Probiotics In Hospitals - Standard Procedure?

The Annals of Internal Medicine recently released an article regarding the use of prophylactic probiotics in patients with C. Diff-associated diarrhea. It found that "patients at risk of Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea had a 66% lower infection rate when they received prophylactic probiotics. Treatment with multispecies probiotics products was associated with a 75% reduction in the risk of C. difficile diarrhea, whereas single-species products reduced the risk by 50%. Serious adverse events were uncommon in patients who received probiotics."

Antibiotics have a recognized potential to disrupt gastrointestinal flora and predispose patients to opportunistic infections of the gastrointestinal tract. C. difficile is the pathogenic culprit that most often takes advantage of the breakdown in colonization resistance resulting from antibiotic treatment. The spectrum of C. difficile-related disease ranges from asymptomatic colonization to potentially fatal infection.

In developed countries, C. difficile is the leading cause of hospital-acquired infectious diarrheal disease. The typical patient is an older, hospitalized individual treated with broad-spectrum antibiotics. Since early in the previous decade, the frequency and severity of C. difficile-associated diarrhea have increased dramatically, including almost a twofold increase in the case fatality rate in the U.S., according to the background information.

http://www.medpagetoday.com/InfectiousDisease/GeneralInfectiousDisease/35974

A Solution To Fibromyalgia?

Fibromyalgia is commonly described as an "idiopathic" syndrome most notably distinguished by a combination of:
 - widespread body pain,
 - numerous "tender points" at specific body locations.

There are many associated complaints including, but not limited to:
 - fatigue
 - headaches
 - numbness
 - altered sleep patterns
 - gastrointestinal disturbances
 - depression/anxiety

The standard medical treatment usually consists of various medications, some of which are advertised on television, and include trade names such as Cymbalta and Lyrica. Both of these medications carry significant warnings and side effects.

As a practitioner of functional medicine, the notion that fibromyalgia is both "idiopathic" (without cause) and can only be treated symptomatically is anathema. The root of, not only fibromyalgia, but other so-called chronic diseases such as irritable bowel syndrome and chronic fatigue syndrome is based in bowel health. Just as your grandmother probably once told you, "you are what you eat."

In innumerable patients that are treated at Rehabilitation & Spinal Care of Rockford bowel health is compromised. We have to remember that our bowels, and specifically the small intestine, have billions of bacteria and the ratio of good bacteria to bad bacteria must be kept in check. Many patients with the aforementioned diseases have a condition termed small intestine bacterial overgrowth. When the small bowel is inundated with pathologic bacteria, there is overproduction and absorption of bacterial cellular debris. Through a combination of cellular and micro-biochemical reactions this can lead to many chronic pain states.

The solution to this disease, and many others, is conservative, safe and effective. Call the office today to learn the secrets to curing your chronic pain diseases.

 When patients are asked about the medications they use to help with pain, the most common answers typically are ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin), acetaminophen (Tylenol), and acetylsalicylic acid (Aspirin). There are risk factors associated with each of these medications, including but not limited to gastrointestinal pain and bleeding or in severe cases, death. With regard to aspirin, the use of white willow bark (WWB) has been demonstrated multiple times to be more effective and safer for treatment of musculoskeletal pain. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial of 210 patients with moderate-to-severe low back pain, WWB showed analgesic (pain-relieving) effects within one week of treatment. 

 In another study comparing the WWB with (now-recalled) Vioxx, treatments for low back pain were equally effective, yet WWB was safer and 40% less expensive.

 It is essential to note that while the salicylates present in WWB were the original source for pharmaceutical manufacture of aspirin, to classify them together clinically would be a mistake. Aspirin has two primary effects via three primary mechanisms of action:

1). anti-coagulant effects mediated by the permanent inactivation of an enzyme termed thromboxane-A synthase. This inhibition leads to the inactivation of the pro-coagulant Thromboxane A2.

2). anti-prostaglandin action 

3). antiprostaglandin formation which leads to inactivation of COX-2 gene transcription.

 White Willow Bark does not exert the first two effects as aspirin does, but it does exert the latter effect, that of COX-2 Inhibition. This leads to the inactivation of the cylco-oxygenase system, a pro-inflammatory cytokine. A daily dose of 240 mg of salicin has shown to be safe and salicylates are widely present in fruits, vegetables, herbs and spices and are partly responsible for the anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory and health-promoting benefits of fruit and vegetable consumption.