A Nation Running from Pain: What Can Be Done About It

By Dr. Mercola

According to the most recent statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), lethal heroin overdoses nearly quadrupled between 2000 and 2013 in the US, escalating from 0.7 to 2.7 deaths per 100,000 during this timeframe.

Heroin-related deaths were nearly four times more prevalent among men than women in 2013, and lethal overdoses were highest among Caucasians between the ages of 25 and 44. The greatest increase in heroin-related deaths was seen after 2010.

As noted by Medical News Today:1

"During the period investigated, the researchers found an average increase in heroin-related drug-poisoning deaths of six percent per year from 2000 through to 2010.

From 2010 through 2013, the average increase was a staggering 37 percent per year..."

Prescription Painkillers Are the New Gateway Drugs

What many fail to realize is that this trend is actually fueled by legal drug addiction. The reason for the resurgence of heroin is in large part due to it being less expensive than its prescription counterparts.

Addictive prescription drugs such as Vicodin, OxyContin, Percocet, codeine, and Fentora, all of which are opioids (derivatives of opium) are widely overprescribed for pain.

Many painkiller addicts also turn to heroin when their tolerance level surpasses their allotted prescription dosage, or when they're no longer allowed to refill their prescription.

According to previous statistics, prescriptions for opioid painkillers have risen by a staggering 300 percent over the past decade.2 As of 2012, 259 million prescriptions for opioids and other narcotic painkillers were written3 in the US, and these drugs actually claim far more lives than heroin does.

In 2010, prescription painkillers were responsible for 16,600 deaths; heroin was involved in about 3,000.4 By 2013, the number of heroin deaths had increased to 8,257,5 but as noted in the featured article:6

"Although heroin-related drug-poisoning deaths have increased sharply in recent years, the overall rate is still considerably lower than that for opioid analgesics.

In addition, NIDA [National Institute on Drug Abuse] suggest that the abuse of prescription opioids such as Oxycontin and Vicodin could be the first step toward heroin abuse for many people."

Dr. Andrew Kolodny, chief medical officer at a drug treatment center called Phoenix House has also previously spoken out on this issue, noting that:7

"Heroin use is increasing because we have an epidemic of opioid addiction (caused by overexposure of our population to painkillers) and not enough has been done to expand access to treatment in communities hit hardest."

Financial Conflicts of Interest Fuel Narcotic Prescription Rates

Despite dramatic increases in prescriptions, two recent papers assert that no solid evidence can be found in the medical literature supporting the long-term safety and effectiveness of narcotic painkillers.

Many suffering from chronic pain end up using painkillers for years on end, yet there are no studies longer than one year on record. Most trials do not go past six weeks.

There's also a lack of standardized trials evaluating the side effects of opioid use, which is the "golden standard" of medical science-based evidence.  With such blatant lack of safety and effectiveness backing their use, why are so many people getting prescriptions for narcotic painkillers?

Even pregnant women are being prescribed these highly addictive and dangerous drugs!  According to one recent study8,9 more than 14 percent of pregnant women were prescribed opioid drugs during their pregnancy, despite the risks for birth defects and other pregnancy-related problems.10

Not surprisingly, financial conflicts of interest appear to be part of the answer. As reported by Reading Eagle:11

"The two papers,12,13 published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, highlight a key issue in one of the major medical controversies of the last decade: how America got thrust into an opioid epidemic...

The stories... revealed that behind that surge in opioid prescribing was a network of pain organizations, doctors, and researchers that pushed for expanded use of the drugs while taking in millions of dollars from the companies that made them."

Antidepressants Are Also Widely Overprescribed

A recent article in The New York Times14 penned by Psychiatrist Julie Holland highlights another disturbing trend, namely that of medicating away our emotional pain. While men tend to be more prone to get hooked on painkillers, women are more apt to fall into the antidepressant drug trap. Dr. Holland writes:

"Sales of antidepressants and antianxiety meds have been booming in the past two decades, and they've recently been outpaced by an antipsychotic, Abilify, that is the No. 1 seller among all drugs in the United States, not just psychiatric ones. As a psychiatrist practicing for 20 years, I must tell you, this is insane..."

According to Dr. Holland, one in four American women is on a psychiatric drug, as is one in seven men. And, while some are helped by these drugs, many are not. In fact, most simply do not need them, and are needlessly placing their health at risk, as these drugs come with a laundry list of serious side effects.

It's also well worth noting that researchers have concluded there is very little evidence that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs, such as Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft, and others) have any benefit to people with mild to moderate depression, and that they actually do not work any better than a placebo.

"People who don't really need these drugs are trying to medicate a normal reaction to an unnatural set of stressors: lives without nearly enough sleep, sunshine, nutrients, movement and eye contact, which is crucial to us as social primates..." Dr. Holland writes.

The new, medicated normal is at odds with women's dynamic biology; brain and body chemicals are meant to be in flux. To simplify things, think of serotonin as the 'it's all good' brain chemical. Too high and you don't care much about anything; too low and everything seems like a problem to be fixed.

In the days leading up to menstruation, when emotional sensitivity is heightened, women may feel less insulated, more irritable, or dissatisfied. I tell my patients that the thoughts and feelings that come up during this phase are genuine, and perhaps it's best to re-evaluate what they put up with the rest of the month, when their hormone and neurotransmitter levels are more likely programmed to prompt them to be accommodating to others' demands and needs."

Being Emotionally Numb Is Hardly Healthy...

