Should I take meds for depression or anxiety? Read Whitaker’s book first!
Posted: January 20, 2012 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: anxiety, depression, iatrogenic illness, medication 3 CommentsThe recent book, Anatomy of an Epidemic, by Robert Whitaker is a must read for anyone who is planning or taking medications to treat mood disorders such as depression, anxiety, or panic attacks. His in-depth evidence based book, which reads like a novel, suggests that psychiatric drug benefits are mainly a myth and contribute significantly to creating life-long dysfunction and worsening of the symptoms. He cites study after study demonstrating this for depression, children with ADHD, biopolar disorder, panic attacks, anxiety and even schizophrenia. For example he cites a Canadian study of 1,281 people who went on on short-term disability for depression. Only 19 percent of those who took an antidepressant ended up on long-term disability, versus 9 percent of those who didn’t take the medication.
More importantly, when people are treated for panic attacks with benzodiazepine such as Xanax, the placebo groups does much better in the long term than the drug treatment group after medication is tapered off. Whitaker illustrates this concept by showing the following research data that was part of the FDA approval for the medication.
This Upjohn’s study of Xanax, patients were treated with the drug or placebo for eight weeks. Then this treatment was slowly withdrawn (weeks 9 through 12), and during the last two weeks patients didn’t receive any treatment. The Xanax patients fared better during the first four weeks, which is the result that the Upjohn investigators focused on in their journal articles. However, once the Xanax patients began withdrawing from the the drug, they suffered many more panic attacks than the placebo patients, and at the end of the study were much more symptomatic. Source: Ballenger, C “Alprazolam in panic disorder and agoraphobia.” Archives of General Psychiatry 45 (1988): 413–22. Pecknold, C “Alprazolam in panic disorder and agoraphobia.” Archives of General Psychiatry 45 (1988): 429–36.
This book and the scientific evidence suggests that non-pharmacological treatment approaches should be the first strategy for treatment–it may save your life.
Is there a link between stress and cancer?
Posted: January 19, 2012 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: breast cancer, cancer, stress, stress management Leave a commentMany factors contribute to the onset and progression of cancer such as exposure to carcinogenic agents, behavioral risk factors, compromised immune functioning or stress. The stress most strongly associated with increased breast cancer occurrence is the stress caused by major life events such death of a husband, divorce/separation, personal illness or injury, death of a close relative or friend, and loss of a job. Stress also increases the risk of re-occurrence and poorer outcome.
If stress can increase cancer risk then learning stress management techniques may reduce the risk and improve clinical outcome. In a superb eleven year long follow-up study, Professor Barbara Anderson of Ohio University showed that patients with breast cancer who had participated in a 14 week stress management program had significantly higher survival rates and lower re-occurrence rates as compared to the control group.
The findings that stress increases cancer risk and stress management improves survival suggests that stress management should be part of cancer treatment and prevention. For useful stress management techniques that patients can immediately do for themselves, see Part III-Self-care in the book, Fighting Cancer.
Muscle biofeedback makes the invisible visible
Posted: January 6, 2012 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: back pain, biofeedback, electromyography, muscle tension, neck pain, performance, shoulder pain 3 Comments“I feel much more relaxed and realize now how unaware I was of the unnecessary tension I’ve been holding” is a common response after muscle biofeedback training. Many people experience exhaustion, stiffness, tightness, neck, shoulder and back pain while working long hours at the computer or while exercising. As we get older, we assume that discomforts are the result of aging. You just have to accept it and live with it–grin and bear it–or you need to be more careful while doing your job or performing your hobby. The discomfort in many cases is the result of misuse of your body. Observes what happens when you perform the following experiential practice Threading the needle.
Perform this task so that an observer would think it was real and would not know that you are only simulating threading a needle.
Imagine that you are threading a needle — really imagine it by picturing it in your mind and acting it out. Hold the needle between your left thumb and index finger. Hold the thread between the thumb and index finger of your right hand. Bring the tip of the thread to your mouth and put it between your lips to moisten it and make it into a sharp point. Then attempt to thread the needle, which has a very small eye. The thread is almost as thick as the eye of the needle.
As you are concentrating on threading this imaginary needle, observed what happened? While acting out the imagery, did you raise or tighten your shoulders, stiffen your trunk, clench your teeth, hold your breath or stare at the thread and needle without blinking?
Most people are surprised that they have tightened their shoulders and braced their trunk while threading the needle. Awareness only occurred after their attention was directed to the covert muscle bracing patterns.
In many cases muscles are tense even though the person senses and feels that they are relaxed. This lack of awareness can be resolved with muscle biofeedback–it makes invisible visible. Muscle biofeedback (electromyographic feedback) is used to monitor the muscle activity, teach the person awareness of the previously unperceived muscle tension and learn relax and control it. For more information of the use of muscle biofeedback to improve health and performance at work or in the gym, see the published chapter, I thought I was relaxed: The use of SEMG biofeedback for training awareness and control, by Richard Harvey and Erik Peper. It was published in W. A. Edmonds, & G. Tenenbaum (Eds.). (2012), Case studies in applied psychophysiology: Neurofeedback and biofeedback treatments for advances in human performance. West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell, 144-159.
Pain in the neck—there is hope!
