"Side Effects"?

Ever since pharmaceutical companies began marketing directly to consumers in 1997, the public has been buried under an unprecedented avalanche of marketing. While the onslaught of television commercials has been a windfall for late night comedians, most doctors agree that it has caused problems within the health care system of this country. Much has already been written about the problems with patients "shopping around" to get a desired prescription, unqualified diagnosing and glamorizing certain medications, but those are discussions for another time. Here we are going to talk about the concept of side effects.

We have become all too familiar with 30 second TV ads where the last 10 seconds are filled with "side effects may include..." These effects include everything from itchy eyes to insomnia to incontinence, and on and on. Some medications, particularly anti-depressants, can even cause an exacerbation of the condition they are intended to treat. They are listed as "side effects," which is a misnomer. There are no such thing as "side effects", just effects, albeit unintended and adverse ones.

Why is it important to make the distinction in terminology? The phrase "side effects" allows our minds to more easily disregard these effects as being important. Many times on the these "side effects" is death! Death is not inconsequential.

New Era Chiropractic recognizes that medications can be very beneficial and supports the medical community in the quest to improve patients' quality of life. However, we also encourage our patients to carefully weigh both the positive and negative effects (even minor ones) of any drug. The benefits must outweigh the risks.

No honest discussion about "side effects" would be complete without mentioning the unintended effects, both positive and negative, of getting an adjustment. The negative effects, while rare, are usually limited to mild muscle soreness when adjusting through a spasmed muscle. Fortunately, the unintended effects are almost always positive. Patients often report relief from allergies, sleeping better, improved digestion, and clearer vision. Regularly, patients report improvement from conditions they had overlooked as "normal" or with conditions they had no idea a chiropractor could help. The reason this works is chiropractors help the nervous system perform at its maximum potential. The nervous system controls everything that goes on within the body. Therefore, when the nervous system in working correctly, the whole body functions at a higher level.