In the spirit of Halloween I thought I would share a scary story about our nation's health.  Unfortunately, this story is true.  Unfortunately, the country is the United States.  A country where 1/7th of our gross national product (over a trillion dollars) is spent on health care and yet we rank 37th in the world for our health status.  A country where we have the most high-tech procedures, most availability to hospitals and drugs, and yet our infant mortality ranks us 23rd in the world.
 
In 1998, Americans spent $73 Billion on prescription drugs.  It is estimated that it costs $76 Billion to treat the side effects of those drugs.  In addition to costing Billions of dollars, those drugs are costing tens of thousands of lives.
 
The “side effect” of death cost the lives of almost 200,000 people annually in this country, making prescription drugs the third leading cause of death in the U.S.  What other industry could kill 200,000 people per year and get away with it?
 
Even more disturbing is the fact that a recent headline in many newspapers read that American children are the fastest growing group of prescription drug takers on the planet!  Our children are taking the third leading cause of death  (prescription drugs) at a faster rate than any other group of people in the world.  That is NOT alright with me -- in fact, it makes me downright angry.  There is a better way to keep children healthy, and it doesn't involve the current flawed system of health care.
 
There are two major problems with the current system.  The first is the fact that it is not a HEALTH care system, it is a sickness care system.  There is no drug or surgery that helps healthy people stay healthy.  Drugs and surgery are to fight disease, not promote health.  A health care system needs to promote a healthy lifestyle, promote normal body function, needs to seek out ways for people to stay well and not be on drugs.
 
The second major issue is America's reliance on drugs.  The drug companies have convinced people, through advertising, the we need a pill for every ill (The current antibiotics catastrophe is a prime example).  The drug companies think that they are smarter than the power that created the human body.  Each person was designed with a genetic intelligence and natural ways to fight disease and be healthy.  We have organs and systems that naturally run our bodies from the time that we are born until the time we die and have done so for humans for thousands of years.
 
The nervous system is responsible for communicating all of these “health instructions” from the brain to the body.  In fact, Gray's Anatomy tells us that “The purpose of the brain and nerve system is to control and coordinate the function of every cell, tissue and organ of the body.”  When the nervous system is in prime form, so are you.  Chiropractic care allows the nerve system to function at optimal levels therefore maximizing every function of your body.  When the body functions optimally, many people find that they don't need drugs anymore.  The goal of any doctor should be to restore normal body function and get people off their dependence on drugs.  Who do you know that could benefit from better body function?  Well tell them about chiropractic, encourage them to attend The Human Potential Program some Tuesday night.  If we don't continue to tell others about chiropractic the results will be SPOOKY!