Marin Chiropractor says MD's Don't Follow Their Own Rules

Almost every night, I see the TV ads for Cymbalta, an anti-depressant. Bad enough as an anti-depressant; Cymbalta is now being hawked for chronic pain. Apparently, the Great Protectors of Your Health, the FDA, have approved this previous off-label usage.

Off-label? What does that mean? It is MD's prescribing medication for uses that that particular has not been approved of. Usually, no research has been done in that direction. Yet, it is said that somewhere upwards of 60% of prescriptions are written off-label? These are the medical guys, the high priests of Science. Seems they are incapable of following their own rules and regulations.

This is true, to as to usage, or over-usage, of particular drugs and procedures. I frequently hear about people getting corticosteroid injections into spinal joints, knee, wrists, etc. 5, 6, 7, 8 times. This procedure is supposed to be limited to two, at most three times in a particular joint. Why? Because, though it sometimes gives very good pain relief, it causes serious destruction in joints that are already damaged. This type of thinking, or lack thereof, is typical of Medicine, thinking only for the effect of the minute, disregarding long-term health implications. They just can't follow their own rules.

Now, with Cymbalta, it appears that the regulatory agency, the FDA, is embracing off-label at perhaps its worst. It is bad enough that pain killers and anti-inflammatories just cover up pain, without dealing with cause. (Cause appears to be an unknown concept in the medical world.) Now, they are using a drug that messes with the mind to alter the perception/attitude of chronic pain. This is sick!

When you watch the commercial for Cymbalta, try and catch as many side effects as you can, from the small-time, like dry mouth, to liver damage, sudden muscle rigidity and "thoughts of suicide."

And you still trust these guys? "Ask your doctor if 'thought of suicide' are right for you.'" This stuff is nuts!

Don Harte, D.C.
Corte Madera Straight Chiropractor
Liberator of Innate