As some of you may
know, naturopathic doctors recently received prescribing rights in
Ontario. BC Naturopaths have been prescribing
for over 1 year now and have access to almost all prescription medication. We have yet to see what this will mean for
Ontario NDs – BUT – I spend last week being retaught Pharmacology by 2
pharmacists from BC in preparation for what is to come. Some of what was taught surprised me to such
an extent I feel compelled to share it with you, so expect the next few blogs
to be from that course.
The first surprise I
got was that these PHARMACISTS felt that the FLU SHOT was a waste of time and money. We examined
literature from the Cochrane library, the medical community’s number one go to
for literature reviews to come to this
conclusion. So, let’s look at the numbers
together and make a conclusion.
The
likelihood of getting the flu each year is about 5 % in adults (1-10%)
The
flu vaccination will decrease your chance of getting the flu for adults by 60 -
75%, depending on the study you read.
This
means if you get the vaccination, your risk of getting the flu will decrease
from 5% to 1% at best. (CD001269*)
22-25%of
people who get the vaccination will experience adverse effects, such as flu
like symptoms and headaches.
In
patients with asthma there was shown to be no reduction in exacerbations caused
by influenza.
In
patients with COPD there WAS a slight reduction in exacerbation. CD002733
There was no benefit for children
under the age of 2 (CD 004879)
In
elderly, some benefits was shown but results are of poor quality and there is
no guidance regarding safety, efficacy or effectiveness for people over the age
of 65.
So the data is
supporting what we at Natliving believed all along, live a healthy lifestyle
and boost your immune system naturally
if necessary.
Thanks for reading,
Dr. Debbie Smrz and
the Natlving team
* references the study in the Cochrane
Library
