Posts by adminjosh
H1N1 Vaccine Not Being Used As Expected By Drug Companies And Governments
In spite of extensive news coverage and government officials appearing in the media urging the public to get the H1N1 vaccine, the usage has been far below expected levels. Several news stories and articles reported on the fact that people are just not getting the vaccine in the numbers the drug companies had hoped.
Even though the initial news reports were reporting that there was a shortage of H1N1 vaccine, and that the public should rush out to get their shots, the response has been so much less than anticipated that many countries have canceled as much as half or more of the orders of H1N1 they previously requested.
An article in Reuters on January 5, 2010, reported that the French government canceled over half of their H1N1 flu vaccine orders. The article noted that France followed cutbacks by Germany, Spain and Switzerland. In the case of the French government, the article noted that they “aimed to cancel 50 million of the 94 million doses ordered”.
A January 10, 2010 article in PharmaTimes, noted that the United Kingdom also joined other European countries in canceling orders of H1N1 flu vaccines as demand for the vaccine fell. The Reuters article noted that the UK had only received a fraction of the original H1N1 vaccine orders but that, “cases of swine flu in the UK have fallen significantly. Since the first cases were reported in April 2009 there have been 360 deaths and many of those people had underlying health conditions.” Even a news article on January 6, 2010 on the Healthzone.ca website reported that Canada was looking to donate their excess supply.
An article on December 18, 2009 on the website NaturalNews.com by health reporter Mike Adams posted a headline “H1N1 vaccine liquidation sale now on.” His article further reported, “People who got the vaccine are no better off than those who skipped it. In fact, there’s no difference in mortality between those who were vaccinated and those who weren’t, indicating yet again that the swine flu vaccine was a medical hoax to begin with.”
Hiccup Girl Stops, Helped By Chiropractic
Jennifer Mee became famous because of her relentless case of hiccups that lasted 37 days. During that time many health professionals came forward and offered to help. Two publications, the March 2, 2007 St. Petersburg Times and the March 4, 2007 Buffalo News, reported that help also came to Jennifer from chiropractic care. After not being helped by medical care Jennifer and her family reached out to accept offers of assistance from other sources. These included offers from a chiropractor, as well as an acupuncturist and a hypnotist.
The Buffalo News story reported that Jennifer began hiccupping on Jan. 23, 2007. From that point forward she tried numerous remedies, such as standing on her head and swallowing spoons full of sugar. None of these worked and the hiccups continued for 37 days. As the situation continued Jennifer appeared on numerous TV news shows and drew national attention.
Dr. Eric Springer of St. Petersburg, Florida was the chiropractor who offered to help. In a phone interview with the Buffalo publication, Dr. Springer noted, “It was a team effort. There were a lot of things involved in getting her body to correct itself.” He further explained, “The mother of the girl contacted me, and I brought her in as a patient. We did an exam and took X-rays and started treatment, which included some chiropractic adjustments that entailed some gentle force to the neck.” (Image right is from the Buffalo News and is of Jennifer receiving an adjustment from Dr. Springer.)
The story also noted that none of the medical experts could come up with a definitive diagnosis for Jennifer’s problem. Dr. Springer’s examination revealed compression on a nerve in her cervical spine, commonly known as a subluxation. “I had just started treating her last week, and she actually stopped on the day of her last adjustment,” Dr. Springer said. “I was the only chiropractor involved, but I don’t want to take full credit for [Jennifer being cured]. I’m just glad I was able to help her out.”
Chiropractic In The Media
A pair of media stories recently have shown chiropractic in a favorable light. The first story appeared on October 28, 2002 on a California television news show. The station, “Action News 8” is out of Salinas, Monterey and Santa Cruz. The story’s title is “Chiropractors Offer Relief For Moms-To-Be”. This news feature tells the story of a pregnant woman who was experiencing lower back pain. The woman told her story by saying, “Laying down was very difficult, changing positions was extremely, extremely painful. I was at the point where I really wasn’t functioning very well.” According to the news story a chiropractor found that the woman’s pelvis was out of balance. She explains her story by saying, “I was here three days in a row (with) a weekend off and (there was a) drastic difference.” The story goes on to explain that there are additional benefits to chiropractic care for pregnant women. The chiropractor of the woman featured in this news story ended by saying, “The actual time of labor, the length of it, is shortened. The delivery was very easy. The baby just literally, kind of, came out slowly and smoothly. Complications are very rare.”
