Where Do We Put Our Faith?

About a week ago while interviewing a new practice member, we discussed his current health. The form he filled out asked if he was being treated for anything, to which he responded, “no.” When asked if he was taking any medication he said he was not. Further into our conversation he mentioned that he takes an aspirin every day. I asked what he was treating with it and again he said he was not treating anything. So naturally I asked, “If you’re not treating anything, then why are you taking a drug?” He said, “Oh, I don’t take any drugs, just aspirin.” As we talked more he soon came out with it and said, “OK, I know that aspirin isn’t a food, it’s a drug!” Interesting though, until he really he thought about it, he would have said “it’s just an aspirin.”
Then I asked him why he takes it. He said that his physician told him to start taking it several years ago when another family member had some heart trouble. The physician believed that the drug would reduce his risk of difficulty and the patient faithfully did what he was told. It turns out that over the past couple of decades millions of people have placed their faith in physicians who believed in this drug. Faith and belief are important to our spiritual well-being, but shouldn’t medical decisions be based in science?
Now hold onto your seat if you haven’t heard about this. In a consumer update from none other than the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the FDA says it has combed the scientific evidence and concluded that people who have not had heart problems, even if they have a family history of it, will not benefit from taking a daily aspirin. It has been estimated that more than 40 million Americans take an aspirin every day. To me it’s shocking to think that such massive drugging has gone on without good science to support it. It seems understandable that corporations are willing to sell drugs, but why did physicians act on faith? Who told physicians to make these recommendations, the drug manufacturers?
Ironically, it seems that greed on the part of a leading drug manufacturer, Bayer, may have played a role in causing FDA to take a look at this. It is reported that FDA denied Bayer’s request to make the claim on its label that aspirin can aid in the prevention of heart attacks in people without a history of heart disease.
To learn more check out these recent articles appearing in Newsday http://www.newsday.com/news/health/fda-rejects-labeling-aspirin-as-heart-attack-prevention-1.7929168 and Time http://time.com/89681/do-not-take-daily-aspirin-if-you-havent-had-a-heart-attack-says-fda/. Another article that may be of interest to some is by Dr. Mercola, a physician who says that, “even “low-dose aspirin” (LDA), may do far more harm than good” http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/08/04/daily-aspirin-side-effects.aspx#_edn3.
Contrary to popular belief aspirin should not be viewed lightly, like eating a piece of candy. Mercola’s article questions the safety of the practice and lists numerous dangerous consequences of using the drug.
I don’t share this conversation with my readers to try to convince them to leave their physicians. In fact I wouldn’t want to live in a world without them. But neither should we blindly believe in physicians. The message is simple, we need to question everything and think for ourselves.
Now, back to my discussion with our new practice member. He then asked me whether I thought he should stop taking aspirin. I explained that I don’t have an opinion about that, or any special training about drugs. Chiropractic isn’t about drugs; it’s about improving a person’s life. We discussed what to expect from his experience in receiving chiropractic care and went to work.