Medication and FDA enforcement

According to a PEW Health Group report "After Heparin: Protecting consumers from substandard and counterfeit drugs" Pewtrusts.org,  in which experts within the FDA were interviewed, there are surprising limitations to what the FDA is capable of doing. 

As expected "the FDA has complete legal discretion" whether or not to allow a drug to be sold in the US.  But to my shock:
  "The FDA does not have the authority to order a drug recall, nor
    may it halt product distribution on it's own.
  "If the FDA finds it necessary to forcibly remove a pharmaceutical
   from the market, it must go through the courts to request a seizure,
   and a separate seizure action is needed for EACH COURT
   DISTRICT where the [drug] may be found."
             2.4.1 Limitations of current enforcement tools and authorities

I am bewildered at how big a job that must be; the US Food and Drug Administration is basically supposed to oversee the safety and legitimacy of every single piece of food, every drug and every medical device that is trying to get sold in the country.  And at best it works like a filter, secondarily like a delayed, massively inefficient enforcer.

There's 314 million of us.  We need to be our own enforcers. 

I am unabashedly extremely conservative when it comes to the use of medication.  While I do believe there might be an appropriate time and place for the use of some medication, I also feel very strongly that medication is OVERUSED to tragic effects in our country.  Assuming that any drug is safe and appropriate just because it is so universally accessible is an error of logic.

I never once had a patient who had a headache, that was caused by a deficiency of aspirin.  But I have had TWO patients die from the "normal" side effects of the drugs they were taking.

Blood Pressure

I've been asked frequently about high blood pressure recently and what can be done about it.

  I've spoke on this subject several times and done extensive research on the subject.  I can boil down my 5 most important things to do to address the cause of high blood pressure. 
  Remembering that blood pressure going high is a symptom of other things and there's not much point in treating it as a stand alone problem.  I even go so far as to say high blood pressure in it of itself is not a problem, it's actually the innate intelligence of the body attempting to regulate and balance out a problem.

5 things that make good changes in your body, that can lower elevated blood pressure:
1) avoid all aspirin, Tylenol, nsaids and eat way less sugar.
2) practice diaphramatic breathing as an ongoing habit
3) meditate daily, 15min+
4) get chiropractic care - that specializes in the care of the upper cervical area.
5) eat more beats with their greens, sweet potato (not yams), cultured veggies and get more sunshine as well - no sunblock.

Superbugs? Not so super...

There has been plenty of talk about 'superbugs' lately.  They come with initials; MRSA and CRE and I'm sure there's more.  What I notice and expect to increase are the stories of alarm in the media about these villains. 

What everyone already knows is that they exist now because we have overused antibiotics to such an extent, that certain bacteria are now unfazed by them.  That point is very important -it holds the key on how we can improve this situation from here.  But the full picture is much bigger and much more interesting.

All living organisms can share some form of communication; humans, bugs, plants, bacteria - there is no exception.  Understanding the interplay between antibiotics and superbugs is rooted here.  Imagine for a moment there was a noise weapon created that could kill anyone who could hear.  Who would survive?  Deaf people.  After a long time, who would be the only ones to pass on their genes?  Those that cannot hear.  Using the way bacteria communicate with each other,  the little transmitting substances have been highly synthesized and weaponized until it's now an antibiotic.  The bacteria that could 'hear' have always been the ones destroyed by antibiotics.  The outlying 'deaf' microbe is what passes on the genes.

So now what?  We've got deaf bacteria completely out of balance with their environment and resistant to man-made intervention...  Your own immune system to the rescue.  Your immune system tackles bacterial invaders in a completely different style.  In fact there are two general ways your immune system keeps hostile bacteria subdued, super or not.



The first way is with this special cell we have inside us.  It's called a neutrophil.  Sure it may look like some purple smudge with a few more purple dots, to you. 




But to a hostile bacteria it looks entirely like this:

Instead of explosive projectiles however, a bacteria would be dealing with made-to-order antibodies.  A type of "bullet" perfectly specific to the facing-off bacteria.


The second type of bacteria defense does not involve "shooting" anything.  Instead, a big immune system cell called a macrophage eats the bugs.  The big red thing in the middle is the macrophage.  It just pulls it's target in, and munch munch.


This is similar to the story of another unrelenting pursuer, passionate to consume its target.

The bottom line: your strong immune system protects you from bugs, whether "super" or not.  Keep your immune system strong.  More on that to come.

