CBD Oil- Part 2

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

In this article, part two of our series of three articles, we will look at what your “Endocannabinoid System” or ECS, means to you.

Cannabinoid receptors on cells in your body were discovered in the 1990’s, ironically, after medicine declared we had already discovered all the systems in the body. Once receptors were found on cells, it was discovered that the body made compounds called endogenous cannabinoids that attach to and influence these receptor sites.

CBD Oil- Part 1

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

With the next three part series of articles I’m going to try to take a complex, controversial subject down to simplified, easy to understand terms.

There is so much confusion surrounding the emerging CBD/Hemp oil market. I get a lot of interest on the subject in my office. Over the next series of articles I will attempt to answer three questions: What are CBD products,  What is the Endocannabinoid System (ECS) and What health conditions can be helped with CBD/Hemp oil?   We will start with what are CBD products?

Medication Side Effects?

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

This week I am printing an article that appeared recently in one of the chiropractic journals, Dynamic Chiropractic. It is written by Donald M. Petersen, Jr., BS, HCD(hc), FICC(h).  These are scary statistics for anyone taking medications. Most times people do not even care enough to look up what they are prescribed, and why.  And almost all the time, the doctor never even gives a cursory review to the patient of the reasons for taking a medication and its’ resultant “side” effects. 

Sore Throat Remedies

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

We’re heading to that time of year when the daylight hours are waning and the temperatures are heading down. All the medical institutions will be warning of the flu and winter colds. If you’ve read these articles over the years, you’ll know that the flu season is nothing more than “lack of vitamin D” season. To try to prevent the flu and these colds you simply need to increase your vitamin D intake to about 10,000 i.u. per day.

Trans Fat vs. Saturated Fat

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 articles, I’ve hit the topic of saturated fats, cholesterol and your heart health quite a few times. The school of thought that saturated fats are good for you continues to be proven correct. Even more recent research has come in on the side of the healthiness of saturated fats. The recent research also points to the real villain that fries (no pun intended) your heart, that being trans fats.

Summer Sun

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

As the summer is winding down, do you fear that you’ve been in the sun too much?  Is there such a thing as too much sun exposure over time?   Every time you read about summer fun and outdoor activities, the professional criers warn you about the disastrous effects of sun exposure. Most people, when asked, will say the sun is bad for you, it causes skin cancer, sunburns and gives you leather looking skin. Should you avoid the sun? Does it really cause cancer? What are the risks and benefits of sun exposure?

More Sleep Info

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

When is the last time you got a full eight hours of sleep? Have you been conditioned to think getting a full night’s sleep is not that necessary? When I asked one patient about his sleep habits he said, “I’ll sleep when I’m dead!” Prophetically, a lack of sleep will get you there more quickly.

Benefits Of Magnesium

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

After hearing of another study reporting to have found that taking certain vitamins may actually be bad for you, I just have to ask if that is really a possibility. I don’t know the answer, but it sure doesn’t make me want to toss my nutritional support. Common sense would dictate that too much of even a good substance may be bad for you in abject excess. Hey, even water can kill you if you drink too much at once. Common sense also says that our food is lacking in many nutritional areas, even with the best of diets.

Are you counting Steps?

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

Counting steps has become a fitness trend these days. The new phones and watches make it easy to track how much you’re moving in a day.

They say the average American sits 10 hours each day. Not only is that terrible for your spinal discs but it is also a significant mortality risk. While recent research refutes findings that chronic sitting is on par with smoking mortality rates, it is clearly a significant risk factor in chronic ill health and early death, just like smoking.

Workout soreness?

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

Now that summer is finally with us to stay, many people are motivated to get into exercising again. That is great!

One problem many people from new exercisers to hardcore trainers run into is post exercise soreness. There is a technical name for this pain in the muscles that occurs 1-2 days after the workout; it is called Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness or DOMS.

Diet Soda Healthy?

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

Pepsi  announced a while ago that Diet Pepsi would be switching from aspartame to sucralose, as the artificial sweetener.

So why is Pepsi Co switching?  As many studies over the years have shown, aspartame is just hazardous to your health. It is carcinogenic in many ways, and people are rejecting its use.

Ice or Heat?

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

Do I use heat or ice, Doc? This seems to be the most commonly asked question in my office. People find it difficult to remember when to use which one.

Applying ice or heat can provide relief from injuries, aches and pains, but they cannot be used interchangeably. In a general sense, ice works best for sudden injury, while heat is best to soothe longer term aches and pains.

Sleep Well?

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

Do you sleep well? Do you wake up often throughout the night? Do you just toss and turn all night? Has your doctor or some professional told you to sleep on your sides as the best option?

If you sleep poorly, I’d bet you are a stomach or side sleeper. If you are waking up in the morning with shoulder, neck, hip, leg, or back pain, it could be from your sleeping positons.

The biomechanics of pressure points on the body show that if you are side-lying, there is much less surface area over which to spread weight bearing than there is when lying on your back. Try watching a long movie by just laying on your side. You can’t do it, something hurts or goes numb and you must change position.

