The glossy flier sticks out of the magazine, and the free coupon is on a detachable card - “Enjoy The Revolution - Break Free”….”Say Hello to Camel Dissolvables, innovative new tobacco products that dissolve in your mouth for a cleaner, enjoyable tobacco experience.” This comes in “strips”, “sticks”, and “orbs”, and they are flavored. Are they targeting children? Nice little packages like “Tic-Tacs”. Imagine that, carcinogenic “Tic-Tacs”!

In the corners of the ad, the black boxes say, “Warning - this product is not a safe alternative to cigarettes”, and “Warning - this product can cause mouth cancer”. Will the children read the warnings? Will the adults? Read the rest of this entry »

People who are chronically sleep-deprived may think they’re caught up after a 10-hour night of sleep, but new research from Harvard medical School shows that although they’re “near-normal” when they awake, their ability to function deteriorates markedly as night falls.  Some studies show that almost 30% of Americans regularly get less than six hours of sleep at night. After two to three weeks, this can lower your reaction times and abilities to 10 times worse than they would have been just pulling an all-nighter.  Many critical positions are held by people who have to stay up long hours, or make decisions when they are tired, including doctors, paramedics, police officers and truckers… and PARENTS. Let’s talk about this and I can share the ways I have handled it in my own life at an appointment NOW. Read the rest of this entry »

WASHINGTON — The health-insurance industry’s top lobbyist estimated Thursday that insurers will face up to $225 billion in new taxes and fees under a final health bill. They are asking to have the tax removed before the bill is finalized in January/February. Profits at 10 of the country’s largest publicly traded health insurance companies rose 428 percent from 2000 to 2007, while consumers paid more for less coverage. For 2008 and 2009, “They (the insurance companies) are losing a lot of customers in this economy”, but “the profits are still significant, there’s no question about that”, said Steve Shubitz, a health care financial analyst with the investment firm Edward Jones. Read the rest of this entry »

Alert: All of this product has now been recalled. Tylenol Arthritis Pain Caplets come in 100-count bottles with red EZ-Open caps. Consumers reported symptoms including “nausea, stomach pain, vomiting, and diarrhea.” According to the manufacturer’s news release, so far, all of these health events “were temporary and non-serious”, but we are not yet hearing from the people who’ve taken it. I would not usually be recommending time delay Tylenol/Acetaminophen for arthritis symptoms, unless there were sensitivities to some of the other remedial products that are available. I have a handout on this at the clinic. Read the rest of this entry »

This from the Associated Press: (President) Obama, desperate to ensure that the reform bid does not fail, has told congressional leaders to rewrite the legislation to keep (Senator John) Lieberman (Indep-CT) happy by removing any real competition to private insurance companies in an effort to get it passed by Christmas.

Lieberman, 67, used his deciding vote in Congress to help strip out a provision for government-run medical insurance, intended to set up competition to the abuses of private companies, by threatening to filibuster the legislation.

Another member of Congress from Lieberman’s home state, Rosa DeLauro, told Politico website: “No individual should hold healthcare hostage, including Joe Lieberman, and I’ll say it flat out: I think he ought to be recalled.”

Some of Lieberman’s critics see his stance on healthcare as shaped by his acceptance of more than $1m in campaign contributions from the medical insurance industry during his 21 years in the Senate. The blocking of public-run competition is a huge relief to an industry that has been increasing premiums far ahead of costs and making huge profits while individuals are bankrupted by chronic illnesses. Many of the medical insurance companies are based in Lieberman’s home state.

It has also not gone unnoticed that Lieberman’s wife, Hadassah, works for a major lobbying firm as its specialist on health and pharmaceuticals. She previously worked at drug companies such as Pfizer and Hoffmann-La Roche.

( Editors note: Of course, we will never know the truth, and who is to say what the truth is… )

I just got to see this movie on DVD, and I think that everybody that eats food that they don’t grow themselves should see it too. In other words, that’s just about everyone. Read the rest of this entry »

Yes, there is a health reform bill. It might even get passed tomorrow, during a special Saturday Senate session. It is exciting to see health reform. There are a lot of factors that it will address.

Just keep in mind, that the wheels of government move slowly. The date that they are currently predicting the new plan would take effect will be 2013; these things can even be delayed as long as year to actually start. I personally have a feeling the world will be a very different place by 2013.
So we shall see!

Being an online professional myself, I must say this “tongue-in-cheek”, but in truth, maybe you could take it seriously. There is a lot of “information” available to people on the internet. Some of it comes in glossy web pages that look very professional. You will often find a number of people who are literally “fountains” of information being given for free. These people appear to be “professionals”, but they also don’t seem to have anything else to do. Makes you wonder. How and why are they doing this? Are they impartial? Is this a real “review”?

