Dr. Cady's Blog

A common misperception by many in society is that what helped one person with a certain symptom should help another. However, a symptom can be due to many different reasons. For instance, if someone has nausea, this could be because they are pregnant, ate contaminated food, cancer, just took a medication, saw something repulsive, indigestion, low blood pressure, and so on. That one symptom could be brief, intermittent, or long-term depending on the true nature or cause of the nausea. It can range because each human has different complexities or sensitivities to situations that are unique to him or her.

Let’s say someone had nausea. Anti-nausea medicine could be given to most people for the symptom. However, if the nauseated person was experiencing a rapid drop in blood pressure from a procedure such as a spinal for labor pain, then treating the low blood pressure with fluids or medication makes more sense to address the cause versus treating the symptoms. By just treating the sympto...

Diagnosis Hypnosis:

Why Your Pain Diagnosis May Not Help You Get Better

Many people receive a diagnosis in order to determine the appropriate treatment for their pain or many other conditions. But first of all, what is a diagnosis? If you look at the Merriam-Webster dictionary it would be this:

1. The art or act of identifying a disease from its signs and symptoms.
2. Investigation or analysis of the cause or nature of a condition, situation, or problem.

In the world of pain, you are trying to determine the cause/nature/disease based upon signs and symptoms. On rare occasion, a pain diagnosis can be life-threatening with what are commonly called “red flag” symptoms. These may include the inability to control your bowel or bladder or severe abdominal pain. These rare issues may be indicative of the life-threatening or life-altering issues such as severe compression of your spinal cord/nerve roots or bleeding from an aortic aneurysm (largest artery).

But let’s assume that those red f...

Anyone who follows basketball, the Golden State Warriors, or Steve Kerr in particular is keenly aware of the challenges Kerr has had with his low back pain in 2015 and his unresolved post-surgical cerebrospinal fluid leak complication. Ultimately his pain went from his back to his head and beyond.

Kerr’s story reminds us of the profound impact that chronic pain can have on one’s entire life, even if you are the head coach of one of the most profitable NBA teams in the country. And the realization that a “simple” surgery has its real risks was felt intimately by Kerr and those close to him.

As a consequence, Kerr told the Washington Post, “I can tell you if you’re listening out there, stay away from back surgery. I can say that from the bottom of my heart. Rehab, rehab, rehab. Don’t let anyone get in there.”

As much as surgeons will cringe at the above statement, the truth is that there is a higher risk when it comes to surgery as a medical treatment option when you compare it to i...

Hear and/or watch the interview with Dr. Cady here:

http://www.drjoetatta.com/live-the-antipain-lifestyle-with-dr-melissa-cady/

Dr. Vikas Agarwal has added a MDT (Mechanical Diagnosis & Therapy) certification (aka McKenzie Method) to his skill set. MDT is typically pursued by other health professionals especially physical therapists.

If you don’t think pain and its treatment is an issue, then look no further than many of the patients and celebrities (e.g. Heath Ledger, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Andy Irons, Prince Rogers Nelson) who have died from addressing their pain with opioids. From 1999 to 2014, more than 165,000 people have died from opioid overdose, which in many instances is a combination of opioids, benzodiazepines, and/or alcohol.

 Unintentional overdoses are now the leading cause of accidental death that has now surpassed motor vehicle accidents.

And although there is a huge surge of illegal production and distribution of opioids in the form of carfentanil, heroin, and others, there is no doubt that a massive influx of opioids into medicine cabinets are due to physicians writing the prescriptions. (See DEA Warning about carfentanil posted on 9/23/2016 at https://www.dea.gov/divisions/hq/2016/hq092216.shtml)

Opioids not only can lead to death; but, they can generate misuse, abuse, and addiction in...

Just the sound of a tear sounds painful but maybe not?

First of all, what is a “labral tear”? The hip socket is like a small cave with a labrum or cartilage/connective tissue lining the inner rim, which is called the acetabulum. The top of the leg, which consists of the femoral head (top of the femur) fits within that little cave and sits next to that acetabulum’s labrum.

There are many patients who complain of hip pain to their physicians, who may then send those patients to receive hip Xrays or MRIs. If a hip joint labral tear is diagnosed by MRI and the patient still has pain, then it is not uncommon to be referred to an orthopedic surgeon who does surgery for labral tears. However, not all patients get better from surgery.

The reality is there are many people with hip joint labral tears but not all of them have pain:

A May 2015 study revealed that of 70 young adult volunteers who had NO pain in their hips, 27 of them (38.6%) had labral tears by MRI findings. There was an isol...

Jason Ward of the Mechanical Care Forum interviewed Dr. Cady regarding the book PAINDEMIC.

The Medical System: Dr. Cady expresses frustrations within the medical system, sharing that many physicians feel stressed out or burned out due to high volume practices. Medical practitioners feel victimized by the system, and she notes that “victims treating victims” is often not a sustainable business model or a successful treatment approach. She speaks to the complexity of the current healthcare system.

Quote: “Pain is usually not life threatening, it is life altering… especially dependent upon how you are viewing it.”

She goes on to explain how pain is often a signal that something may be amiss, but is rarely an emergency situation. She stresses the importance of pain education.

- from the Mechanical Care Forum website

Listen to the 2-part podcast at the following links:

Part 1: http://www.mechanicalcareforum.com/podcast/116
Part 2: http://www.mechanicalcareforum.com/podcast/117