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) enhance serotonin transmission in your brain, but as Dr. Holland notes, higher serotonin levels does not necessarily equate to improved emotional health... While SSRIs can remove feelings of anxiety, they can also numb you both emotionally and physically—in fact, reduced libido is a common side effect. Also, antidepressants do not actually boost positive emotions; they merely blunt the negative ones. At first glance, this may sound appealing, but there's a price to pay for numbing your emotional repertoire across the board. As noted by Dr. Holland:

"Some people on SSRIs have also reported less of many other human traits: empathy, irritation, sadness, erotic dreaming, creativity, anger, expression of their feelings, mourning, and worry... At higher doses, SSRI's make it difficult to cry. They can also promote apathy and indifference... If the serotonin levels of women are constantly, artificially high, they are at risk of losing their emotional sensitivity with its natural fluctuations...

Change comes from the discomfort and awareness that something is wrong; we know what's right only when we feel it. If medicated means complacent, it helps no one. When we are overmedicated, our emotions become synthetic. For personal growth, for a satisfying marriage, and for a more peaceful world, what we need is more empathy, compassion, receptivity, emotionality, and vulnerability, not less. We need to stop labeling our sadness and anxiety as uncomfortable symptoms, and to appreciate them as a healthy, adaptive part of our biology." [Emphasis mine]

Spike in Suicide Rate Blamed on Recession

Suicide rates among middle-aged Americans have also risen sharply over the past few years. According to a recent paper15,16 published in of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, stress from job, financial, and/or legal problems played a role in nearly 38 percent of suicides committed by middle-aged Americans in 2010. According to lead author Katherine Hempstead,17 director of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Center for State Health Policy at Rutgers University in Princeton:

"The middle-aged bear the brunt of economic stress associated with a downturn. They're the bread-winner groups who are raising kids, paying for college, planning for their retirement, and supporting their elderly parents."

The study urges employers to become more aware of the impact layoffs can have on their employees, particularly middle-aged employees who do not have very many years left in the job market. As noted by MedicineNet.com:

"Human resources departments and managers should be aware that layoffs can trigger suicides, and be prepared to get people the help they need. 'When somebody is facing termination from their job, that would be a key time to understand those individuals may be at risk for suicide,' [Dr. Christine Moutier, chief medical officer of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention] said. Friends and family of a person undergoing financial problems should also be on the lookout for warning signs of suicide -- talking about suicide, giving away prized possessions, withdrawal and isolation -- and reach out if they believe the person needs help..."

Red Flags: Is Someone You Know Suicidal?

If someone close to you has recently endured a hardship, or you have noticed a change in their behavior, how can you tell when ordinary stress or sadness has progressed to a potentially suicidal level? Besides straightforward or "sideways" comments about not wanting to live any longer, some of the red flags that a person has a high risk for self-harm include:

Acquiring a weapon Hoarding medicationNo plan for the future Putting affairs in orderMaking or changing a willGiving away personal belongings Mending grievancesChecking on insurance policiesWithdrawing from people

If you think someone is suicidal, do not leave him or her alone. A person who appears suicidal needs immediate professional help. Help the person to seek immediate assistance from their doctor or the nearest hospital emergency room, or call 911. Eliminate access to firearms or other potential suicide aids, including unsupervised access to medications.

If you are feeling desperate or have any thoughts of suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, a toll-free number 1-800-273-TALK (8255), or call 911, or simply go to your nearest Hospital Emergency Department.

A Nation Running from Pain...

When you start looking at the big picture, it becomes rather evident that Americans are running from pain—both emotional and physical—and have bought the lie that happiness and comfort can be induced by chemical substances... All of the statistics covered in this article point to the fact that the US is a nation in crisis, and we're looking for solutions in the wrong places. Instead of facing our pains and dissatisfactions head on, we're suppressing them in order to keep going "as usual." The only ones getting ahead right now is the drug companies. Most everyone else is getting a raw deal...

Depression and physical pain often go hand in hand; the good news is that by addressing depression, you can oftentimes achieve pain reduction as well, and vice versa (if you happen to suffer from both). Another piece of good news is that there are many non-drug alternatives out there that are far safer, and often as or more effective than drugs, and this applies both to pain reduction and depression. For a list of non-drug alternatives specifically for pain relief, please see my previous article, "For Back Pain or Headache, Painkillers Do More Harm Than Good." I'll also close with a brief section on medical cannabis, below, which is a viable option for increasing numbers of people these days, in states that have legalized its use. Following is a list of mind-body techniques that can help ease both pain and depression.

Diet Foods have an immense impact on your body and your brain, and eating whole foods as described in my optimized nutrition plan will best support your mental and physical health. Avoiding sugar (particularly processed fructose) will help normalize your insulin and leptin levels, which is another important aspect of depression. Sugar causes chronic inflammation, which disrupts your body's normal immune function and can wreak havoc on your brain.

Sugar also suppresses a key growth hormone called BDNF (brain derived neurotrophic factor), which promotes healthy brain neurons. BDNF levels are critically low in people with depression, which animal models suggest may actually be causative.

