Swine Flu Vs. Yearly Flu: Let's Look at the Numbers...
Our goal with this blog post is to educate people and to help them make informed choices. It is important to know both sides of the story before making these kinds of decisions. That being said, let’s try to ponder some key questions that are being constantly addressed in the media. Note that this post will be substantiated with direct links to websites to see the articles where the facts have been obtained.
Is Swine flu deadly? According the Center for Disease Control, (CDC), “most people who get the H1N1 flu will have mild illness, will not need medical care or antiviral drugs, and will recover in less than 2 weeks,”(found at: CDC link 1). However, the Swine Flu can kill, just like any other flu is potentially lethal. Even the common cold is lethal TO SOMEONE WHO HAS A WEAKENED IMMUNE SYSTEM. Studies show that 70% of the complications from the Swine flu did not occur in healthy individuals, but in children or adults who were already immuno-compromised. Here is a list from the CDC as to those people who are more at risk of serious complication:
• “Chronic pulmonary (including asthma), cardiovascular (except hypertension), renal, hepatic, hematological (including sickle cell disease), or metabolic disorders (including diabetes mellitus);
• Disorders that that can compromise respiratory function or the handling of respiratory secretions or that can increase the risk for aspiration (e.g., cognitive dysfunction, spinal cord injuries, seizure disorders, or other neuromuscular disorders)
• Immunosuppression, including that caused by medications or by HIV;
• Preliminary studies suggest that people who are morbidly obese (body mass index equal to or greater than 40) and perhaps people who are obese (body mass index 30 to 39)
• Persons younger than 19 years of age who are receiving long-term aspirin therapy.”
o Found at: CDC link 2
How likely is someone to get the Swine flu? As of 11/25/09, there have been 22 million cases of Swine flu in the US. The total population of the US is hovering somewhere around 307 million, which equates to 14% of the population actually contracting the Swine flu [found at: CDC link 3]. However, there have been an estimated 9800 reported deaths according to the latest statistics from the CDC. Interestingly, the CDC states: “Each year in the United States on average, 5% to 20% of the population gets the flu; on average, more than 200,000 people are hospitalized from flu-related complications, and about 36,000 people die from flu-related causes.” [found at:CDC link 4]. That means that the swine flu at present is affecting the same percent as the seasonal flu, with far less fatalities so far. According to these statistics, 9800 deaths from swine flu in 2009 is significantly less than the 36,000 fatalities annually from regular seasonal flu.
Are kids more likely to get the Swine flu? An estimated 8 million children have contracted the Swine flu in the US, (9% of the number of children in the country), with 540 deaths. Considering that there are 75 million children in the US, the death rate of the swine flu in children in 1.5%. [found at: CDC link 5].
What is in the Swine flu shot? Each needle-delivered vaccine contains Thimerosol, a mercury derivative, as one of the main preservatives in the shot (unless you get lucky and find a single dose preparation versus the multi-dose preparation). Mercury is a major toxin to the brain and is carcinogenic, and has been implicated repeatedly (including an important article in the June 2009 issue of the journal entitled Toxicological and Environmental Chemistry) to have a potential relationship in the rise in autism and other developmental disorders [found at:
Journal link 1]. The only vaccine without Thimerasol is the Flumist nasal spray, although that contains MSG and antibiotics. Formaldehyde, used to preserve dead bodies, is also in some of the shots. These ingredients were found on the FDA website at: FDA link 1.
What about testing for swine flu? Recently, doctor’s offices have stopped taking the extra step and actually confirming if their patient has the swine flu with a lab test. These tests cost a lot and take time, so now if you have flu-like symptoms, it is ASSUMED you have Swine flu. According to an article on healthcentral.com, there are a few reasons testing is now longer routinely completed: “1) The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is no longer tracking each case of swine flu, 2)Doctors are familiar with symptoms of the flu and are able to make a diagnosis without a test, and 3)Treatment is the same whether you have the flu or have a viral respiratory infection”[found at: health central link 1]. Therefore it appears that this may statistically increase the number of false positive cases of the swine flu.
