More Than Half of Americans are in Pain
More than half of Americans surveyed said they live with chronic or recurring pain, and just under half have had significant pain in the last two weeks, according to a new poll.
Chronic pain, which 19 percent said they had, was defined as pain that lasted three months or more. An additional 34 percent said they had recurrent pain, the survey by ABC News, USA Today, and Stanford University Medical Center found.
Six-in-10 participants rated their last bout with pain as moderate or severe. Back and knee pain were the most common afflictions, according to an ABC News account of the poll.
Four-in-10 Americans said pain interfered with their mood, daily activities, sleep, and ability to enjoy life.
-ABC News, USA Today
Dr. Keith & Laurie Nemec Comments on More Than Half of Americans are in Pain
According to this new poll, 53% of Americans are either in acute or chronic pain with the majority of it being back pain. It is actually higher than this when you take into account the fact that those who live in mild pain for a long time do not even realize they are in pain until they are relieved of it and can compare. It is like someone who is sitting in a tub of hot water and after a while it does not seem to be hot until they are taken out of it and then go back into it. It is interesting that the majority of the pain is in the back. This makes sense because 90% of all neck or back pain is visceral in origin which means it comes from organs and glands referring pain into the neck and back when they are inflamed, toxic, deficient and out of balance. Here are some examples:
Sinus problems refer pain into the neck.
Heart problems into the chest and middle back.
Stomach problems in between the shoulder blades.
Kidneys imbalance refers pain into the lower back.
Intestinal problems also refer pain into the lower back.
So what do you do to get rid of your pain?
We will answer this by stating first what you do not do. You do not take aspirin, Tylenol or any other pain relieving chemicals because:
1. They increase the risk of certain cancer (as the study shows)
2. They give you Leaky Gut Syndrome which opens the door to most all disease.
What is Leaky Gut Syndrome?
Leaky gut is exactly what it sounds like. The intestinal tract is like a fine screen or mesh, which only lets nutrients of a certain size through. The nutrients then pass into the hepatic portal blood vessels, which bring nutrients to the liver, your chemical detoxification plant.
In a leaky gut condition, the intestinal tract becomes inflamed and the selective permeability (letting only digested food particles through) breaks down. This allows the passage of not only normal digested nutrient building blocks (amino acids, fatty acids and simple sugars from carbohydrates), but also the passage of larger food particles, like larger chain proteins, fats and carbohydrates, and toxins that were never meant to pass through. This can be likened to a window screen. If the screen is functioning properly with no holes in it, air will pass through, but the flies, mosquitoes and other bugs will not. In leaky gut, the intestinal barrier becomes inflamed. Instead of only letting the digested broken down food particles through, the larger food particles and toxins enter causing the immune system to become weakened and over stimulated. This is like the screen that now has tears, making larger holes that allow all types of insects to get through.
This presents a few problems. Larger chain proteins can trigger not only intestinal irritation and inflammation, but also all kinds of allergies, immune and autoimmune problems, and inflammatory joint conditions like rheumatoid arthritis. Too much protein can also cause kidney damage, especially if it is not digested into its amino acid building blocks.
Leaky gut can also result in toxicity, since toxins leak through the “screen” of your intestinal wall (because of the larger holes produced by the inflammation.) These toxins ultimately end up in the liver, your chemical detox plant. Unfortunately, your liver is by then overburdened, and the toxins end up circulating throughout the body, causing havoc wherever they go. If the toxins deposit in the brain, you might have foggy thoughts, possible memory loss and/or confusion, and even the start of neurological disease like multiple sclerosis or Parkinson disease. If the toxins deposit in the joints, you will have arthritic-type pains. If the toxins deposit in organs that produce white blood cells (WBCs), your immune system will be weakened, making you more susceptible to illness, including cancer.
Toxicity is the primary cause of cancer because toxicity is the primary cause of a weakened immune system. Cancer cells form in your body daily, but your WBCs normally destroys them. But when toxicity weakens your immune system, your WBCs can’t do their job, giving cancer cells the opportunity to grow. They eventually form a little colony called a tumor, which WBCs have more trouble destroying. So do not let your defenses down.
What would happen if two armies came to fight, and one side laid down all its weapons? That army would be quickly destroyed. That’s why our immune system is to be highly regarded and guarded at all costs.
Now let us answer the question by saying what you do when you are in pain. You do two things:
1. Get healthy by living the Seven Basic Steps to Total Health™ everyday. By living these Seven Basic Steps you virtually eliminate all inflammation (which is the root of all disease) and heal all Leaky Gut Syndrome.
2. You pray. As the poll stated, prayer worked as effectively in reducing pain as prescription drugs. 90% polled said it worked well. 51% said it worked very well.