I also recommend taking a high-quality, animal-based omega-3 fat, like krill oil. This may be the single most important nutrient for optimal brain function, thereby preventing depression. Exercise Getting regular exercise is one of the "secret weapons" to overcoming depression. It works by helping to normalize your insulin levels while boosting the "feel good" hormones such as serotonin and endorphins in your brain. Optimize your vitamin D Getting safe sun exposure, which allows your body to produce vitamin D, is great for your mood. One study even found that people with the lowest levels of vitamin D were 11 times more prone to depression than those who received adequate vitamin D. The Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) EFT is a form of psychological acupressure. Gentle tapping with the fingertips is used to transfer kinetic energy onto specific meridians on your head and chest while you think about your specific problem and voice positive affirmations. This works to clear the "short-circuit"—the emotional block—from your body's bioenergy system, thus restoring your mind and body's balance, which is essential for optimal health and healing. Massage Massage affects your nervous system through nerve endings in your skin, stimulating the release of endorphins, which are natural "feel-good" chemicals. Getting a massage has been shown to relieve pain from migraines, labor, fibromyalgia and even cancer; reduce stress, anxiety, and depression; decrease symptoms of PMS; and can provide arthritis relief by increasing joint flexibility. Mindfulness and other forms of meditation Practicing "mindfulness" means that you're actively paying attention to the moment you're in right now. Mindfulness training has been found to reduce levels of stress-induced inflammation, which could benefit people suffering from chronic inflammatory conditions like rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, and asthma. Practicing mindfulness meditation for just four days can decrease pain responses in your brain. Biofeedback Biofeedback allows you to monitor your biological changes, thereby helping you achieve a deeper state of relaxation and teaching you to control your heart rate, blood pressure, and muscle tension through your mind. Biofeedback is often used for stress-related conditions, such as migraines and tension-type headaches, fibromyalgia, back pain, depression, and anxiety. Progressive muscle relaxation Progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) is achieved by tensing and relaxing all the major muscle groups, one at a time, from head to toe. By learning to feel the difference between tension and relaxation, you can more actively disengage your body's fight-or-flight response, which underlies most pain, depression, and stress. Tai Chi While practicing tai chi, your mind is meant to stay focused on your movements, relaxation and deep breathing, while distracting thoughts are ignored. Part of the allure is that it's so gentle, it's an ideal form of activity for people with pain or other conditions that prevent more vigorous exercise. You can even do tai chi if you're confined to a wheelchair. The medical literature shows tai chi helps reduce depression, anxiety, and stress. Breathing techniques Deep breathing activates your parasympathetic nervous system, which induces the relaxation response. Dr. Weil's 4, 7, 8 breathing technique works as a natural tranquilizer for your nervous system. The Buteyko Breathing Method helps improve oxygenation of your tissues and organs, including your brain, and can be particularly helpful to quell a panic attack or control anxiety. Hypnosis Hypnosis, which is a trance-like state in which you experience heightened focus and concentration, can help decrease pain by altering your emotional responses to your body's pain signals and your thoughts about the pain. Contrary to popular belief, you do not relinquish control over your behavior while under hypnosis, but it does render you more open to suggestions from the hypnotherapist. In addition to managing pain, cognitive hypnotherapy has been shown to lessen depression and anxiety better than cognitive behavioral therapy. Music therapy Music triggers activity in the nucleus accumbens, a part of your brain that releases the feel-good chemical dopamine and is involved in forming expectations. At the same time, the amygdala, which is involved in processing emotion, and the prefrontal cortex, which makes possible abstract decision-making, are also activated. Studies18,19 reveal listening to music results in less anxiety and lower cortisol levels among patients about to undergo surgery than taking anti-anxiety drugs. Yoga Yoga has been proven to be particularly beneficial if you suffer with back pain, and can also be of tremendous benefit for your mental health.20 According to recent findings, yoga appears to have a positive effect on mild depression, sleep problems, schizophrenia (among patients using medication), and ADHD (among patients using medication). Some studies21,22 suggest yoga can have a similar effect to antidepressants and psychotherapy, by influencing neurotransmitters and boosting serotonin. Visualization and guided imagery Visualization techniques or guided imagery can serve as an important tool to combat both physical pain and depression by imagining being in "a better place" and promoting a state of relaxation. Ideally, you'll want to immerse yourself as fully as you possibly into your visualization, using all your senses: seeing, smelling, tasting, hearing, and feeling, as using all your senses changes levels of brain chemicals, such as serotonin, epinephrine, and endorphins. Mantra The repeated incantation of a mantra—a soothing or uplifting word or phrase of your choice—in a rhythmic fashion can help you relax in a similar way as mindfulness training. The focused repetition, also called autogenic training, helps keep your mind from wandering and worrying, and engages your body's relaxation response. In one study, migraine sufferers were able to decrease the frequency and intensity of their headaches using autogenic training. Other research suggests it may provide helpful longer-term effects on symptoms of depression. Neurostructural Integration Technique (NST) Using a series of gentle moves on specific muscles or at precise points on your body creates an energy flow and vibrations between these points. This allows your body to rebalance itself. The main objective is to remove pain and dysfunctional physiological conditions by restoring the structural integrity of the body. In essence, NST provides the body with an opportunity to reintegrate on many levels, and thus return to and maintain normal homeostatic limits on a daily basis. Medical Cannabis—Another Option for Pain Relief

Certain forms of cannabis are potent medicine with few or no psychoactive effects. Even the US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy has spoken out about its potential benefits, saying: "We have some preliminary data showing that for certain medical conditions and symptoms, marijuana can be helpful." His statement echoes a growing sentiment in the medical and scientific communities that the health benefits of marijuana should no longer be ignored. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has also given strong support for research and development as well as a "review of policies promoting research on the medical use of these compounds."

At present, 23 states have legalized medical marijuana.23 Another 11 states have pending legislation for 2015.24 On a federal level, however, the herb is still considered a Schedule 1 controlled substance (other Schedule 1 drugs include heroin, LSD, ecstasy, methaqualone, and peyote). Ironically, oxycodone, fentanyl, and meperidine (Demerol), which are among the most commonly abused opioids and leading causes of opioid overdose deaths, are Schedule II drugs, meaning they should technically be less dangerous than marijuana. Meanwhile, until recently certain opioid prescription drugs such as Vicodin were classified as Schedule III substances, which are defined as "drugs with a moderate to low potential for physical and psychological dependence."

A wealth of research shows marijuana does have outstanding promise as a medicinal plant, largely due to its cannabidiol (CBD) content. Cannabinoids interact with your body by way of naturally occurring cannabinoid receptors embedded in cell membranes throughout your body. There are cannabinoid receptors in your brain, lungs, liver, kidneys, immune system, and more. Both the therapeutic and psychoactive properties of marijuana occur when a cannabinoid activates a cannabinoid receptor.

