An epidural injection involves inserting a needle into the back between 2 vertebrae. The needle can be advanced to the space between a long spinal ligament (the Ligamentum Flavum) and the tough material that lines the spinal canal (called the … Continue reading →
A nerve block is an injection of local anesthetic close to a nerve. The drug attaches to the nerve and blocks any nerve signals travelling to or from the brain. The blockage occurs where the needle is inserted. Depending on … Continue reading →
Jan Carstoniu (J) responds to a question from a participant (P) during one of our sessions. This was condensed and edited from an audio recording. P: I have a question. Last week you and I spoke about injections that people … Continue reading →
Just because a treatment of some kind may produce results doesn’t mean the theory behind that treatment is true. Psychoanalysis certainly helps some people but at least some of Freud’s theories have been surpassed by evidence-based science. I’ve seen positive … Continue reading →
Using drugs is like using doctors. When done correctly, you can benefit, sometimes greatly. Done poorly, you’ll just add to your problems. Be rational. Act wisely. At the beginning of this series, I listed 3 questions I ask myself about … Continue reading →
If you want to be a carpenter, you’d better learn how to use a hammer and saw. If you’re going to be a doctor, pharmacist, nurse, naturopath or other health care provider, you’d better learn how to prescribe, dispense or … Continue reading →
Please forgive me for paraphrasing the title of an article about drug use published in the humor magazine the National Lampoon more than 30 years ago. I couldn’t resist the temptation. Opioids are a class of drugs that are either … Continue reading →
What if there was a drug that could completely relieve your pain but carried a 1 in a hundred thousand chance of killing you? Would you try it? What if the chances of death were 1 in a million or … Continue reading →
There are really only two main ways to determine if a drug does what it is supposed to do. One way is to give the drug to people and observe what happens. This method has been used for as long … Continue reading →
I’ve already defined as a drug, anything you swallow, inject, inhale or absorb through body tissue to modify some mental or physical function. (See Drug Therapy). Drugs work at the molecular level. Regardless of whether a drug has been synthesized … Continue reading →
The very word drug, immediately conjures a multitude of connotations that reflect our many views of the pharmaceutical and herbal substances we ingest. We characterize drugs as hard, soft, performance enhancing, mind expanding, toxic, synthetic, natural, addictive, dangerous and miraculous. … Continue reading →