Many of you may have heard about the new warning from the FDA that there is a proven association between NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) and the increased incidence of heart attacks.
This class of drugs is every anti-inflammatory except aspirin. This is a very significant finding and one, I may say, that I have been warning patients about for a couple of decades. No one likes to be in pain and it's a perfectly normal response to want to get rid of it as soon as possible. The problem is that pain is our body's way of telling us something is WRONG.
Masking pain over the long run is the worst thing a person can do...for two major reasons. One reason is that a significant problem is being ignored and that can only lead to further and more significant damage or tissue breakdown and the second reason is that the medications that are being used long-term not only do cause heart damage but more subtle damage that isn't always directly traceable to the use of the NSAIDs.
Some people are allergic to aspirin, but those that are not can fairly safely take enteric coated (stomach-protective) aspirin (check with your medical doctor about this) for the occasional minor ache or pain. But, if you find yourself taking pain killers on a fairly regular basis, you truly need to have this looked into. If the pain is musculoskeletal in origin, please, I encourage you to go to a specialist in that field...a chiropractor. And, also understand that since pain is the very last sensation that the body exhibits (the body's primary job is to keep going, so it effectively masks pain), it'll also take time, patience and the willingness to comply with your chiropractor's recommended course of treatment to rectify the cause of the pain.
Dr. Hersh
drkollars@gmail.com
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