Steroids No Better for Sciatica Pain Than Placebo

Sciatica affects about 1 in 10 people in their lifetime, researchers say. For this new study, 269 people with sciatica were randomly assigned to take an oral steroid (prednisone) or a placebo for 15 days. The participants were followed for up to a year.

“When we compared the prednisone to placebo, there was a modest improvement in function,” said study researcher Dr. Harley Goldberg, director of spine care services at Kaiser Permanente San Jose Medical Center in California. People reported they could go about their daily activities somewhat better than before.

However, “when we compared the pain [between the two groups], there was actually no difference,” he said.

Usual treatments for herniated disk-related sciatica range from self-care, steroid pills and anti-inflammatory medications, physical therapy, or epidural steroid injections, Goldberg said. When all else fails, surgery is an option, he explained.

This new study found that after a year, the likelihood of spine surgery was no less for those who took prednisone than for those who took a placebo, the researchers reported in the May 19 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The study, which ran from 2008 to 2013, included adults who had had the radiating leg and buttock pain for up to three months and said it affected their daily lives. All had a herniated disk, which triggers the pain, confirmed by an MRI.

Side effects, such as insomnia, increased appetite and nervousness, were twice as common at three weeks in the steroid group. Nearly half reported at least one side effect, compared to about one-quarter of the placebo group.

For anyone suffering from sciatica, Dr. Nick Shamie, chief of orthopedic spine surgery at UCLA Medical Center, Santa Monica, said a specialist’s evaluation and guidance is crucial. “Have them guide you,” he said.

He cautioned against rushing to surgery, pointing to a 2006 study, also published in JAMA, that found sciatica patients were no better two years after surgery in terms of functioning and pain than those who did not have surgery.

Wisdom Wednesday: Inositol

Inositol is a “vitamin like” substance that is found is nature and can be manufactured in laboratories. It was at one time considered a B vitamin. However, because the human body can make inositol from glucose, that vitamin status was revoked. Mice cannot make inositol and a deficiency in the diet causes mouse alopecia.

By comparison, vitamin D is also made in the human body just by exposure to sunlight. It is converted from cholesterol rather than glucose. It really is a hormone, not a vitamin. However, the nutrition board still considers vitamin D a vitamin. Even the world of vitamins is political.

Inositol is used to treat neuropathy, depression (especially bipolar disorder), polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) and multiple sclerosis (MS). MS patients are unable to synthesize inositol and the addition of inositol to the diet dramatically reduces MS symptoms.

The dosage of inositol can be quite high. For PCOS, 1200mg per day is a typical dose while 18 grams per day is often used in treating MS.

Inositol opens the blood brain barrier, allowing more nutrients to enter the nervous system. This often facilitates repair of neuropathy. Cocaine dealers often cut their coke with inositol. It enhances the effects and speed of the drug on the brain, while dramatically improving profits. Be aware if you purchase a large container of inositol at the health food store, the clerk is going to assume you are a drug dealer.

‘Thrifty’ Metabolism Might Sabotage Weight Loss Efforts

A new study confirms what many frustrated dieters already suspect: Your metabolism might make it tougher for you to lose weight than others.

“The results corroborate the idea that some people who are obese may have to work harder to lose weight due to metabolic differences,” said lead author Dr. Martin Reinhardt, a postdoctoral fellow at the Phoenix Epidemiology and Clinical Research Branch of the U.S. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.

“But biology is not destiny. Balanced diet and regular physical activity over a long period can be very effective for weight loss,” he added in an institute news release.

The small laboratory study included 12 obese men and women who underwent tests to assess their body’s energy use in response to a day of fasting. This was followed by six weeks of reduce calorie intake.

After accounting for factors such as age, sex and race, the researchers found that participants who lost the least amount of weight during the six weeks of reducing calorie intake were those whose metabolism decreased the most during fasting.

These people have what the researchers called a “thrifty” metabolism, as opposed to the “spendthrift” metabolism in participants who lost the most weight and whose metabolism decreased the least during fasting.

Vitamin Supplement Linked to Reduction in Skin Cancer Risk

A cheap and easily available vitamin supplement appears to reduce a person’s risk of skin cancer, new research contends.

A fomr of vitamin B3 called nicotinamide is linked to a reduction of non-melanoma skin cancers by 23% when taken twice daily, according to Australian researchers.

“It’s safe, it’s almost obscenely inexpensive, and it’s already widely commercially available,” said author Dr. Diona Damian, a professor of dermatology at the University of Sydney.

Nicotinamide costs less than $10 for a month’s supply and is available a pharmacies and health food stores, she said.
However, more study is needed before researchers can say whether everyone would benefit from the supplement. “It’s not something we’d recommend at this stage for the general population,” Damian said.