Research is still ongoing on just how extensive their impact is on our health, but to date it's known that cannabinoid receptors play an important role in many body processes, including metabolic regulation, cravings, pain, anxiety, bone growth, and immune function. To learn more about the legal parameters of using medical cannabis in your state, check out ProCon.org's website.25 I also recommend listening to my interview with Dr. Allan Frankel, a board-certified internist in California, who has treated patients with medical cannabis for the past eight years.

Download Interview Transcript

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Dissolving Illusions About the Measles Vaccine

This article was abstracted from Dr. Humphries' excellent book Dissolving Illusions, with contributions from Dr. Mercola, Barbara Loe Fisher and Sayer Ji. If you have a sincere interest in this topic I would strongly encourage you to purchase a copy of this excellent book.

This week's issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA)1 claims that the consensus scientific view is that childhood vaccines are safe and effective, among CDC's 10 great 20th-century achievements and a World Health Organization "best buy."

With the elevation of vaccination to a sacred cow status, it is no wonder that ever since about 50 visitors to Disneyland in California were diagnosed with measles earlier this year, the whole country has been subjected to a relentless barrage of mainstream media articles blaming unvaccinated children for a minor measles outbreak that, by March 16, 2015, consisted of a grand total of 176 cases.2 in a population of 320 million people.

The way public health officials and the media have been promoting irrational fear about measles and using it to lobby for laws eliminating all non-medical vaccine exemptions or even criminally prosecuting and jailing unvaccinated people, it sometimes feels like we are living in a dystopian science fiction novel.

I have never seen such a well-coordinated disinformation campaign to vilify virtually anyone who would question the effectiveness and safety of complying with the CDC's ever-expanding vaccination schedule.3

While some argue that the media is simply acting to protect the "public health," there has been a near complete abandonment of fair and balanced journalism. Almost every media outlet has swallowed the propaganda produced by Big Pharma and forced vaccination proponents hook, line, and sinker and failed to carefully research or independently analyze the facts.

Let me assure you that this story is far bigger than measles. It is about getting the entire population to accept the concept that vaccination is a more effective way to stay healthy than supporting your inborn immunity and optimizing immune function, which is so essential to preventing illness and serious complications from infectious diseases.

The media completely overlooks the conflicts of interests inherent in the public-private financial partnership between industry and government and the fact that Big Pharma will generate $35 billion from vaccine sales this year4 and is projected to take in over $57.8 billion by 2019.5

CDC Says NO ONE Has Died from Acute Measles in the US Since 2003 – But How Many Measles Vaccine Related Deaths Have Been Reported Since Then?

If you believe the media's story on measles in America today, it would seem that children who get measles in the U.S. are being admitted to the hospital in great numbers and regularly dying from measles complications.

But if we look at the latest report (March 13, 2015) published by the California Department of Health, we see that out of 133 cases of measles reported in that state this year, 20 people were hospitalized and 81 percent recovered without a need for special care and there were no deaths.6

(Also, while 43 percent of the California measles cases were not vaccinated, 15 percent WERE vaccinated and 56 percent of the cases were in adults over age 20. Only 18 percent of the cases were in school-aged children between 5 and 19 years old, while 15 percent were in children ages one to four and 11 percent in infants under one year old).

If we examine the US government's measles mortality report data between 2005 and 2015, we find six adults and one child listed in National Vital Statistics data7 as reportedly dying from complications related to measles. Only the child, a male between one and four years old, had a confirmed autopsy performed.

However, in private email correspondence, Meryl Nass, M.D. asked the CDC about confirmed measles deaths in the U.S. and the CDC replied in writing that, "The last documented deaths in the U.S. directly attributable to acute measles occurred in 2003."8

Vicky Debold, PhD, RN, who serves as volunteer Director of Patient Safety and Research for the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC), analyzed U.S. measles mortality data and found a discrepancy between what the CDC told Dr. Nass and information published in the National Vital Statistics.

Dr. Debold said, "There was an autopsy-confirmed death of measles with encephalitis reported in the U.S. in a male child between one and four years old. The remainder of the measles reported deaths after 2003 were for six adults without confirmed autopsies (2 in 2009; 2 in 2010; 2 in 2012).

Three of the adult deaths were recorded for measles with encephalitis; one death recorded for measles with pneumonia and two deaths recorded for measles without other complications."

Deaths from Measles Vaccines: Is it 98 or 980?

Dr. Debold was curious about the one measles-related child death recorded in 2005 and the fact that the CDC did not acknowledge it when replying to Dr. Nass. Dr. Debold wondered if, perhaps, the 2005 child death was MMR vaccine related.

She searched VAERS reports using the MedAlerts9 database, where she found five deaths associated with measles containing vaccines that occurred in 2005 in the U.S. in males aged one to four years.

One of those 2005 MMR vaccine related death reports in VAERS listed "mild fever" and "non-infectious encephalitis and encephalopathy" as symptoms after a one year old boy received MMR, varicella and flu vaccines and died five days later (VAERS ID# 250504).

The autopsy report listed "sudden unexpected death in childhood" as the cause of death; however, there was no mention of a rash or other measles-related symptoms, which also can occur after MMR vaccination.

Dr. Debold commented, "Six out of seven measles-associated deaths reported after 2003 in the National Vital Statistics reports occurred in adults between the ages of 25 and over 85 years old, who should either have had natural measles immunity or have gotten at least one MMR shot. It would be helpful for CDC to explain the discrepancy between National Vital Statistics data and the statement made to Dr. Nass."

So, between zero and seven measles-related deaths have occurred in the U.S. since 2003, but how many measles vaccine reaction death reports have been recorded by the federal Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) in the past 12 years?

