Dr. J's Health Thots

Fever Myths and Facts

2011-09-23T05:25:00.000-07:00

Have we forgotten how well designed our bodies are?

I am finding more and more than young parents are afraid or concerned about fevers. When I ask them if fevers are a good or bad thing, they usually respond that is bad and that then need to take their kids to the Pediatrician.

Ask your self why we get a fever!! Our bodies are made to be self healing and self regulating. Bacteria and viruses thrive really well at our normal body temperature of 98-99 degrees. If there is an infection is our body, innately our immune system knows to turn up the temperature to 100, 101, 102 etc. and keep it there until we are able to fight off the infection.

Fever is a Good Thing!! Let it run it's course. If we take a fever reducer, who are we helping, the Bugs or Our Bodies?

If you or your kids get a fever, monitor it, take a cool bath if you become uncomfortable. Drink plenty of fluids.

Check this link to Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota and you will see great guidelines and myths about, fever, how high it should go, about febrile seizures.

I hope that all parents of the Knightdale area see this and share it with their friends.

Dr Jason and Lisa Kucma

Do Statin medications like Lipitor and Crestor make you live longer?

2011-05-26T09:36:00.000-07:00

A recent and very large study in the prominent Archives of Internal Medicine found news your doctor may not tell you.....

Taking statin medication to lower your cholesterol does nothing to lengthen your life!! Wow, why else would you take that kind of medication?

So, it looks like, if you don't have cardiovascular disease, don't take cholesterol medication.

These results seem to say if you have a family history, or even high cholesterol, medication may not be your best choice.

Well, what to do then if you have theses "risk factors" for heart attacks?

Buckle down, 20 minutes of walking every day, eat avoid processed and high carbohydrate foods, and balance out your stress levels.

I know that's old advice but it works. And its free. With no side effects.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20585067

Chiropractic and Kids

2011-04-21T08:39:00.000-07:00

Pot Calling The Kettle Black!!

Have you been told that Chiropractic care is not for kids? WOW nothing could be more untrue.
I hope your pediatrician or doctor didn't tell you that. If they did, you better ask them why.
If they say there is no evidence that chiropractic works, or that chiropractic is not safe, they better check where they are coming from!
In fact, did you know that almost 80 percent of hospitalized children get drugs that are not approved for pediatric use?
And that there are an amazing amount of adverse drug reactions each year because "Physicians who treat children often prescribe drugs for off-label uses because little information is available from well-controlled studies on dosage, formulation, effectiveness and safety in children."

Chiropractors have been adjusting kids for 100 years. We do this because we know that your body is designed to be healthy. If your spine and nervous system is balanced and without interference, you will be able express your health fully.

Chiropractic allows your body to work better and be healthier. That plus a good lifestyle is where healing really happens.

We believe it is "Better to grow healthy kids than it is to fix broken adults".

So if your doctor tells you chiropractic is not for kids, think again.

Thanks Dr Kent for some great information.

Heart Bypass or Not?

2011-04-06T10:15:00.000-07:00

Wow, a brand new study from the New England Journal of Medicine provides additional evidence that coronary bypass surgery does not prolong life.

Can you believe that the longer we are around, the more we find that Medicine is not evidence based?

Talk about saying chiropractors not evidence based. At least we do no harm, and cost way less.

Thanks to Dean Ornish MD for finding this.

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Medical Journal: Prostate Screening is Useless

2011-04-04T06:03:00.001-07:00

I always thought this was a test I was going to have done. So this was surprising news to me when I saw this article, from a prominent medical journal.

As it turns out, the study Randomised prostate cancer screening trial: 20 year follow-up, showed that, prostate screenings do nothing to change death rates from this type of cancer.

This means that these tests are not only a waste of your time and money, but add to the expensive cost of health care in America. Furthermore, this screening increases anxiety and lead to expensive procedures that do nothing for improving life expectancy.

This backs previous research that much of medical care is not based on good evidence and that medical care possibly causes more harm than good.

Goes to show you that once again, good life style choices, and a properly functioning nervous system, is the key to your best health!!

Dr Jason Kucma

Reference Health Ranger

New Low Back Pain Study Reveals Chiropractic Is Superior to Physical Therapy and Medical Care

2011-03-23T08:38:00.000-07:00

You may like this new study I found interesting. For one, this is a study done by a medical journal, not a Chiropractic journal so any agenda or swaying of the results is not likely. Plus, this is a large sample size, almost a thousand people that contributed. What the study says in a nutshell is that when patients with low back pain were tracked for a YEAR, patients that utilized physical therapy and/or medical interventions were associated with a higher recurrence of disability as opposed to patients that underwent Chiropractic care. In fact, the patients were TWICE as likely to end up disabled with a physical therapist (PT) and almost 2/3rds more likely to be disabled when partaking in traditional medical interventions.

This study is unique in that it was conducted by the Center for Disability Research at the Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety and the University of Massachusetts Lowell, Hopkinton, Mass; and the Center for Health Economics & Science Policy at United BioSource Corporation, London, United Kingdom.

Their objective was to compare the occurrences of repeated disability episodes between types of health care providers, who treat claimants with new episodes of work-related low back pain (LBP). They followed 894 patients over 1-year, using workers’ compensation claims data.

By controlling for demographics and severity, they determined the hazard ratio (HR) for disability recurrence between 3 types of providers:

Physical Therapists (PT), Physicians (MD), and Chiropractors (DC).

