Flu Vaccine No Match

Articles by Dr. Erdman are for informational purposes, and are not to be taken as specific medical advice.

A very notable admission has come to the limelight in the last week. The CDC (Centers for Disease Control) has just issued a warning to doctors about this year’s flu vaccine. It doesn’t match the strains being found in most people in real world testing.

Now most of you know I am a total abstainer when it comes to vaccinations of any sort. They simply do not have any efficacy, and they are harmful to boot. For the sake of argument, let’s pretend that the flu vaccine works as they pretend.

Even then, this quote from a CDC official is laughable, “Though we cannot predict what will happen the rest of the flu season, it’s possible we may have a season that’s more severe than most.” Really? We could also have one that is less severe than most!

“CDC officials think the vaccine should provide some protection and are still urging people to get vaccinated. But it probably won’t be as good as if the vaccine strain was a match,“ Mike Stobbe of the AP reports. Well, isn’t that scientific. We think, it may, we hope it works?

Probiotics

Articles by Dr. Erdman are for informational purposes, and are not to be taken as specific medical advice.

Did you know that 80% of your immune system is located in your digestive tract? Allergies, Psoriasis, Colitis periodontal disease, high blood pressure, weight control and mental health are all indicated and linked to our normal gut flora.

Your GI tract contains some 100 trillion bacteria - or at least it should –which can weigh 2-3 pounds. The bacteria outnumber all the other cells of your entire body by 10 to 1.

These bacteria are the major component of your immune system. Contrary to the vaccine industries apparent dysfunctional theory that antibody titers are all we need for disease suppression. Their underlying premise is that vaccines give you higher titers of antibodies to fight off a disease. They do that, temporarily, and no long term benefit remains. Hence, your child needs “booster shots” to redo the entire process. But I digress.

Back Pain & Humira

Articles by Dr. Erdman are for informational purposes, and are not to be taken as specific medical advice.

Back pain is such a common ailment in most people. It is estimated that over 80% of the population will acquire back pain at some point in their lives. Of those, over 90% will have multiple recurrences.

If lots of people have any particular problem, drug companies make pills to be pushed on them. Back pain is no different.

One of the latest ads about back pain I’ve been seeing of TV is for the drug Humira. The ad shows a diverse group of people all saying they have finally found the cause of their chronic back pain. It is called Ankylosing Spondylitis. It is a real disease, but it is extremely rare. How rare you ask? In my twenty plus years of practice, I have seen less than 5 patients with this condition.

The drug is extremely expensive, costing upwards of $20,000 a year. The direct to patient marketing must work to deliver a bunch of new drug users, or the drug companies wouldn’t do it. The ads act like there are many people who have this as a primary back pain problem, when in reality it is very rare. At $20,000 a year, I suppose they only need to add a few users per commercial to pay for the ads. Don’t be a sucker; find a qualified back pain practitioner to find your problem.

Coconut Oil - Revised

Articles by Dr. Erdman are for informational purposes, and are not to be taken as specific medical advice.

Does a low fat diet really help improve your health?  Does eating saturated fat cause heart disease? Depriving your body of essential fats increases cravings of other foods, such as refined carbohydrates, that lead to weight gain. One of those naturally occurring healthy fats that have been demonized by the medical establishment is coconut oil.

Now, all saturated fats are not the same. There is a big difference between naturally occurring saturated fats in coconut oil, avocados and olive oil, and artificially manipulated, man-made fats found in junk food and cooking oils. These are called hydrogenated oils, and are terrible for you. These “trans fats”, as they are called, should be avoided for your good health.

Coconut oil is nature’s richest source of medium chain triglycerides (MCT’s), not counting breast milk. Virgin coconut oil is very stable, and does not oxidize or break down quickly. It has a shelf life of more than 2 years.

B-Scam

Articles by Dr. Erdman are for informational purposes, and are not to be taken as specific medical advice.

I have written on this topic before, but I believe it needs to be revisited, especially here in October. As you are bombarded by pink this and pink that the entire month of October every year, I think you should be aware of the facts of the origins of “pink.”

These days, if you dare question any of this pink stuff, you are treated like some kind of woman hating monster. Nothing could be further from the truth. By exposing the myth and methods of pink, women’s lives and body parts are likely to be saved, not cheapened for drug company profits.