Quite often, I have done a little research on some of the folks that are holding forth in internet forums as one of the local experts. Some of them turn out to be consultants, or actually in business selling some of the products they are reviewing. Or getting derivative funding in some way. There are ways to figure this out.

Also quite often, I encounter a patient who has been “convinced” by something that they read in an internet forum as being “the last word”. It’s hard for me to get a word in edgewise, because they have printed out 10 pages. But just because “natural medicines dot com” (to make up an example) says that wrapping your head up in wet towels will be good and has been practiced by “healers” for “centuries”, does not necessarily make it something you need to do. Maybe, but…

A number of people approach “Alternative Health Care” as though it means “any alternatives”. As in, “anything goes other than conventional medicine”. So many people are surprised when I can’t get behind some of the “alternative remedies” they have heard about. Others say that so long as something does not hurt someone, perhaps it’s ok to let the “placebo effect” do its work - we should just encourage people to do whatever they want to do and feel good about it. The problem is, when this is costing people money and time, and confusing them, while simultaneously making my job harder, I can’t be a cheerleader for “anything goes as an alternative”. I want to guide in my way. At the same time, I will stay out of areas I have no experience with.

What these times call for, when so much information is available, are trusted professionals that help to act as filters and give truly professional points of view, based on a decade or more of doing firsthand clinical work. You need a professional that knows you as a patient, not one who is holding forth with the bare minimum of information on a web forum. Insist on credentials, insist on at least 10 years of clinical and do your research on the research.

If you have something you read that you want to check up on, or if you want to debate this with me, talk to me about it at your next appointment!

So about a week and a half ago, I was doing something strenuous and I knew I had done something to my back and ribcage. What started out like a little nagging pain developed within an hour to the feeling not unlike having an “icepick” stuck in my back, just behind my left shoulder blade. Now I have never had an actual icepick stuck in me, but I am quite certain that this is what it would feel like. And I treat several people with this problem every day.

So at this point, every deep breath caused me to yelp. Me, and I’m no sissy. I could not turn my head to that side, and forget about reaching with the arm. So, I am a chiropractor and I know what this was… that dreaded “rib out” (again). I know as well as anybody that I should get it taken care of and not “wait in case it might go away”. I waited anyway. I waited a whole week and a half. I grumbled alot and it distracted me at work. (you might not have noticed when you came in for a treatment, but I was hurtin’). I used a whole list of things to try to treat it “myself” that I will not bore you with, since they did not work, anyway.

So last week, I finally called my friend Ryan Thomas, who is a Chiro out in Gresham. He adjusted me and I was 90% better, but still needed something. Of course, I had still not rested or taken it easy (look - I had to clean the moss off the roof with a ladder, alright?). So two days ago, Dr. Ryan was in town again and he adjusted me again and it was great. First deep breath in almost 2 weeks.

So that’s all well and good. But this morning, I am in the shower, and of course, the bathroom is cold. I jump under the hot water and raise both hands into my hair to do the shampoo, as a cold draft crosses my back in between the hot water. Yes, the classic scenario for a muscle spasm. Suddenly I have my upper back feels like a dragon has me in its claws….and I try and take a deep breath and there is a STAB…yes, but now it’s on the RIGHT side (the opposite from last week). The whole deal, can’t turn the head or look down, can’t take a deep breath, ow, ow, ow. And I am no sissy.

OK. So now I will call to get adjusted again by my friend. But as soon as I recover from this, remind me to increase my core stability of my back muscles. Oh, yeah, and watch out for the drafts in the bathroom.

I bet you didn’t know about this. During the recent insurance “goings-on”, the Blue Cross Blue Shield Federal Employees Plan (FEP), in January quietly changed their designation of doctors of chiropractic from “physicians” to “other health care providers”. Subtle, huh? Not a big deal?

This happens to be the world’s largest health plan, and this change would have a serious impact on whether Doctors of Chiropractic would be allowed to provide the physician-level services they have been educated and licensed to perform. Since this is one of the plans identified as a model for Barack Obama and Congress’ national health reform, this could even influence whether chiropractic care would later be restricted or completely excluded in a national health care plan using the FEP as a model.

After months of intensive negotiations between the American Chiropractic Association (ACA) and Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (BCBSA), doctors of chiropractic are once again designated as “physicians” in the BCBSA Federal Employee Plan (FEP). The 2010 FEP benefits brochure confirms the change.

This action is a landmark development in the history of the chiropractic profession, and assures our chiropractic doctors their rightful role as physicians in the national health care system. Thanks to those of you who helped by writing to their representatives using Chirovoice.Org .