Do you spell it A-S-P-I-R-I-N, V-A-L-I-U-M, M-O-T-R-I-N, or T-Y-L-E-N-O-L? There are literally thousands of ways many people spell relief, but most boil down to D-R-U-G-S. People take a lot of drugs: billions of pills, powders, potions and lotions. Why shouldn’t we? We’re exposed to thousands of TV and radio commercials, newspaper and magazine advertisements, soap operas and prime time shows all saying the same thing: “Just take a little pill; everything will be alright.” Is relief important? Of course it is. If you’re in pain or suffering, that’s all you can think of: “Let me get rid of this headache,” “If only the pain would go away,” “I wish I could find a position that’s comfortable,” “if only the fever would break,” or “if only I could breathe freely.” There are times when medication is necessary and desirable. The accident victim, the burn victim, the terminally ill and others should receive the relief they need. We want ease, not disease. Medicines are sometimes seen as little gems to those who know only agony and distress without them.

But what of the grandma who gulps down a dozen aspirin tablets a day for her arthritis? What of the person taking drugs for “everyday” headaches? What of those who take blood pressure or cholesterol medication for years? What of the woman who runs to the medicine cabinet every month for menstrual discomfort? What of the person who regularly swallows Prozac, Valium or alcohol to get through the day? The amount of drug use in society is staggering and has been increasing for decades. As early as 1974, the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain revealed that every 24 to 36 hours, somewhere from 50% to 80% of adults in the United States and the United Kingdom swallow a medically-prescribed drug. All this drug taking might spell relief, but does it spell health? Do drugs correct the cause of your problem or do they just temporarily relieve and suppress symptoms? Drugs don’t get to the cause; as soon as their effects wear off, the symptoms return and it’s back to the medicine cabinet.

If drugs made people healthy, then those that take the most of them should be the healthiest on the planet! But aren’t they the sickest? In part, that’s because drugs cause health problems. According to one study, 106,000 people (on average) die each year in the U.S. from properly prescribed medications in hospitals. Another 2.2 million are seriously harmed and require additional hospitalization due to adverse drug reactions (ADR). Since hospital drug use accounts for just half of all prescription drug use, the numbers for the entire U.S. population are at least double: 212,000 deaths and 4.4 million hospitalizations per year. Malpractice and medication mistakes cause an additional 180,000 deaths per year and hospital infections kill 103,000 people per year. That’s a total of 495,000 deaths each year! Is it any wonder that modern medicine is the third leading cause of death in the U.S. and quite possibly kills as many people as the second cause of death – cancer?

Drugs lie to you. They make you think you are healthy when you are feeling no pain. The bodily malfunction, however, still exists. Drug use often takes your attention away from correcting the physical, emotional and spiritual causes of your illness or condition. Symptoms are often warning signals telling you that something is wrong with your body, mind or spirit. While you take medicines to feel better, your physical and emotional health may continue to deteriorate. More importantly, it has long been recognized that suppressing symptoms or acute disease may in fact cause chronic disease. “The greatest part of all chronic disease is created through the suppression of acute disease by means of drug poisons and through the destructive effects of the drugs themselves.” - Sir William Osler

“Cancer, tuberculosis…and all chronic diseases were once innocent colds.” - J.H.Tilden, M.D.

Your body manufactures antibiotics, insulin, painkillers, blood pressure and heart drugs, hormones, chemicals and hundreds of other drugs (many still undiscovered) to regulate your brain chemistry and mood, digestion, elimination, growth and blood chemistry. The greatest drug store in the world is your own marvellous body, as long as your body is functioning properly – that’s where chiropractic care helps. Chiropractors help you keep your body/mind functioning properly by locating and correcting a very common condition that causes dis-ease or body/mind malfunction. That condition is called a vertebral subluxation.

Chiropractors correct your subluxations with a special procedure called a chiropractic adjustment, which releases subluxations from your system. The removal of this severe stress permits your body to function better. When your doctor of chiropractic corrects your vertebral subluxations, your natural, internal “drug store,” your inner healer, is activated. Correcting vertebral subluxations turns on your body’s natural internal drug store without side effects, adverse drug reactions or “external” dependency. If you know someone living on medication, please tell them there may be a better way; tell them about chiropractic. They’ll thank you.