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Opioid Addiction – Pick a Door

chirotor July 14, 2021 Comments Off on Opioid Addiction – Pick a Door

According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC):

  • 47,000 people died from Opioid use in 2014.  That’s over 5 people dying every hour in the U.S.  This compares to 32,000 dying in car crashes over the same period.
  • 1.9 million people abused or were addicted to opioids in 2013.
  • 1 out of every 32 patients who are given the highest doses of opioids will be dead within 2-1/2 years.
  • 11.2% of the adult American population is in chronic pain.
  • Then CDC director, Thomas Frieden, M.D. said, “The prescription overdose epidemic is doctor-driven.”

The CDC now supports my career-long message, that when it comes to pain management,  drugs (especially opioids) need to be the last resort, not the first.  Examples of opioid pain medications are OxyContin, Percocet, Vicodin, Percodan, Demerol, morphine, methadone, hydrocodone, oxycodone, and last but not least, heroin.   

You see, when your medical doctor goes to work in the morning and opens his toolbox he extracts two things, a prescription pad and a scalpel.  His primary tools are drugs and surgery.  The CDC is now telling medical doctors that they are killing people by employing the only tools that they have to do their job.  That hardly seems fair.  They go on to tell their members that they need to add new tools to their toolbox, such as exercise counseling, talk therapy, and the acceptance that sometimes being in pain is better than the risk of the drugs they have access to.  It is a great quandary for my cousins in their white coats as they try to adapt to this new world where DRUGS ARE SIMPLY NOT THE ANSWER.  And on those occasions where they might be the only answer, they are still not a particularly good answer. 

Enter Chiropractic.  Many of you have told me of friends or family members of yours that “don’t believe in chiropractic.”  I’m not really sure what belief has to do with science, but let’s look at this from another direction.  Let’s say you have severe chronic back or neck pain and you are standing in a waiting room with 3 doors to choose from.  The first door leads to a chiropractor who you “don’t believe in”, who is dispensing chiropractic adjustments and life-style suggestions.  On this door is a sign that reads SCIENTIFICALLY VALIDATED, 90+% POSITIVE RESULTS, VERY LOW RISK.  The second door leads to a medical doctor who you “do believe in” who is dispensing opioid pain killers.    On the door is a sign that reads SCIENTIFICALLY VALIDATED, 47,000 DEAD PER YEAR, 1 IN 32 CHANCE OF BEING DEAD IN 2-1/2 YEARS.  The third door is the exit to just live with it.   

Pick a door.