The Drug Rebound Effect
In our New Patient Orientation Class, one of the topics
of discussion is the facts about medication use that are rarely put into proper
context. Acknowledgment of the flaws in
the mindset of reactively treating symptoms and disease primarily through
pharmaceuticals segues into the prevalence of adverse reactions. Side effects should not be deemphasized in an
“oh, by the way” side bar to the dialogue about whether or not to take
recommended drugs. The dangers are very
real, with adverse reactions to medications the third leading cause of death in
the United States. When the last resort
is treated as the first option, bad things are prone to happen.
Given that the class is just an hour in length, only
specific details of the medication discussion are highlighted, but the
conversation could last for several hours.
An interesting question to ask about drugs, building on the information
provided in the Orientation, is how they work inside of your body to create
their desired results. An understanding
of the mechanism of action for medication may help you better comprehend the
mechanism of adverse reactions.
Simply put, drugs are designed to do one of two primary
things: speed up or slow down. For
constipation, as an example, medications are taken that stimulate the digestive
system to shift from first to third gear, speeding up the process of
elimination. For pain, conversely,
medications are taken to downshift the central nervous system’s activity,
slowing if not outright blocking the transmission of the alert signal from the
painful area to the brain.
All medications, regardless of type, have chemical
reactions internally that affect your nervous system – a fact that is important
to contextualizing why side effects are so common. Since the nerves supply the power that makes
your internal assembly line run, any substance that seeks to interfere with the
activity of your nerves (regardless of intent) runs the risk of throwing a
wrench into that system. Sometimes, the
wrench causes a minor problem and sometimes the wrench causes a catastrophic
problem; the spectrum of adverse reactions is variable and vast.
One of the most common side effects to medication use is
actually one that very few people know much about; it’s called “the rebound,”
which occurs when the body reacts symptomatically to the introduction of a drug
taken to reduce certain symptoms. Your body
is constantly seeking an adequate-to-optimal level of stability internally, a
harmony if you will among its 75 trillion cells while they each perform their
200,000 chemical reactions every split second.
Medication disrupts that inner desire for homeostasis, forcing your body
to adapt and sometimes the mere consumption of a drug prompts a more pronounced
adaptation that can trigger the very symptom that medication was taken to
eliminate.
There is a pattern to normal nerve activity; an EKG
measures it specifically in relation to the heart, to give you a frame of
reference. Like the waves gently
breaking against the sea shore on a beautiful day, that normal pattern accounts
for typical movements (walking, talking, use of your hands, etc.) and basic
functions (digestion, blinking, hearing, heartbeat, etc.). Part of the problem with the misalignment in
the upper neck is that, by compromising the brainstem, it throws off that
normal nerve pattern, similar to what you might see with waves crashing into
the beach on a stormy day. Harkening
back to the assembly line analogy, symptoms often arise from little more than
that disrupted pattern, which in and of itself unfavorably affects the system. Again, though, medication is like throwing a
wrench into the system, prompting a more impactful change in nerve activity
akin to the ocean massively swelling when a hurricane strikes.
Temporarily, the symptom may dull as the drug takes
effect, but once the body tries to reestablish the normal pattern in an effort
to resume internal harmony, there is a spike in nerve activity that often
brings the symptom back with a vengeance.
It can become a vicious cycle because, when symptoms return, the first
reaction is often to take more medication, even when in actuality it may be the
drug itself that is proliferating the symptom.
Long-term drug use sets the nerve activity into an abnormal pattern that
can be difficult to break regardless of the original cause of the symptom being
dealt with – like correcting the upper neck misalignment’s negative effect on
the brainstem and its foundational shifting of the body’s structural balance –
or medication use being curtailed up to several weeks prior.
Rebound effects are happening at an alarming rate despite
a distinct lack of awareness on the part of those prescribing medications. According to Dr. Stephen D. Silberstein, a
professor of neurology and director of the Jefferson Headache Center at Thomas
Jefferson University, at any given time, 3 million Americans suffer headaches brought
on just by taking pain relievers. Dr.
Silberstein states that “some doctors may not be aware that drugs they
recommend are causing a problem, not solving it” and that, actually, they may
inadvertently reinforce the idea that taking more medication or increasing the
drug dosage will improve the situation.
Common medications for everything from pain to
respiratory congestion to skin conditions to eye irritation have been known to
cause rebound effects. So, please be
aware of this phenomenon.
Sources: Harvard Medical School; Thoms Jefferson
University
Thinking good things for as always,
Dr. Chad
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