Being Thankful for Your Holiday Blessings!

In these times of a down economy, job losses and more, it is hard to realize how fortunate we really are. As we approach Thanksgiving and the holidays, it is a time that most people take to reflect on things we can be thankful for. I know for myself I have a lot to be thankful for, first off Lord Jesus Christ because through him all things are possible, a beautiful wife, a supportive and understanding family, awesome patients, a great coach, thanks Brad!, the town of Castle Rock and the communities I am associated with on a regular basis, just to name a few.

This holiday season I challenge everyone to not only be thankful for those types of things, but also be thankful and appreciative for their surroundings. If your holidays are anything like mine, they can become very hectic! Take some time this season and appreciate things that you haven’t thought about since you were younger. Appreciate the beautiful colors associated with the sunset, the calm of a sunrise, the children playing without a care in their mind and the wonderful imaginations that they have! Appreciate the grocery bagger, he is there to help you get your things home to cook Thanksgiving dinner, even though you may not like the way he dresses or acts, appreciate the fact he is willing to be his own person, it takes all kinds to make this planet work.

This holiday season, take time to realize how great a life you really have. No matter what your position is, there is always someone that is less fortunate than you are. This holiday season take time to help those people that are less fortunate than you are, help the elderly with their groceries, visit the assisted living centers, help out serving food in the shelters, we all need each other to make society work, so do your part!

Here at Back 2 Health Chiropractic we are doing a food drive for the Douglas – Elbert Task Force, feel free to drop food items off here at the office. Also here at Back 2 Health Chiropractic we are participating in Toys for Tots, collecting toys for the kids of Douglas County so that they can have a Christmas, please drop unopened toys by the office for them!

Have a great holiday season, Dr. Matt

What you must know about the H1N1 virus

By now everyone knows all about Swine Flu or H1N1, probably to the point, that you change the channel when ever the media starts talking about it! For this blog I am going to use the research that is available to help you weed through the hype and scare tactics that the media and government are using to try and convince you to get the H1N1 vaccine!

Before we start I want you know that I am very anti-vaccine, I would, however, never tell a patient of mine that they should or should not get one. What I will tell my patients is that they should be as educated as possible about the pros and the cons, so that they can intelligently make a choice and be able to live with the consequences of their choices. That being said, this blog is as unbiased as I could be and is solely based off of documented, peer reviewed data.

The unfortunate thing about any disease is that it causes death, there is no way around it and every disease, no matter what it is, has a death toll. Please keep that in mind as you read through the remainder of this blog. The CDC stats show that 36,000 people die every year from the flu, as of the end of October there have been 900. Both the CDC and WHO data show that deaths from H1N1 are less this year than any flu outbreak in past years.

If you remember at the beginning of the H1N1 outbreak, the government officials released that they estimated that the H1N1 would cause huge amounts of death and that there would not be enough hospital beds around to fit everyone that needs in the ICU. So let’s see what research tells us.

Initial research on H1N1 shows that it is no more pathogenic than the regular seasonal flu, and it has a very low communicability rate. CDC research shows that if someone in the same household gets infected with H1N1 your possibility of also getting infected is 10%.

Most of the research about the upcoming flu season comes from Australia and New Zealand, since they have their winters opposite of ours. Australia and New Zealand had an outbreak of H1N1 this winter as well, so looking at the stats from those countries should give us a pretty good idea of what is going to happen here in the United States. Australia and New Zealand have a population of 25 million people. Of those 25 million, 722 were admitted to ICU with H1N1. The age group 25- 49 had the most admitted, and by percentage of age group, children under the age of one years old had the highest admission and mortality rate.

In the United States thus far, there have been 13,217 cases of H1N1, 1082 of which have been hospitalized. Of those hospitalized 60% of the children had underlying medical conditions and 83% of the adults had underlying medical conditions, that means that only 292 healthy adults have been admitted to the hospital.

I know children have been a big focus in the vaccination campaign. Research has shown that children under the age of two receive no benefit from the seasonal flu vaccine. 75% of children under the age of 35 months receive no benefit from the H1N1 vaccine and 65% between the age of 3 and 9 receive no protection from the H1N1 vaccine.

Obesity seems to be one of the biggest contributors to the risk of H1N1. Obese people are 6 times more likely to die from or be placed in ICU because of the H1N1 flu. In all of the research done so far 30% of the children placed in ICU or died from the H1N1 were obese or morbidly obese. Also contributing to the H1N1 infection rate in children are the other vaccines they receive during this time frame. Three vaccines that are very common for children to receive before the age of one and that contribute to decreased immunity are Flu, MMR and Hib. It is well documented and known that the flu vaccine is one of the few vaccines left that contain mercury. It is also known that mercury decreases a child’s immunity. So if you choose to give both the seasonal flu vaccine and the H1N1 vaccine at the same time, you are asking for trouble. First you lower the child’s immune system with the mercury then add a live virus in the H1N1; of course the child is going to get sick. It is also known that the MMR decreases immunity for 2 to 5 weeks and the Hib vaccine decreases immunity for at least one week. This is pretty strong evidence to draw a correlation between these vaccines and the high rate of infection and mortality in children.