As you know, it all starts here in October with “Breast Cancer Awareness Month,” or as Dr. Douglass puts it “Bscam.” It was not started by scientists hunting for the cause and cure of breast cancer. It was started by a drug company.

Ebola

Articles by Dr. Erdman are for informational purposes, and are not to be taken as specific medical advice.

There has been a lot of news coverage on the Ebola outbreak in Africa over the last several months. On August 8, the WHO declared the Ebola outbreak an international public health emergency. For only the third time in history, the US CDC raised its level of emergency alertness to “Level 1.”

As of now, about 1,700 people have been infected and 952 have died in basically three areas of Africa: Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.

The government says Ebola can be up to 90% lethal, but this outbreak has a death rate of about 55%, says Dr. Mercola.

What is Ebola? It is a virus with five subtypes or mutations identified. The first discovered and most common is Zaire Ebolavirus (ZEBOV), first found in 1976 and thought to be the most virulent. It is this strain causing the current epidemic.

Have You Had a Heart Attack?

Articles by Dr. Erdman are for informational purposes, and are not to be taken as specific medical advice.

Have you had a heart attack? No? Then why are you still taking an aspirin a day? The doctor told you it will prevent a heart attack? What would you do if I told you even the FDA says that isn't true?

The fact is there are over 60 studies that prove aspirin has no benefit in preventing the first heart attack. In fact, it is debatable whether or not aspirin has ANY protective benefits against heart disease, even if you have had a heart attack. The most recent scientific studies show that the side effects may offset any supposed benefit.

Acetaminophen is Not for Back Pain

Articles by Dr. Erdman are for informational purposes, and are not to be taken as specific medical advice.

More breaking news has been released on the use of drugs to cover up back pain, specifically acetaminophen or brand names Tylenol and Vicodin.

Researchers from the University of Sydney in Australia have published a study in The Lancet showing acetaminophen to be no better than placebo when it comes to relieving back pain.

They studied over 1,650 patients averaging 45 years of age. All had low back pain and were randomly treated with three doses of acetaminophen daily (totaling 3990 mg’s), or given placebo pills. All patients had follow-ups with their doctors for three months. What did they find?

According to the study, there were no differences in the amount of time it took any of the patients involved to feel better. Actually, the placebo group average 16 days to feel better, and the drug group averaged 17 days.

Cholesterol is Not the Culprit!

Articles by Dr. Erdman are for informational purposes, and are not to be taken as specific medical advice.

Over the last several years of writing these columns I’ve hit the cholesterol topic a few times. It bears repeating until you finally give up your statin drugs forever. They are not just dangerous but treat a non- existent, made up health crisis. Cholesterol is a necessary, vital piece of your health picture.

The medical community has for 30 years fed us a line of complete and utter hysteria about cholesterol levels in our blood. First they randomly selected 180 mg/dl as the “normal” level of cholesterol. A reading of 200 mg/dl required their drugs to keep you safely under 180. The diet they prescribed was to eat no cholesterol, not much red meat, and lots of grains. When that was proven wrong, they said some eggs and red meat are ok, but not too much.

We now see a complete scientifically based free fall of this cholesterol whopper! As Dr. Mercola puts it, “The cholesterol myth has suffered a bit of a triple whammy of late, making it harder and harder for heart specialists to uphold the company line.” There are three studies since 2012 that Dr. Mercola shows have obliterated the saturated fat phobia.

Research Studies

Articles by Dr. Erdman are for informational purposes, and are not to be taken as specific medical advice.

This week a huge new metastudy was released comparing organic foods with conventionally grown foods. This study is a review of 343 prior peer reviewed studies from around the world. It is the largest review of organics ever completed. The study put a very positive light on organics showing better nutritional content and significantly less toxicity than conventionally grown foods.

You would think a study like this would be big news for health loving people and be reported with lots of positive media attention. The truth is that it was immediately attacked by the media and those promoting the conventional growing market. The question is who do you believe?

Almost any information put forth by independent researchers that challenges the big companies that control the market place is certain to draw immediate condemnation, whether it is accurate or not. This includes big drug companies, the big agriculture market or global warming advocates.

Low Back Pain

Articles by Dr. Erdman are for informational purposes, and are not to be taken as specific medical advice.

