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My View on Alternative Medicine
16 years ago
General
I often recommend alternative medicine to people when they talk about any illnesses they have or if they have chronic conditions. Some may consider me to be some kind of new age advocate or they clump me in with people that believe homeopathy is effective.
However I think I have a well reasoned stance on the issue. If you are sick and there is a modern medical cure or treatment then go with that first. If however what you have cannot be cured by modern medicine or would be inconvenient to do so (treating colds with antibiotics, etc.) then I will suggest alternative medicine.
For example in my own case I have 3 conditions that fit these categories. The first and most minor is scar tissue under the skin of my face. I went to acupuncture to have it broken apart as modern medical procedures would have been ineffective at removing it without doing even more damage. This has proven quite successful.
My second example is a small bone in my nose that as a result of my operation and slightly deviated septum has blocked off one of my sinus cavities. Having it treated would mean going under the knife again and doing considerable damage to my sinus cavity. I have instead been using kunlun meditation to treat it (though that wasn't an anticipated result of starting the practice.) It has been effective enough so as to allow me to fly without further complications.
The 3rd is an inoperable but benign tumor in my arm. I'm hoping the same bone disintegration that has been seen on the offending bone in my nose (i had an x-ray done) to also be taking place on that thing.
So that's my stance: If you have no other choice, go with something crazy. You never know, it might just work.
However I think I have a well reasoned stance on the issue. If you are sick and there is a modern medical cure or treatment then go with that first. If however what you have cannot be cured by modern medicine or would be inconvenient to do so (treating colds with antibiotics, etc.) then I will suggest alternative medicine.
For example in my own case I have 3 conditions that fit these categories. The first and most minor is scar tissue under the skin of my face. I went to acupuncture to have it broken apart as modern medical procedures would have been ineffective at removing it without doing even more damage. This has proven quite successful.
My second example is a small bone in my nose that as a result of my operation and slightly deviated septum has blocked off one of my sinus cavities. Having it treated would mean going under the knife again and doing considerable damage to my sinus cavity. I have instead been using kunlun meditation to treat it (though that wasn't an anticipated result of starting the practice.) It has been effective enough so as to allow me to fly without further complications.
The 3rd is an inoperable but benign tumor in my arm. I'm hoping the same bone disintegration that has been seen on the offending bone in my nose (i had an x-ray done) to also be taking place on that thing.
So that's my stance: If you have no other choice, go with something crazy. You never know, it might just work.
http://www.thewolfeclinic.com/acidalkfoods.html
Little factoid: We still use medicines that were first discovered in use in ancient Egypt.
I have a condition meself that can be treated two ways: one is a pharmacutical pill that has terrible side effects and damages, not to mention is expensive. the other way to cure is a natural remedy that is working quite well, is cheap, and doesn't cause the side effects.
Through*= throw X3
Anything that has a 90% mortality rate in just a week...that's worse than bubonic or pneumonic plague.
Would love for there to be a natural remedy for spongiform encephalitis too.
The real reason for the general lack of studies is that the alties refuse to do them. They, especially the ones selling something, prefer to rely on anecdotes and do not do anything to filter out things like the placebo effect or regression to the mean. (And if you think there is no money to be made from altmed, just go to the mall and check out places like GNC.)
If you're falling from a great height without a parachute, flap your arms, it can't hurt and you may be pleasantly surprised.
I can dig that. I'm more than a little dubious of most kinds of alternative medicine, but at the same time I also definitely accept that traditional medicine is too profit-driven to trust 100% either. "Here, take these 487 pills daily for the rest of your life, that will merely treat your symptoms instead of curing your condition!"
I got to see him live (which makes sense, because he isn't dead yet) once, really eye opening.
Frankly, I believe heavily in using alt med to prevent illness or deal with symptoms... but I would never think that an aroma therapy session could cure cancer.
~Locke
I must say that the MSG and sugar addictions were the hardest to kick.
Everything should be sweetened with fruit juice, if it has to be.
Apparently the antibiotic was a naturally produced by the brewing process of the beer they consumed in large quantities.
Those who knew were WORSE OFF. http://www.ahjonline.com/article/PI.....06496/abstract
As I stated it has to be personal prayer. Praying for someone doesn't have any effect.