The second news story appeared in the October 28, 2002 issue of the Buffalo Business First Newspaper. In this story, the Erie County Medical Center (ECMC) has established a Department of Chiropractic, a level of service unique to hospitals across the state of New York. ECMC medical director Dr. Roger Kaiser gives the reason for this by explaining, “We recognized sometime ago the importance of offering a broad spectrum of service to our patients,” said Kaiser. “Patients will frequently access chiropractors and we couldn’t ignore that market force. If that’s what the patients want, that’s what we’ll give them. To deny them that access just because of a turf battle didn’t make sense.” Dr. Stephen Zajac newly named head of the ECMC’s Department of Chiropractic, explains the shift in thinking by removal of a professional wall that has existed between Chiropractic and Medicine. “Chiropractic is not included as an alternative (treatment) any more. We can’t deny that the wall existed for a very long time. That wall isn’t that solid here as it is elsewhere in the state and country,” Zajac said.
Prescribed Drugs Top Abuse List
On September 9, 2004, a startling report titled, “2003 National Survey on Drug Use and Health” was issued by the US Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration. The study was a good-news, bad-news scenario in that it showed that fewer American youths are using marijuana, LSD and Ecstasy, but more are abusing prescription drugs.
The report noted that more people had tried prescription pain relievers who did not need them for medical reasons. The most striking increase was a 15 percent rise in prescription drug abuse by people 18 to 25. In the broader population of 12 and over, the study showed that 5 percent more people took those drugs recreationally. There were 6.3 million people using prescription medications non-medically in 2003, about 2.7 percent of the population ages 12 or older. Of these, an estimated 4.7 million used prescription pain relievers; 1.8 million used tranquilizers; 1.2 million used stimulants, including methamphetamine; and 0.3 million used sedatives.
The study found that young people who were exposed to anti-drug messages outside school took notice — with rates of current pot use 25 percent lower than those who did not get those messages. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson highlighted the good news by saying, “It is encouraging news that more American youths are getting the message that drugs are dangerous, including marijuana.”
The study also noted that fewer youths were using marijuana, but alcohol abuse remains steady with no noticeable increase or decrease.
Chiropractic Helping Kids Fight Ear Infections
A news story on February 13, 2007 appeared on CBS-11 News out of Dallas – Fort Worth as well as on their website, that chronicled chiropractic helping children with ear infections. This story reported on a mother, Susan Lekborg who says her son Cooper had suffered from chronic ear infections for years. During this time medical treatments did little to ease her son’s suffering.
In this report Ms. Lekborg recounted the long, sleepless nights and stated, “We were up all night, he was miserable, cranky. He was on antibiotics all winter and it just wasn’t helping. It would go away and come back, go away and come back.” After feeling frustrated and helpless she reluctantly decided to go to a chiropractor. “I’ll be honest, I was a little skeptical, nervous about a chiropractor adjusting my baby.”
The story reports that the chiropractor she took her son Cooper to was Dr. Peter Martone. Dr. Martone explained the rationale for care by saying, “Chiropractic care is simply the art and science of aligning the spine to take pressure off the nerve and ultimately allow the body to heal itself.” He continued, “So what happens with the adjustment, it allows for those ear canals to open up and the ears will drain, preventing any ear infection.”
The news article noted that after only one visit Cooper started feeling better. The news story also interviewed Pediatrician Linda Nelson who said there’s a lot about the body doctors just don’t understand. “I’m very open to anything that’s benign,” she said. “And it’s certainly isn’t going to hurt the child.”
The article concluded with Susan Lekborg stating that it worked for her children. “This will be their third winter, no antibiotics, no Tylenol, no Motrin. They’re clean. I just feel like they’re healthier.”
News Media May Offer Misleading Drug Information
On June 1st 2000 the Associated Press ran a story that strongly suggested that many of the news releases on drugs commonly run on major news organizations may be very misleading. The AP news story was reporting on a study conducted by researchers from Harvard University and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, and reported in the June 1st 2000 New England Journal of Medicine. In that study researchers reviewed 207 stories by U.S. news media of the benefits and risks of three medications that are used to prevent major diseases. These medications were pravastatin, a drug reported for the prevention of cardiovascular disease; alendronate, a drug reported for the treatment and prevention of osteoporosis; and aspirin, which has been widely reported recently as a preventative for heart problems.
The researchers noted inaccuracies in reporting the results but noted severe problems with researchers who had a financial interest in the drug they were reporting on. The article said, “Of the 170 stories citing an expert or a scientific study, 85 (50 percent) cited at least one expert or study with a financial tie to a manufacturer of the drug that had been disclosed in the scientific literature. These ties were disclosed in only 33 (39 percent) of the 85 stories.” In their conclusion the researchers wrote, “News-media stories about medications may include inadequate or incomplete information about the benefits, risks, and costs of the drugs as well as the financial ties between study groups or experts and pharmaceutical manufacturers.”