All that being said, prevention is still the best answer. Get plenty of sleep, exercise, eat well and drink plenty of water. Also take vitamin D, which research shows helps fight flu, vitamin A, vitamin C and Vitamin E. Of course get adjusted! Chiropractic helps relieve the tension on the nervous system so that you body can function better. Remember Louis Pasteur, the father of the germ theory, stated “The microbe is nothing, the terrain is everything”.

1. CDC, Novel influenza A (H1N1) virus infections in three pregnant women -- United States, April -- May, 2009. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep May 15, 2009; 58: (18): 497-500.
2. Maines TR et al. Transmission and pathogenesis of swine-origin 2009 A(H1N1) influenza viruses in ferrets and mice. Science 2009;325: 484-487.
3. CDC report: http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/surveillance.htm.
4. Strauss JH, Strauss EG, Viruses and Human Disease. Academic Press, San Diego, 2002, p153.
5. Jain S, et al. Hospitalized patients with 2009 H1N1 influenza in the United States, April-June 2009. NEJM 2009;361 Oct 8, 2009 (10.1056/NEJM oa0906695).
6. The ANZIC influenza investigators. Critical care services and 2009 H1N1 influenza in Australia and New Zealand. NEJM, 2009; 361: Oct 8, 2009 (10.56/NEJMoa0908481).
7. The Cochrane Collaboration: Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2006 (1). Article number CD004879. In this review that analyzed 51 studies involving more than 260,000 children and found that below age 2 years, the seasonal flu vaccine offered no protection and those older than 2 years, only 33 to 36% had protective antibody response. (See Neil Z. Miller. The Vaccine Safety Manuel for more information).
8. NIH News: http://www3.niaid.nih.gov/news/newsreleases/2009/H1N1pedvax.htm.
9. CDC: 2009-2010 Influenza Season Week 41 ending October 17, 2009. http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/
10. Neil Z. Miller. The Vaccine Safety Manual. New Atlantan Press, Santa Fe, 2008, p97. This material also comes from the CDC.
11. MMWR. Influenza Vaccination Coverage Among Children and Adults -- -United States, 2008 -- 09 Influenza Season. Oct 9, 2009/58 (39); 1091-1095.
12. Nanan R, et al. Measles virus infection causes transient depletion of activated T cells from peripheral circulation. J. Clinical Virology 1999; 12; 201-210.
13. Schneider-Schaulies J et al. Receptor interactions, tropism, and mechanisms involved in morbillivirus induced immunomodulation. Advances Virus Research 2008; 71: 173-205.
14. Mawas F et al. Suppression and modulation of cellular and humoral immune responses to Heaemophilus influenzae type B (HiB) conjugate vaccine in hib-diptheria-tetanus toxoids-acellular pertussis combination vaccines: a study in a rat model. J Infectious Diseases 2005; 191: 58-64.
15. Pollard KM, et al. Effects of mercury on the immune system. Metals and Ions in Biological Systems 1997; 34: 421-440.
16. Blaylock RL and Strunecka A. Immune-glutamatergic dysfunction as a central mechanism of the autism spectrum disorders. Current Medicinal Chemistry 2009; 16: 157-170.
17. Bronze MS. H1N1 Influenza (Swine Flu). http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1673658-print.
18. Robbins CS et al. Cigarette smoking impacts immune inflammatory responses to influenza in mice. American J Respiratory Critical Care Medicine 2006; 174; 1342-1351.
19. Robbins CS et al. Cigarette smoke decreases pulmonary dendritic cells and impacts antiviral immune responsiveness. American J Respiratory Cellular Molecular Biology 2004;30: 201-211.
20. Arcavi L et al. Cigarette smoking and infection. Archives of Internal Medicine 2004; 164: 2206-2216.
21. Nouri-Shirazi M and Guinet E. Evidence for the immunosuppressive role of nicotine on human dendritic cell functions. Immunology
22. Unkiewicz-Winiarcyk A et al. Calcium, magnesium, iron, zinc and copper concentration in the hair of tobacco smokers. Biology Trace Element Research 2009; 128: 152-160.
23. Bloch H et al. Intravenous magnesium sulfate as an adjunct in the treatment of acute asthma. Chest 1995; 107: 1576-1581.
24. Bhatt SP et al. Serum magnesium is an independent predictor of frequent readmissions due to acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Respiratory Medicine 2008; 102: 999-1003.
25. MMWR (CDC): September 29, issue
26. FDA http://www.fda.gov/downloads/BiologicsBloodVaccines/Vaccines/ApprovedProducts/UCM111285.pdf.
27. Smith SEP et al. Maternal immune activation alters fetal brain development through interleukin-6. Journal of Neuroscience 2007; 27: 10695-10702.
28. Galic MA et al. Postnatal inflammation increases seizure susceptibility in adults rats. Journal of Neuroscience 2008; 28: 6904-6913.
29. Buka SL et al. Maternal cytokine levels during pregnancy and adult psychosis. Brain Behavior and Immunity 2001; 15: 411-420.
30. Ozawa K et al. Immune activation during pregnancy in mice leads to dopaminergic hyperfunction and cognitive impairment in the offspring: a neurodevelopmental animal model of schizophrenia. Biological Psychiatry 2006; 59: 546-554.
31. Meyer U et al. Immunological stress at the maternal-foetal interface: a link between neurodevelopment and adult psychopathology. Brain Behavior and Immunology 2006;; 20: 378-388.
32. Blaylock RL. The danger of excessive vaccination during brain development: the case for a link to autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Medical Veritas 2008; 5: 1727-1741.
33. Hewitson L et al. Delayed acquisition of neonatal reflexes in newborn primates receiving a thimerosal-containing hepatitis B vaccine: Influence of gestational age and birth weight. Neurotoxicology 2009; (epub ahead of print)
34. Attkisson S. Swine Flu Cases Overestimated? CBS news exclusive: Study of state results finds H1N1 not as prevalent as feared. Oct, 21, 2009. CBS News: htpp://cbsnews.com/stories/2009/10/21/cbsnews_investigat..
35. CDC: 2009-2010 Influenza Season Week 41 ending October 17, 2009. http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/
36. Hernan MA et al. Recombinant hepatitis B vaccine and the risk of multiple sclerosis: a prospective study. Neurology 2004; 63: 838-842.
37. Gherardi RK et al. Macrophagic myofascitis lesions assess long-term persistence of vaccine-derived aluminum hydroxide in muscle. Brain 2001; 124: 1821-1831.
38. Couette M et al. Long-term persistence of vaccine-derived aluminum hydroxide is associated with chronic cognitive dysfunction. J Inorg Biochemistry 2009; 103; 1571-1578.
39. Greenberg ME at al. Response after one dose of a monovalent influenza A (H1N1) vaccine-preliminary report. NEJM 2009:361: article number 10.1056/NEJMoa0907413
40. http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/11/03/What-We-Have-Learned-About-the-Great-Swine-Flu-Pandemic.aspx
41. Crain, Darrel. Swine Flu. Pathways to Family Wellness, issue 23, pages 53-55.