Feel Numb

Numb U2 the Edge

Our most dominant health care philosophy in this country is entirely built around not feeling pain. 

The problem really is not about avoiding pain though.  That in it of it self is natural.  Obviously.  The problem comes when feeling nothing, is confused with feeling great.

Most people don't know that all the effort, money, and time spent in the temporary achievement of feeling no pain - will NEVER lead to feeling great, no matter how much money or time is spent. 

Feeling great comes along a completely different path.

Ear Infections - Power to the Parents

Ear infections happen a lot.  Two out of three kids will get at least one.  My youngest son is 4 and 1/2 and he just dealt with his first earache for one night, a week ago.  My daughter is 7, she had one a few years ago too.  My oldest son is 8 and thankfully he has never had an earache.  There's two out of my three.  It's among the worst things, watching your kid suffer.  It's common to feel powerless to help and secretly you really just want to get some sleep too.

The emphasis of the strategy my family takes is not so much about handling the crisis.  It's more about promoting immune system strength and overall health and function all the time.  And the small crisis' that do arise are just that... small. 

adjusting my youngest son

When we did have to deal with the two earaches my children had, there was a few things I did.  First I made sure they were Chiropractically adjusted - that's always a major part of promoting overall health and bodily function in my family.  My wife or I adjust our kids every week to every couple of days, but while they're going through something like that, it's as good a time as any to make sure they're at their best.  And second while they were lying down - crying, mind you - I would snuggle up next to them and as gently, quietly as consistently and as long as I could, with funneled hands around their ear I would breathe hot breath into the painful ear.

Why?

The skin in the ear canal is sensitive - in a good way - to warmth.  The nerves that sense the skin there are special, and by triggering them with heat they can calm down.  Thus relieve pain, thus kid falls asleep quick.  If they wake up, keep doing it.  They'll fall back to sleep.  That's one thing anyone can do.  In regards to being able to  just wake up and adjusting your own kid, you'll have to see Life University for that...  Of course you usually are not just concerned about their earache.  They might also have a fever too.  You can learn about that here.

Beyond dealing with the crisis when it comes, and on top of the chiropractic care we provide our kids, what are the other proactive things we have done to promote the health of our family?  Our kids were breast fed.  It's good for everything, but specifically for preventing ear infections too.(34)  We stay away from sugar and grain as much as possible.  Processed dairy next to never, soda absolutely never.  They're active, loved, and my wife is militant :) about getting them to bed on time.  That has it's other parental sanity benefits as well.

But still, ear infections do... continue

References

Fever - It's no sweat

  Do you remember the movie “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off?” The scene when Ferris gave a lesson on how to fake an illness to get out of school.  I always thought it was funny how he made the point: NEVER FAKE A FEVER.  If you get a worried mom, you might be spending the day in a doctor’s office!  That’s worse than school.

      I grew up with Chiropractors as parents and they never made a big deal about fevers.  They would give me a chiropractic adjustment and let the fever take it's course.  As an adult and after studying it, I understand it more now too.  But to some it can be scary, and they do treat it as a big deal.  You or someone you love feels miserable.  Usually no one is getting any sleep and you want to help, but how? Use drugs or other methods to control the fever, or should I let it go?  If their temperature gets too high it might be dangerous… Right?

      We all know that your body is heating up to fight off something, but why does it heat up? What does that do exactly? Your amazing brain has miles of nerves and sensors keeping track of things inside of you.  Controlling exactly when and how the best responses should happen. Here’s some related info:

 

1/10,000,000g of bacterial waste (basically bacterial 'poo') is enough for the brain to detect, and tell the body to start fighting the bugs with a fever.^[1]  Along with shivering, every 10 beats per minute increased heart rate causes 1 degree increased heat.  Although you're getting hotter, your brain tricks you into feeling chills, and thus bundle up to keep the extra heat.^[1]

Like Popeye got stronger with spinach, each 1 degree increase of body temperature strengthens the immune system by 10%.^[1]

    As the heat continues to bolster you, those little invaders are being cooked.  Bacteria and viruses are much more sensitive to heat than you are.  And while you're getting stronger, they're getting slower and weaker as the fever burns.  Your white blood cells signal to your brain what kind of progress they’re making in the fight.^[2] And the intensity of the fever is monitored very closely.  Once it's no longer necessary the fever breaks.  You immediately flush, feel hot, throw off the covers and sweat. You naturally dissipate heat this way 10 times quicker than it took to build up.^[1] No need for cool baths and such.

Continue... 
References