Those drugs you're taking won't make you healthier.
Earlier this week, one of my practice members said to me,
"Dr MaryAnne, you know I normally take ten pills per day. Yesterday I took one. And today, today I just forgot to take any."
(She's been in my practice getting regular weekly adjustments for about 6 weeks.)
Taking 10 pills a day to zero.
This is someone who has been given prescription drugs for months to deal with her pain.
Did she ever really think that this would get her healthier?
I think most people do believe this.
It reminds me of a chiropractic t-shirt (author and designer unknown):
“I take Aspirin for the headache caused by the Zyrtec I take for the hayfever I got from taking Relenza for the uneasy stomach and flu-like symptoms caused by Viagra for the erectile dysfunction from the Propecia for the hair loss caused by the Ritalin I take for my short attention span caused by the Scopoderm TTS I take for the motion sickness I got from the Lomotil which I take for the diarrhea caused by the Xenical I’m on for the uncontrolled weight gain caused by the Paxil I take for the anxiety I got from the Zocor I take for my high cholesterol…because exercise, a good diet, and regular chiropractic care are just too much trouble!”
That's eleven drugs listed there.
In America, this is now considered the 'norm'.
Did you know that 70% of Americans are on prescription drugs?
And in the UK, it's 50%. Most of those are antidepressants.
What's happening? Even the World Health Organization is declaring it a crisis.
Well, quite frankly, it doesn't surprise me.
In my practice many parents bring in their children after months (sometimes years) of visits to the medical doctor and being given dose after dose of antibiotics, paracetamol, and even psychotropic drugs.
Just the other day, I spoke to a mother who was worried about her 5 month old who was coughing and having the common symptoms of a cold.
She wanted to take her to the doctor to see if it was something serious.
(It's always important to trust your instincts and always confirm with a doctor that the symptoms aren't a sign of a serious health issue.)
Not all, but most doctor visits for a child with similar symptoms will result in a prescription for an antibiotic, especially if the child has a fever.
If the doctor doesn't prescribe antibiotics, then they'll advise an over the counter drug like paracetamol or a mucus-supressing/cough-suppressing drug.
Done deal, right?
Simple!
Just give the kid a drug to suppress the symptom!
Have you ever asked yourself why?
We are programmed to automatically think that symptoms are bad.
There's a drug for every symptoms out there.
Have you ever stopped to consider that the symptoms are there for a reason?
The purpose of a fever is to kill the bacteria or virus that is invading the body.
If you give the child a drug to get the fever down, you're actually making the body work harder.
You're introducing something in the body that is working against what the body needs to do.
This is why kids are becoming unhealthier and unhealthier because parents think their children are deficient in Calpol and cough medicine and that giving it to them will make them healthier.
The more you give your child these drugs that work against their body, the weaker their systems will become.
They will grow up to be dependent on these drugs, thinking that it's what they need as soon as they feel an itch in their throat.
Fast forward to your child in their 40s (which, by the way, is the average age of the adults who first come to my practice), and you have someone in severe chronic pain and illness popping 10 pills per day.
Is that health?
I can tell you it's an absolute NO.
There's a very rare and specific time and circumstance for these drugs.
Most of the time, your child probably doesn't need any of it.
Let that fever do its job. Let that baby cough to get the mucus out of their lungs. Let them sneeze. Let them have that diarrhoea.
(Remember that mom that told me that she was so happy to clean up all the poo in her bathroom because her son had his first poo in days!?)
The answer is to help the body be healthier and stronger, and to sustain that level.
A healthy body expresses symptoms. Symptoms aren't bad. They are there for a reason.
And sometimes a chiropractic adjustment helps augment the expression of the symptom, helping it work more efficiently and stronger.
Get to the cause of the problem. Help the body be stronger from within.
Chiropractic does just that. Adjusting the cause. Not masking the symptom.
See you at your next adjustment!
— Dr MaryAnne