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Good for you. We should ALL take responsibility for our own health and realize there are as many bad medical doctors who are Moderator cut: we don't call anyone that name on this forum as any other kind of health care practitioner (or non health professional) percentage wise. It is unfortunate that the medical profession decided to single out Naturopaths on their site Quackwatch. They won't admit that medical doctors can be quacks too.
I just think the medical profession as a whole gets away with inflicting far too much pain and administering too many expensive ineffective treatments and yet nobody complains and people continue to step up to the plate for more and more of it.
If I had RA or an gastrointestinal problems I would immediately cut out cooked refined grains and all animal products including all dairy and eggs. I would dramatically increase raw fruit intake and raw veggies as it is the cooked foods and the animal products which are mucus producing, inflammatory and hard to digest. I'd make sure my kidneys were filtering wastes and my urine wasn't clear. If not I'd do everything I could to support my kidneys and adrenals. For my stomach I'd take Slippery Elm before every meal. I'd take other stomach toning herbs too. I probably would eat much smaller amounts and do some juice fasting or fasting on herbal teas. There are some great books on medicinal herbs, I would get one and DIY.
Just an FYI, the purists don't advocate the man-made synthetic isolate supplements because they contain only parts of the plant and not the whole plant which is perfectly balanced and easy to assimilate. The man-made supplement will stimulate but in the end enervate depending on how long you take it. For an example, there have been cases of becoming so dependent on taking probiotics that without them, digestion was non existent. Whereas taking a prebiotic plant such as Dandelion, will help the body make its own friendly digestive flora rather than send messages to the pancreas not to bother doing its job because the probiotics were supplied in supplement form. Lots of the "holistic heath" movement are big on "giving the body what it needs" which you don't want to do if it means sending the wrong messages to the body and weakening it in the long run. Rather, you want to give it what it needs to it can work on its own which is what whole herbs do. You can never go wrong with WHOLE herbs from Nature. No matter how hard he might try, man can't improve on Nature.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mikala43
MY allopathic doctors do read up on studies of supplements, especially my RA and Gastro as they deal with more chronic conditions.
It's not a one or the other situation when it comes to health. I personally will not be seeing an ND in the future, I've talked to too many "healers" who say everything to "it's your liver" to "eliminate gluten." None of it was correct.
I will do my own research on alternative treatments and discuss with my doctors. This has worked well for me and no one will change my mind.
Last edited by in_newengland; 04-29-2016 at 01:34 PM..
It's true a patient wants to walk out of the MD's office with a script or they feel their visit was a waste. Not me, but the mentality of most. I have a friend who still finds herself seeing a conventional MD for urinary issues and ends up with a script and when she reads all the possible s/e's she does not fill it. Her hearing loss is from pharma meds.
My oldest friend who will be 95 and in incredible shape, runs all herbals by her pharmacist, and when she was going to start with grape seed ex, she ran it by him and he said "yes, take it, I take it myself". Glad to hear from the smart open minded thinking people here. thank you for being there. I've been made to look like some crazy by others here.
I have some favorite topicals for my joints, and Dr. Christopher's Comfrey ointment is on my fav list..to this ointment, I often add some wintergreen oil and drops of DMSO. Helps my knee so much.
BTW, Medicare doesn't cover a lot of things but that doesn't mean they don't work. Medicare doesn't cover the toric cataract lenses that I might have needed. They certainly do work and many people with astigmatism do need them--but people can get by without them by getting standard lenses (covered by Medicare) and then buying glasses. Or people can pay out of pocket to get the toric. Just because Medicare or any other insurance doesn't cover something, doesn't mean it doesn't work.
Blue Cross didn't want to cover my cancer surgery either. That doesn't mean that it didn't work--follow the money. Everybody knows insurance companies are in business to make money and if they know of something that is cheap they'd much rather cover that than something that's better but more expensive.
