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Sunday, May 20, 2007

The Truth About HPV Vaccine

Human Papiloma Virus (HPV) is a sexually transmitted disease that has been getting a large amount of attention recently due to a pharmacuetical company developing a vaccine designed to prevent the disease. The vaccine is intended for young girls. The state of Texas signed a Governor's bill into law mandating that all young school girls were to be given the vaccine. An inordinate amount of propaganda has surrounded the HPV vaccine. The drug company's main promotional effort is based on their claim that the HPV vaccine will prevent cervical cancer. After doing some research (unbiased research, as there will be no monetary profit from the effort), here are the facts concerning HPV. HPV infection is naturally cleared by more than 90% of sexually active women and men but, rarely, HPV infection can become chronic. High risk factors for HPV are smoking, having herpes, HIV or Chlamydia, long term use of birth control pills and multiple births. Women who have chronic HPV and do not get pre-canerous cervical lesions identified and treated (via regular Pap test screening), can get cervical cancer and die. After pap test screening became routine in the 1950's, cervical cancer cases dropped 74%. Less than one percent of all diagnosed cancer cases and cancer deaths in the United States every year involve cervical cancer. Merck's Gardasil vaccine was studied for several years in less than 1200 girls under age 16 and a few hundred girls age 11 or younger. Gardasil vaccine only contains 2 of the 15 HPV types associated with cervical cancer and it is unknown if it will prevent cervical cancer in the long term. Reported Gardasil reactions include sudden collapse, seizures, facial paralysis, arthritis and Guillain Barre Syndrome. It is unknown if Gardasil will casue infertility, cancer or damage genes. There is also no pre-licensure data proving it is safe to give Gardasil with most of the other vaccines given to children. This information was found at the National Vaccine Information Center in Virginia. It is very important, when making health care decisions for your children, all of the facts are at your disposal. If the only information presented to you is sensationalized "news" reports put out by the industry manufacturing the drug, it is impossible to make an educated health care decision.
Thought for the Week: "There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all argument, and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance. That principle is condemnation without investigation." ------ Spencer
Chiropractic Tip of the Week: "Disease is a term used in medicine for sickness, it is an entity that one can have and is worthy of a name, hence the term diagnosis. In chiropractic, the term dis-ease is used and means lack of ease in the body. Dis-ease is indicative of the body being minus something that should be restored, in order to make it normal. The body lacks ease which must be brought up to 100% or restored. The aim of chiropractic is not the treatment of disease, but the restoration of ease." ---- R.W Stephenson, D.C.

Exercise for Health and Life

Regular exercise is vital to building a healthy body and maintaining a youthful quality of life. Exercise, ranked just below proper nutrition as one of the most important things you can do to be healthy, has many aspects that can appeal to all ages. No doubt that exercising daily contributes to a "pleasing" physical appearance, but more importantly, exercise improves cardiovascular and respiratory health. Getting the heart to pump more, increases circulation, strengthens heart muscle tissue and lowers blood pressure. Exercise not only combats high cholesterol levels, but also reverses the damaging effects of stress. Resistance exercise (exercise done with weights, rubber tubes, or water) prevents bone loss. Exercise will naturally increase metabolism even hours after the exercise has been completed. Exercise will lower blood sugar levels, fight against depression and improve immune system function. As you can see, there are not many aspects of a healthy life that exercise does not benefit. Recent research in the study of aging and longevity suggests that regular exercise is the "Fountain of Youth" and will ensure a higher quality of life for our senior years. Arthritis pain is even better managed with regular exercise. What constitutes healthy exercise? It doesn't take much. Studies have shown that a person who walks 30 minutes a day, 3 x per week (In addition to their normal day) is usually 50% healthier than the person who does not walk. Walking is great exercise and anyone can do it. Resistance training also needs to be incorporated into a regular exercise program. If you can't get to the gym and don't have exercise equipment at home, you can work your muscles with soup cans and or empty milk jugs filled with sand or water. Everyone who wants to live healthier and longer, needs to exercise. It doesn't matter whether you walk, run, jog, swim, dance, bike, weightlift or play a sport, you need to just do something. Exercise will keep you alive.
Thought for the Week: "You only live once, but if you work it right, once is enough." ----- Joe E. Lewis
Chiropractic Thought for the Week: "Remember that chiropractic always works. When it does not seem to, examine the application, but do not question the principle." ----- Clarence Gonstead, D.C.
The principle is that the body is a self-healing organism, it is regulated and controlled by the nervous system. Subluxated vertebra cause nerve disruptions, muscular imbalance and muscular stress as well as degenerative processes on the bone itself. Correct the subluxated vertebra, remove the nerve disruption and the body is able to heal and function at a healthier level.

Cholesterol and You

Cholesterol is a very important substance in the body manufactured by the liver. The cholesterol in the blood is called serum cholesterol. Cholesterol is needed for the nervous system to function properly. It is also used in the process of creating reproductive hormones. Cholesterol attaches itself to protein molecules and travels through the bloodstream to all of the body parts that require it. Cholesterol in the food we eat is called dietary cholesterol. If too much dietary cholesterol is eaten, the serum cholesterol levels in the bloodstream will increase. This is where we get into trouble. When there is too much cholesterol in the bloodstream, some of the cholesterol can not hitch a ride on the protein molecules and are left stationary in the arteries. When the cholesterol becomes stuck in one place, it forms plaques, which blocks blood flow. This is not a good predicament to be in, over time the plaque will continue to build up on the wall of the arteries, which then leads to hardening of the arteries or atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis is a blockage of blood flow to vital organs such as the heart. This causes heart disease and heart attacks. Reducing cholesterol is a mighty task and requires the elimination of all the "fun" foods. No more fast foods, fried, greasy foods, junk foods like candy, chips and soft drinks. Foods that have been scientifically researched to lower cholesterol levels in the blood include: Apples, banannas, barley, carrots, fish, garlic, citrus fruit, lentils, oats, nuts, olive oil, fish oil, and whole grains.
Thought for the Week: "Healing comes from the inside, not the outside. It is simply the body's natural attempt to restore balance when balance is lost. You are born with the power to heal because healing is an innate capacity of every person, as it is of every animal and plant."
--------Andrew Weil, M.D.
Chiropractic Thought for the Week: "Chiropractors do not treat, cure, heal or diagnose disease. As a science it is unlike any other system. Chiropractors will enquire for the location of symptoms in order to determine the area of impinged nerves producing the undesirable effects. They adjust to relieve the confined nerves. In the near future, chiropractic will be as much valued for its preventative qualities as it now is for adjusting and relieving ailments." -------D.D. Palmer, D.C. early 1900's.