Spinal 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.

Why Anti-Vaccine? Part 3

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

For a third article in a row, I’m going to go back to the immunology and immunization debate.  We have gone into great detail on the subject of how your immune system responds with natural exposure to a disease versus a vaccination. 

Now, we’ll look at the starting point of your immune response. The care of the mother and the initial care of the infant play a huge role in the health of the baby. We all know that don’t we? Significant new research is showing that we haven’t known the half of it!

Why Anti-Vaccine? Part 2

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

As we continue to look at the science of the immune system, we will see why immunizations are not a normal part of the process, and why they have no part in keeping you healthy.  Your body recognizes a shot for what it is, a poisonous invader, yet the response is completely different from a naturally acquired invasion of the same disease.

Did you know that 80% of your immune system is in your gut? All of the bacteria in your body are called the Bionome. You can control the 80% in your gut; the other 20% is beyond your control, for good or bad. As science learns more about our defense mechanisms, they are realizing that antibodies to disease are but a small part of our lines of defense. Unfortunately, antibody titers are all that conventional medicines approach to disease control cares about. A TH1 response occurs in reaction to naturally obtained infectious diseases.   A TH2 occurs with vaccines and with a few other areas of body responses, like toxin and allergy mediation.

Why Anti- Vaccine? Part 1

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

Since the recent outbreak of measles all over the country, I have been getting a lot of questions about immunizations.    There are many scientific reasons that I am in the anti-vaccine crowd.  Today, the pressure is intense for state and federal governments to step in and start demanding compulsory vaccinations, denying you any choice in the matter.  The following series of article should give anyone, who can still think critically, pause for such action.  Vaccinations do not confer immunity like they tell us they do.  This is not simply a dogmatic belief of mine and many others, it is based in scientific evidence that really cannot be disputed.  If you have reproducible evidence to the contrary, beliefs do not matter.

Can Exercises Be Bad?

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

This article is going to be short and simple to make a direct point about exercises that are bad for many people with back pain.

I would estimate that close to 80% of low back disc pain patients, either with or without sciatica or buttock pain, have a flexion intolerant back. This means they have a disc injury which is exacerbated by bending the low back forward.

I’ve learned people often create or reinforce pain in their bodies performing incorrect or unsuitable daily movements. For those with flexion intolerant lower backs, they must avoid forward bending exercises in the early stages of healing. This includes toe touching, crunches, pulling the knees to the chest, laying on the back and twisting a knee to the side, sitting and toe touching. The absolute worst thing we do is sit too much.  Sitting IS lumbar flexion which can create the exact pain you are trying to rid yourself of!

Chronic Pain Part 2

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

As we saw in the last article, there are many causes of chronic pain from prescription painkillers to Lyme disease. Most chronic pain patients have no idea where to start to search for help. Unfortunately, most doctors are just as clueless.

A study of European and American medical colleges found that most undergraduate medical colleges have no mandatory courses for studying pain. Even the ones that do have compulsory courses, they represent just twelve hours of credit in the total six year program. Unfortunately, my quick review of chiropractic colleges did not show any better results. When physicians are presented with chronic pain patients, their first response is to resort to what they know: prescription drugs. We know from many studies and common sense that prescription pain killers to nothing to affect the underlying cause of chronic pain.

Chronic Pain Part 1

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

Coming into this New Year, many people are faced with the same old chronic pain of last year. It is estimated that some 100 million adults in the United States suffers from chronic pain. That is more people than diabetes, heart disease, and cancer combined.

There are many causes of chronic pain. Sometimes it is associated with a specific injury, event, or disease such as a back injury, infection, and arthritis. Other times, there is no clear medical cause, and the pain simply continues on for weeks to years. Low back pain, headaches, and nerve pains commonly fit into this category.

More Flu Panic!

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

Here we go again, the ‘flu season’ is here. These articles on the flu are a broken record. Every year we hear the same misinformation from our wonderful government agencies, and it’s reported like gospel in the media. The USA is officially in a flu panic right now. The CDC (again) reports the worst flu pandemic in a decade. Didn’t we just hear that about the avian flu a few years ago? They urge any and all living beings to be vaccinated yet again.

How many years of hearing this baloney will it take for people to realize the flu vaccine is becoming quite the laughing stock. The most recent article on Saturday, January 12, 2013, in The Daily Item, says this season’s vaccine is “well matched… and still available.” Jump for joy? The next line says, “It is 62% effective… which is pretty good for a flu vaccine.” What? The gospel message is that if you get the shot, you won’t get the disease, right? So, if 62% is a good year, what is a bad year? In school, that’s a failing grade.

Dental Health and Wellness

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

Did you know your mouth is the gateway to total body wellness? There are thousands of studies that link oral disease to systemic (whole body) disease.

Inflammation is a known disease causing force that leads to chronic illness. Gum disease and other oral diseases produce chronic low grade inflammation that can affect any major organ system in the body.

Advanced gum disease can raise your risk of fatal heart attack by up to 10 times. There is a 700 percent higher incidence of Type 2 diabetes among those with gum disease.