Shingles Facts and Shenanigans, Part 2 of 2

In part one of my shingles discussion, I describe my concern about drug companies marketing a vaccination for shingles. It’s up to you to decide if you should be super concerned about shingles. I am not. It’s painful, but usually resolves on its own in several weeks. My greater concern is that people who have been vaccinated might be unknowingly spreading shingles to their friends and co-workers. If that...

Norco and Mrs. Jones

Lately, more of my nice patients, like Mrs. Jones*, come in and tell me they got prescribed Norco by their M.D.’s. Mrs. Jones has it in her handbag right now. She’s going to take a dose later on at the office. She might share one with a coworker who looks like she needs it. Mrs. Jones doesn’t know what she’s getting involved with, and I am mad at her...

Sharon Martinez, Chiropractor vs. Prilosec for Stomach Pain

$13,900,000,000.00. That’s 13.9 billion dollars spent in the U.S. on prescriptions for proton pump inhibitors, or PPI’s, yearly, according to a 2010 Archives of Internal Medicine report. Drugs like Prilosec give temporary relief from heartburn, indigestion, or, if you like medical terminology, “gastro-esophageal reflux disorder.” People in the U.S. are the top consumers of prescription drugs, using 40.6% of the global market supply of these drugs. In comparison, Canadians...

Why There’s no Magazines in my Waiting Room

God Bless those of you who cheerfully thumb through my copy of Heinerman’s Encyclopedia of Nuts, Seeds and Berries when you come in for chiropractic care.  You may have noticed that I do not allow magazines like Ladies’ Home Journal into my office.  This is true in spite of the fact that magazine companies send me lots of freebies, hoping I will set them out. I have the Ladies’...