With the dozens of shots our kids are given from an early age, do we have a healthier America? Are our kids, or adults for that matter, a shining example of health and vitality? No, we are sicker, more obese, and less fit than ever before. As reported in the Huffington Post recently, one in three American children has diabetes, one in three is obese and one in three American children have allergies, autism, ADHD or asthma. [found at:
huffington post link 1]
It was additionally postulated in an article in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine that my generation will be the first in recent history to have their average age of death be younger than the generation before us [found at:
New England Journal of Medicine link 1]. What does all this mean? It sounds (statistically speaking) that the 2009-2010 Swine Flu is relatively similar to the "regular seasonal flu!" I don’t know about you, but these statistics show that with the degree of fear being discussed, we are traveling in the wrong direction. It is like the signs on the highways that say, “Wrong way. Go back.”
OK…so with all that bad news, what can be done to help give you the strongest possible body, one that might be more apt to fend off the swine flu? Our approach is simple and three-pronged: 1) Chiropractic, to boost your immune system and keep it functioning at 100%; 2) diet, to make sure you are eating the best possible foods to avoid weakening your own immune system by poor food choices, along with taking proper supplementation to give your body (for example, extra probiotics and vitamin c); and 3) exercise, to keep your body as strong as it can be, which helps reduce stress and thereby increase your ability to fight disease.
We believe that the power that made the body can heal the body. We believe that the best ‘vaccination’ is prevention, through chiropractic, diet and exercise. The body has this amazing intelligence that controls it from above, down, inside out. It knows what to do, when to do it and how to do it, and our job is to make sure it is working at 100% of its potential.
When this winter is over, I will be very interested to see how many regular chiropractic patients got Swine flu, versus the rest of the population. In the meantime, keep healthy with chiropractic, diet and exercise!
Please post your comments, whether they are for this article or against it…I would enjoy seeing your reactions, and will respond to all posts. And most of all, have the happiest and healthiest of holidays! Check out theadjustment.com for more information.
Monday, December 14, 2009
Monday, August 24, 2009
Chapter 4: How to Raise a Chiropractic Family
By Dr. Lisa Rubin, Ph.D. (my beautiful wife and guest blogger)
Director, Life University, Student Success Center
If you want to know the true story about chiropractic, just watch a child. Kids instinctively know how to play and have fun; we don’t have to explain to toddlers and preschoolers how to enjoy themselves. They just do it naturally. Children even know how to innately bend down and pick things up properly by using their legs. How come no one needs to explain this to a youngster? Chiropractic kids think differently because they are exposed to different ideas about health and life choices.
We share the chiropractic story with our children in many ways: “The body heals from the inside out,” “The power that made the body heals the body,” and “The body heals from above, down, inside, out” are typical examples. Chiropractic, for many families, is more than just a health care choice. It is a lifestyle. To illustrate, we have chosen to bring our son up as a vegetarian. One afternoon we were going through Whole Foods and my son asked what was rotating in a glass case, (it was rotisserie chicken). Four-year-old Palmer was horrified and started chanting, “Don’t kill chickens. Don’t kill chickens.” He did not yell this out to have others feel bad about their choices, he explained. Palmer was trying to educate people about other life choices that they could have. That was pretty profound for a kindergartener.
An important lesson we learned early on was to reach out to other chiropractors to help us on our journey. On one occasion, Palmer was playing with friends. They were pushing him in a cart and he fell off and cut his lip so badly that his lip was hanging away from his mouth, halfway to his chin. We had to choose between getting it stitched up, or letting it heal on its own. After several hours of agonizing debates, we finally decided to take him to a plastic surgeon. This was the third time he busted his lip at the same location. The first two times we allowed it to heal naturally, but the tear appeared to be progressing with each injury. Palmer was just learning how to speak and we were concerned that maintaining an open wound this time might affect his speech or his ability to eat properly due to the size of this large tear. The stitches went fine but Palmer developed a horrible eye infection. We finally got on the phone and called our chiropractic friends for their advice. They told us to have him drink Eye-bright tea and put the cooled tea bag on his infected eye. What a miracle it is to have others help. We have relied many times, before and since, on our chiropractic friends to offer guidance culled from their own experiences.
When our kids go to school they stand out. They sometimes eat different foods and practice different health choices. On one occasion, a female classmate came to school with a cast on her arm. Palmer was very upset that she had gotten hurt on the playground the day before. He asked her, in a very worried tone, if she had to go to the hospital. She responded that she did. He looked grief stricken and queried whether she needed to get shots. That was the beginning of a very interesting conversation.
