News, More medical schools teaching alt. remedies. (doctors, best, nurses)

[John1960]

Future doctors and nurses are learning about acupuncture and herbs along with anatomy and physiology at a growing number of medical schools. It's another example of how alternative medicine has become mainstream. And it's often done with Uncle Sam's help.

More medical schools teaching alt. remedies - Alternative medicine- msnbc.com

[beachmouse]

Good move. I know that there are some legit concerns about how herbal remedies and even vitamin supplements can interact with conventional medicines, and doctors should be aware of, and know how to educate their patients about those.

And a lot of people with chronic conditions have success with alternative medicines in helping managing those chronic conditions.

[K-Luv]

Interesting, these 'alternatives' where the norm for thousands of years. There are still many areas of US society, particularly in rural communities, where folk remedies are still the norm.

I think that some of these alternatives are straight up goofy, but hey, the role of doctors and nurses is to treat their patients with the best care possible, so if something alternative can get the job done without all of the toxic side effects or expensive equipment/procedures then why not?

And I would hope that anyone learning acupuncture was also learning A&P.

[Braunwyn]

Any kind of herbal remedy that works has an active ingredient, otherwise it wouldn't work. This should naturally be addressed in classes addressing pharma, etc.

[user_id]

Ugh, people's fascination with "alternative medicine" is so silly. Alternative medicine is just another way of saying medicine that has not been demonstrated to be effective, yet people due to their irrationality keep taking otherwise.

There is no need for "alternatives", all of this junk can be evaluated with the same methodologies as standard medicines. Of course, when they are and the results show they are essentially placebos...its due to some conspiracy created by the big drug companies.

Ugh, what do you expect from an animal that has a habit of creating myths to explain things...

[K-Luv]

Originally Posted by user_id

Ugh, people's fascination with "alternative medicine" is so silly. Alternative medicine is just another way of saying medicine that has not been demonstrated to be effective, yet people due to their irrationality keep taking otherwise.

There is no need for "alternatives", all of this junk can be evaluated with the same methodologies as standard medicines. Of course, when they are and the results show they are essentially placebos...its due to some conspiracy created by the big drug companies.

Ugh, what do you expect from an animal that has a habit of creating myths to explain things...

I think that there is merit to alternative medicine, especially since a good amount of modern medicine is a synthetic form of something found in nature, and, pharmaceutical companies search nature for potential new candidates to research.

I will agree that too many people turn to alternative medicine who do not know what they are taking or any real affect that it might have. Just because something is natural does not mean that it is safe, but people mix herbs with their pharm. medication thinking that the herbal remedy is okay because it is natural. This could be a dangerous mixture, and a decent pharmacologists would know, but doctors generally do not know squat about pharmacology. It would be nice if they did.

[user_id]

Originally Posted by K-Luv

I think that there is merit to alternative medicine, especially since a good amount of modern medicine is a synthetic form of something found in nature, and, pharmaceutical companies search nature for potential new candidates to research.

If there is merit to it, then there should be no problem demonstrating that merit by testing the medicines. But much of what is considered "alternative medicine" has been tested and has been shown to be little more than placebos. Hence, "alternative medicine" is just anti-scientific nonsense, often justified with silly conspiracy theories about drug companies.

Testing the effectiveness of some herb is no different than testing the effectiveness of some synthetic medicine, after all as you mention a number of today's medicines are derived from natural sources.

Regardless, teaching this quackery is probably a good thing though. That way doctors are better informed about the sorts of silly things their patients may be using.

[Braunwyn]

Originally Posted by K-Luv

I think that there is merit to alternative medicine, especially since a good amount of modern medicine is a synthetic form of something found in nature, and, pharmaceutical companies search nature for potential new candidates to research.

I will agree that too many people turn to alternative medicine who do not know what they are taking or any real affect that it might have. Just because something is natural does not mean that it is safe, but people mix herbs with their pharm. medication thinking that the herbal remedy is okay because it is natural. This could be a dangerous mixture, and a decent pharmacologists would know, but doctors generally do not know squat about pharmacology. It would be nice if they did.

Red yeast rice is a good example. IIRC, it has the same side effects as commericial cholesterol lowering drugs.