Dr. Allan Horowitz, published newspaper article, Richmond Hill Liberal, Copyright August 08, 1990

Dear Dr. Horowitz:

By the time you can get
around to responding to this
question my problem will long
since be resolved. However, I am
asking it anyway so that I might
know for next time.

I have a bad back which slips
out every few months. I end up
in a lot of pain for about a week
and then I slowly straighten up
and the pain goes away.

I have some pills my doctor
gave me which are supposed to
decrease the inflammation and
therefore help my back. To tell
you the truth, my problem lasts
about a week no matter what
pills I take.

TAKE EDGE OFF

They do help to take the edge
off the pain and I can sleep a bit
better when I take them, but
they do not shorten the episode
at all.

My question is this: Is there
any point in taking these pills?
Are they doing anything
beneficial for my back?

I know that they do irritate
my stomach and give me
heartburn.

What should I do the next
time my back goes out?

Answer:

Your question reminds me of
the old joke that states that “You
know you are getting old when
your back goes out more than you
do.”

There are reasons for taking
pills and there are reasons not
to.

NOT AN EXPERT

A chiropractor is not an expert
on pharmacology (the study of
the action of drugs) and I am
therefore not qualified to answer
your question regarding whether
or not you should be taking the medication your doctor
prescribed for you.

Your doctor must have
thought that these anti-inflammatories would lessen the
swelling around your back and
allow you to move around pain-free faster than would be
possible without these pills.

Unfortunately, many of these
pills are hard on the stomach
and do cause the type of
irritation you mention.

It is up to you and your doctor
to decide on the risk versus
benefit of taking the pills or not
taking them.

FAILED

Without giving you any
specific recommendations, I will
talk in general terms.

If a pill doesn’t help decrease
the length of time your back is
sore there is no point taking it
for this reason. It has failed in
this regard.

If a pill helps alleviate some of
your pain and helps you to get a
better night’s sleep it has to be
your decision if the benefit of the
slight pain reduction and better
sleep outweighs the stomach
upset you are experiencing.

If you couldn’t sleep without the pills and you were in
constant pain, and the pills
relieved you enough that you
were better able to carry on with
your day’s work it might be
worthwhile to put up with a bit
of a stomach ache for a week or
so until the back problem ran its
course.

On the other hand, if you had
’nine’ units of pain on a scale
with ’10’ being the most severe
pain, and the pills helped bring
it down to ‘eight’, you might
decide that it wasn’t worth it
and you would just live with the
extra bit of pain until your back
settled down.

Chiropractors have a natural
bias against most forms of
medication because of our more
’natural’ healing methods.

LIVE IN 20TH CENTURY

However, we also live in the
20th Century and realize that
there are numerous wonderful
drugs now being produced that
we wouldn’t live without.

(Some would live without all
drugs, but many would agree
that some are necessary and
quite useful.)

On a personal note, I certainly
would jump at an opportunity to
take some antibiotics if I had a
severe bacterial infection. If I
had a severe ulcer there is a
wonderful medication to help. If
I had gout I wouldn’t want to put
up with the pain because there
is a great medicinal aid which
works wonders.

But, and there is a very strong
but, pain is an indication that
something, somewhere, is going
wrong.

JUST MASK PROBLEMS

Taking medication, especially
pain medication, will just mask
the problems and paint over the
true picture of what is wrong.

Taking antibiotics is fine, but
not if you keep having the same
infection over and over again.
The pills work great for ulcers
but what is causing the ulcer to
begin with? Do we understand?

In your specific situation, I
suggest you talk to your doctor
and tell him/her that the pills
don’t really help. Ask your doctor
if he/she can suggest anything
else.

Remember, I am not telling
you to stop taking the pills your
doctor prescribed for you. I am
telling you to re-think your
situation: What is causing the
problem to begin with?

Are there any better forms of
treatment, or other pills which
might help more? How can you
prevent the back problem in the
future?

Taking pills that are not
helping you is silly. Ignoring a
bad back is also silly.

Next week I will discuss this
’pill’ issue further and give a
specific example of what was
recommended to a patient of
mine and what the eventual
outcome was. Stay tuned.