According to Forbes:

A panel of doctors recently recommended that it be banned; the FDA is still deciding what to do.”

So Vicodin is dangerous and addictive, but it’s still the most prescribed medication in the United States.

From MSM.com:

Vicodin is a drug that is crying out to be replaced. Vicodin has a supporting role on the television show House, M.D. because the protagonist, a Sherlock Holmes-like doctor, is hooked on it. It is particularly dangerous because when patients develop a tolerance for the narcotic they start taking too much. This can lead to liver failure from overdoses of the acetaminophen component of the combo. Most of the 400 deaths due to acetaminophen poisoning each year result from misuse of the Vicodin or similar drugs. Last June an FDA advisory panel recommended banning Vicodin. The FDA is still deciding whether to take this advice.”

I’m glad we have painkillers that you can take in a pinch.  For acute pain, sometimes you have to have something for temporary relief. However, temporary is the important key to this advice.  If you find that you are taking anything for too long to deal with pain, then there are some other things to look at. 

What of these things can you improve?  Because if you can improve in any of these areas, then you will be closer to living life pain-free again.

1. Muscle strength
2. Joint range of motion (chiropractic care)
3. Even muscle tone from left to right, from top to bottom, and from front to back. (chiropractic care)
4. Proper nutrition
5. Plenty of rest
6. Outlook on life, goal setting, relationships

Todd Lloyd, DC
Chiropractor in Sonoma

For muscle aches, joint aches, and other body aches and pains:

Initial treatment should focus on nonpharmacological approaches (eg, physical therapy, heat/cold, orthotics).

What they overlook, of course, is the expert management of back pain, neck pain and headaches by a Doctor of Chiropractic. Chiropractors make their careers out of caring for these problems without using pharmacology. Patients with heart disease can safely be treated by chiropractors.  With chiropractic care, these patients will be able to cope with less or no added chemicals in their system.  Many patients who see chiropractors are those who are too sensitive to pharmaceutical drugs, or have experienced addictions in the past, and choose not to use drugs to handle their pain.

Current evidence indicates that selective COX-2 inhibitors have important adverse cardiovascular effects that include increased risk for myocardial infarction, stroke, heart failure, and hypertension.The risk for these adverse effects is likely greatest in patients with a prior history of or at high risk for cardiovascular disease.

In these patients, use of COX-2 inhibitors for pain relief should be limited to patients for whom there are no appropriate alternatives, and then, only in the lowest dose and for the shortest duration necessary.

(A Cox-2 inhibitor is a type of NSAID that is safer for side effects for the lining of the stomach and colon, but is risky for the bloodstream. A normal aspirin, which is an NSAID, inhibits two kinds of enzymes: COX-1 and COX2.  COX-1 destroys the lining of the stomach, so sometimes they want to use the more selective COX-2 inhibitor for pain relief. Chiropractic care inhibits neither of these enzymes.)

The debate about the increased risk of cardiovascular events attributed to the selective COX-2 inhibitors and the nonselective NSAIDs is part of a broader national debate about drug safety.

Even if you are not being managed by your doctor with these drugs for pain, but you instead choose to medicate yourself with over the counter medications, you should take careful heed of this warning.  The AHA is recommending that you not take these drugs if you might have heart problems.  The AHA is recommending that you try conservative care first, and this is best done in the form of chiropractic.

With a proven track record for back relief and neck pain relief, chiropractic care is a safe alternative to NSAIDs, and fits within the AHA guides nicely.

Todd Lloyd, DC
Chiropractor in Sonoma.

Problems like this can have a serious impact on your quality of life. Along with the pain local to the TMJ, you may also experience headaches radiating to the jaw. These headache can be quite severe, and demand attention.

A new study in the Journal of the American Dental Association studied TMJ disorders after whiplash accidents.

In this study, they studied the cases of 1,158 people. They asked them about their jaw pain and movement before and after the whiplash injury. They compared people who got into a whiplash injury compared to those who were injured in other ways.

They found that people with whiplash injuries were more likely to have reduced or painful jaw movement in the TMJ than those who had other types of injuries. They also found that women were more likely than men to have this type of dysfunction. Head position and headrest position had no impact on the likelihood of TMJ dysfunction after the injury.

It is interesting to me to note that doctor and patients (with mild symptoms) tend to minimize this symptom or disorder. This is a very common occurrence. If you have been injured in a car accident and have this problem, there are forms that you should be filling out periodically to chart the progress of the pain. It may go away on its own, but in many cases it will become a chronic problem, plaguing you for years to come or even for your lifetime.

We treat these cases in Sonoma and Santa Rosa as an office that treats whiplash patients. But if these jaw problems are severe, we have a network of people who specialize in treating TMJ disorders. In some severe cases custom made mouth guards will be fitted over the teeth to help gradually realign the TMJ complex.

It is also important to realign the upper neck joints to provide the necessary neuromuscular feedback to the nerves and muscles that control the jaw. This is done through chiropractic care, utilizing precision techniques, in our office of course…

Dr. Lloyd.
Chiropactor in Sonoma

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J Am Dent Assoc. 2007 Jan;138(1):86-93. Reduced or painful jaw movement after collision-related injuries: A population based study