Many people take over-the-counter drugs and pain-relievers at the first sign of a cold. These remedies can all have negative effects on your body. They are far from harmless.

For example, aspirin can make your stomach bleed every time you take it. In fact, all the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (Motrin, etc.) are hard on your stomach, liver and kidneys. People who drink a little alcohol daily and then take the recommended dosage of Tylenol are in grave danger of damaging their liver.

A man named Antonio Benedi had to have an emergency liver transplant from taking two tablets of Tylenol every 4 hours one weekend for the flu. He had a habit of drinking two or three glasses of wine with dinner most nights. He didn't drink while he took the Tylenol, but his liver failed nonetheless several days later. He won a lawsuit against the McNeil Company that makes Tylenol and used the money to take out full-page ads in major newspapers to warn others. It came out in the trial that the McNeil Company had known for 10 years of this danger but had suppressed the information. Instead, they advertised that Tylenol was the safest type of pain reliever you can buy.

Research has also shown that permanent kidney damage can be caused by as little as a 1,000 doses of Acetaminophen in a lifetime! (Perneger, T. V., Whelton P. K., & Klag M.J. (1994). Risk of kidney failure associated with the use of acetaminophen, aspirin, and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. N. Engl. J. Med., 331(25): 1675). None of this vital information seems to get out to the public even though we should be warned about these products. They are not harmless little pills that can be taken like candy.

People dealing with chronic pain and arthritis are usually the ones who abuse these drugs. Research in Germany showed that pain from all forms of arthritis respond well to oral enzymes taken on an empty stomach. Headaches are caused by a number of different factors that can be sorted out and alleviated. An aspirin or acetaminophen deficiency does not cause them!

If you get in the habit of taking too many pain relievers for your headache, you can develop "analgesic rebound syndrome." That’s the phenomena of getting a headache every time you don't take the drug. It is difficult and painful to treat if you let your headaches get that far out of hand. The real solution for a headache is to get to the cause of the problem and fix it, not continue to take pain-relieving drugs.

Headaches of any kind are not normal and are caused by something that usually can be fixed with natural treatments. Even self-induced hangover-type headaches are caused by dehydration and liver toxicity. Consuming lots of water and minerals before you drink alcohol and then drinking lots of water after you drink alcohol can prevent them. You may have to stumble out of bed a lot during the night to go to the bathroom, but you'll feel much better in the morning!

Besides dehydration, headaches can be caused by hormone imbalances, misaligned spinal vertebrae, myofascial trigger points in the neck and upper back, jaw joint misalignment (TMJ), allergies, sinus infections, viral and/or bacterial infections, food sensitivities, etc. All of these problems have a drug free solution that won't destroy your liver, kidneys or stomach. We can help you figure out the cause of the problem and then alleviate it instead of covering it up with non-prescription drugs.

There are TWO basic approaches to toxicity. One, avoid toxic chemicals. Two, detoxify. The Compounder offers guidance in both of these approaches.