Vitamin D-Time!

As of about one week ago we are officially receiving Summer-time intensity sunlight.  For all of you in Chicago-land it is time to make it your priority to get as much sunlight to as much of your body as possible(without burning of course).  The benefits of sunlight cannot be overstated, so get outside!

Antibiotics Destroy Healthy Gut Bacteria

The following article is from The Chiropractic Journal:

Antibiotics can destroy 'good' bacteria for years

A research article published Nov. 3, 2010 in the journal Microbiology, came to the startling conclusion that even a short course of antibiotics can leave normal gut bacteria harboring antibiotic resistance genes for up to two years after treatment.
What many people forget is that the body is filled with both "good" bacteria -- such as the normal microbial flora of the human gut -- as well as "bad" or pathogenic bacteria. Antibiotics can alter the composition of microbial populations and allow micro-organisms that are naturally resistant to the antibiotic to flourish. This reduces the ability of the body to react to the pathogenic entities, potentially leading to other illnesses.
The impact of antibiotics on the normal gut flora has previously been thought to be short-term, with any disturbances being restored several weeks after treatment. However, the review of the long-term impacts of antibiotic therapy reveals that this is not always the case. Studies have shown that high levels of resistance genes can be detected in gut microbes after just seven days of antibiotic treatment and that these genes remain present for up to two years -- even if the individual has taken no further antibiotics.
The consequences of this could be potentially life-threatening, explained Dr. Cecilia Jernberg, of the Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease Control, who conducted the review. "The long-term presence of resistance genes in human gut bacteria dramatically increases the probability of them being transferred to and exploited by harmful bacteria that pass through the gut. This could reduce the success of future antibiotic treatments and potentially lead to new strains of antibiotic-resistant bacteria."
The review highlights the necessity of using antibiotics prudently. "Antibiotic resistance is not a new problem and there is a growing battle with multi-drug resistant strains of pathogenic bacteria. The development of new antibiotics is slow and so we must use the effective drugs we have left with care," stated Dr. Jernberg. "This new information about the long-term impacts of antibiotics is of great importance to allow rational antibiotic administration guidelines to be put in place," she said.
SOURCE: Microbiology 156 (2010), 3216-3223; DOI 10.1099; http://mic.sgmjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/156/11/3216

Dr. Sciame' comments:  This is a very sad situation, because this is largely unnecessary.  There is a better way people!  Contact me for details.

New Location!

We are now located at:

5441 N East River Road

Chicago, IL 60656
(773) 444-2410

Pavilion Salon and Spa is a gentle, caring, and friendly environment offering only the finest amenities:

• Comfortable robes and slippers

• Cleansing shower

• Soothing music
  

• Warm herbal teas

• Free and convenient parking

• FREE Access to Indoor Swimming Pool, Jacuzzi, and Sauna with purchase of any service over $50.

Our massage therapist, Galina, is a specialist in pain relief techniques and is an honored member of Cambridge's Who's Who Among American Massage Therapists.

 

 

Call today for an appointment!

National Vaccine Information Center Advocacy Portal

Achieving and protecting the right to informed consent to vaccination is more important now than ever before, and we need your help to make that happen. NVIC wants to help you, our members, to organize and make a difference in your home state right where you live to protect and expand vaccine exemptions. It is at the state level that mass vaccination policies are made, and it is at the state level where your action to protect your rights can have the greatest impact. Also, when national vaccine issues occur, you will be plugged in to the information and action items necessary to make sure your voice is heard.


Click below to get involved!

Bottled Water?

One of the easiest ways to improve your health is to start drinking more clean water.  We have a full line of water filtration units available to meet almost any need. This is simply the best, most affordable, and most environmentally responsible way to to get clean healthy water for you and your family. 

Professional Installation Available!  

Call today for details. (847) 830-0690

-Dr. Steven Sciame

The Weather Brings a Great Opportunity to Chicagoans!

We are blessed this week with rare weather for May in Chicago! It is sunny, hot and humid. Don't miss this opportunity to get out and sweat in the sun. Most people being Vitamin D deficient, could certainly benefit from this early abundant sunshine. Make sure you eighty-six the sunscreen and wear shorts so you can experience maximum rays to as much of your body as possible. Just make sure you don't burn (cover up or get out of the sun if this starts to happen)!

Also with it being so hot, make sure you eat extra fruit and always have plenty of filtered water with you so you can rehydrate as you sweat out the toxins from the long winter. The skin is an important organ of elimination and sweating is a great way to get this party started. People pay thousands of dollars for detox programs, so turn this into a free one!

Don't miss this rare gem of an opportunity to get the summer started off right. It may not be easy at first, but you will thank me when you look better pool-side. As always, use common sense, take is slow, and call me if you have specific goals or special needs.

-Dr. Steven Sciame

Long-Term Bisphosphonate Use Linked to Abnormal Bone Formation

March 12, 2010 (New Orleans, Louisiana) — An unusual type of bone fracture has been reported in women who have taken bisphosphonates for osteopenia and osteoporosis for more than 4 years, according to 2 studies reported here at the American Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons 2010 Annual Meeting.

"Bisphosphonates are wonderful drugs. They've cut the vertebral fracture rate by 70% and the hip fracture rate by 50%. People die from hip fractures. There has been great enthusiasm for these drugs, and clearly the rate of hip fractures is decreasing," said Joseph Lane, MD, chief of the Metabolic Bone Service at the Hospital for Special Surgery and professor of orthopedic surgery at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York CIty.

