http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=222x61296Oh my.
derby378 (1000+ posts) Mon Jun-08-09 10:34 AM
Original message
My take on this whole "alternative medicine" deal
2000 B.C. - Here, eat this root.
1000 B.C. - That root is useless. Here, use this ointment.
500 A.D. - That ointment is heathen. Here, say this prayer.
1500 A.D. - That prayer is superstition. Here, drink this potion.
1900 A.D. - That potion is snake oil. Here, swallow this pill.
1970 A.D. - That pill is too dangerous. Here, take this antibiotic.
2000 A.D. - That antibiotic doesn't work anymore. Here, eat this root.
I work at a medical school, and part of my experience here has been to learn a little more about the history of medicine in America. And what I've learned so far has been rather enlightening.
The first national medical association in America was not the AMA, but the American Institute of Homeopathy. These homeopaths found themselves competing with Thomsonians, eclectics, phrenologists, and assorted travelling medicine shows throughout the 19th century as they all competed in turn with "regular" medical practitioners to treat ailing Americans. During the next century, chiropractors, osteopaths, and then acupuncturists would join in the melee.
The problem with many of these "alternative" medical practitioners, as with some who opposed any form of progress in medicine, is that they believe that medicine is subject to some external dogma. Acupuncturists, homeopaths, and Therapeutic Touch practitioners all believe that an underlying energy force governs health and vitality. Naturopaths teach that there is a healing power inherent in nature itself that should not be interfered with by means of synthetic pharmaceuticals. Opponents of the use of anesthesia during labor and delivery taught that women were supposed to suffer during childbirth due to divine edict.
From my perspective, however, the physical world around us does not bend to any creed. When people get sick or injured, they need care. And when they do, there are treatments that work and treatments that are just wishful thinking. We confess that we still have much to learn; there are too many ailments and disorders that continue to bear the dreaded label of "incurable." This is only because, for the moment, we have not discovered their Achilles' heel.
That's why we must press on with education and basic medical research - not to bend nature to our will, but to understand nature a little better so that we can use that knowledge to enable more of us to enjoy life more fully.
It's an enormous bonfire.
MineralMan (1000+ posts) Mon Jun-08-09 10:59 AM
Response to Reply #1
21. Could you pass that popcorn bag over here, please?
Orrex (1000+ posts) Mon Jun-08-09 11:00 AM
Response to Reply #21
23. It's homeopathic popcorn
The more we dilute it, the tastier it gets!
MineralMan (1000+ posts) Mon Jun-08-09 11:02 AM
Response to Reply #23
27. Cool! Just wave your hand over it, then and I'll sniff my fill of its essence.
Orrex (1000+ posts) Mon Jun-08-09 11:03 AM
Response to Reply #27
29. Wait... We're still talking about popcorn, right?
MineralMan (1000+ posts) Mon Jun-08-09 11:09 AM
Response to Reply #29
36. Yah. The molecules given off the popcorn into the air should be more than adequate to give me a full therapeutic dose of popcorn essence.
In fact, I think I've already gotten a molecule or two, so I'm good.
KittyWampus (1000+ posts) Mon Jun-08-09 10:38 AM
Response to Original message
2. Nature is not just physical. Failure to address emotional and psychological aspects of illness is the problem with western medicine at this point.
As does its whoring itself out to corporate America.
Teaser (1000+ posts) Mon Jun-08-09 10:41 AM
Response to Reply #2
3. there is nothing beyond the physical
matter is all there is.
Oh my. What a statement.
KittyWampus (1000+ posts) Mon Jun-08-09 10:46 AM
Response to Reply #4
6. And the Scientific Method has proven there are emotional/psychological components to wellness
But for some reason, a lot of people have problems with addressing the emotional and psychological needs of the infirm.
Holisitic medicine= treating WHOLE person. It doesn't repudiate allopathic medicine. It augments it.
And there are many people who realize that changing ones diet and behavior can help maintain ones health on all levels- physical, emotional and psychological.
It seems a lot of DU'ers can only imagine going to a doctor and taking a pill as the sole legitimate route to wellness.
You know, that describes Doug's ex-wife to a tee.
