The Abuse of Antibiotics
—Jun 30, 2010When Dr. Lee and I went on our honeymoon [about a hundred years ago] she came down with a nasty stomach virus on board a cruise ship. She asked if an antibiotic would help. This was long before either of us went to chiropractic college. The doctor said that it wouldn’t help at all but he would be happy to give her a shot anyway if she wanted it. She elected to tough out the virus.
Everyday parents bring sick kids to doctors’ offices who also cannot be helped with antibiotics but they leave with a prescription anyway. The prescription makes the parents feel better not the kids. On the surface, this practice seems harmless. It’s not.
Antibiotics were a great discovery in the last century. Had they been used judiciously, they would be just as a effective a tool in the war against bacterial inflections as they were 60 years ago. Instead the abuse of antibiotics has created a plethora of superbugs resistant to almost all of our drugs. Why? When people take antibiotics they kill off the vast majority of bacteria in their system…but not every last bug. The drug resistant survivors multiply. It has been said that the abuse of antibiotics has propelled the evolution of the microbe by 50,000 years in the last 60 years.
Antibiotics are also rampant in our food supply. Since cattle, chicken and pigs are raised in factory-like conditions, diseases spread very quickly. To deal with the problem antibiotics are routinely fed to the animals. Those drugs end up in our food chain. The FDA has just made recommendations to food producers to eliminate antibiotics in meat production because of the huge problem of antibiotic resistant inflections. Note that these are recommendations which are little more than suggestions. I doubt this will curb the use of the drugs. The food industry cares about profits not the health of the population.
So what can you do? For starters you can eat lower on the food chain. That means less meat and more veggies. Secondly, you can go to local organic farmers who don’t abuse antibiotics. Yes, the meat is more expensive but it is better for you. Lastly, you can live a lifestyle that keeps you healthier. That means exercise, proper supplementation and regular chiropractic care for a healthy spine.
— Richard Fink, DC, FIAMA
Filed under drugs
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Pilots on Prozac? Happy Landings!
—Apr 26, 2010I don’t like to fly. It freaks me out. Yes, I know. Air travel is safer than driving a car. And, admittedly, it’s way safer than me driving a car. But that bit of logic doesn’t give me any comfort. And neither does this. A couple of weeks back the FAA cleared pilots for taking anti-depressants. On the surface, one might think that makes sense. After all who wants a depressed pilot at the controls of a giant flying coffin [sorry, I meant jumbo jet]. However, if you invest five minutes into researching these ‘wonder’ drugs you come up with a long list of disturbing side effects.
Take Prozac for instance. I’m not going through all the side effects. I just want to touch on a few. In clinical studies, some of the most common side effects are: Insomnia (33%), drowsiness (17%), anxiety (15%) and dizziness (9%). Vision changes are also reported in over 1% of study respondents. Of course, anyone can have more than one side effect at a time. So, it’s possible to end up with a pilot who hasn’t slept well, is drowsy, dizzy and whose vision is a bit blurred. On top of that, he or she is anxious. I don’t blame them. That is just a few of the common side effects. Unusual but reported side effects also include aggressive behavior, panic attacks and suicidal thoughts. You get the picture.
Personally, I would like the airlines to come across with additional information when booking a flight. They already let you pick your own seat. Why not give us the option of flying with a pilot who doesn’t need happy pills? You know, someone naturally alert? I would be delighted to pay more for that flight. Since that’s probably not going to happen [because of a pilot’s version of the patient privacy act?], maybe I’ll make other travel arrangements. Swimming to the Bahamas is looking better and better.
— Richard Fink, DC, FIAMA
Filed under drugs
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Antidepressants...Do They Really Work?
—Jan 17, 2010Manufacturers of prescription antidepressants have to be happy. Millions of people pop these pills every day. These products swell the corporate till and make stock holders very, very happy. So you can just imagine that the latest study on the effectiveness of antidepressants caused a wee bit of depression in the drug company boardrooms. In fact, executives would love it if you would stop reading this article and forget about the study and pop a few more pills.
Antidepressants are no more effective than placebo [fake] pills for the vast majority of people suffering from depression. That’s right. According to a meta-analysis study done at the University of Pennsylvania, these drugs are only effective for people with severe depression. And that’s a long way from the garden variety blues.
So, if there’s no point in taking these drugs for mild or moderate depression [who needs all the side effects if the pills aren’t going to help anyway], what can you do? In a word, exercise. Exercise releases endorphins, the great feel good chemical that your body makes with a little bit of encouragement from you.You don’t have to take my word using exercise to stem depression, visit the Mayo Clinic website for a good summary on the subject. Beyond that, exercise is one of the magic bullets for good health, done regularly it lowers the risk of many life threatening diseases. And let’s face it, nothing is more depressing than being unhealthy. So, start working out and get on the road to saying goodbye to the blues.
— Richard Fink, DC, FIAMA
Filed under drugs
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