typically it didn’t just start that day. S/he has tried over the counter meds, exercises, physical therapy, other chiropractors, and medical doctors (which usually means prescription drugs). Often people use Vicodin or Oxycodone from when they had some dental work done or a previous injury. If they don’t have it sitting around, they get some from a friend or loved one.

I don’t want to get on a soap box, because I know from experience that when you’re in pain you’ll do anything to get out of it. Sometimes taking a drug seems to be the easiest and cheapest solution. Maybe because almost everyone has these serious drugs in their medicine cabinets, we don’t respect the risk of these medications. In addition to the clinically-acknowledged side effects, we face the additional risk of how quickly our bodies adapt to these pills’ power. Before long, one has to take much more, and I mean much more. Eminem said he was taking 60-90 pills a day! And let’s not forget Michael Jackson whose uber-powerful pain medications caused his death.

I found it interesting to watch the piece on “60 Minutes” sandwiched between two drug commercials. We, as a society, need to realize our over-dependence on the quick fix. Medication has a place in our lives, but let’s leave it in the realm of catastrophe. There are times when we will really need them, but look how quickly we turn to medications instead of taking the time to find the cause of the ailment and remedy it instead of covering it up.

After the first visit, a patient often can dramatically reduce the pain medications s/he is on. Call today 415-762-8141 or visit www.ProActiveSF.com to get to the root of the problem.

Posted via email from ProActive Chiropractic in San Francisco, California

When I read this I am saddened by the growing trend but particularly the extra 30% of U.S. women who got breast cancer before 1999 because they were taking postmenopausal combined-hormones (estrogen and progesterone).  This was a medication combination that the general medical system declared as standard care and safe for women, and yet it caused this massive “side effect.”

I don’t want to get on a soap box, but it’s worth taking this example to remind everyone that there is no such thing as a totally safe medication/drug. Medications change the body’s homeostasis or balance point which then will ALWAYS cause side effects. I don’t want you to think that I believe medications are bad, but I just want our society to use them as sparingly as possible, and sometimes the bombarding of drug commercials makes us think there is a pill for everything and that’s the answer.

We need to remember that commonly used drugs such as post-menopausal hormone therapy (PHT), hormone replacement therapy (HRT), and menopausal hormone therapy (MHT) resulted in increased breast cancer rates, which is a prime example of how every medication has its consequences.

“One great drug free option is chiropractic care. For example, low back pain is one of the more common causes for opioid prescriptions and chiropractic has wonderful research behind it for low back pain. In May 2009, Consumer Reports rated chiropractic as the approach that people were most highly satisfied with,” states Dr. Andrew Cohen, a San Francisco chiropractor.

Washington, D.C.—Today, Gil Kerlikowske, White House Director of National Drug Control Policy; Assistant Secretary for Health and Human Services, Howard Koh, M.D.; Food and Drug Administration Commissioner, Margaret A. Hamburg, M.D.; and DEA Administrator, Michele M. Leonhart released the Obama Administration’s comprehensive action plan to address the national prescription drug abuse epidemic and announced new Federal requirements aimed at educating the medical community about proper prescribing practices.

The Administration’s Epidemic: Responding to America’s Prescription Drug Abuse Crisis provides a national framework for reducing prescription drug diversion and abuse by supporting the expansion of state-based prescription drug monitoring programs, recommending more convenient and environmentally responsible disposal methods to remove unused medications from the home, supporting education for patients and healthcare providers, and reducing the prevalence of pill mills and doctor shopping through enforcement efforts. The plan is the culmination of six months of collaboration across the Federal government, with agencies including the Departments of Justice, Health and Human Services, Veterans Affairs, the Department of Defense, and others.

In support of the action plan, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today announced that it is requiring an Opioids Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS). The new program will require manufacturers of long-acting and extended-release opioids to provide educational programs to prescribers of these medications, as well as materials prescribers can use when counseling patients about the risks and benefits of opioid use. The Food and Drug Administration Amendments Act of 2007 gave FDA the authority to require manufacturers to develop and implement a REMS to ensure the benefits of a drug or biological product outweigh its risks.

“Today we are making an unprecedented commitment to combat the growing problem of prescription drug abuse,” said Vice President Biden. “The Government, as well as parents, patients, health care providers, and manufacturers all play a role in preventing abuse. This plan will save lives, and it will substantially lessen the burden this epidemic takes on our families, communities, and workforce.”

