At least, that's what all the clinical trials have shown over the past seven years. Robert Bazell from NBC gives a very good summary on the state of testing efficacy of the popular drugs touted in the homeopathic aisle of your pharmacy. Interesting notes are the proven benefits of acupunture and contact therapies, such as massage or acupressure, as complementary medicinal aids. There are some diet supplements which obviously work in controlling weight, and testing these would give us a better idea of what works and what doesn't. Of course, Bazell is a doctor, and has his own biases against "competitors," but when you have enough tests pointing out the same thing, I believe more weight should be given to these data, instead of the anecdotal testimonials given in magazine ads. Read the whole thing.
Joe -
ReplyDeleteI used to have cancer. I followed an alternative medicine regimen that I am forbidden by law to say cured me.
While I therefore cannot say that what I did cured me, I can say I no longer have cancer. The kind of cancer I had does not spontaneously remit. Maybe it was a random miracle.
Anyhoo, since realistic, double-blind tests of alternative medicine for catastrophic illnesses do not exist, I'll just have to go with personal experience.
Also anecdotally, St. John's Wort never did a thing for me one way or the other.
Brenda:
ReplyDeleteWow, I'm glad you're now cancer free. There is a lot that modern medicine cannot explain, even the placebo effect has no quantifiable efficiency rate. But there is definitely more to our bodies than chemistry and positive beliefs. The next era of medicine will begin by incorporating spirituality and pychology, and the testing on these methods have already begun. Just don't expect to see mainstream news coverage yet.
Prayer is the key.
ReplyDeleteBut not the prayer to be healed.
The prayer of "Thy Will Be Done".
The Serenity Prayer is whatt I'm talkin' 'bout.
Joe - I didn't mean to be misleading. This was an actual treatment, including some 20 pills a day on a very strict schedule. It's just not a gov't or AMA approved treatment.
ReplyDeleteIn the process, I lost all of my fine hairs (arms, legs, etc.), about 1/3 the hair on my head (which, thank goodness, grew back) and had a few more of the same reactions I would have had if I had gone on chemo. This treatment was different in that it is not approved, has never been and probably never will be clinically tested, and was not nearly the horror that traditional treatment would have been in the same case.
While visualization was part of the whole process, and certainly I prayed a good bit, it all went hand-in-hand with a specific chemical regimen. I was just very lucky that the kind of cancer I had was not immediately life-threatening so that I had the time to try out this alternative method rather than being herded into the approved slice, dice and radiate therapy.
Brenda:
ReplyDeleteOh, I know. I was just commenting on cancer treatments in general. Some human cancer treatments are just not testable in mice because the genetics don't match up. It's pretty cool that about 90 percent of cancers can be researched just using the little furballs.
Anyhow, this commentary was about stuff you take for arthritis or the common cold, nothing as dramatic as cancer.
Joe -
ReplyDeleteYep, I got that. I'm just a little sensitive to the immediate negative reaction of the medical establishment to anything they don't personally subscribe to.
It leaves me suspicious of pretty much anything they have to say on the subject, and of the methodology they used to conduct these tests.