Will You Choose Dangerous Drug Interactions or Natural Collaborative Care?

More and more research is establishing the danger of common drugs such as acetaminophen, which is the main ingredient in Tylenol. For example, Tylenol has been available on the American market since the early 1950s with Children’s Tylenol coming onto the market in 1955. The acetaminophen (which is also known as paracetamol) found in Tylenol is still being studied with adverse reactions continuing to be discovered.

One of those adverse reactions can be found in the findings reported in the Journal of the AMA – Pediatrics of a previously unknown association between acetaminophen consumption during pregnancy and ADHD. Acetaminophen consumption during pregnancy can lead to the child who was exposed to acetaminophen while in the womb developing attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.  Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder is commonly referred to as ADHD. The findings of this study are profound because acetaminophen is one of the most frequently used drugs for pain and fever during pregnancy.

There is only one desired effect a drug elicits in the human body but a plethora of other effects that may be undesirable and are commonly referred to as “side effects.” Some side effects are relatively innocuous but others can be very severe or even life threatening. Dangerous drug treatments are nothing new since all drugs are known to have side effects.

But will anyone pay attention to such studies and the warnings regarding potentially life altering side effects of consuming drugs? It is unlikely. The pharmaceutical industry spends an estimated $600 billion dollars on marketing every year. Anyone trying to tell folks that a trusted pharmaceutical such as Tylenol has problems associated with its use will have a difficult time convincing them after they have seen or read numerous advertisements touting the benefits of a given drug. However, there is a better way.

Chiropractic is a healthier, drugless way to improve your health and address some of the problems associated with pregnancy. Utilizing the preventive health care aspects of chiropractic for your family’s healthcare needs can help prevent many bad outcomes. Adopting an outlook on healthcare that encompasses chiropractic care is addressed by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in that it encourages the formation of multidisciplinary practitioner teams.

Multidisciplinary practitioner teams formed under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act are referred to as Patient Centered Medical Homes (PCMH). A PCMH may be comprised solely of conventional biomedical practitioners such as medical doctors or it may also employ the services of Doctors of Chiropractic, psychologists, acupuncturists, naturopaths, massage therapists, and related health oriented practices such as yoga, meditation, and Reiki.    

The concept of organizing a PCMH is based upon the model of integrative health care focusing on preventive healthcare and treating the whole person. Such an organizational model demands an open mind on the part of the practitioners so they will freely refer to fellow practitioners thereby allowing a patient to fully enjoy the holistic approach to healthcare a PCMH offers.

An integrated approach such as the PCMH offers is bolstered by recently instituted electronic health records systems that must be in place by 2015 per federal dictate. Such electronic health records systems allow all practitioners in a PCMH to access patient records and share information.

 Collaborative efforts such as this example allow a varied assortment of practitioners to treat a wide variety of patient complaints including but not limited to: chronic low back pain, polymyalgia rheumatica, depression, and musculoskeletal pain. Integrative medicine allows practitioners of all disciplines to contribute to the successful resolution of health depleting conditions that cannot be treated as successfully by each disciple working independently.

The question is whether you will choose dangerous drug interactions or natural collaborative care. Knowing what you know now, what will you choose?