Posted: January 3, 2012 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: biofeedback breathing, chiropractic, exercise, exercise medication, muscle biofeedback, neck pain, relaxation, shouldeer pain, spinal adjustment, spinal adustment, whiplash Leave a commentNeck pain affects more than 70% of Americans in their life time. What treatment offers the best outcome: Drugs, spinal manipulation or neck and shoulder exercises? In a superb randomized control study in published Annals of Internal Medicine with 272 patients with acute and subacute neck pain, a few instructional sessions in home exercise with advise or twelve sessions of spinal adjustment was significantly more effective in the short or long term.
From a psychophysiological perspective, becoming aware of the covert neck and shoulder tension, identifying “who or what is the pain in the neck” (the neck and shoulders often reflect emotions), resolving emotional conflicts, practicing many movement and relaxation breaks during the days, and learning to relax the neck and shoulders with or without biofeedback can usually reduce neck and shoulder pains.
Even more impressive is the work by David Hubbard, MD and Richard Gevirtz, PhD. They have demonstrated that whiplash injury can healed very quickly by watching a 12 minute video in the emergency room and practicing simple neck and shoulder exercises, diaphragmatic breathing, and possible use of biofeedback. It reduces symptoms and medical utilization by more than 80% as compared to the patients who did not see the video.
Reduce animal protein; reduce cancer expression
Posted: December 30, 2011 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: cancer, diet, protein 3 CommentsCancer expression and growth depends upon the interaction between immune competence, the presence of a carcinogenic factor, the body’s ability to process the toxin and the food ingested. For example, when rats are given a low dose of aflatoxin, which is a very potent carcinogen, cancer expression depends on how much protein the rat consumes. If the rat consumption of its normal amount of protein is reduced from 20% to 5%, the cancer which should have been induced by the aflatoxin does not occur. This relationship between animal protein intake and cancer expression is not new. It has been well documented for human beings by Campbell and Campbell in their book, The China Study. The overall finding is that lower animal protein intake is associated with lower cancer rates.
Thus to reduce cancer risk, reduce animal protein intake and increase intake of plants.
This dietary perspective is superbly shown in the recent leased movie, Forks over knives (2011), which claims that most, if not all, of the degenerative diseases that afflict us can be controlled, or even reversed, by rejecting animal-based and processed foods.
For general guidelines and an evolutionary perspective of diet and health you may want to look at Part III, Self-Care, in our book, Fighting Cancer-A Nontoxic Approach to Treatment.
What is the best single thing we can do for our health
Posted: December 26, 2011 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: arthritic knees, depression, diabetes, exercise, fatigue, pain 1 CommentThere are so many factors that contribute to our health: diet, social support, preventative medical screening, etc. Yet, what is one single most important procedure that gives largest return of investment for your health? Listen to Dr. Mike Evans describe the procedure that if is used as treatment- one hour a day three times a week- reduces pain by 47% for patients with arthritic knees; if the treatment is done most days, patients with diabetes reduce the progression of their disease by 58%; post menopausal women who have the treatment four times a week reduce hip fractures by 41%; the treatment also reduces anxiety by 48% and patients with depression who receive a low dose of this treatment experience relief of depression by 30% while those on a high dose experience a 47% relief; in addition, it is the number one treatment of fatigue.
The treatment is 30 minutes of exercise–mostly walking–as described in the superb YouTube video, 23 and 1/2 hours: What is the single best thing we can do for our health?
Inhibiting fever with acetaminophen increases risk of asthma in children
Posted: December 22, 2011 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: acetaminophen, asthma, cancer, fever, paracetamol 1 CommentMy child has a fever, what can I do? I do not want to give aspirin because of the rare complication of Reye’s syndrome. I give them acetaminophen to reduce the fever and inflammation. However, research by Dr. McBride, published in Pediatrics, has documented that there is a strong link between acetaminophen (also known as paracetamol) and asthma This high correlation between acetaminophen use and asthma is across all groups, ages and location. This correlation even holds up for mothers who took acetaminophen during pregnancy. Their children have increased risk for asthma by age six.
A better solution for a feverish child is watchful waiting and hold back on the medication until they are truly needed–which is very rare. Remember in almost all cases fever is not the illness; it is the body’s response to fight the illness and regain health. For more information about the relationship between acetaminophen and asthma see the New York Time‘s article, “Studies Suggest an Acetaminophen-Asthma Link,” the Pediatrics‘ article, “The Association of Acetaminophen and Asthma Prevalence and Severity,” or chapter 6, Therapeutic Fever, in the book, Fighting Cancer-A Nontoxic Approach to Treatment.
Fever can save your life
Posted: November 24, 2011 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: cancer, fever, ICU, paracetamol, tylenol Leave a commentMost people are terrified of fever and quickly rush to take a Tylenol. Fever is not the cause of illness; it is the body’s response to fight an infection. Fever causes the immune system to be activated so that it can fight the infection. Fever allows the body to return to health. If patients in the hospital intensive care units experience fever, aggressively fever suppression is the norm. Recent research by Dr. Schulman and colleagues at University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine have shown that if instead the patients are carefully monitored and the fever is not suppressed the death rate in the ICU is reduce seven fold. Robert Gorter and I discuss the important role of fever and possible harm of fever suppression in our new book, Fighting Cancer.
the peper perspective 