national healthcare and alternative medicine

[subsound]

Originally Posted by HappyTexan

The CDC is and that's who puts out public announcements.

So because the CDC puts out announcements, they control all medical care and people follow the government like a faith?

Wow, firstly just because something makes announcements doesn't mean everyone takes what they say on faith...even suggesting that is nuts. Suggesting the CDC is in total control shows you have no idea what the CDC, the FDA, or CMS does in the first place. Let alone suggesting the entire staff of a hospital lines up in the morning to see what their orders are that day.

Not only are you wrong, you don't even have the basic knowledge of what you are talking about to engage in the conversation in the first place. Only a scammer, a lunatic, or a moron would present themselves as an expert without even the basic knowledge of what they are talking about in the first place.

[Ceece]

I think there are places for both. I don't know what kind of crappy Dr's most people have but mine ALWAYS discuss things like diet, exercise, stress relief methods, lifestyle, etc. wtih me when I have a physical. A few years back my Dr got me using a neti pot for lifetime sinus problems and allergies for example. While these may not be the extreme ALTERNATIVES people think of they are the best ones. It's not just instand "take a pill" medicine for everything I have concerns about. However there are some things that instantly improve when I "take a pill" and for that I am grateful.

[emilybh]

Originally Posted by Katiana

Believe me, if that stuff worke half as well as its proponents claim, everyone would be doing it.

The reason they don't use it is because they can't think for themselves or wouldn't DARE do anything other than what their medical doctor tells them to do. Some people are also lazy and impatient and want a quick fix.

Natural medicine is far gentler than western medicine and usually takes some time to work. Lots of people think they "try it" (by going to a health food store and grabbing something off the shelf which probably isn't going to be what a Naturopath would reccomend... RATHER than going to see an experienced Naturopath who can tell them what will be most effective for them), give it a few days and if they don't see immediate changes they
think they've "tried it and it doesn't work".

[hawkeye2009]

Originally Posted by DT113876

And those two studies are contradicted by other studies that show acupuncture is effective for some conditions at least. So which is true and which is false? It's actually you as an individual deciding that, the "scientific establishment" is not monolithic on this issue. There's serious problems with trying to create placebo controls with acupuncture studies. Having said that, research using fMRI has shown that acupuncture's effect is different from a sham placebo: Brain encoding of acupuncture sensation - coupling on-line rating with fMRI

This demonstrates ignorance of science and what constitutes a good study. The end point, or purpose, is pain relief compared to sham treatment. Patients, and insurance companies, do not pay money for no pain relief and simply a functional change in MRI or PET scanning. That is where that little problem of statistics gets in the way of "alternative medicine".

Again- The only two large, randomized, blinded, prospective, placebo controlled studies on accupuncture show it to be equivilent to shame accupunture. Interestingly, in both studies, the patients undergoing sham accupuncture and real accupuncture, in addition to physical therapy, did better than PT alone. The question then becomes should one embrace a sham procedure? The insurance companies say "no", as one has to show benefit over sham treatment to be approved.

What does accupuncture (or sham accupuncture) actually do? It actually increases endorphins in the CNS, which can be reversed by naloxone. However, the duration of increase of endorphins is only two days. Therefore, if accupuncture could be performed continously, theoretically it might provide some longer benefit.

[hawkeye2009]

Originally Posted by emilybh

The reason they don't use it is because they can't think for themselves or wouldn't DARE do anything other than what their medical doctor tells them to do. Some people are also lazy and impatient and want a quick fix.

Natural medicine is far gentler than western medicine and usually takes some time to work. Lots of people think they "try it" (by going to a health food store and grabbing something off the shelf which probably isn't going to be what a Naturopath would reccomend... RATHER than going to see an experienced Naturopath who can tell them what will be most effective for them), give it a few days and if they don't see immediate changes they
think they've "tried it and it doesn't work".

You do realize, don't you, that "natural" and "herbal" medicines are just weak and poorly controlled pharmaceuticals? Where do you think most pharmaceuticals come from? Initially, most are isolated from "nature". Subsequently, side chains are placed on the parent molecule to improve efficacy.

Very few medicines are not organic compounds. There are a few, such as Li, used to treat mania. However, a qucik review of most medicines will discover that the majority of the parent compounds were identified in nature and improved in the lab.

Let me ask you- as a "naturopath", what would you use for

hypertension?
diabetes?
congestive heart failure?
a staph infection?
seizures?
bronchospasm?
hypothyroidism?
Addisons?
ect.......................

Why not have your next surgery with only the use of accupuncture and no general or regional anesthetic?

[talkerfly]

Alternative medicine didn't work for Steve Jobs, and in his case, money was no object. I most certainly do not want the government to be spending any tax dollars on magic and voodoo medicine.