The study is slated for presentation May 30 at the upcoming annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. Funding for this study was provided by the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia.

Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the United States, with about 5 million cases treated every year at a cost of about $4.8 billion, Damian said.

Ultraviolet rays from the sun cause most skin cancers by damaging the DNA of skin cells, Damian said.
The clinical trial involved nearly 400 high-risk patients who’d had a least two non-melanoma skin cancers during the previous five years. Their average age was 66 and two-thirds were men. Many also had chronic health conditions, such as arthritis, high blood pressure, or heart or lung disease, according to the researchers.

Wisdom Wednesday: Iodide (I)

Iodine (I2), present in food as iodide (I) and other nonelemental forms, was linked to the presence of goiter, an enlarged thyroid gland, during World War I. Men drafted from areas such as the Great Lakes region of the United States had a much higher rate of goiter than men from some other areas of the country. The soil in these areas is very low in iodide. During the 1920’s, researchers in Ohio found that goiter could be prevented in children by feeding them low doses of iodide for an extended period. Following the lead of the Swiss, American companies began adding iodide to table salt.

Early in the 1960’s, published research linked thyroid disease to overconsumption of iodine. The Wolff-Chaikoff studies (later proved to be fraudulent) corresponded with the push by Knoll Pharmaceuticals to corner the thyroid market with Synthroid. Synthroid, introduced in 1955 would go on to supply 90% of the thyroid medication worldwide by the 1990’s. Today it is still the third most commonly prescribed drug in the U.S.

It also is one of only a handful of drugs that was never approved by the FDA. After 46 years on the market, the FDA finally demanded that Abbott (who bought Knoll) to apply for FDA approval in 2001.

Following the Wolff research, iodine was subsequently removed from baked goods. Although it remains in iodized salt, physicians have been preaching reduced salt intake for years. Subsequently, the number of underactive thyroid cases in the U.S. skyrocketed.

Iodine supplementation began to find favor in the alternative health community during the 1990’s. Dr. Abraham and Dr. Brownstein have pioneered treatment regimens and published several research papers on the topic. Please visit www.optimox.com and look for the tab “iodine research” to review their studies. Dr. Brownstein has written several books on the thyroid, including a New York Times best seller “Iodine: Why you need it. Why you can’t live without it”.

Insomniacs may Be More Sensitive to Pain

People with insomnia or poor sleep quality may be less tolerant of pain, new research suggests.

The more frequent and severe the insomnia, the greater the sensitivity to pain, the Norwegian study showed. Additionally, the researchers noted that people with insomnia who also suffer from chronic pain have an even lower threshold for physical discomfort.

The study, led by Borge Sivertsen, of the Norwegian Institute of Public Health in Bergen, involved more than 10,000 adults. The study participants all underwent a standard test of pain sensitivity by dunking their hands in a bath of cold water for 106 seconds.

The volunteers were also asked about their sleep quality. The researchers also took into account other factors that might affect pain tolerance, such as recurring pain, depression and anxiety.

They found that nearly one-third of participants were able to keep their hand in the cold water for the entire test.

Those with insomnia, however, were more likely to remove their hand from the water early. In fact 42% of people with insomnia pulled their hand out before the test ended, compared to 31% of those without this sleep disorder, the study published in the journal PAIN revealed.

People with more severe cases of insomnia had greater pain sensitivity, suggesting tolerance of pain drops along with sleep quality. People with insomnia and chronic pain were more than twice as likely to have reduced tolerance to pain, the research revealed.

Is It a Cold or an Allergy?

It can be difficult for parents to tell whether their child has a cold or hay fever, but there are ways to distinguish between the two, experts say.

“Runny, stuffy or itchy nose, sneezing, coughing, fatigue, and headaches can all be symptoms of both allergies and colds, but when parents pay close attention to minor details they will be able to tell the difference,” Dr. Michelle Lieri, a pediatric allergist at Cincinnati Childrens’s Hospital Medical Center, said in a hospital news release.

“Children who have springtime or fall allergies have much more itching of their noses; they often have fits of sneezing and usually rub their noses in an upward motion,” Lieri explained. “They also complain about an itchy, scratchy throat or itchy eyes, whereas with a cold, they don’t.”

Nasal discharge is usually clear if someone has allergies and yellowish if someone has a cold, she added.

If children have seasonal allergies, Lieri offers the following tips to help ease symptoms:
Keep home and car windows closed and change air conditioner filters every month.

Have children wash their face, hands and hair after they’ve been outside, they should change their clothes. The clothing should be washed to remove pollen and other allergens.