“Of course not,” she responded. She went on to explain when shots were given. Palmer had never heard such a thing, and responded that he never had shots. She argued that not getting any shots was impossible. I stood back watching the interaction wondering if the teacher was going to intervene. She absolutely did! The teacher reminded Palmer that, when born in the hospital, you receive your first shot. Palmer then responded proudly that he was born at home. Here we go… The teacher’s expression was priceless. She gave him a sympathetic look that he must be a bit confused. She eventually gave up trying to convince Palmer that before you come home, one is born in the hospital. This issue did not disappear. When Palmer was in fourth grade, vaccines were brought up again. A classmate said she had a flu shot. Palmer reminded her that he never had shots. She told him, “If you don’t have shots you will die.” Palmer retorted, “Then why am I still living?”
Our children are very powerful people. They are asked to stand up to challenges that even give us difficulty. I tell our son that it must be hard to have us as his parents because we ask a lot from him. We make so many different choices than the bulk of society, from being born at home, being a vegetarian, consuming no milk or meat, eating mostly organic food, taking no vaccines or drugs. The list goes on and on.
I walked into school one day when Palmer was in first grade. All the children’s artwork from the day was hanging up. I knew immediately which one was Palmer’s. His painting was out of the lines and all the colors were different than the other children’s patterns. I looked at that picture and said, ‘of course’. We taught him to think outside the box; exactly what chiropractic philosophy has taught us. Our son has all the qualities a parent would hope for in a 20 year old but as a child it is a tough road to be a free thinker. Chiropractic kids tend to explode with many inquisitive questions they want answered and are not afraid to question authority. We’ve made sure Palmer at least understands how to do it courteously.
Our children constantly see chiropractic in everything they do because that is what we share with them. One such example was when my son was in my husband’s chiropractic office playing with the photocopy machine. I noticed about 20 pages of paper lying on the carpet. I asked Palmer, age 5 at the time, what he was doing, realizing he was on a mission. He responded that he was taking x-rays. His tone basically said, “Come on Mom, don’t you know this?” I told him I could tell he was taking x-rays, but was wondering why there were so many taken, (of course, he must realize it is important to not overexpose patients to unnecessary radiation, right?). He stated in an exasperated tone: “Here’s the before chiropractic x-ray, (the doll’s head was turned to one side). Here’s the after chiropractic x-ray, (the doll’s head was perfectly straight, looking forward).” I saw in his eyes and voice inflections that he was thinking, “Okay, Mom. I’ll just have to explain the obvious.”
Another time, I picked up Palmer from school and he had fallen in the playground. He stated that he needed to go to “Daddy’s office” to get adjusted before we went home. Upon arriving at the office, he realized that his dad had just unveiled a holiday poster/writing contest for kids. He wanted to participate, and liked the idea of winning a prize, (which, knowing his daddy, meant everyone gets to win). Since Palmer was only 4, he asked that I write his “story.” These are Palmer’s words: “I hurt my knee because a little bit of subluxation was squeezing on two nerves. I went to Dr. Drew’s office and he ‘adjust’ me. I almost felt better. But, after it was almost better, G-d healed up the subluxation and I felt much better.” Kids get chiropractic. It is plain and simple to them.
Many of us also have children that adjust while they are pretend-playing as toddlers. I remember one time my son was playing with his cousins. Their father is a medical doctor and understandably they were giving shots to their dolls. Palmer stated he was going to show them something “cool” without shots. Guess what? Moments later, all the kids started adjusting the dolls. Another time, my son was at a chiropractic seminar with us. He was sitting with a chiropractic student who was trying to keep him busy. Jesse asked if he wanted to draw a picture of his hand and traced his hand for him. He was excited and asked if she would trace his other hand on top of the first one, so it looked like he was adjusting.
We also have to guide our children. In first grade, Palmer happily came home one day announcing that he had adjusted his friend Zach on the playground after his pal complained of a headache. My husband asked Palmer what he had done. Our son casually explained, (with that look once again that said ‘don’t you know already?’), that after his buddy told him he was going to the school nurse to get an aspirin, Palmer replied in a horrified tone: “Don’t do that! I can adjust you just like my dad does.” We asked Palmer to refrain from adjusting people until he gets a license.
When Palmer, now almost 11, was asked for his opinion of what to put in this article, he said, “Tell them that chiropractic will give them a much happier lifestyle.” So just follow these steps:
1. Start from day one explaining your philosophy to children and include “why” you do things.
2. Talk with other chiropractic families for support or advice; you don’t have to do this alone.
3. Keep informed by reading constantly. There is a plethora of books, magazines and websites about every alternative health option you could imagine.
