How safe are non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs?

Medications have become sort of a part of our culture in America. At times we'll get the question “Would it be easier for me or cheaper for me just to take a pill or medication to try to manage my headache or my neck pain or my back pain?” Wouldn't that be a simpler, cheaper solution? I don't have to drive to the office, I don't have to pay a copay, or pay for my visit. Is that really the best option for you? I think that it's a complex decision, however, I think that there's some information that sometimes because medications are just such a ubiquitous part of our culture at this point that we just downplay or don't really understand the consequences of the decisions we're already making. So I just like to give you a little bit of some data here to help you along so you know the most common prescription for headaches, neck pain and back pain in today's culture are non-steroidal anti-inflammatories which would be your ibuprofen or your Aleve. I think what people don't realize is that according to the American Gastroenterological Association a hundred thousand people are hospitalized per year in America due to NSAIDs. That's 273 people a day that are being hospitalized due to NSAIDs like ibuprofen, Aleve and/or aspirin. 16500 people die each year in America from non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs so that's pretty serious. When I started the practice around 2001 it seems like everybody that walked through my door was taking Vioxx and Vioxx has been taken off the market because of the severe cardiovascular events associated with that. Unfortunately you know celebrex is still available to people but the long-term use of these medications is concerning and the longer you're on them the more concerning it is. The other area of concern in America is opioid use and you know I think this is becoming more widespread and understood how serious this problem is but let me give you a few numbers. There are 52,000 overdoses in America. Annually two-thirds of those 34,000 of those are due to opioids, oxycodone, morphine and hydrocodone. 91 Americans per day die from opioid overdose, as twice as many as the number of people dying per day at Vietnam at the height of the war. Twelve states in America, the number of prescriptions written for opioids exceeds the number of people that live there. That's how much these medications are being used. 81 percent of the world's supply of oxycodone is used in America and nearly a hundred percent of the world's supply of hydrocodone is being consumed in America. Now here's an alarming statistic that I think we all need to digest. Four of five heroin users say that they started with prescription painkillers. What I'm saying is that we need a non-pharmacological approach to address and deal with musculoskeletal, neuromusculoskeletal pain, headaches, neck pain, shoulder pain and hip pain. The research is very clear that chiropractic is viable and effective. There have been head-to-head studies in the spine Journal where you can see spinal adjustments were more effective at relieving low back pain. Even things like Tylenol that are outside of NSAIDs for use were found to be no more effective at treating back pain. The good news is we offer you solutions here. We offer you safe effective natural solutions between chiropractic adjustments, nutritional advice, kinesio taping, cold laser therapy and supplementation to reduce inflammation. A safe and natural way is to save the natural supplements that reduce pain in the body. There is another approach, there is another option for you and your family to keep you from heading down this path, and it is a dangerous path life is about choices and decisions. What we're recommending to you is that the time, the energy, the drive of the car, the copay, the fees and whatever it is you're paying to invest in your health is always worth it; you're always worth it. So we hope that adding this information to you will give you the ability to make better decisions for yourself, for your children and your family that you can choose chiropractic first, medication second, and drugs and surgery third because we think that is the best conservative option have a great day!