Searching the MedAlerts database, we see that there were 98 deaths following MMR or MMRV vaccinations reported to VAERS that occurred between 2003 and 2015. Plus, there have been 694 reports of MMR or MMRV vaccinations causing disability in that time frame.

It has been estimated that less than 10 percent of vaccine adverse events are ever reported to VAERS.10,11

Considering the fact that there were 98 measles vaccine-related deaths and 694 measles vaccine-related disabilities reported to VAERS in the past 12 years, if only 10 percent of vaccine-related deaths and disabilities are being reported to the government, then the actual number of measles vaccine-related deaths and disabilities that have occurred since 2003 could have been as many as 980 deaths and 6,940 disabilities.

Unfortunately, many pediatricians dismiss vaccine-related health problems as a "coincidence" without any proof that is true for the individual suffering a bad health outcome after vaccination, which is one reason why there is such low vaccine reaction reporting rate in the U.S. Naturally, many doctors and health care workers are in denial.

Parents of well nourished healthy children living in the U.S., who are weighing the measles vaccine's benefits and risks, may well be asking themselves: If I vaccinate my child, he or she may have a vaccine reaction and die. If I do not vaccinate, my child may still get sick with measles but may have a lower risk of dying."

The History of Measles

Let's not minimize the risks of measles because it has the potential to be a very deadly infection - just not normally in well-nourished populations in the 21st century. Throughout the 1800s, measles epidemics occurred about every two years in the United States and England. During these epidemics, when suboptimal sanitation and nutrition were the norm, some hospital wards overflowed with children with measles and up to 20 percent died from pneumonia and other complications.

However, by the 1960s, deaths from measles had dropped to extremely low numbers in both England and the United States. In England, the percent decline from its peak level reached an astonishing 99.96 percent by the time the live attenuated measles virus vaccine was introduced in 1968. When the first inactivated (killed) measles vaccine was licensed in 1963, the measles death rate in some states like Massachusetts had reached zero. During this year, the whole of New England had only five deaths attributed to measles.

We need to keep this in perspective. These were deaths BEFORE the launch of measles vaccines in the 1960s, when deaths from asthma were 56 times greater, accidents 935 times greater, motor vehicle accidents 323 times greater, other accidents 612 times greater, and heart disease 9,560 times greater. Why such a disproportionate emphasis on measles deaths?

Even a casual review of the relevant literature will reveal that preventing measles mortality is not primarily related to vaccination but to nutritional status. Child mortality due to measles is 200 to 400 times greater in malnourished children in less developed countries than those in developed ones. It is crystal clear that as nutrition improves and vitamin A and D levels are optimized, the complications and deaths from measles radically diminish.

Furthermore, experiencing measles infection in childhood itself may confer health benefits and even survival advantage in protecting against autoimmune conditions and chronic inflammation, including cancer, which means it may be a means through which our immune system is primed and gains self-tolerance.12 Experiencing and recovering from naturally –acquired measles may actually be, as our not so distant ancestors once commonly acknowledged, a good thing, because it confers much longer lasting superior immunity and is protective against infection that leads to complications later in life, when measles can be much more serious.

There are reports in the literature documenting the fact that not only can live attenuated measles vaccine cause measles vaccine strain infection that may not be cleared from the body, but vaccine strain live virus is also shed in the urine and other bodily secretions.13

Herd Immunity Did NOT Work for Measles

Dr Alexander Langmuir is known as "the father of infectious disease epidemiology." In 1949, he created the epidemiology section of what became the CDC. He also headed the Polio Surveillance Unit that was started in 1955 after polio vaccine safety issues became public. According to Dr Langmuir and many other experts, the measles vaccine was supposed to eradicate the common childhood disease in 1967. But of course that did not happen.

A 1994 study indicated that as vaccination rates increased, measles became a disease in populations where the majority of children had been vaccinated, including in the U.S. This "startling" surprise challenged the theory that vaccine-induced "herd immunity" would provide complete protection against outbreaks of measles. As the CDC has admitted and published reports in the medical literature have documented, measles outbreaks have occurred in school populations in which 71 percent to 99.8 percent of the student body have been vaccinated.14

It may have been "startling" at the time but it became a regular occurrence that measles outbreaks developed in highly vaccinated school populations even though more than 98 percent of the students had previously been vaccinated.15 In the particular case of measles, vaccine-induced "herd immunity" was not well established with widespread use of one dose of measles vaccine and thus did not prevent outbreaks.

Even more recently, a study conducted in the Zhejiang province in China shows that populations, which have achieved a measles vaccination rate of 99 percent through mandatory vaccination programs, are still experiencing consistent outbreaks far beyond what the World Health Organization (WHO) expects. This calls into question whether MMR vaccine really does provide long lasting protection against measles infection.16

Measles Vaccine Does NOT Create Life Long Immunity

One key factor to consider is that measles vaccine does not create lifelong immunity. Vaccines only confer temporary artificial immunity, although sometimes vaccines fail to confer any immunity in susceptible persons, and this is why health officials recommend multiple doses of measles and other vaccines to "boost" vaccine acquired immunity. Although previously, the CDC advised that adults born before 1958 did not have to get vaccinated, the CDC now states that "people who are born during or after 1957 who do not have evidence of immunity against measles should get at least one dose of MMR vaccine." 17

In fact, since the Disneyland-related measles outbreak in early 2015, some public health doctors are suggesting that all adults should get an MMR booster shot because as many as 1 in 10 previously vaccinated adults may be susceptible to measles due to waning vaccine acquired immunity.18

There is plenty of evidence that an increasing number of measles vaccinated children and adults in the U.S. and around the world are getting measles, even after two doses of MMR.19,20,21 Infants under age one, who used to be protected in the first year of life by getting natural maternal antibodies from mothers, who had experienced and recovered from measles in childhood, are now susceptible to measles from birth. That is because most young mothers today have been vaccinated and measles vaccine acquired maternal antibodies are far less protective than naturally acquired antibodies.22,23

We have not yet seen how the universal measles vaccination policy will play out over the next several generations as senior citizens with naturally acquired measles immunity die and children and younger adults with artificial vaccine acquired immunity are relied upon to provide "community immunity". Some experts have predicted that measles epidemics are likely to become more common in the future.