Voice for Peace (1000+ posts) Mon Jun-08-09 11:38 AM
Response to Original message
53. A lot of alternative medicine is based on the notion that the human immune system is brilliant by nature. Even conventional medicine nowadays is incorporating much of what was once considered kooky.. for example, that vitamin c boosts the immune system.
Don't be quick to disregard or ridicule alternative medicine -- even though there are plenty of kooks out there selling cures. And maybe those cures even work for a few people, who knows.
Many of the medicines approved and being dispensed are poisonous and turn out to have long-term detrimental effects. People are used as guinea pigs. Symptoms are treated, rather than the underlying cause(s) of the symptoms. Very often the symptoms are the immune system's response to the illness. Many medicines undermine the person's own immune system and make them weaker overall.
I am more comfortable with medicines that have been used for thousands of years, than those recently developed by pharmaceutical companies. I've got a lot of personal experience with successful use of homeopathic remedies & herbal remedies on myself and my family. Of my 3 kids, only once growing up did we use antibiotics. (they're all in their 20's now.) We supported the immune system with diet, herbs, lifestyle, etc.
I encourage you to explore further before coming to any conclusions, or trusting your health to someone who doesn't consider the validity of alternative medicines.
franksolich endorses the sentiment in bold, above. Enthusiastically.
MineralMan (1000+ posts) Mon Jun-08-09 11:58 AM
Response to Reply #53
64. Non-traditional medicine is, in large part, based on the fact that most illnesses are self-limiting and disappear on their own due to the body's immune response. So, if you go to the homeopathetic or naturopathetic practitioner with 90% of the illnesses that plague mankind, you will be well in a few days. If you then attribute your recovery to the treatments of those practitioners, you will believe that they have healed you.
The trouble lies in the other 10% of ailments in your lifetime. In those cases, you may not recover without modern medical intervention.
Most people seek medical attention for self-limiting ailments. They will recover on their own, whether they seek attention or not.
Further, most people, through most of their lives, never contract any ailment capable of killing them. That's especially true since we have vaccines for the most deadly of the common ailments that killed so many before they were developed. Smallpox, polio, diphtheria, etc. So, kids today don't catch those potentially deadly illnesses. Even those who fail to get vaccinated don't get them, as a rule, since there's no pool of sick people, thanks to widespread vaccination.
If you believe that alternative medical practitioners are the correct choice, you'll be fine, about 90% of the time. Good odds. The other 10% of the time, you'll end up presenting yourself to a real doctor...in good time, I hope.
Of course, in regards to the bold, above.
Why Syzygy (1000+ posts) Mon Jun-08-09 01:40 PM
Response to Reply #73
87. I know for a fact that homeopathy works.
I've been involved with it since 1992. I had been sick for six months, seen three doctors, battery of blood tests and exams. I was in intense pain and growing weaker by the day. All the doctors
Homeopathy pulled me out of it. I was able to make a cross country trip, both ways, and pack a three bedroom house to move days after the treatment. I've seen it work in animals and other humans. It cured ex-H's chronic bursitis. He used to have to hang his arm off the bed, the pain was intense. After his remedy, he had a curing episode, up most of the night with pain. Then it went away never to return. I could go on.
No matter how much howling 'woo' and attempts to discredit are proffered, people who have USED it know it works!
Might as well save your breath.
eta: These days when medicines are prescribed for me, I need only a minimum dose. Some doctors complain that I'm not even taking a "therapeutic dosage". One nurse suggested they were somehow working "homeopathically" on me. Could be...
Well, franksolich wouldn't advise this, taking the minimum.
If prescribed by a legitimate physician, one should take the prescribed dose.
HOWEVER, it is a good thing, a very thing, to question the prescription, and to inquire as to what alternatives are available (such as diet and exercise to control high blood pressure, rather than taking mind-altering pharmaceuticals).
xchrom (1000+ posts) Mon Jun-08-09 06:01 PM
Response to Original message
106. i can't remember the last time i had so much fun reading a thread.
Yeah, seeing the whole bonfire in its entirety on Skins's island is worth the time and trouble.
