Q: I have had an upper respiratory infection for the entire winter. In previous years I took antibiotics, but this year nothing is helping me, in fact I feel worse. What can I do?

A: We are in a crisis as a nation regarding the substantial value that antibiotics have in preventing and killing bacterial origin disease. Penicillin given as 40,000 units a day for four day would destroy pneumococcal pneumonia in 1941. Today you could take 24 million units of penicillin a day and still die of pneumococcal meningitis. D. Harold C. Neu, of Columbia University in New York states that " bacteria that cause infection of the respiratory tract, skin, bladder, bowel, and blood are now resistant to virtually all of the older antibiotics. The extensive use of antibiotic in the community and hospitals has fueled the crisis"

Bacteria develop resistance to drugs when exposed to them for extended periods. Bacteria can also pass the genes for resistance from one type to another. A sort of information super-highway exists among bacteria that allows resistance to spread rapidly among bacteria that have not even been exposed to a particular antibiotic. These and other factors have caused medicine to take a halting look at the current way in which antibiotics are used.

It is time we treat the person, not necessarily the bacteria. It is more likely that your immune system is compromised in some manner, making you more susceptible to infection. Diet, nutrition, lifestyle, environment, social and psychological factors all influence the immune system in significant ways. When unfavorable changes occur in these areas, immune function may suffer and bacteria may more easily proliferate.

Chiropractors correct subluxations which research indicates severely deters immune function. A balanced nervous system means a better balanced immune system.

More or better antibiotics are not the solutions. Re-evaluate all areas of your life to determine where there may be a chronic stress. If you are getting the same disease state every year, you are obviously conditioned either mentally, physically or chemically. You probably hold the key to the cause of your re-occurring illness and if you look close enough you can get better grasp of it.

Quote of the week: " Our greatest fortune lies in our inner vault. Within is everything we could ever need" Anonymous