4. Go to holistic seminars with your entire family, whether they are just a local “Saturday” night or four-day intensives. There you will either be reinforced for your choices or be exposed to new ideas.
5. Ask lots of questions until you know what your choices are, and then make your decision and stay strong.
6. Understand that your family and non-chiropractic friends will think you are nuts most of the time, so don’t let them talk you out of what you believe in. Share with them in a loving manner; don’t let your different choices make them think that they are wrong for following the conventional approaches. Remember, it is better to be loved than to be right. Let them have their opinion, just as you have yours.
7. A crisis is not the time to make a health care decision. Try to make as many choices as possible before big events like birth, first vaccinations, breastfeeding, family bed, etc.
8. Answer all your children’s questions without biasing other’s choices. Answer them honestly and don’t hide the facts. Offer them a chance to be part of the decision making process and they will eventually be able to make these same choices as they get older and reach the more difficult peer pressure years.
By Dr. Lisa Rubin, Ph.D. (my beautiful wife and guest blogger)
Director, Life University, Student Success Center
If you want to know the true story about chiropractic, just watch a child. Kids instinctively know how to play and have fun; we don’t have to explain to toddlers and preschoolers how to enjoy themselves. They just do it naturally. Children even know how to innately bend down and pick things up properly by using their legs. How come no one needs to explain this to a youngster? Chiropractic kids think differently because they are exposed to different ideas about health and life choices.
We share the chiropractic story with our children in many ways: “The body heals from the inside out,” “The power that made the body heals the body,” and “The body heals from above, down, inside, out” are typical examples. Chiropractic, for many families, is more than just a health care choice. It is a lifestyle. To illustrate, we have chosen to bring our son up as a vegetarian. One afternoon we were going through Whole Foods and my son asked what was rotating in a glass case, (it was rotisserie chicken). Four-year-old Palmer was horrified and started chanting, “Don’t kill chickens. Don’t kill chickens.” He did not yell this out to have others feel bad about their choices, he explained. Palmer was trying to educate people about other life choices that they could have. That was pretty profound for a kindergartener.
An important lesson we learned early on was to reach out to other chiropractors to help us on our journey. On one occasion, Palmer was playing with friends. They were pushing him in a cart and he fell off and cut his lip so badly that his lip was hanging away from his mouth, halfway to his chin. We had to choose between getting it stitched up, or letting it heal on its own. After several hours of agonizing debates, we finally decided to take him to a plastic surgeon. This was the third time he busted his lip at the same location. The first two times we allowed it to heal naturally, but the tear appeared to be progressing with each injury. Palmer was just learning how to speak and we were concerned that maintaining an open wound this time might affect his speech or his ability to eat properly due to the size of this large tear. The stitches went fine but Palmer developed a horrible eye infection. We finally got on the phone and called our chiropractic friends for their advice. They told us to have him drink Eye-bright tea and put the cooled tea bag on his infected eye. What a miracle it is to have others help. We have relied many times, before and since, on our chiropractic friends to offer guidance culled from their own experiences.
When our kids go to school they stand out. They sometimes eat different foods and practice different health choices. On one occasion, a female classmate came to school with a cast on her arm. Palmer was very upset that she had gotten hurt on the playground the day before. He asked her, in a very worried tone, if she had to go to the hospital. She responded that she did. He looked grief stricken and queried whether she needed to get shots. That was the beginning of a very interesting conversation.
“Of course not,” she responded. She went on to explain when shots were given. Palmer had never heard such a thing, and responded that he never had shots. She argued that not getting any shots was impossible. I stood back watching the interaction wondering if the teacher was going to intervene. She absolutely did! The teacher reminded Palmer that, when born in the hospital, you receive your first shot. Palmer then responded proudly that he was born at home. Here we go… The teacher’s expression was priceless. She gave him a sympathetic look that he must be a bit confused. She eventually gave up trying to convince Palmer that before you come home, one is born in the hospital. This issue did not disappear. When Palmer was in fourth grade, vaccines were brought up again. A classmate said she had a flu shot. Palmer reminded her that he never had shots. She told him, “If you don’t have shots you will die.” Palmer retorted, “Then why am I still living?”
Our children are very powerful people. They are asked to stand up to challenges that even give us difficulty. I tell our son that it must be hard to have us as his parents because we ask a lot from him. We make so many different choices than the bulk of society, from being born at home, being a vegetarian, consuming no milk or meat, eating mostly organic food, taking no vaccines or drugs. The list goes on and on.