Chiropractic and Pregnant Mothers

Pregnancy is an amazing and rewarding experience for mothers. Unfortunately the body does go through many physical changes that may lead to discomfort. As many of us know, all diseases in the body, subluxations are no different, come from three main categories of stress: Physical, Biochemical and Emotional. Each of these three categories plays into the pregnancy process, of which chiropractic care may help with.

The first trimester provides fluctuating hormones; this biochemical stress to the body is the reason women experience bloating, morning sickness, headaches amongst other symptoms. Add in the emotional stress of having a life changing event and you have a ticking time bomb of symptoms and medication is not recommended at this time in your pregnancy! Fortunately, research has shown that chiropractic is an effective method for alleviating some of these symptoms!

The second trimester has the greatest portion of weight gain for the mother. This increase weight gain shifts the mother’s center of gravity, placing more strain and pressure into the mother’s lower and upper back. Research reveals that up to 69% of pregnant moms experience low back pain!

In the third trimester, not only do we have the continued stress of increased weight, but hormones have come back into play! The combination puts extra stress onto the sacroiliac joints which can produce pain and shooting pain down the legs. This extra stress may also tighten the round ligaments which then reduces the space in the uterus. This decreased space in the uterus takes away space from the baby which in turn, doesn’t allow the baby to move as needed, this may cause the baby to remain in a breech position. As stated earlier, chiropractic can help with the back pain, and more importantly, chiropractors that use Webster Technique can help alleviate the tight round ligaments, thus by allowing the baby to get in proper position for birth. Research shows that there is an 82% success rate of babies turning when using the Webster Technique!

Dr. Matthew Swager DC, CCSP, FICPA, CSCS is the only Pediatric Certified, Pregnant Mother Certified, Webster Technique Certified chiropractor in Castle Rock, CO and one a few in the whole state of Colorado! Call today and see if chiropractic is right for you (303) 688-8855!