Chronic low back pain and chronic pain from any source severely affects your body in many ways. Biomechanical changes have been known to occur, but the extent of why it occurs and what other non-mechanical changes occur are just beginning to show up in the literature. Chronic low back pain has effects on brain size, nerve sensitivity, and which parts of the brain perceive and react to pain stimuli. Let’s take a look at what happens to chronic back pain patients and how chiropractic is the best answer to help those people return to a more normal life.

Inactivity and sitting lead to chronic back pain(LBP) in many, many people. It is no wonder, then, that chronic back pain has been proven to decrease brain size in the prefrontal and thalamic gray matter. Chronic back pain patients are characterized by alterations in brain structure and function. The brain changes can be categorized as neurological, structural, or functional. Certain areas of the brain that show less brain cells are correlated with more pain intensity and unpleasantness. These brain changes super sensitize the nerve endings and result in an over-the-top response to any pain stimulation. So even a small movement or tweak that doesn’t actually cause any damage results in a surge of pain that the brain perceives as severe.  This is why you still need to exercise to some degree even when you are in pain.

Brain Derived Neurotrohpic Factor

Articles by Dr. Erdman are for informational purposes, and are not to be taken as specific medical advice.

A few weekends ago I took a continuing education class titled “Validating Chiropractic; using cutting edge research to improve patient outcomes.” I spent 12 hours listening to the latest chiropractic related research. This week I’m going to pick a few astounding findings coming to light.

The first topic is Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF). This may get a little deep in the weeds, but stick with me, it’s cool information. BDNF is made by a part of the brain called the hippocampus and by muscle cells. It is a protein that acts to support the survival of brain cells and nerve cells. It is vital to learning, memory, and higher thinking. It is essential for long term memory.

Saturated Fat

Articles by Dr. Erdman are for informational purposes, and are not to be taken as specific medical advice.

Back in March there was a study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine about saturated fat in your diet. Scientists looked at 72 previous studies of more than 600,000 people in 18 countries.

This review looked at the amount of saturated fat people consumed in their diets and found it really doesn’t have any effect on your risk for heart disease.

If saturated fats really don’t harm your heart as mainstream medicine has pushed for all these years, the question then becomes: Why did they push this idea for so many years?

Back Pain Overdiagnosed

Articles by Dr. Erdman are for informational purposes, and are not to be taken as specific medical advice.

A few weeks ago an article by Daniel DeNoon of the Harvard Health Blog ran in our local paper. It was titled, “Back pain overdiagnosed, overtreated.” He quotes Dr. Bruce E Landon, a professor at Harvard Medical School, saying, “Most routine back pain will improve on its own WITH conservative therapy in three months, often shorter than that. Even more importantly, when we do more aggressive things – such as injections, [high tech] imaging, and surgery- the long term outcomes don’t change at all. These things have very little impact on what is going on, and they have the potential to make things worse.”

Wow! What a complete indictment of how most people are treated when they present to their medical doctors for back pain. There is so much new evidence coming in every year that shows conservative care for back pain is the first treatment of choice for the best results.

Fitness Level Test, Parts 1 & 2

Articles by Dr. Erdman are for informational purposes, and are not to be taken as specific medical advice.

March has come and gone, and spring is soon to follow. Where have those New Year’s resolutions to exercise more and lose weight gone? If you’ve fallen off the wagon, it’s time to get back at it. Maybe the warmer weather will help us want to go out and exercise. I know it’s easier for me to do when I can get off the treadmill and into fresh air.

Assessing where you are in your level of fitness will help you determine what and how much exercise you should start to do. Dr. Mercola has identified several different assessment tools that can realistically be measured, and have good correlation to your current level of fitness and your future risks if you do nothing.

The most common measure of body composition is the BMI. Health insurance, life insurance and most medical services rely on this to help determine if you’re normal, obese or morbidly obese. BMI is actually a very poor measure of your body composition. It does not differentiate between muscle mass and fat tissue.

Homocysteine Levels

Articles by Dr. Erdman are for informational purposes, and are not to be taken as specific medical advice.

There has been a dramatic rise in cardiovascular disease in this country. Arterial hardening or the loss of elasticity of the artery wall is a leading cause of heart attack deaths, coronary artery disease, and stroke.