One study suggested that, even with good response to vaccination, measles vaccine acquired immunity only lasts from 15 to 20 years.24,25 In fact, there is evidence of waning measles vaccine acquired immunity after 10 years.26 If this is true, then there could be a resurgence of measles after a period of relatively low measles incidence, which we are in now. In addition somewhere between 2 and 10 percent of vaccinations result in primary vaccine failures, meaning those who get the vaccine don't gain any antibody protection after vaccination at all.27

The California Disney measles outbreak is primarily associated with one of the 22 measles genotypes known to be circulating globally -- the B3 strain of measles that has caused recent outbreaks in the Philippines.28 Measles vaccines used in the U.S. and other countries were created using the A measles genotype, although scientists have said, "there are no known biological differences between viruses of different genotypes."29

Your Body Has Two Different Immune Systems

There are two systems that fight disease in the body. One is the innate system that is always ready to work and the other is the adaptive arm of immunity. The adaptive arm consists of Th1 and Th2. Both are necessary but Th1 is commonly known as the cell mediated arm, and Th2 known as the humoral or antibody arm. Most vaccines preferentially stimulate the Th2 or humoral part of the immune system. When it comes to measles vaccines, it is known that breast fed babies will develop more of a Th1 immunity while formula fed babies will develop Th2 slanted immunity30 which is actually less desirable.

Measured antibodies may be reflective of some form of immunity, but it is not a perfect correlate as indicated by those who recover and remain immune to measles without making any antibodies.

The benefit of only measuring humoral immunity as a means of measuring vaccine effectiveness is that it can be easily determined by drawing blood samples. If specific vaccine-induced antibodies are present, the person is presumed to be immune to that infection and protected. If vaccine induced "community immunity" was guaranteed protection, it would simply require proof that nearly everyone in the community had high vaccine-acquired antibody levels.

Evidence of the profound importance and effectiveness of the innate and Th1 immune system can be demonstrated in individuals who are unable to genetically generate antibody production. This is called agamma-globulinemia. When individuals with this condition were exposed to measles, they recovered just as well as those who were able to make normal antibodies.31 They also had protection in the future upon re-exposure.

This "disconcerting" discovery was made in the 1960s when measles vaccination programs were just getting underway and demonstrates that production of antibodies is not necessary for the natural recovery from measles. Even more recent research published last year indicates that antibody-mediated immunity is not necessary to neutralize viruses like vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV),32 again calling into question the primary justification used today to "prove immunity" and promote the idea that elevations in vaccine-induced antibody titers are necessary to produce immunity against all infectious diseases.

Therefore, humoral immunity may only play a secondary role in natural resistance against measles disease and other targeted "vaccine-preventable" diseases. The reason most people completely recover from and are protected after acute infections may be due more to the fact that they have innate immunity, which requires no memory or previous exposure and does not involve preformed specific antibodies. The other reason they don't get re-infected is because they acquired cell-mediated immunity from the infection.

Innate immunity involves the activation of white blood cells, including macrophages, natural killer cells, and antigen-specific T lymphocytes, as well as the release of various cytokines (immune system proteins) in response to challenge from pathogenic microbes. This type of innate immune response is mounted by most people with functioning immune systems, regardless of vaccination, and is highly dependent on whether or not the person is getting enough essential nutrients. When cellular immunity is impaired— for instance, in leukemia— measles infection can be lethal.

Are Measles Vaccines a Rational Option?

Why does it make sense to subject all healthy people living in developed countries with access to good nutrition, sanitation and health care, who are not usually susceptible to suffering complications from measles, to the known and unknown risks of MMR vaccines, when the result could be leading the world to a situation worse than the pre-vaccine days? What will be the response to revaccinating everyone in the world with more and more measles vaccine booster doses? And what happens if the vaccine-induced re-programming of our immune system actually reduces our ability to effectively respond to real-world challenges from other pathogenic infectious microbes?

Vaccinologists have long relied on high antibody titers as a measure of a vaccine's effectiveness, but have they stopped to consider whether constantly artificially manipulating the immune system to produce vaccine-induced antibodies is rendering millions of people more vulnerable to infectious diseases, as well as more prone to developing autoimmunity? The best analogy I can think of is kicking a beehive.

Although this may result in a bunch of angry bees (i.e. antibodies) attacking anything within reach, claiming we have "improved the health of the hive" by increasing the number of angry bees (measured by high antibody titers) without proving they are attacking a real threat, is absurd. In fact, the "bees" may end up attacking the Queen bee (the host), reducing self-tolerance and inducing chronic autoimmunity.

What Really Caused Measles to Drop from 1963 Onwards?

There was an apparently steep drop in measles incidence from 1963 onward. But was that dramatic downtrend in the curve all because of widespread use of measles vaccines? By 1968, the US immunization survey showed that only 50– 60 percent of children between one and nine years old had been vaccinated33 for measles. And a lot of vaccinated children still got the common childhood disease. During epidemic days, even when three measles vaccinations were given to children, more than 50 percent of measles cases had been fully vaccinated.34 Here are some probable contributions to the decline in the reported cases of measles:

First:

As always happens after a vaccine campaign, the criteria for diagnosing the disease was narrowed. The vaccinated who developed measles symptoms were not counted in the tally of wild measles cases, even though they might have been infected with wild-type measles virus.35,36 The accelerated decline seen on the curve could have been due to the fact that if someone received a vaccine and developed a rash and high fever, it was not diagnosed as measles. So because of the new classification, measles appeared to drop in the vaccinated.

