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.