Dr. Kilmer McCully originally reported in 1969 that elevated homocysteine levels were associated with advanced atherosclerosis (plaquing) of the arteries and premature death. He based the findings on a study of children born with a genetic disorder called homocystinuria. These patients had genetically induced super high levels of homocysteine, and they often died at very young ages with advanced hardening of the arteries.

Homocysteine is an inflammatory amino acid that is produced as a byproduct of metabolism of the protein methionine. During metabolism of methionine, significant levels of B₆, B₁₂, folate, B₂ and magnesium must be present in order to be synthesized properly into glutathione. Glutathione is a powerful antioxidant that protects against oxidative stress.

Germaphobe

Articles by Dr. Erdman are for informational purposes, and are not to be taken as specific medical advice.

Are you a germaphobe?  Must you have antibacterial soaps, wipes and hand sanitizers available at all times?  Do you really believe that if you touch a germ you will get some cold, virus or disease?  I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you don’t live in a germ free bubble.  These bugs are around you at all times.  In order for a particular germ to invade your defenses, there needs to be a weakness to exploit.  In other words, the ground(your body) needs to be fertile(weak) before you can ‘catch’ anything.

The use and abuse of antibiotic wipes, sanitizers, creams and soaps are a hazard to your health.  Triclosan and Triclocarban are the most common chemicals added to cutting boards, lunch boxes, mattresses, and hand sanitizers.  The attempt to control microbial spread has been a categoric failure. 

A growing body of evidence now suggests that the over application of triclosan is a leading cause of bacterial resistance to antibiotics.  It is bioaccumulatory in fish and other organic organisms.  Animal studies show that triclosan may alter the way hormones work in the body.  Triclosan is very good at killing off weak bacteria, which allows the virulent bacteria to thrive in their absence. 

Arthroscopic Knee Surgery

Articles by Dr. Erdman are for informational purposes, and are not to be taken as specific medical advice.

One of the most common surgeries performed by orthopedic surgeons is a meniscectomy – or trimming of the torn meniscus and smoothing the jagged edges of what remains. Most times, it is just assumed that this tear is what is causing the pain.

This arthroscopic surgery is performed some 700,000 times a year costing $4 billion. Several studies over the last 10 years have given rise to the question of necessity of this surgery for the most common cause, wear and tear.  80% of meniscal tears develop over time from simple wear and tear.

The latest study out of Finland, examined 146 people with degenerative meniscal tears (caused by wear and tear, not acute injury). One group received standard surgery and the other a “sham” or fake surgery. After one year, both groups reported equally favorable outcomes, which was primarily less knee pain. In the end, the researchers concluded that the real arthroscopic surgeries had no better outcome than the fake ones.

Discs

Articles by Dr. Erdman are for informational purposes, and are not to be taken as specific medical advice.

It’s been awhile since I’ve written on a chiropractic specific topic. There is a lot of misinformation about intervertebral discs from many sources. Most doctors believe that once a spinal disc or nerve is damaged, you need surgery or are forced to live with pain, weakness and organ malfunction for the rest of your life.

The truth is that while the spine can and does easily degenerate, it can also regenerate. Conditions once thought to be permanent can many times be stopped, and sometimes reversed. Chiropractic, like medicine, is becoming more specialized all the time. The special training necessary to physically change your condition by fixing your postural problems is not to be found at every office, nor is every patient a candidate to be fixed. The process of rehabilitating a degenerated spine is time consuming and requires significant active participation from the patient. Not everyone is willing to put in the time and effort necessary to achieve a better spine.

Fiber

Articles by Dr. Erdman are for informational purposes, and are not to be taken as specific medical advice.

The recommended daily intake of fiber is between 20 and 30 grams per day. Most adults don’t eat half that much. This isn’t surprising, since health fibers are processed right out of our largely refined food diet.

Unless you regularly eat whole fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds, you are probably missing out on the healthiest forms of fiber. You may think your diet of bran muffins and cereals has you up to capacity, but that may be a big mistake.

There are major health benefits from eating adequate fiber regularly. Soluble fiber helps control your blood sugar by slowing the breakdown of carbs and sugar.

There is an inverse relationship to heart disease. The more fiber in your diet, the less incidence of heart disease, up to a 40% lower risk.

Fiber helps manage weight loss due to increased bulk in the stomach and a more satiated feeling.