Dear Patients, Friends, Family & Community Members …
Over the past week, I have been inundated with questions by email, telephone and in person with concerns revolving around the H1N1 virus. It would seem that Torontonians are feeling panicky and stressed with decisions about what to do. The media should be ashamed at the way they have been presenting this issue. Fear mongering has generated for them significant profits in newspaper sales, increased viewership and therefore increased advertising revenues. All this over an innocuous issue. I do not recall a more contrived health issue than this one. The motive of the media is profit and profit is generated through fear mongering. In the news industry, they often say "If it bleeds, it leads".
What combats FEAR (False Evidence Appearing Real) is scientific truth, knowledge, logic and reality. So I'd like to take a little bit of your time to give you just that.
However, before I get started, I need to clarify (for legal reasons) some points. First, I am in no way attempting to give you advice as to how you should proceed with caring for your health or the health of your loved ones in any form or model of health-care delivery other than my own - CHIROPRACTIC. This is the model that I am expert in. This is the model that I live in.
What I say here is an expression of my PERSONAL OPINION. I base my opinion on historical data, research evidence and over 18 years of clinical experience.
My heart goes out to anyone who has lost a loved one... to H1N1, "regular" influenza or for any reason. Too many premature deaths occur in our society, driven by the increasingly toxic world and accentuated by a sickness-treatment model of care which does nothing to help create health. It's a lot like the President of a fast food chain telling you what to eat for a healthy diet ... his bias for profit would clearly come into play.
Our society is presently filled with anxiety. Indeed, it is becoming mass hysteria generated over the dreaded Swine Flu (H1N1) pandemic. That mass hysteria is being driven by media generated FEAR.
For years people trained in the art of public relations (propaganda) have effectively used the emotion of fear to control the public's attitudes and actions. What you are seeing in the media right now is the contrived use of that emotion to propagate the desired attitude and action in the Canadian populous. i.e. conformity with the agenda created by Health Canada.
There are hundreds of historical examples of how fear causes knee-jerk reactions. Just look at what happened in Salem Massachusetts in 1692 -- a lot of probably nice men and woman were burned at the stake or hung for the crime of being "witches". In the north-east U.S.A. during the War of the Worlds broadcast in 1938 a lot of people went berserk and started preparing for the end when they thought that Martians had invaded New Jersey. Now the drums are beating for the dreaded H1N1 pandemic.
If you are currently sick or have sick kids or other family members ... I understand the fear you are feeling. But believe it or not, our bodies do know what they are doing. Our immune systems are well designed to fight invaders to keep you healthy and alive. Although fever and cough and aches are all very unpleasant, they are clear signs that your body is doing its job properly. So while it isn't fun, the lesson you should learn is that your body is extremely smart and well-equipped to look after your needs without help from any outside sources!
Before you decide on how you will deal with this issue (and again, I am NOT telling you what to do), here are a few things that you really need to consider:
1) You are still more likely to pick up drug resistant Tuberculosis (which is really running rampant these days on northern Ontario native reservations), get hit by a car (will you be driving today?), drown in the bathtub (planning on being clean this week?) or die from taking over-the-counter medications (anybody you know who takes these?) ... so why isn't the Health Canada and the media screaming about these more vital issues?
2) Please remember that the Southern Hemisphere (Australia,etc.) just went through their flu and cold season. They had to endure H1N1 without any vaccine. It turned out that H1N1 wasn't even as lethal as regular seasonal flu. For example, at the start of the flu season New Zealand predicted that they could have up to 18.000 deaths associated with the H1N1 virus. By the end of their flu season they calculated that there were only 17 deaths associated with Swine flu.
3) For the Northern Hemisphere (Canada, etc.) the predicted "high-season" for H1N1, based on World Health Organization algorithms, is the last two weeks of October and the first two weeks of November. We are half-way through this "pandemic". That means we should have 50% of our death toll by now and how many people have died? According to the Public Health Agency of Canada as of Oct 30, 2009 there has been a grand total of only 90 deaths in all of Canada directly attributable to H1N1 infection since it first appeared (including the first wave - we are in the second wave). To put that in perspective Statictics Canada estimates that the regular seasonal flu will typically result in approximately 3,000 deaths each flu season! With only two weeks left to go for the predicted H1N1 pandemic, I'm liking my odds. So hang in there people, we're all going to be OK.
4) This is a BIG one, so really consider this: Healthy people don't get sick, and definitely don't die... sick people do. The inference in a lot of the reporting is that healthy people are being affected. This is ludicrous. The people who are getting sick are run-down at some level, and the ones who die are immuno-suppressed in some way ... it's as simple as that.
5) The best way to survive ANY infectious process is the same as it has been since humans walked upon this planet: OUR IMMUNE SYSTEM. Here are some suggestions on how to boost your immune system so that it will NOT let you down.
Get adjusted regularly - Chiropractic got a LOT of people thru the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918! Eat well - lots of fresh fruits and vegetables; avoid sugars (they weaken your immune system); reduce your intake of prepared foods and artificial sweeteners. Supplement with good quality multivitamin/minerals, lots of Omega 3 fats, antioxidants like vitamin C and bioflavonoids and take Probiotics. Optimize your Vitamin D intake to assist your body with fighting flu and other infections - lots of great new research showing how powerful adequate amounts of vitamin D can be in fighting not only infections but numerous other diseases. Drink lots of fluids (mostly water and herbal teas). Exercise daily... even if it is just a 15 minute walk. Reduce stress - get a massage, do some deep breathing exercises or try some guided meditation. Practice proper hygiene - wash your hands, carry hand sanitizer, cough in your sleeve and get in the habit of not rubbing your eyes, nose or mouth without sanitizing you hands first. Get a good night's sleep.There is a web page from a research journal in the United States that gives a very comprehensive overview of the pro's and con's of this whole debacle? Go to the following website:
http://swineflu.mccoypress.net
and check out the content... there is a ton of good information that can help you come to a confident conclusion on the topic of Swine Flu.
I hope that the content of this blog helps you to weather the storm, and allows you to relax a bit and NOT react to the fire of fear that is being fanned by the media. I also hope that it helps you to make the absolute best decisions regarding your health ... both for this issue and for every issue that impacts you.
Please feel free to respond and leave comments so you too can have a voice.
Be Well,
Dr. Paul