“The toll our Nation’s prescription drug abuse epidemic has taken in communities nationwide is devastating ,” said Director Kerlikowske. “We share a responsibility to protect our communities from the damage done by prescription drug abuse. This plan will build upon our already unprecedented efforts to coordinate a national response to this public health crisis by addressing the threat at the Federal, state, and local level.”

“Abuse of prescription drugs, especially opioids, represents an alarming public health crisis.” said Howard K. Koh, M.D., M.P.H. Assistant Secretary for Health. “This Plan, which coordinates a public health approach with a public safety approach, offers hope and health to our Nation.”

“Unintentional drug overdose is a growing epidemic in the US and is now the leading cause of injury death in 17 states,” CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden said. “There are effective and emerging strategies out there to address this problem. Support for this action plan will help us implement those strategies which will go a long way to save lives and reduce the tremendous burden this problem has on our healthcare system and our society.”

“Long-acting and extended-release opioid drugs have benefit when used properly and are a necessary component of pain management for certain patients, but we know that they pose serious risks when used improperly, with serious negative consequences for individuals, families, and communities,” said FDA Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg, M.D. “The prescriber education component of this Opioid REMS balances the need for continued access to these medications with stronger measures to reduce their risks.”

“There are many non-drug options such as chiropractic, Applied Kinesiology and addressing pain with supplements that are not addictive and have minimal, if any, side effects,” states Dr. Andrew Cohen of ProActive Chiropractic in the San Francisco Financial District, who integrates all three. “There are times when medications are needed but they should be used sparingly and for minimal time while the cause of the pain is discovered and addressed”.

“DEA is committed to implementing this important and much needed action plan to reduce the demand for prescription drugs, enforce our nation’s drug laws, and take back unneeded prescription drugs,” said DEA Administrator Michele M. Leonhart. “When abused, prescription drugs are just as dangerous and just as addictive as drugs like methamphetamine or heroin. The more we can do to stop the abuse of prescription drugs, the more effective we will be in reducing the death, destruction and despair that accompanies all drug abuse.”

Prescription drug abuse is our Nation’s fastest-growing drug problem. The number of people who have unintentionally overdosed on prescription drugs now exceeds the number who overdosed during the crack cocaine epidemic of the 1980′s and the black tar heroin epidemic of the 1970′s combined. In 2007, approximately 27,000 people died from unintentional drug overdoses, driven mostly by prescription drugs. Additionally, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the number of Americans in 2009 aged 12 and older currently abusing pain relievers has increased by 20 percent since 2002. Further, visits by individuals to hospital emergency rooms involving the misuse or abuse of pharmaceutical drugs have doubled over the past five years.

ONDCP is coordinating an unprecedented government-wide public health approach to reduce drug use and its consequences in the United States . This effort includes requesting an increase in funding for drug prevention by $123 million and treatment programs by $99 million dollars for Fiscal Year 2012, to train and engage primary health care to intervene in emerging cases of drug abuse, expand and improve specialty care for addiction—including care for families and veterans, and to better manage drug-related offenders in community corrections.

To read the full Action Plan, click here.

To read the FDA’s Opioids Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies (REMS), click here.

To get involved in DEA’s National Prescription Drug Take-Back Initiative, click here.

For more information on National efforts to reduce drug use and its consequences visit: www.WhiteHouseDrugPolicy.gov

In a study published in the BMJ (British Medical Journal) in January 2011, researchers analyzed the available evidence on the cardiovascular safety of NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs), and found that “[a]lthough uncertainty remains, little evidence exists to suggest that any of the investigated drugs are safe in cardiovascular terms. Naproxen seemed least harmful. Cardiovascular risk needs to be taken into account when prescribing any non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug.”

Talk to me in my Downtown San Francisco office about alternatives to prescription painkillers.

The two antibiotics are not administered to just sick animals – they are constantly given to healthy livestock in their food and water to promote growth and prevent illness.  This poses a problem, however – bacteria are becoming resistant to these antibiotics.  When humans are exposed to these types of bacteria, the antibiotics administered to sick patients to treat their illness are no longer as effective.

“The FDA said in a document released last year that it did propose in 1977 to ban the two antibiotics in feed because of their importance in human medicine, but didn’t follow through because of criticism that the agency didn’t have enough evidence “to show that drug-resistant bacteria of animal origin were commonly transmitted to humans and caused and caused serious illness.”"

I think it’s the FDA’s responsibility to put human health as the priority here – not the livestock’s health.