The insurance companies will always try to say it isn't "medically necessary." Then the doctors have to fight it. The doctors should make the decisions as to what is the best treatment and the patients keep themselves informed.
Good point to bring up. As a retired independent health insurance agent (pre-Obamacare days) I thought it was pathetic that half my clients with chronic conditions wouldn't try any mode of medicine unless their insurance was going to pay for it. One summer it seemed like 2 or 3 of my clients as well as myself all got Lyme's Disease.
I was lucky to have been bitten on my arm and got the bulls-eye reaction and everything. In a few days when I started to feel weak I set an apt with my N.D. who was a former M.D. in Holland. He gave me Lomatium dissectum or wild black carrot extract which is an herbal, anti-biotic, anti-viral and anti-parasitic. After the first day, all my energy was restored. I just took the bottle feeling great all the while I was taking it and that was that. I never missed a beat. Meanwhile my clients were suffering through weeks and weeks of allopathic anti-biotic treatments while they lost weeks of work.
To make a long story longer, don't be penny wise and pound foolish when it comes to your health. Don't be stubborn like my clients were. Your health is worth paying a little money out of pocket for especially if your health insurance doesn't cover the kind of doctor you who can really help you get well.
A colleague used to say to me that people would spend $75 per month on cable TV but they wouldn't value their own health enough to spend a little out of pocket even if it meant getting well.
If I had RA or an gastrointestinal problems I would immediately cut out cooked refined grains and all animal products including all dairy and eggs. I would dramatically increase raw fruit intake and raw veggies as it is the cooked foods and the animal products which are mucus producing, inflammatory and hard to digest. I'd make sure my kidneys were filtering wastes and my urine wasn't clear. If not I'd do everything I could to support my kidneys and adrenals. For my stomach I'd take Slippery Elm before every meal. I'd take other stomach toning herbs too. I probably would eat much smaller amounts and do some juice fasting or fasting on herbal teas. There are some great books on medicinal herbs, I would get one and DIY.
Ironically, I went vegetarian for 2 weeks and had the worst RA flareup in a long time. Both my doc and I were surprised. But same thing when I tried the no carb diet a couple years ago.
I do best when I keep my food at moderation. I already eat 10-15 different fruits and vegetables a day at minimum. I mix proteins as much as convenient (fish, chicken, beef, pork) with vegetarian nights. I'm switching over to a mostly non-gmo, grass fed, organic meats, and trying to buy most veggies locally - all of those things have a higher nutritional value. I'm growing heirloom veggies. I mix my grains, farrow, barley, oats, quinoa, spelt. I eat sourkraut, kimchee, kombucha and keffir.
In my house we try to get one new thing a week either veggie, fruit or grain. It usually something weird like soursop. Or common but just never used personally like fresh horseradish and celery root.
My supplements are curcumin and fishoil. I would add ginger but I eat so much of it raw in my green smoothies that there is no need.
85% of our food is homemade from whole foods. No I do not bake bread, cereal or make my own condiments. When we eat out it's not at a chain restaurant.
Give me 20 NDs and they will give me 20 different diets.
But well meaning people are convinced they have the magic combination that will "cure" my RA.
So, I do thank you for caring and being passionate on the subject. But believe when I tell you, if it were not for biologics, I would not be leaving my house today, let alone leaving it for an hour of intense workout.
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No matter how hard he might try, man can't improve on Nature.
So what? We should let everyone die from diseases like we used to? I mean, it would cure the overcrowding of the planet, but that seems a little hard hearted.
Spanish flu, bubonic plague, black death, small pox..... what? Just eat an apple and abstain from grains?
Man has improved upon nature when it comes to keeping us from dying.
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I've talked about my daughter and all the injuries she now has due to drug interactions. One a collapsed tendon and she still doesn't know why this happened..She has insurance with a huge deductible and trys to use it but found thru our SM homeopathic pharmacy about a D.O. who could possibly help her issues. She is seeing the D.O. weekly and paying out of pocket for her work. She says "mom, I'm feeling such a difference in my overall body and being"..so she uses her credit card to see this D.O. I'm seeing the D.O. next week as she takes Medicare....trying to help the older folks and broken down bodies we live with. Truth be known, my body is more broken since hip replacement.