Up to 54 percent of vaccinated cases in some reports developed rash after vaccination, which was in part why immune globulin was administered with it. Still today, by the CDC's admission, 5– 10 percent37 of vaccinees develop a rash and fever,38 which is indicative of vaccine strain measles virus infection.39,40,41 Since MMR vaccine associated rashes are often missed by clinicians and parents and attributed to something else,42 that 5– 10 percent could well be a gross underestimate.

If 5– 10 percent of measles vaccines result in fever and rash, then there actually could be approximately 650,000–1,300,000 cases of vaccine strain measles infection associated symptoms in the United States per year given the 13– 14 million yearly doses of vaccine injected into one-year-olds (live births per year US census = 14 million).

Second:

Gamma globulin use during measles infection began in the 1940s. The reason it was given at the same time as the live and killed vaccines was to limit the negative (vaccine strain measles virus infection) effects of the injection. Gamma globulin was and still is also prescribed as prophylaxis to those exposed to measles cases, including the contacts of live-vaccine virus cases in the freshly vaccinated.

Measles can be prevented or modified after exposure by passive immunization with the use of immune serum globulin. (But it comes with a price: potential development of tumors and connective tissue disease later in life. Not to mention all the problems that can occur in giving a pooled human blood product.)

Gamma globulin use in the early years of measles vaccination programs could, therefore, have contributed to the decreasing severity of acute measles disease manifestation when used alone or with the vaccine. Yet the attribution would have been given to the vaccine. Rashless measles infections would have led to fewer measles reports, but not because measles was not circulating and causing occult or hidden infections.

So, on one hand, the early vaccines were leading to cases of vaccine strain measles and causing a different disease (which were not counted as wild measles), and on the other hand, the gamma globulin given to prevent the side effects of the vaccines was also interfering with normal cell-mediated processing of the virus.

Third:

Before the introduction of the 1963 vaccine, the incidence of measles was already on a slow decline. Was measles slowly becoming less prevalent anyway? We know that measles can be subclinical 30 percent of the time. The measles death rate had already plummeted. Like smallpox, was the disease slowly burning out? Was the rise in breastfeeding and improved nutrition contributing to fewer diagnosed cases?

Measles Vaccination: A Failed Experiment?

Breast milk is not just food, and its immunoprotective properties involve more than just antibodies. Colostrum contains viable T lymphocytes that impart immunity to the newborn. The fact that vaccinated people have inferior more temporary immunity in comparison to the naturally acquired longer lasting immunity has led to the recommendation of revaccinating women before pregnancy. But this type of artificial vaccine acquired immunity is not transferred to the newborn as well as naturally acquired immunity.

Nobody has figured out how to tell for certain who is truly immune to pathogenic microbes. People without antibodies can be completely protected from clinical illness by cellular immunity. Therefore antibody is a mere surrogate that has questionable significance.

When Silfverdale evaluated thousands of vaccinated and unvaccinated breastfed and non-breastfed children looking at the risk of measles, breastfeeding had a far larger impact on measles risk than vaccinating. Now that women who were vaccinated in the 1970s and later are of childbearing age, accumulating evidence shows that their infants are not as well protected as they were when measles circulated widely and infected nearly every child by the age of 15.43

Today the only solution to the issue of waning vaccine-acquired immunity is to keep vaccinating and to vaccinate childbearing-age mothers again. But this may always carry more risk than allowing measles to circulate and be dealt with normally by T cells in well-nourished populations. Because the deaths and disease complications associated with measles can be severe among infants, the early loss of passive immunity demonstrated in recent studies of vaccinated mothers should be of major concern.

Today, because of vaccination, young infants are more susceptible than ever. Scientists are searching for ways to vaccinate them earlier and earlier in order to bypass all placental and breast milk immunity and replace it with artificial vaccine-induced immunity. Why? Placental and breast milk immunity protects the infant from measles and other pathogenic infections.

This is just another example of how vaccines have created a situation that requires even more vaccines and more manipulation of the immune system. This is financially profitable for vaccine manufacturers but scientifically and immunologically unsound.

So How Can You Protect Yourself and Your Child from Measles?

For over 100 years, there has been a strong association with vitamin A deficiency and adverse health outcomes from measles infections, especially in young children.44 Has the time come for the medical community to recognize that any child presenting with measles symptoms, especially complications, should be given vitamin A and evaluated for overall nutritional status? If not, what has history taught us?

Vitamin A stops the measles virus from rapidly multiplying inside cells by up-regulating the innate immune system in uninfected cells, which helps to prevent the virus from infecting new cells. It is well known today that a low vitamin A level correlates with low measles-specific antibodies and increased morbidity and mortality. Vitamin A is a well-proven intervention for reduction of mortality, concomitant infections, and hospital stay.

It made no more sense to vaccinate against measles in 1963 than it does to put a measles infected child in a dark room instead of just giving vitamin A, which protects the retinas and the uninfected cells. The efficiency of the cellular immune system is tied to the intake of dietary nutrients, including vitamins A, D and C, zinc, selenium, and protein rich in vitamin B.45 Poor nutrition leads to impaired cellular immune responses, which results in worse outcomes after measles infection or exposure. This also explains why during the 1800s and into the 1900s, when the general nutritional status of the Western world was improving, there was a dramatic decrease in deaths from measles.

In 1987, scientists in Tanzania used vitamin A during measles outbreaks and watched the impressive protective effects. During the 1990s, when mortality reductions of 60-90 percent were measured in poor countries using vitamin A in hospitalized measles cases, there was even more publicity of the vitamin A depletion theory in measles mortality and morbidity. By 2010, it was well accepted that supplementing with vitamin A during acute measles illness led to significant drops in both adverse outcomes and death.