The results are quite interesting:

For PTs: HR = 2.0

For MDs: HR = 1.6

For DCs: HR = 1.0

Statistically, this means you are twice as likely to end up disabled if you got your care from a PT, rather than from a DC.

You’re also 60% more likely to be disabled if you choose an MD to manage your care, rather than a DC.

The authors concluded: “In work-related nonspecific LBP, the use of health maintenance care provided by physical therapist or physician services was associated with a higher disability recurrence than with chiropractic services or no treatment.”

Health Maintenance Care in Work-Related Low Back Pain and Its Association With Disability Recurrence. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine 2011 (Mar 14)

Migraine Headaches, Topamax and Birth Defects

2011-03-15T14:35:00.000-07:00

This is startling news......

I know all too many women In Knightdale, Raleigh and around the Country who suffer with Migraine Headaches. In seeking care, for most people, their first logical step is to visit their Medical Doctors. After having an MRI or CT scan ordered to rule out tumor (most of the time is normal), the next step is medication.

Topamax is usually one of the front line drugs used to treat this condition. As it turns out Topamax (which is an anti-convulsant medication) is now linked with Birth Defects.(click here)

If you or someone you know is suffering with headaches or migraines, try wellness chiropractic first. Only use medication as a last resort.

Wellness Chiropractic addresses lifestyle stress as well as removing interference from your nervous system.

Why Doctors hate chiropractors?

2010-05-27T07:32:00.000-07:00

An interesting take on the disconnect between your chiropractic care and your medical doctor's understanding. It seems that it boils down to 3 issues that perhaps you medical doctor doesn't know of yet. From Robert A. Hayden, DC, PhD

1) Chiropractic is safe. Malpractice premiums are about 1/10th of that for a medical doctor. Concerns over cervical(neck) adjustments are common, but a Canadian Study showed it would take about 9 times more force than a typical adjustment to cause damage to arteries in the neck. You get more forces in you neck when turning your head backing up in a car.

2) Effectiveness- not only does Medicare recognize and cover chiropractic, studies show that for musculoskeletal (back and neck conditions), chiropractic care is better then medical care.

3) Cost- For the cost of an MRI, which doesn't improve your condition, many times you can get months of chiropractic care. Compared to the medical model, seeing your chiropractor would save you lots of money.

Ultimately, Chiropractic care works well, by itself, outside of drugs, surgery, and hospitalization.

What type of health care you choose, is up to you to decide. If you don't like the drug route, look into Wellness Chiropractic. Check out our website for more info on how chiropractic helps your body to heal and function better.

www.CamelotChiropractic.com
Jason Kucma D.C.

Winter Wonderland

2010-02-28T20:40:00.001-08:00

If you did not get to see it, Lisa made the News and Observer on the first snow day of the year. We were going ice skating in downtown Raleigh. It was a great night and the photographer was late for the presses as he said after taking the shot but before running away. Our kids loved the night!!

http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/01/29/311259.html

http://www.camelotchiropractic.com/

Cold Medicine and Kids

2008-10-15T05:50:00.000-07:00

Finally, some MD's got it right (this time). If you have kids and pay attention to the news you probably heard that pediatricians have been fighting against over-the-counter (OTC) cold medicine for kids and the drug companies that make them.

It was long thought that since OTC cold meds really don't help but probably don't hurt kids that it's OK to "market" these drugs to kids and parents for cold symptoms. Recent research revealed that thousands of kids goto the ER every year due to the side effects from cold meds. One of these side effects is death.

Because of this research, and the pediatricians battle, drug makers admit that those drugs should not be taken by kids under 4 years and probably under 6 years. In fact, most medications have not been thoroughly studied for use in kids and the possible side effects. Which means question any medication/injection that if recommended to your kids.

So what to do then? Was hands, feed veggies to boost immune function, avoid sugar, food coloring and preservatives, and let your child's body do the healing. Do some research about honey for cough suppression.
Ask your chiropractor about other options to enhance the healing process.

Dr. J

Miserable Migraine Headaches

2008-10-07T12:33:00.000-07:00

It has been 15-20 years since my wife suffered with terrible headaches. The kind she describes as, go-in-the-closet-with-a-blanket-over-your-head and try to fall asleep headaches. I can't personally relate but to think of her suffering like makes me uneasy. Her story goes like this... she found her way into a chiropractor's office who was able to fix the problems in her neck which stopped the headaches. Seems too simple? It's not.

Now when I watch the tube and see commercials for Imitrex, Maxalt, or even Tylenol-headache, or when my patients come to me thinking that they have tried everything to help with their headaches and we start to talk I am always perturbed. And excited for patients in my office.

For those of you who have never had bad headaches, imagine having the worst hang over ever, 4 times per week... that becomes your life.

A typical story in my office goes like this. "Doc I have been diagnosed with migraines and have been suffering for years. I've had MRI's and CT's which were clear. We've tried everything." This person then tells me one of two things. "Now I just deal with them"(how horrible) or "the meds make me feel so bad when I'm on them I just want off of the drugs" (Go drugs!!)

Don't get me wrong there are ~300 types of headaches so we are generalizing but get into see a chiropractor. The majority of headache sufferers can benefit from chiropractic or from a chiropractic lifestyle. Pray tell, what is a chiropractic lifestyle? Come and ask us!!
In a Nutshell. Spinal misalignments cause irritation on nerves. Nerve irritation causes health problems. There are physical, chemical, and stress causes of spinal misaligments. Chiropractors get you checked. Check us out.
Dr J-Out.