Bleech vs Rx, U Thirsty?
Posted on 2011-09-27 08:07:25
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/749820
September 16, 2011 — Pharmaceutical poisoning of children is on the rise, and the most serious consequences result from self-ingestion of opioids, sedative-hypnotics, and cardiovascular drugs, according to a study published online September 16 in the Journal of Pediatrics.
Annually, more than 500,000 children younger than 5 years accidentally ingest pharmaceuticals, and more than 50,000 come to an emergency department (ED). The annual number of calls to poison centers about children ingesting drugs dropped between 1990 and 2000, but rose between 2001 and 2008.
G.Randall Bond, MD, from the Division of Emergency Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, and the Drug and Poison Information Center, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, University of Cincinnati, Ohio, and colleagues, set out to determine which medications and circumstances cause the most serious consequences, as measured by ED visits, hospitalization, and harm. They reviewed records from the National Poison Data System of the American Association of Poison Control Centers between 2001 and 2008, focusing on records for children aged 5 years and younger who were seen in a healthcare facility for potential pharmaceutical poisoning.
They classified the pharmaceuticals involved as over-the-counter or prescription, and by the drug's therapeutic category. Each event was tallied as self-ingestion or the result of a therapeutic error. For each category, the researchers totaled emergency visits, admissions, and significant injuries.
During the 8-year length of the study, 544,133 children aged 5 years or younger received care at an ED for documented overexposure to a pharmaceutical. Of these children, the researchers focused on 453,559 who were known to have been exposed to a single agent. Of these patients, 95% were classified as being examined for self-ingestion, 55% of the visits involved prescription drugs, and self-exposure to prescription drugs was responsible for 76% of hospital admissions and 71% of significant injuries.
The highest admission rate was seen for oral hypoglycemic agents (49%), as well as the highest injury rate (20%). High rates of total visits and significant increases in admission rate or injury rate were seen with prescription opioid analgesics (self-ingestion, 7% of visits overall; 86% increase in admission rate between 2001 and 2008 [P < .05]; 92% increase in injury rate [P < .05]), sedative-hypnotics (self-ingestion, 8% of total visits; no significant change in admission rate between 2001 and 2008; 14% increase in injury rate [P < .05]), and cardiovascular drugs (self-ingestion, 9% of visits overall; also no significant change in admission rate; 33% increase in injury rate between 2001 and 2008 [P < .05]).
A trend analysis showed increases during the study period for injury (43%), admission (36%), ED use (28% for single agents and 30% overall), and exposures (22%). All of these increases were significantly greater than the population increase in children aged 5 years or younger in the United States during the same time (8%; P < .05 for all).
The findings suggest that safety measures for children are not adequate, the authors conclude. "It's not so much the drugs as bad habits and the packaging the drugs come in," agrees Dennis Bryan, RPh, a pharmacist who has worked in institutional and community settings for 30 years, and is past president of the Illinois Pharmacist Association. Mr. Bryan told Medscape Medical News, when asked for independent comment, "We haven't changed the safety bottles since they first came out 20 years ago. Children have gotten smarter since then. If they can work an iPad or an iPhone, you wonder how much a safety bottle [will discourage them]."
Parents also need to do a better job of keeping drugs out of the hands of children. "I just call it location, location, location. Find a spot where you can store medications and keep them there. Maybe physicians can try to educate a patient who they know has kids at home. They can say, 'there are a lot of problems with this medication. Be a little astute about what you do with it,' " said Mr. Bryan.
The authors and Mr. Bryan have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.
J Pediatrics. Published online September 16, 2011.
http://www.jpeds.com/article/S0022-3476%2811%2900771-2/fulltext
Crash into the Bottle
Posted on 2011-09-27 08:05:18
Drugs exceeded motor vehicle accidents as a cause of death in 2009, killing at least 37,485 people nationwide, according to preliminary data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
While most major causes of preventable death are declining, drugs are an exception. The death toll has doubled in the last decade, now claiming a life every 14 minutes. By contrast, traffic accidents have been dropping for decades because of huge investments in auto safety.
Public health experts have used the comparison to draw attention to the nation's growing prescription drug problem, which they characterize as an epidemic. This is the first time that drugs have accounted for more fatalities than traffic accidents since the government started tracking drug-induced deaths in 1979.
Fueling the surge in deaths are prescription pain and anxiety drugs that are potent, highly addictive and especially dangerous when combined with one another or with other drugs or alcohol. Among the most commonly abused are OxyContin, Vicodin, Xanax and Soma. One relative newcomer to the scene is Fentanyl, a painkiller that comes in the form of patches and lollipops and is 100 times more powerful than morphine.
Such drugs now cause more deaths than heroin and cocaine combined.
"The problem is right here under our noses in our medicine cabinets," said Laz Salinas, a sheriff's commander in Santa Barbara, which has seen a dramatic rise in prescription drug deaths in recent years.
Overdose victims range in age and circumstance from teenagers who pop pills to get a heroin-like high to middle-aged working men and women who take medications prescribed for strained backs and bum knees and become addicted.
