The opinions
of the experts are constantly changing. The correct treatment this
year is often the wrong treatment next year. When choosing an approach,
treatment, or therapy, try to pick the one that poses the smallest
risk of harm. When your done mulling it over in your mind, listen
to your heart before making your decision, because “woman’s
intuition” is invaluable. Always remember, doctors cause more
deaths every year than traffic accidents, so choose carefully.
November 2007 |
"Anti-biotic
resistant infections are killing more people each year than HIV/AIDS"
- from the front page of the 10/17 KC Star, and "Survey questions
medical educators' industry ties" - from page A-8 of the same
paper.
As I read the front page article in the Star I was reminded that this problem has been escalating for decades. We first heard about it as a headline over twenty years ago. Obviously, little or nothing has been done to reduce the cause of this embarrassing result of over prescribing anti-biotics. "On any given day, about 50 KU patients are in isolation rooms with serious infections ... that have grown resistant to anti-biotics." Wow! "In 2005, over 94,000 people developed life-threatening anti-biotic resistant infections, and nearly 19,000 died." "These infections are killing more US citizens than HIV/AIDS." Fortunately, almost all of these patients picked up the infections while in a care facility of some sort, so there is some recourse... avoid care facilities like hospitals, etc., whenever possible. Why haven't we heard more about this epidemic? I use the word epidemic because the HIV/AIDS problem is a definite epidemic and this 'Super Bug' problem is killing more people than HIV/AIDS, and the answer is simple. We caused it. This is an epidemic caused by the cavalier use of anti-biotics by the disease care delivery system, often referred to by the misnomer, health care system. Perhaps we should really call it what it is, as it has little or nothing to do with health. Of course the next question is, how could we keep causing a decades long epidemic without coming to some reasonable resolution? The answer to that question was found on page A-8 of the KC Star on that same day. Before I get to that, I must first mention some good news. Many pediatric cold remedies have recently been taken off the market, and what is left bears warnings. Pediatricians are now being told to educate their patients parents that anti-biotics do little or nothing for the common cold, over-the-counter medications (drugs) can do as much harm as good, and a wise approach is to see that the patient gets sufficient rest, chicken soup (adequate dietary support), and old fashion methods of symptom relief. Fever is explained as a normal and desirable body defense and should not be considered a cause for concern unless it becomes excessive. For most children under five, excessive would be 105 degrees or higher for a prolonged period. For adults, that number would be 103 degrees. Interestingly enough, this is what I have been teaching my patients for the last forty years. It is what doctors told their patients before anti-biotics became so popular. So, now the answer to the question of how something like an epidemic bigger than AIDS/HIV can flourish for decades without getting adequate attention. "Nearly 2/3 of academic leaders surveyed at US medical schools and teaching hospitals have financial ties to industry, illustrating how pervasive these relationships have become, researchers say." "The study shows that drug and medical device companies are involved in every aspect of medical care." Doctors aren't bad guys, but medicine is a business, and in business you don't bite the hand that feeds you. In medicine we believe our revered teachers even if they are 'on the take.' I was misled by nutritional pharmaceutical detail
people when I first went into practice, and it took me some time
to realize that I was in the same dilemma as the physicians referred
to in the Star article. That's why there are no detail people allowed
in my office, and that's been a rule since the late 1970s. This
is a problem that must be dealt with at the individual level. It
means giving up a lot of perks, but it makes for a more honest medicine.
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As a child I had a severe disease called rheumatic fever that could have compromised my immune system for the rest of my life. Afterward, I experienced at least three severe colds a year through my school years and into early adulthood. However, in the last twenty years I have only had one mild cold. If I can do it, you can do it too, and this is how. First, I take Preventics Vitamin C-1000 every day. It is the equivalent of the most advertised vitamin C, Esther C, at half the price. This is the most important thing you can do to measurably reduce the number of colds you get and also reduce the severity of the ones you do get. The formula I recommend for C intake is one gram (1000 mg) per day for each fifty pounds of weight. Therefore, a one hundred pound person would take two grams of C per day. Vitamin C alone will greatly reduce the number and severity of colds. However, it doesn’t completely eliminate colds. There are times when you get chilled, spend time with someone with a particularly virulent cold, or just get “that feeling” that a cold is coming on. For me, “that feeling” is a feeling of being a little cold and chilled. It is a particular feeling I associate with the onset of a cold, and I have found that virtually everyone I question can also identify a special “feeling” just before they start to come down with a cold. This is the time to take extra action. If you wait, it will be too late. Again, I take the Preventics Vitamin C-1000. I like it because it is a 1000mg tablet so I have to take fewer of them. Many of my patients keep a few extra vitamin C tablets at the office, and so do I, so I have some at hand if I get “that feeling” while I’m at the office. If you do this, it is important to remember that vitamin C loses half its’ potency in six months. I make sure my off ice stash of vitamin C is not more than three months old so I’m assured of full potency. I start taking extra vitamin C immediately after I get “that feeling.” I begin by taking two or three grams every twenty or thirty minutes. I continue taking C at that level until I feel that the symptoms have subsided, or until I feel gassy, as if I will get diarrhea if I take any more. At that point I’m done taking vitamin C for that day. The next day I stay on that same dosage. I split the amount into four doses and take them with my meals and before bed. After a day or two I begin reducing dosage until I get back to my regular dose. This usually takes about ten days. If you reduce dosage too quickly, symptoms can return and a cold can ensue. During this time I also take Preventics Zinc Lozenges. Zinc really aids the immune system, and evidence suggests that bacteria and viruses don’t like it. I usually take three or four of the lozenges a day unless I’m having some throat symptoms, and then I will allow a lozenge to dissolve in my mouth every hour or two until the soreness is gone. I continue the Zinc Lozenges at a dosage of at least three a day until I am able to return my vitamin C levels back to normal. Lastly, I always keep a bottle of Preventics Colloidal Silver in the pantry for occasions like this because it is such a good anti-bacterial, anti-viral, anti-fungal agent. As soon as possible I take a tablespoon; thereafter, a teaspoon in the morning and one in the evening for a week. As you may recall from past newsletters, Colloidal silver is useful against most infections and can even be used topically. Many patients who are very susceptible to colds have told me
that this program has helped them reduce colds from three or four
a year to one every three or four years. That’s a lot of
avoided misery. |
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