Finally, vitamin A (which is found in high concentrations in breast milk) was given credit in the battle against measles, but only after a vaccine was well accepted throughout the world. In the United States, studies have found that vitamin A deficiency is not just a thing of the past. Even children with normal diets were vitamin deficient upon measles infection. A 1992 California study showed that 50 percent of children hospitalized with measles had a vitamin A deficiency.46 But there was also vitamin A deficiency in 30 percent of the sick controls who did not have measles. None of the uninfected controls showed significant deficiency.

Vitamin C can also be used and during a measles epidemic was given prophylactically and all those who received as much as 1000 mg. every six hours, by vein or muscle, were protected from the virus.47 Given by mouth, 1,000 mg. in fruit juice every two hours was not protective unless it was given around the clock. It was further found that 1,000 mg. by mouth, four to six times each day, would modify the attack; with the appearance of Koplik's spots and fever, if the administration was increased to 12 doses each 24 hours, all signs and symptoms would disappear in 48 hours.

Vitamin D also plays a major role in combating infections, but this wasn't known until decades after the implementation of the measles vaccines so it has not been tested clinically. However, many studies that strongly suggest vitamin D levels below 50 ng/ml will contribute to an impaired ability to mount a sound immune response against measles.48

Measles Complications Subacute Sclerosing Panencephalitis (SSPE)

Although some may say that all the problems with measles vaccines were worth the risk because the morbidity of measles was cut down, they miss the bigger picture. That picture involves numerous neurologic diseases, including SSPE (subacute sclerosing panencephalitis, which is a rare, chronic progressive encephalitis that nearly universally ends in death), even in those who are fully vaccinated. Contrary to popular belief, SSPE is now a disease occurring in vaccinated persons. In a study49 of nine SSPE cases, three had been fully vaccinated against measles. There was no history of rash in any who were vaccinated and developed SSPE.

In 1989, Dyken reported an increase in the proportion of cases of SSPE following measles vaccination. There is also a shorter incubation period for SSPE following vaccination compared with that which develops after measles infection. SSPE is far from a closed-book issue in the era of vaccination.

What disasters can befall those who accept injections of any vaccine virus that can persist indefinitely within the body? Generally benign person-to-person measles transmission, especially in developed countries like the U.S., seems to have been interrupted after years of experimental vaccinations and with some surprising and unintended consequences.

Much of the interruption was done by intentionally subjecting children to measles vaccine strain viruses through needle injection to which the immune system can react in abnormal ways, creating other illness in the process. What we have now is a population of increasingly unhealthy children —with rates of many chronic diseases and disorders increasing dramatically. For many, vaccination becomes a matter of swapping one set of possible risks for another set of probable risks, the outcome of which are alleged to be "coincident."

More Vaccine Shenanigans

Recently Merck has been accused, by two former virologist employees, of falsifying documents in order to keep its mumps vaccine patent, all the while knowing that the mumps vaccine in the MMR shot is not effective. A lawsuit was filed in 2010 and an amended complaint in 2012, detailing Merck's efforts to allegedly "defraud the United States through an ongoing scheme to sell the government a mumps vaccine that is mislabeled, misbranded, adulterated, and falsely certified as having an efficacy rate that is significantly higher than it actually is."

Merck allegedly did this from the year 2000 onward to maintain its exclusive license to sell the MMR vaccine and keep its monopoly of the US market. This ongoing event has been effectively shielded from and ignored by mainstream media. During the alleged fraudulent activity that occurred in Merck's labs, two courageous scientists working for Merck voiced their objections.

They claim to have been told by the company's upper management that if they called the FDA, they would be jailed. They were also reminded of the very large bonuses that were to be rewarded with after the MMR vaccines were government certified as effective. If what these scientists claim is true, the net result of Merck's questionable activity were vaccine-resistant mumps epidemics and outbreaks that instead of being identified as being caused by a failing vaccine, have led to the demand for more vaccine boosters that will net increased revenue for Merck.

It is known that the mumps component of all MMR vaccines from the mid-1990s has had a very low efficacy, estimated at 69 percent. The mumps portion has lost efficacy (the ability to stimulate production of a high number of vaccine-induced antibodies), but what is not being measured is the potential negative effects of injecting a live vaccine strain mumps virus into the body.

What do you think happens to a live attenuated vaccine strain virus that is injected into a person and elicits only a sluggish immune response and may never be cleared? What chronic health disasters can befall those who are injected with live vaccine strain viruses that cause vaccine strain virus infection with the potential to persist indefinitely in the body?

We need to rationally and objectively analyze the risks and benefits of any vaccination program rather than relying on fear campaigns designed by profit-seeking vaccine manufacturers and promoted through regulatory and policymaking governmental agencies, along with the media, which have long been captured by corporate interests.

So What Does a Caring Parent and Responsible Adult Do?

Those who are beginning to see the light, and are questioning the safety and effectiveness of vaccines, may have to also question their own long-held beliefs about vaccination and infectious diseases. This is not easy to do because the public has been bombarded with so much fear-based propaganda and incorrect information about vaccination for so many years. Doctors may have to do the same and examine their own work and many years, if not decades, of administering measles and other vaccines to children and adults.

If they come to the conclusion that vaccines often fail to work or are harmful, they will have to be prepared to deal with strong resistance from government officials and very real threats to their medical licenses from those expecting doctors to promote mandatory use of all federally recommended vaccines. The golden handcuffs often are too attractive for doctors to rise to that kind of challenge because they are afraid they could lose everything.

But the alternative – protection of the status quo – has profoundly serious consequences for the health of future generations. It is time for all of us to acknowledge what is and is not known about vaccination and health and, at a minimum, support the legal right for everyone to be able to exercise voluntary, informed consent to use of vaccines, including measles vaccine.

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