I walked into school one day when Palmer was in first grade. All the children’s artwork from the day was hanging up. I knew immediately which one was Palmer’s. His painting was out of the lines and all the colors were different than the other children’s patterns. I looked at that picture and said, ‘of course’. We taught him to think outside the box; exactly what chiropractic philosophy has taught us. Our son has all the qualities a parent would hope for in a 20 year old but as a child it is a tough road to be a free thinker. Chiropractic kids tend to explode with many inquisitive questions they want answered and are not afraid to question authority. We’ve made sure Palmer at least understands how to do it courteously.
Our children constantly see chiropractic in everything they do because that is what we share with them. One such example was when my son was in my husband’s chiropractic office playing with the photocopy machine. I noticed about 20 pages of paper lying on the carpet. I asked Palmer, age 5 at the time, what he was doing, realizing he was on a mission. He responded that he was taking x-rays. His tone basically said, “Come on Mom, don’t you know this?” I told him I could tell he was taking x-rays, but was wondering why there were so many taken, (of course, he must realize it is important to not overexpose patients to unnecessary radiation, right?). He stated in an exasperated tone: “Here’s the before chiropractic x-ray, (the doll’s head was turned to one side). Here’s the after chiropractic x-ray, (the doll’s head was perfectly straight, looking forward).” I saw in his eyes and voice inflections that he was thinking, “Okay, Mom. I’ll just have to explain the obvious.”
Another time, I picked up Palmer from school and he had fallen in the playground. He stated that he needed to go to “Daddy’s office” to get adjusted before we went home. Upon arriving at the office, he realized that his dad had just unveiled a holiday poster/writing contest for kids. He wanted to participate, and liked the idea of winning a prize, (which, knowing his daddy, meant everyone gets to win). Since Palmer was only 4, he asked that I write his “story.” These are Palmer’s words: “I hurt my knee because a little bit of subluxation was squeezing on two nerves. I went to Dr. Drew’s office and he ‘adjust’ me. I almost felt better. But, after it was almost better, G-d healed up the subluxation and I felt much better.” Kids get chiropractic. It is plain and simple to them.
Many of us also have children that adjust while they are pretend-playing as toddlers. I remember one time my son was playing with his cousins. Their father is a medical doctor and understandably they were giving shots to their dolls. Palmer stated he was going to show them something “cool” without shots. Guess what? Moments later, all the kids started adjusting the dolls. Another time, my son was at a chiropractic seminar with us. He was sitting with a chiropractic student who was trying to keep him busy. Jesse asked if he wanted to draw a picture of his hand and traced his hand for him. He was excited and asked if she would trace his other hand on top of the first one, so it looked like he was adjusting.
We also have to guide our children. In first grade, Palmer happily came home one day announcing that he had adjusted his friend Zach on the playground after his pal complained of a headache. My husband asked Palmer what he had done. Our son casually explained, (with that look once again that said ‘don’t you know already?’), that after his buddy told him he was going to the school nurse to get an aspirin, Palmer replied in a horrified tone: “Don’t do that! I can adjust you just like my dad does.” We asked Palmer to refrain from adjusting people until he gets a license.
When Palmer, now almost 11, was asked for his opinion of what to put in this article, he said, “Tell them that chiropractic will give them a much happier lifestyle.” So just follow these steps:
1. Start from day one explaining your philosophy to children and include “why” you do things.
2. Talk with other chiropractic families for support or advice; you don’t have to do this alone.
3. Keep informed by reading constantly. There is a plethora of books, magazines and websites about every alternative health option you could imagine.
4. Go to holistic seminars with your entire family, whether they are just a local “Saturday” night or four-day intensives. There you will either be reinforced for your choices or be exposed to new ideas.
5. Ask lots of questions until you know what your choices are, and then make your decision and stay strong.
6. Understand that your family and non-chiropractic friends will think you are nuts most of the time, so don’t let them talk you out of what you believe in. Share with them in a loving manner; don’t let your different choices make them think that they are wrong for following the conventional approaches. Remember, it is better to be loved than to be right. Let them have their opinion, just as you have yours.
7. A crisis is not the time to make a health care decision. Try to make as many choices as possible before big events like birth, first vaccinations, breastfeeding, family bed, etc.
8. Answer all your children’s questions without biasing other’s choices. Answer them honestly and don’t hide the facts. Offer them a chance to be part of the decision making process and they will eventually be able to make these same choices as they get older and reach the more difficult peer pressure years.
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