Interactive Nerve Chart
Your nervous system controls and coordinates every function of your body. It is your nervous system that allows you to adapt to, and live in your environment. A large portion of your nervous system passes through your spine. It is your spinal cord that acts as the major cable exiting your brain, travels down inside your spinal column and branches off into spinal nerves at various levels of your spine. These spinal nerves then exit between individual spinal vertebrae and go to the various parts of your body. To be healthy it is essential that your nervous system function properly and free from any interference caused by subluxations. Subluxations can cause interference to the nervous system at any point along the spine where the nerves exit. This can adversely affect the function of various parts of your body, and ultimately your health. The chart below is designed to give you a look at just some of the relationships between the areas of your spine and your nervous system. Keep in mind that your nervous system is much more complex than can be shown here.
Degeneration
Subluxation Degeneration
Understanding the ongoing process of subluxation, and the effect time plays on the subluxated spine.
Subluxation over time leads to Degeneration
This is a representation of one type of subluxation. A subluxation, as defined by the Association of Chiropractic Colleges is: “A subluxation is a complex of functional and/or structural and/or pathological articular changes that compromise neural integrity and may influence organ system function and general health.” When a subluxation occurs it causes nerve interference in some portion of the bodyaffected by those nerves. The subluxation causes changes to the structure as well as the nerves. These changes get progressively worse as time is allowed to work on the subluxated area of the spine. These changes take the form of ongoing degeneration known as “subluxation degeneration”. By understanding the type and amount of changes, it is possible to reasonably estimate the time subluxations have been present in a spine. Having this information is useful in understanding the time and effort needed for correction.
Subluxation Explained
What Is A Subluxation And What Does It Do To Me?
First, the simple explanation.
Subluxation
In simplest terms, a subluxation (a.k.a. Vertebral Subluxation) is when one or more of the bones of your spine (vertebrae) move out of position and create pressure on, or irritate spinal nerves. Spinal nerves are the nerves that come out from between each of the bones in your spine. This pressure or irritation on the nerves then causes those nerves to malfunction and interfere with the signals traveling over those nerves.
How does this affect you? Your nervous system controls and coordinates all the functions of your body. If you interfere with 
the signals traveling over nerves, parts of your body will not get the proper nerve messages and will not be able to function at 100% of their innate abilities. In other words, some part of your body will not be working properly it is the responsibility of the Doctor of Chiropractic to locate subluxations, and reduce or correct them. This is done through a series of chiropractic adjustments specifically designed to correct the vertebral subluxations in your spine. Chiropractors are the only professionals who undergo years of training to be the experts at correcting subluxations.
Now, the detailed explanation.
Subluxations are really a combination of changes going on at the same time. These changes occur both in your spine and throughout your body. For this reason chiropractors often refer to vertebral subluxations as the “Vertebral Subluxation Complex”, or “VSC” for short.
In the VSC, various things are happening inside your body simultaneously. These various changes, known as “components,” are all part of the vertebral subluxation complex. Chiropractors commonly recognize five categories of components present in the VSC. These five are:
The osseous (bone) component is where the vertebrae are either out of position, not moving properly, or are undergoing physical changes such as degeneration. This component is sometimes known as kinesiopathology
The Nerve Component is the malfunctioning of the nerve. Research has shown that only a small amount of pressure on spinal nerves can have a profound impact on the function of the nerves. This component is scientifically known as neuropathology
The Muscle Component is also involved. Since the muscles help hold the vertebrae in place, and since nerves control 
the muscles themselves, muscles are an integral part of any VSC. In fact, muscles both affect, and are affected by the VSC. This component is known asmyopathology
The Soft Tissue Component is when you have misaligned vertebrae and pressure on nerves resulting in changes in the surrounding soft tissues. This means the tendons, ligaments, blood supply, and other tissues undergo changes. These changes can occur at the point of the VSC or far away at some end point of the affected nerves. This component is also known as histopathology
The Chemical Component is when all these components of the VSC are acting on your body, and therefore causing some degree of chemical changes. These chemical changes can be slight or massive depending on what parts of your body are affected by your subluxations. This component is often known asbiochemicalabnormalities
Chiropractors have known about the dangers of subluxations for over one hundred years. Today, more scientific evidence is showing the dangers of subluxations and the health benefits of correcting them. To be truly healthy, it is vital that your nervous system be functioning free of interference from subluxations. Our goal is to allow your body to return itself to the highest level of health possible by correcting VSC. Chiropractors are the ONLY health professionals trained in the detection, location, and correction of the VSC.