My Child Has a Fever

Most people automatically think that a fever is something bad that should be lowered as quickly as possible.

Not so fast!

Fevers are generally beneficial. It’s important to remember that by itself a fever isn’t an illness. It's usually a symptom of some underlying problem. Often, it’s a natural way the body responds to fight viral and bacterial infections. Rushing in to artificially lower the body’s temperature can actually serve to lengthen the time it takes the body to do the needed work.

Most fevers are usually not cause for concern until they reach a temperature of 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius) and only then if the fever lasts for three days or longer.

That said, it doesn’t mean you should ignore a fever and take a cavalier attitude. A fever means the body is in a battle and has “set the thermostat a bit higher,” using temperature to help subdue the enemy. Careful you don’t throw open the doors and windows and force it to work even harder.

It also means it’s time for a chiropractic adjustment!

Once You Go...

It’s probably one of the most common myths. It’s a wrongheaded idea that keeps a lot of Denver residents from benefiting from chiropractic. They’re afraid that they will somehow get “addicted” to chiropractic adjustments. It’s crazy.

It’s true that many of our patients choose to come in on a periodic basis when they’re feeling great. They don’t have to. They want to. For several reasons:

- The early detection of subluxations
- Avoid a relapse of their original problem
- Optimize their performance and stay well

These are choices patients make, based on their understanding of what we do and how they value their health. I guess it’s mostly about priorities. Each of us gets to choose how much attention we want to give our health. We honor that choice.

That’s why we never pressure patients. Sure, we explain the benefits of periodic checkups, but our job is offer the finest chiropractic care possible, and then it’s up to each patient to decide how much of it they want.

Drug Industry Depletes Name Supply

US pharmaceutical marketing experts have announced that names for new medications will be completely exhausted by 2007.

“Drugs often have several names,” explains spokesperson Mario Johnson. “When a drug is first discovered the chemical name is used. But it’s usually too complex or difficult to pronounce for general use. So, every new drug consumes at least two names. Thus the impending shortage.”

At first glance, you’d think it would be easy to make up new drug names. Just throw some nonsense vowels and consonants together and end it with -am, -aine, -ane, -ate, -ene, -in, -ine or -ol.

Yet, experts fear that with so many new drugs in the pipeline, this strategy will be exhausted by early 2007. “It's a difficult situation,” continues Johnson. “We’re quickly reaching the point that the Internet community faced when a lack of available domain names stood in the way of continued growth.”

Confusion over the similarity of drug names, either written or spoken, plus the confusion between similar brand names is compounded by illegible handwriting. An estimated 1.3 million people in the United States alone are injured each year from medication errors. A recently documented case involved a patient who needed an injection of Narcan but received Norcuron and went into cardiac arrest.

Industry experts at the Drug Name Expo 2006 have suggested that veterinarians could slow the exhaustion of suitable names by adding ".cat," ".dog," or ".horse" to their medications' names, freeing up thousands of suitable names for human use. However, veterinarians countered by suggesting that human medications could be similarly altered with ".baby," ".infant," ".man," and ".woman" extensions.