By creating an unipolar field of placebotron particles around the patient which accelerates healing.
I believe it's important to be skeptical without being dismissive. Think things through logically. You mentioned using acupuncture to break up scar tissue--I can easily see how that would work! When someone gets better from a folk remedy, the proper scientific response is not to immediately dismiss it and say it must have been the placebo effect, but to analyze just WHY they got better, and do double blind trials.
I use bandaids with antibiotic cream and peroxide disinfectant when I get scraped up. I also eat chicken soup when I'm feeling under the weather. If something works, it works: an observed fact needs no proof, though explanations ought to be sought.
Still, as I said above, if it works, it works.
for example, medicine with cold never seemed to work, but then I just drank a lot of natural juice with vitamin C, it worked and today no cold lasts in me for more than 3 days, from the first symptom... oh and it's been now a terribly long time without a cold XD, I changed many eating habits and I eat mostly veggies now (I'm still a meat lover XD)
try scientology - they'll cure you of all your imagined ailments! (just leave your wallet by the door)
[/trollface]
but seriously, cool that you could meditate that stuff away. i once tried some zone-therapy against my allergies - not entirely sure if it worked - i still prefer my regular astma medications
The human mind is a very underrated healing tool too...
I forget where, but I've seen several tv documentaries that include some fella who had an inoperable, and terminal cancer. He would go to sleep each night imagining a space battle [insert Battlestar galactica fight scene here] and after a while there were fewer and fewer cylons around until finaly there were none.
At his next scan, his cancer had gone.
Never underestimate the power of the mind.
The reverse I'm sure that everyone knows is all too true too. If you're ill and you moan at everyone that you're ill, you will feel and possibly get worse. If you carry on regardless, you'll usualy get over it faster.
Now... <thinks very hard> I am not diabetic, I am not diabetic, my leg is not inflating like a balloon...
Thus, we're stock with a mix of mostly anecdotal evidence to back our "snake oil" therapies which we rely on mostly because they're cheap and, even if not effective, rarely have any bad side effects.
Answer that pharmaceutical companies obviously haven't thought of yet: Isolate the REASON why it works and package THAT. If it's something simple that can't be pumped up in price, like keeping a balance in sodium or vitamin C or water, sucks to be the company that financed the grant, but we'd have improved the state of medical knowledge at least!
Some of it is common sense...
if you snore... LOSE WEIGHT
HERBS can be good and effective too (KAVA KAVA) for example
and what is kunlun meditation? i have not heard of it before but i must say i am interested now.
Kunlun is essentially a distilled form of all those bizarre practices and meditative arts without all the isolation, physical denial and ceremony that is often associated with it. It runs contrary to all eastern spiritual practices while being developed from them. The idea being that rather than develop the ability to project and give off energy, it's probably a better idea to produce and store it.
I got a small, soft lump on the side of my neck, smaller than a marble, but still large enough to feel it with my fingers. It doesn't seem to be getting any larger (I first noticed it about a week and a half ago), possibly smaller. I know I should have something like that looked at, but its not directly adjascent to anything (Just under the skin pretty much directly under my jaw under my right eye) and I honestly cannot afford any sort of expensive testing or treatment right now, since I make minimum wage, few hours, and currently have car trouble that may turn out to be very expensive on its own. D:
Fortunately, taking my neglected acne medication seems to help, somewhat. Any changes in size or consistancy may just be in my head. I'm about 75% sure its not cancerous, probably either some form of acne, cyst (I've had one or two before) or at likely worst, a lone swollen lymph node (though I'm pretty sure those are deeper in the body than that)
hot mustard on a bare chest to cure pneumonia?
I've also heard of a guy that was riddled with tumors in his body. The doctors didn't give him long to live. Appearantly he had always wondered what it was like to live up in the extreme north. So he figured he'd go live with the Inuit fo a while. Appearantly, the Inuit give someone who's terminally ill, rotten/ rotting? meat to eat. So this guy figured he's dying anyway, why not try it. After a while, he seemed to start getting better. So he went back south for a checkup and found that the tumors were gone. Supposedly the rotten meat that he ate had some sort of bacteria that eats only dead flesh and not living tissue. So that bacteria ate the tumors, making way for the guy's body to start it's slow process of healing where the tumors had been.