Compass Chiropractic

In a recent article on WebMD, it was discovered that there are more hospital errors once thought or hoped for. Those errors include common hospital errors, medication-related issues, procedure-related mistakes, and hospital-acquired infections. Being involved in your medical hospital experience could help you more than you know. By asking questions to the medical staff, repeating back instruction for confirmation, and getting a broad understanding of your diagnosis and treatment will help you out greatly!

How can you protect yourself from hospital errors?? A few ways stated in the article include: get a second opinion, have an advocate with you (be it a friend, parent, spouse, etc), watch to see if the medical staff wash their hands every time they enter the room, ask what the hospital’s bloodstream infection rate is, go to specialist when possible, get procedures done by doctors with great reputations and years of experience and pay close attention to your discharge instructions.

Find the full article here:  http://www.webmd.com/healthy-aging/news/20110407/hospital-errors-may-be-more-common-than-thought

NSAIDs or Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs are a classification of drugs that include Ibuprofen (ie Advil), aspirin and naproxen (ie Aleve).  NSAIDs are some of the most common over the counter drugs used to treat inflammation associated with headaches, neck pain, back pain and sports injuries.

History of NSAIDs:

Use of NSAIDs has been recorded all the way back to the ancient Greeks who used willow bark to treat symptoms of fever. In 1897, a German chemist with Friedrich Bayer and Company was searching for a treatment for his father’s arthritis pain and produced the first stable form of aspirin.  Shorty after, aspirin was available  to physicians. Ibuprofen was invented in 1969 and was initially only available by prescription until 1984 when it became available over the counter.  Naproxen was originally available by prescription in 1976 and over the counter in 1994.

Risks of NSAID use:

The use of NSAIDs has typically been thought to be minimal with only minor side effects such as stomach pain and ulcers.  Recently new research on NSAIDs has caused concern and a call for more stringent regulation.  In this post we will discuss two risks associated with NSAID use, for a complete list of side-effects visit drugs.com.

The largest population-based matched case–control study of NSAIDs performed to date found that NSAID use increased the risk of first myocardial infarction (heart attack) by 40%.

Late in 2010 at the European Society of Cardiology Congress,  Dr Gunnar Gislason presented a study that looked at the relationship between the short term use of NSAID use and stroke. The study found a causal relationship with the use of NSAIDs with an increase of stroke by 30% with ibuprofen and naproxen.  They also found the risked to be dose dependent with the risk of stroke reaching 90% with the use of over 200mg of ibuprofen (a usual dosage for adults is 200-400mg every 4-6 hours).

Cochair of the session at which the study was presented, Dr Robert Califf (Duke Clinical Research Institute, Durham, NC), agreed that the results raised a major public-health issue, especially in the US, where many NSAIDs were available without a prescription.

Alternatives to NSAIDs:

• Bromelain, a plant extract, has been shown to be effective in treating osteoarthritis and knee function along with muscle soreness.
• Studies have show that the use of omega-3s (ie fish oils, flax oils) can treat inflammation and decrease the need for NSAID use in patients with neck and low back pain.
• Boswellia, taken in pill form, and Turmeric, a spice, have been shown to be very effective for treatment of arthritis and muscle pain.
• Willow bark was found to contain salicin that provided pain relief by Hippocrates.  Later salicin was isolated and became the active ingredient in Aspirin.

The Ritedose Corporation has recalled certain  single-dose vials of Albuterol  Inhalation Solution because of mislabeling that could lead to a possible overdose.

The recall includes 0.083% Albuterol Sulfate Inhalation Solution, 3 mL (in 25-, 30-, and 60-unit dose vials) because the 2.5 mg/3 mL single-use vials are mislabeled as containing 0.5 mg/3 mL.

Symptoms of albuterol overdose include tremors, dizziness , nervousness, headache, seizures, angina, high blood pressure, low potassium levels, rapid heart rates up to 200 beats/minutes, and potentially death.

The recalled lot numbers are manufactured by The Ritedose Corporation under NDC: 0591-3797-83, 0591-3797-30, and 0591-3797-60.

They include: 0N81,0N82,0N83,0N84,0NE7,0NE8,0NE9,0NF0,0P12,0P13,0P46,0P47,0PF0 ,0S15

Those with questions should contact the company at 803-935-3995 Monday through Friday 8am to 5pm EST or send an e-mail to recall@ritedose.com.

My take:

Each day millions of people take medications that have very serious side effects and in some cases that side effect is death.  Most people have taken Advil or Excederin at some point unaware that these drugs called NSAIDs are associated with over 15,000 deaths each year.  There are the drugs that are taken off the market each year because they cause serious side effects and death.

