Drugs are overused in the United States

From the January 16 2001 PRnewswire:

According to a survey conducted for the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP), more than half (51%) of U.S. adults take two or more medications per day, (including over-the-counter drugs). In this study, it showed that 46% take at least one prescription medication daily and 28% take multiple prescription drugs per day. Those are high numbers in my opinion and sometimes absolutely unnecessary.

These figures show that an alarming rate of the adult population in the United States uses drugs of some kind. You may think it is mostly the elderly and you are right. People over 65 years old have the highest daily usage (79%) and take at least one medication daily.  They also average 4 medications per day!

In my opinion taking so many medications can cause problems because of different interacations and increase the chance of having side effects.  Keeping your cholesterol down, blood pressure at normal levels can easily be done with food and exercise, even in your later years.  Several herbs can be replaced instead of using synthetic drugs and there are limited side effects. The intake of drugs, is hard on your liver, kidneys, pancreas and other vital organs.  Treat your body well…it will repay you in return!

Is there such a thing as “simple surgery”?

In my experience, I have had several people come into my practice with physiological problems who want a quick fix.  Instead of performing the work and research necessary to naturally help the problem, they opt to have a “simple surgery”.

How can surgery be simple is my question?  Though surgery at times is necessary, it is not always the right answer.

According to Wikipedia,  surgery involves “cutting of a patient’s tissues or closure of a previously sustained wound. Other procedures that do not necessarily fall under this rubric, such as angioplasty or endoscopy, may be considered surgery if they involve “common” surgical procedure or settings, such as use of a sterile environment, anesthesia, antiseptic conditions, typical surgical instruments, and suturing or stapling. All forms of surgery are considered invasive procedures; so-called “noninvasive surgery” usually refers to an excision that does not penetrate the structure being excised (e.g. laser ablation of the cornea) or to a radiosurgical procedure (e.g. irradiation of a tumor)”.

There can be irreversible damage caused by opening someone up and moving tissues around.  Surgery changes the structure sometimes for the better but in a high percentage of the time it does more damage and leaves scar tissue which may actually make the situation worse.  With that said, doesn’t it make sense to exhaust all other options before going under the knife or laser?  Unless it is an emergency,  there are so many options out there.  Don’t settle for a quick fix.

If you fall into the high percentage of patients that have failed surgeries,  you not only still have the problem but have an additional problem to boot!  In many cases, pharmaceuticals are added which then stresses your organs and have side effects.  Lets just say that one of the side effects is headaches.  Now you are taking one drug for the initial problem and another for the headaches.  The headache mediation may have a different side effect which you may need another prescription for.   See where this is going?

A great example of unnecessary surgeries is in the case of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.  Symptoms can occur because of muscles pressing on the nerve along the arm, neck problems or bones shifting along the arm and hand.  Surgeons normally cut the Transverse Carpal Ligament at the wrist to “free up” the median nerve.  A large percentage of patients have the nerve blocked in the forearm or under the bicep.  Now the surgery has been performed on the wrist but that is not where the problem is occurring.   The patient still has Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and has a wrist that doesn’t work properly because the ligament is cut in half.  I see a few patients with this problem and address the muscles and bones down the arm and hand and the symptoms go away.  No cutting, no drugs, just proper body function.

Like I stated above, there are times when surgery is needed, but make sure that you have tried other forms of alternative medicine to see if the problem can be solved naturally.  You may be surprised at the results!