SOUTH SHORE FAMILY CHIROPRACTIC
Monthly News - May 2008

"Does Mother Know Best?"
I, like many of you, have occasionally done battle with sickness.  Of course no one likes to be sick, but I understand the cause and effect of the health dynamic and accept the fact that if I do not take good care of myself on an ongoing basis, I run an increased chance of "coming down with something."  The reality of the situation is that other people do not "give" you a cold of the flu; you willingly accept it when you allow your resistance to become lowered. 

Health is not something you achieve; it is dynamic like life itself.  Your level of health goes up and down every day, and maybe every hour, without your ever being aware of it.  As someone once said, health is a journey not a destination.  Be that as it may, I have on occasion found myself demonstrating some of the most unpleasant symptoms.  So I thought I would take a moment and share a few thoughts with you. 

First, drugs (what most people refer to as medicine because it seems to sound better) do not make you better.  NyQuil, Advil Cold and Sinus, Thera-Flu, Tylenol, Alka-Seltzer, and all that other stuff well intentioned mothers used to persuade down our throats may change the way you feel but do not make you better. Reducing a fever decreases your body's natural ability to kill bacteria.  In fact, feeling better may make you more likely to get back to your busy, stress-filled life when what your body really needs is rest.  Only your body can heal and indeed it does heal everything. 

What is more important than the fact that drugs do not make you better is the fact that they are dangerous.  Up to 11% of all hospital admissions are the result of "drug induced sufferings", and more than 25% of patients in the U.S. have adverse reactions to drugs that they are given while they are in the hospital. 

In fact, far more people die each year from the adverse reactions to prescriptions and over-the-counter medications than succumb to illegal drug use.  For me the benefits do not outweigh the risks so why take them?  Instead I do things to increase my body's ability to be well and to heal. 

I exercise regularly, eat right, get plenty of sleep, think positively, and especially have my spine checked often for nerve interference.  All of this will allow my body to function properly, thus better adapting me to all environmental stresses.

-Dr. Bill