A Sad Example of What Is Wrong with American Medicine

Tuesday, July 1

On my radio show on Tuesday, July 1, I fielded a call that got me hopping mad. The caller, a gentleman of 52, was suffering from shoulder problems and was scheduled for rotator cuff surgery.

The surgeon, the caller stated, had told him to "stop all his vitamins" preparatory to surgery. "Whatever you're taking, just get off it," the surgeon had told his patient.

Additionally, the caller wanted to check with me if what the surgeon recommended he take was correct. For post-surgical pain, the surgeon prescribed the medication Celebrex, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), also known as a COX-2 inhibitor.

I told the caller that I disagreed with the surgeon on both counts, on the issue of the vitamins, as well as on the medication.

I wrote an entire chapter in my recent book "How to Talk With Your Doctor" on the role supplements play in enhancing surgical recovery. I point out a few instances of supplements that might be inadvisable in some surgical settings, and I provide a detailed list of helpful supplements, with scientific references.

I also have a section on this website entitled Supplements for Surgery in which I list supplements that are appropriate for surgery. Additionally, I formulated Advanced Systemic Enzymes specifically to treat trauma and inflammation--it's ideal for pre- and post-surgery. My experiences detailed on my Hip Blog are a testament to the healing power of nutrients for me personally when I made a comeback from two orthopedic surgeries.

The surgeon's ignorant ban on pre-surgery nutritional supplementation flies in the face of his surgical training, where nutrition is emphasized for proper healing. Like many doctors, he's poisoning the well for patients desirous of helping to facilitate their healing process.

But what ticked me off even more was the surgeon's misplaced recommendation that the patient take the anti-inflammatory Celebrex at the time of shoulder surgery. He should know his own surgical literature better.

In research presented at the June 25, 2004 meeting of the American Orthopedic Society for Sports Medicine in Quebec City, it was demonstrated that NSAIDs interfered with healing when given to rats who underwent rotator cuff surgery. The research was performed at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City.

Rats were divided into three groups, and then given either indomethacin, Celebrex, or no treatment at the time of their operations. The investigators found that the tendon to bone healing in the rats treated with the two drugs was "distinctly less robust" than in the control group. I'm not a surgeon, and even I know that! http://www.scienceblog.com/community/older/2004/4/20043531.shtml

Folks, here's an example of how obsolete medical beliefs prevent patients from receiving state-of-the-art medical treatment. "Intelligent Medicine" means deploying the best of high-tech medicine together with the best of natural therapies in pursuit of clinical excellence. Nixing supplements and prescribing counter-productive medication, as this surgeon did, is just bad medicine. Some of you may not believe this, but I hate it when I'm right about doctors giving the wrong advice, because it means that a lot of people out there are suffering because of medical bum steers.

(Not to mention that a high percentage of rotator cuff surgeries are unsuccessful, and leave the patient with residual pain and immobility. Many shoulder problems can be alleviated with a proper program of physical therapy or acupuncture, teamed with the right program of supportive nutrients.)