Should we abolish drugs all together?

Of course not, that would be a perfect example of throwing the baby out with the bath water.  Medications have their place, but with anything you should know the risks prior to starting a medication.  As we all know, pharmaceutical companies are masters of marketing.  Who wouldn’t want to take a drug after watching one of these commercials.  I can’t help but laugh as I hear the litany of side effects that are rattled off at the end of a drug commercial, but they deliver this message so softly with scene that is emotionally appealing playing in the background.  If these commercials actually showed a visual representation of the side effects their running through it would have more impact and people might give more consideration to these side effects.

How much harm can popping a couple Advils do?  According to a new study out of Denmark, more than you would imagine.

A group of very common over the counter pain medications known as NSAIDs (Nonsteriodal Anitinflammatory Drugs) have been shown to increase the risk of death due to stroke.   Typically we assume that anyone who has an adverse reaction to medications like Advil has been taking them for an extended period of time, but the researchers in this study found that many of the people who died had only been taking the drugs for a two week period. The doses that were measured in the Danish study were similar to what someone would take for treating chronic pain, about three tablets per day. “We found that most NSAIDs are associated with increased cardiovascular mortality and morbidity,” says researcher Emil Loldrup Fosbol, MD, of Gentofte University Hospital in Hellerup, Denmark.

My take…

Couple days ago I had a person call the office because he had questions about his back pain.  He told me that he spoke with his MD who told him that he could take 10 tablets of ibuprofen a day, without any limitation to the duration.  I also spoke with a friend who was told by an orthopedist to “take them (NSAIDs) like candy.”

For too long we have taken medications such as ibuprofen with disregard for the side effects associated with these medications. You can see the side effects associated with ibuprofen by clicking drugs.com.  Most people are surprised that an our the counter medication such as ibuprofen can cause such serious sides effects.

Ibuprofen has it’s place, but it is meant to be used for pain relief in the short term and not to rely on for ongoing pain relief.  Pain is a message that something is wrong with the body, much like check engine light in your car.  Ibuprofen is a way to mask the symptoms, but it doesn’t fix the underlying problem.  Use ibuprofen for acute pain relief if you have to and fix the problem that is causing the symptoms.

Chiropractic addresses the cause of the problem and eliminates the need for harmful medications.  If you’re experiencing pain, speak to a chiropractor and see if you’re a candidate for chiropractic care.  For more information about our office check out the about us page.  If you would like specific information on conditions that we treat you can click the following links: neck pain, back pain, headaches, sports injuries, auto accidents.

This report from 60 minutes looks at the swine flu epidemic of 1976 and the complications associated with the vaccine.  These neurological complications were know by the government but kept from the public.  This video raises concerns about the safety of the current vaccine and whether or not the government would be forthright about the H1N1 vaccine.

The video is in two parts:

Part 1

Part 2

In this great investigative report CBS News looks at the overestimation of H1N1 (swine flu) cases in the United States.  Other countries have already discredited the epidemic.  This is a lengthy video, but it is worth watching to the end where they discuss the total number of cases of “flu-like” symptoms that are H1N1 and what is even more surprising is the low number of cases that are not even flu.

This is an excerpt from the CBS morning show where Dr. Jennifer Ashton discusses a study that shows a link between ADHD medication and sudden cardiac death in children.

For years hormone replacement has been touted as having such wonderful effects on the body such as protecting the heart, preventing cancer and keeping brains sharp.  Two new studies in the journal Neurology have shown that hormone replacement not only doesn’t provide the aforementioned health benefits, but actually increases the incidence of cancer, increases the risk of stroke and shrinks the brains of women taking these hormones.

Dr. Constantine Lyketsos of the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center in East Baltimore, Maryland feels strongly about the use of these medications as he was quoted as saying “This is extra-double-triple reason not to go on estrogen after 65!”

This is yet another example of drug companies misrepresenting the safety and benefits of their drugs.  There has been numerous accounts of this very same thing happening, but for some reason we forget about them and move on to the next wonder-drug that is only a wonder drug until it is found to harm or kill.  Taking medication is a serious thing and we have been led to believe that it is always safe.  The fact of the matter is that we don’t know the extended effects that medications have had on the body.  The chemistry of the body is so complicated that we have no idea the cascade of events that take place following administering a pill.

There is a time and place for medication, but it should not be taking so lightly and seen as  the first and only option.  There are other options, but unfortunately they are harder to find and not usually covered by insurance.   Luckily with the internet access to this information is much easier to come by.  Of course there are the snake oil salesmen peddling junk science, but there are also a world of therapies that have helped people all over the world with their conditions without the side effects associated with pharmaceuticals.