A review of hundreds of autopsy reports in Southern California reveals one tragic demise after another: A 19-year-old Army recruit, who had just passed his military physical, took a handful of Xanax and painkillers while partying with friends. A groom, anxious over his upcoming wedding, overdosed on a cocktail of prescription drugs. A teenage honors student overdosed on painkillers her father left in his medicine cabinet from a surgery years earlier. A toddler was orphaned after both parents overdosed on prescription drugs months apart. A grandmother suffering from chronic back pain apparently forgot she'd already taken her daily regimen of pills and ended up double dosing.
Many died after failed attempts at rehab — or after using one too many times while contemplating quitting. That's apparently what happened to a San Diego woman found dead with a Fentanyl patch on her body, one of five she'd applied in the 24 hours before her death. Next to her on the couch was a notebook with information about rehab.
The seeds of the problem were planted more than a decade ago by well-meaning efforts by doctors to mitigate suffering, as well as aggressive sales campaigns by pharmaceutical manufacturers. In hindsight, the liberalized prescription of pain drugs "may in fact be the cause of the epidemic we're now facing," said Linda Rosenstock, dean of the UCLA School of Public Health.
In some ways, prescription drugs are more dangerous than illicit ones because users don't have their guard up, said Los Angeles County Sheriff's Sgt. Steve Opferman, head of a county task force on prescription drug-related crimes. "People feel they are safer with prescription drugs because you get them from a pharmacy and they are prescribed by a doctor," Opferman said. "Younger people believe they are safer because they see their parents taking them. It doesn't have the same stigma as using street narcotics."
Lori Smith said she believes that's what her son might have been thinking the night he died six months shy of his 16th birthday. Nolan Smith, of Aliso Viejo, loved to surf, sail and fish with his brother and father. He suffered from migraines and anxiety but showed no signs of drug abuse, his mother said.
The night before he died in January 2009, Nolan called his mother at work, asking for a ride to the girls basketball game at Aliso Niguel High School. Lori told him she couldn't get away.
When Nolan didn't come home that evening, his parents called police and his friends. His body was found the next morning on a stranger's front porch.
A toxicology test turned up Zoloft, which had been prescribed for anxiety, and a host of other drugs that had not been prescribed, including two additional anti-anxiety drugs, as well as morphine and marijuana.
All investigators could give the family were theories.
"They said they will have parties where the kids will throw a bunch of pills in a bowl and the kids take them without knowing what they are," Lori said. "We called all of his friends, but no one would say they were with him. But he must have been with someone. You just don't do that by yourself."
Why I am a Doctor of Chiropractic
Posted on 2011-06-22 13:16:29
Why I am a Doctor of Chiropractic
Because I honor the inborn potential of everyone to be truly healthy. Because I desire to help the newborn, the aged, and those without hope. Because I choose to care for the person with the disease, not the disease. Because I wish to assist rather than intrude; to free rather than control. Because I seek to correct the cause, not its effect. Because I know doctors do not heal, only the body can heal itself. Because I have been called to serve others. Because I want to make a difference. Because everyday I get to witness miracles.
Have a great week, and thank you for making an investment in yourself and in your health.
Your personal wealth
Posted on 2011-03-09 11:57:27
Your health is your GREATEST asset, period. This is why our office is first and foremost an educational center, and secondly, a healing center. I write this email each week with the hope and prayer that you will become intrigued, motivated, and educated to the point that you will take massive action steps to create a healthier lifestyle.
Remember, your health has nothing to do with bad germs, bad genes, or bad luck.
By the time a health problem arises, or a test comes back positive, cells have been sick and decaying in your body for years, if not decades. Just because you did not know about it does not mean you will not eventually reap the consequence of your food choices, exercise regimen, and stress levels.
Here is the great news: you can change it all today. The largest study ever completed on Chiropractic care was done at UCLA and had an interesting outcome. What was found was not that people had less back or neck pain when they were well adjusted. What we saw is that people under regular Chiropractic care started making healthier decisions. They made lifestyle changes when under Chiropractic care. People stopped smoking, started exercising, changed jobs to create a healthier work environment, and made dietary changes at a far greater level than the test groups not under Chiropractic care.
Kids need Chiropractic Too
Posted on 2011-02-27 19:04:52
I find that there is often a disconnect when I talk about how important it is that your children are well adjusted. I can think of no more important group than our children that need proper nerve supply. The truth is, most people give us a funny look when we share how important it is that children are well adjusted.
Your children's brains and bodies are developing at an amazing rate on a daily basis. Experts estimate that the average child falls close to 2000 times by the time they are 3 years old. All it takes is one tiny shift in the spine to block that precious nerve supply. This blockage can have detrimental effects to a child's health, developement, and well being. Regular adjustments ensure that nerve supply is REPLENISHED to your child's developing body each day.
I love you, and I thank you for reading this blog, but the truth is, I hope to use you to get your children under regular Chiropractic care. I believe that they deserve it and our future depends on it!
Kids Need Chiropractic Too!
Click here to learn more about our pediatric offer!
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