Current Health News You Can Use

Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients, June, 2001 by Joseph M. Mercola

Abstracted from lecture by Dr. Erdem Cantekin, PhD Professor of Otolaryngology at the University of Pittsburgh at the Second International Vaccine Information Center Conference September 9, 2000; Washington DC.

COMMENT: Dr Cantekin is a great and courageous researcher who exposed problems with research years ago done on antibiotics and ear infections. He paid dearly for his high ethics, as his academic and research career was devastated. Just like the hepatitis B vaccine, it makes absolutely no sense to let anyone administer this vaccine to children. Unless, of course that person is a stockholder of the drug company that will benefit from its sales. Concerned parents are encouraged to use the facts in this article as support in their decision to choose not to vaccinate their child with Prevnar.

Do You Have Low Back Pain? Forget the X-rays

Getting an X-ray to uncover the source of lower back pain does not reduce suffering. In fact, in a new study, patients who had an X-ray, or radiography, reported more pain 3 months later than those who did not have an X-ray. There is no evidence that having radiography helps doctors to care for people with simple back pain. There is even evidence that the very act of having an X-ray can, perhaps by appearing to increase the perception of severity, delay recovery. Low back pain is a common medical problem, and doctors often X-ray the lower spine to diagnose the cause of the pain. In most cases, however, X-ray results do little to change the treatment of back pain. Most of the time, X-rays are performed to reassure patients or doctors. Interestingly, even though X-rays did not appear to help relieve back pain, more than 80% of patients in both groups said they would choose to have an X-ray if they could. By 9 months, most of the differences between the groups diminished, although having an X-ray still did not a ppear to provide any benefits, the report indicates. The findings highlight the need to let people know that X-rays are of little use to most people with low back pain.

British Medical Journal February 17, 2001;322:400-405

COMMENT: Low back pain is one of the most mismanaged problems in conventional health care. The use of X-rays is one of the classic examples of the misuse of medical resources. Does this mean X-rays should never be done? Of course not. In cases of trauma, like a motor vehicle accident, or spreading cancers, X-rays are very important to find out what the cause is. However, routine common run-of-the-mill, low back pain does not need X-rays. Generally chiropractors do a far better job of taking care of this problem, but many also find the need to take X-rays.

Wheat Can Cause Severe Headaches

According to the results of a small new study, some people may experience migraine headaches due to an otherwise harmless culprit: wheat. The investigators found that limiting gluten -- a protein found in wheat, oats, barley, rye and spelt. Reduced symptoms of severe headache in seven out of nine patients. Gluten sensitivity can include celiac disease, an inherited inability to digest gluten that results in abdominal distention, vomiting, diarrhea, muscle wasting and lethargy. Other conditions can also develop, including neurological problems or dermatitis herpetiformis -- blister-like lesions on the elbows, buttocks and knees. The only treatment is strict avoidance of gluten. The study showed that these patients had a sensitivity to gluten, and magnetic resonance imaging scans suggested they had inflammation in the central nervous system. Nine of the ten patients tried a gluten-free diet, and seven stopped having headaches. Two other patients had some -- but not complete -- success by switching to a gluten-f ree diet. One patient did not follow the diet.