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January 10, 2002 Research Update |
James Bogash, D.C. Mesa, AZ
info@lifecarechiro.com
www.lifecarechiro.com
Physical and psychological correlates of headache in young adults
Sometimes I am amazed at just how prevalent headaches are in today's society, both in research studies and in my own practice. Not that it's any great surprise, but this study finds that neck and back injuries before age 12 were linked to tension HA in young adults. I would like to change this to improperly treated neck and back injuries. HA originated from the neck muscles is an incredibly common cause of HA, and yet I cannot tell you how many patients come into my office that have had HA for literally decades, and NO ONE HAS EVER TOUCHED THEIR NECK!! It just makes me want to throttle someone that a significanct portion of this patient's HA could have been eliminated decades earlier if someone had just addressed the cervical spine and musculature. JNNP -- Abstracts: Waldie and Poulton 72 (1): 86
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Dietary Antioxidants and Asthma in Adults
I'm not going into a long tirade about fruits and veggies being an integral part of a healthy life and how very few people here in the US even come close to 5+ servings per day. Instead, I will use this article to press a very important issue. Rarely is asthma treated with anything other than pharmaceutical drugs that deplete bone and stunt growth, and yet there is compound research that shows that asthma indeed can be affected by lifestyle choices. We need to start making those recommendations. AJRCCM -- Abstracts: SHAHEEN et al. 164 (10): 1823
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Sex hormone binding globulin as prepubertal marker for hyperinsulinaemia
This is an interesting article that may give us some insight on preventing the startling rise in Syndrome X prevalence. Exactly what role SHBG plays is not yet known, but lower levels may increase free concentrations of hormones such as testosterone, and this hyperandrogenicity may be the real player. Either way, I feel that finding markers for those at risk so they can make lifestyle changes would be a moot point if everyone make healthier lifestyle choices... ADC -- Abstracts: Galloway et al. 85 (6): 489
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Hypothalamic involvement in chronic migraine
This is a very interesting article that relates hormonal dysregulation between the hypothalamus and adrenal glands as a causative factor in chronic migraines. The article suggests that delayed melatonin release and hypercortisolemia may be factors causing the HA. It always bothers me when I have patients that come in with HA that have been put on pain meds or antidepressents. Headaches are a sign of unbalanced physiology, and these meds in no way address this. I remember one of my "longest enduring headaches" patient. She had HA for forty plus years. We addressed dysfunction in her neck, balanced insulin and cortisol levels, and fixed her constipation and she became HA free. She was happy her HAs were gone, I was happy we restored normal physiology and lowered her risk for any number of chronic diseases. JNNP -- Abstracts: Peres et al. 71 (6): 747
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Reproductive hormonal dynamics in the perimenopause
This is an older article but one I had to throw in just to blow apart standard thinking. So many people (and physicians included0 believe that perimenopausal symptoms are a result of lack of estrogens. The treatment? More estrogen, of course (in the form of equine estrogens foreign to the human body). Unfortunately, the reality is that perimenopause is associated with elevated estrogens. The symptoms of perimenopause are from rapid changes in estrogen levels, not elevated estrogen. Blunt the peaks with progesterone cream (downregulates estrogen receptors and makes cells less sensitive to estrogen) and fill in the troughs with phytoestrogens and most of the symptoms and signs of perimenopause disappear... JCEM -- Abstracts: Santoro et al. 81 (4): 1495
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Mucosal Flora in Inflammatory Bowel Disease
This article suggests that patients with IBD have a decreased ability to keep bacteria from growing along the mucosal layer of the gut. A few things to consider here. First, this article does not suggest it, but I would consider the makeup of that flora incredibly important as to the manifestations of the disease. Second, I have seen in several Crohn's patients that yeast infiltration plays a major role in symptoms. Maybe it is possible that IBD patients have decreased ability to fight off bacteria at the mucosal layer. Maybe in these patients it is incredibly important to maintain high levels of non-pathenogenic bacteria (probiotics) and avoiding lifestyle behaviors that alter that balance negatively... Gastroenterology -- Abstracts: SWIDSINSKI et al. 122 (1): 44
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Hypochlorhydria, Inflammation, Parietal and G-Cell Populations
This study has incredible implications. This is a mouse study, but if it holds true in humans (and if this concept ever makes it out of this journal...) it could blow a hole in one of the highest prescription classes in Western civilization. This article suggests that the normal stomach upregulates its ability to make MORE acid in response to inflammation caused by bacterial infection. On the other hand, stomachs with impaired gastric acid production (hypochlorhydria), are more suseptable to infection and further injury from bacteria. The hypochlorhydria can be genetic or from treatment with acid suppressive drugs. The bottom line--we need to seriously re-evaluate or use of acid suppressive therapy in patients with gastritis and ulcers and especially H. pylori infection. Gastroenterology -- Abstracts: ZAVROS et al. 122 (1): 119
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