But concern is mounting that long-term use might (nice try!  It totally does!) adversely affect bone quality, he added.

There is significant morbidity and mortality associated with osteoporotic fractures. Vertebral fractures can result in chronic disabling pain, and 1 in 5 patients who have a hip fracture die within 1 year, researchers told meeting attendees.

Bisphosphonates have been shown to prevent the rapid loss of bone that occurs during the first years of menopause and to reduce the incidence of fracture in postmenopausal women.

However, there have been reports of "peculiar" fractures — that is, low-energy femur fractures that are typically transverse or slightly oblique, diaphyseal, or subtrochanteric, with thickened cortices and a unicortical beak — in patients who have been on long-term bisphosphonate treatment. The first report was published in 2005 in a "semi-obscure" journal, Dr. Lane told Medscape Orthopaedics.

In a small prospective study, Dr. Lane and his colleagues obtained bone biopsies from the lateral femurs of 21 postmenopausal women with femoral fractures. Twelve of the women had been on bisphosphonate therapy for an average duration of 8.5 years, and 9 had no history of bisphosphonate use.

They found that the heterogeneities of the mineral/matrix ratio were significantly reduced in the bisphosphonate group by 28%, and the crystallinity of the bone was significantly reduced by 33% (P < .05).

"The biopsies showed that the bone was very, very old," Dr. Lane said. "This suggests to us that suppression of bone turnover, which is what bisphosphonates do [over the] long term, results in a loss of heterogeneity of the tissue properties, and this may be a contributing factor to the risk of atypical fractures that we are starting to see." 


(---------Duh! This is totally predictable for anyone who has even an elementary understanding of physiology!--------)

In a second unrelated study, Melvin P. Rosenwasser, MD, Robert E. Carroll Professor of Hand Surgery at Columbia University in New York City, and colleagues evaluated the bone structure of 112 postmenopausal women with primary osteoporosis, 62 of whom had been taking bisphosphonates for at least 4 years, and 50 control subjects who were taking only calcium and vitamin D supplements.

They found that bisphosphonate use improved structural integrity early in the course of treatment, but that these gains were diminished as treatment extended beyond 4 years. (Emphasis mine------- Again totally predictable)

"It seems as if there is a plateau of benefit at 4 or 5 years and, after that, the benefit is negated. In the early treatment period, patients using bisphosphonates experienced improvements in all parameters, including decreased buckling ratio and increased cross-sectional area," he said in an interview with Medscape Orthopaedics. "But after 4 years of use, these trends reversed."

Women who are being treated with bisphosphonates should take a drug holiday if they have been on them for 5 years, both investigators toldMedscape Orthopaedics.   (------Can you believe the verbiage??   How about everyone learn to be healthy to allow for a permanent drug holiday-----)

"These drugs are excellent," Dr. Rosenwasser said. "But women should take some time off of them. Exercise caution. Don't throw them away, but don't stay on them for long periods." (How does this guy sleep at night?)

Dr. Lane added that "bisphosphonates are wonderful for preventing fractures. At 5 years, however, go back and talk to your doctor and ask if you should continue the drug or take a rest period. This is what I would tell my patients. Nobody in my field would ever treat a patient past 5 years. (------Is he kidding??? What rock did he crawl out from under-----) We're never going to do that again because our information suggests that you need a rest period."  (-----How about recommending lifestyle changes that improve bone density naturally with NO SIDE EFFECTS!!    Not much profit in that huh doc?------)

It would also be a good idea for women who have been on bisphosphonates for more than 5 years to have a test to measure their bone turnover, Dr. Lane said.

However, this can be problematic for a number of reasons. Many physicians do not know how to interpret tests for bone turnover. (-----Big Surprise!----) The tests are controversial, and most insurance companies will not pay for them, "so it's a real problem right now," he said.

The American Society of Bone and Mineral Research has struck a task force on these atypical fractures and is in the process of developing a consensus statement to warn the public, Dr. Lane added. "The goal is to have this available by the fall of 2010, at least to give some guidelines to the public."  (----Why not wait until next spring to make a couple billion more----)

Approached for independent comment about these 2 studies, Thomas Moore, MD, director of trauma at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, agreed that there is increasing evidence that the long-term use of bisphosphonates can cause spontaneous transverse fractures, particularly in the femur in women.

"The question is whether or not the [US Food and Drug Administration] should put out some warnings about this particular clinical entity. I myself have seen this occur. Women are taking these bisphosphonates for osteoporosis, and in fact they do decrease hip fractures, but these new types of fractures represent a catastrophic complication that really needs to be looked at statistically, and appropriate warnings [need to] be put out."

Dr. Lane, Dr. Rosenwasser, and Dr. Moore have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.

American Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) 2010 Annual Meeting: Abstract 241, presented March 10, 2010; Abstract 339, presented March 11, 2010.


Dr. Sciame's Comments:   It is very sad when treating lifestyle diseases with drugs becomes so mainstream that people rarely question its necessity, methodology, or its rationality.  A healthy diet and lifestyle is simply the best way to improve the health of an individual.  The addition of toxic drugs into one's body for diseases caused by poor lifestyle choices will only make someone sicker in the long run.  At a time when health care costs are skyrocketing to the point that people are demanding free health care reform from the federal government, we can go a long way toward reducing costs by cleaning up our sick lifestyles.  


Any physician that does not make these recommendations is either lazy or incompetent and is directly contributing to the sick state of our nation.  It is up to the consumer (patient) to demand REAL solutions to health problems and not let their physician get away with just dealing a pill for every ill.