Since the surgery, I've talked to so many and even went to a UK group to hear their outcomes...so many dealing with horrid issues from joint replacements and so young doing these, 40's on...I was 72. What I gathered from the UK group, since they have all this "free" insurance they go for surgery very early...It's a mindset, free, so I'll get these. Supplements and alternatives were almost not accepted as talking points. I did meet some alternative thinking people who did leave the group and form their own group and I left as I was spinning my wheels....opposite mindsets.
It's true a patient wants to walk out of the MD's office with a script or they feel their visit was a waste. Not me, but the mentality of most. I have a friend who still finds herself seeing a conventional MD for urinary issues and ends up with a script and when she reads all the possible s/e's she does not fill it. Her hearing loss is from pharma meds.
My oldest friend who will be 95 and in incredible shape, runs all herbals by her pharmacist, and when she was going to start with grape seed ex, she ran it by him and he said "yes, take it, I take it myself". Glad to hear from the smart open minded thinking people here. thank you for being there. I've been made to look like some crazy by others here.
I have some favorite topicals for my joints, and Dr. Christopher's Comfrey ointment is on my fav list..to this ointment, I often add some wintergreen oil and drops of DMSO. Helps my knee so much.
Cool! You know about Dr. Christopher? What a great man he was! Comfrey is a WONDERFUL herb also. It used to be taken internally for many years until the FDA got wind of what a great herb it is and now says its tannins, I think, can be contraindicated for people with liver problems. (If the truth be told if you take the whole herb which contains all the buffers etc there is no danger.)
You must know about Herballegacy.com right? That site indexes a lot of Dr. Christopher's writings and formulas for various things.
It is the tissue and bone healing herb. Your friend is very smart to check with her pharmacist. My old N.D. who also had a radio show used to say to always check with the pharmacist about potential interactions if one was concerned... and that the pharmacist was the expert as far as the safety of combining drugs with herbs etc -- not the medical doctor.
BTW, Medicare doesn't cover a lot of things but that doesn't mean they don't work. Medicare doesn't cover the toric cataract lenses that I might have needed. They certainly do work and many people with astigmatism do need them--but people can get by without them by getting standard lenses (covered by Medicare) and then buying glasses. Or people can pay out of pocket to get the toric. Just because Medicare or any other insurance doesn't cover something, doesn't mean it doesn't work.
Medicare not covering a specific type of intraocular lens is not comparable to not covering acupuncture.
They would be similar if Medicare did not cover IOLs at all.
Medicare does not cover acupuncture because there is no clear evidence that it works better than alternatives.
Medicare will help with allopathic treatments but not alternative treatments than COULD really make a difference...they help with damaging drugs. But for one with straight medicare they don't do much for us. One has to buy into Presciption D which I will not. I wanted to take celebrex but could not afford it, medicare would not help there...glad I didn't try it as the possible side effects are many.
Acupuncture has only been working thruout the world for 1000's of years.
We don't want to get too many healthier in the U.S. -- money would be lost.
Medicare will help with allopathic treatments but not alternative treatments than COULD really make a difference...they help with damaging drugs. But for one with straight medicare they don't do much for us. One has to buy into Presciption D which I will not. I wanted to take celebrex but could not afford it, medicare would not help there...glad I didn't try it as the possible side effects are many.
Acupuncture has only been working thruout the world for 1000's of years.
We don't want to get too many healthier in the U.S. -- money would be lost.
Lead was used for 1000s of years too.... and look how that turned out.
I am pro acupuncture and chiro, but quality all depends on the individual. I think that the fact that it is hard to quantify is part of the problem.
My husband does a great job cracking my back, feels great. My health insurance covers chiro..... maybe he should ask for reimbursement.
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