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Sunday, October 20, 2013

Malpractice in Alternative Medicine

I have experimented with a few forms of alternative medicine with no outstandingly negative results. Any positive results may have been no greater than if I had taken placebos, but I am no worse than I was before and actually feel quite a bit better. But let's look at how alternative practices can be manipulated by the unscrupulous. http://whatstheharm.net/herbalremedies.html What a collection of appalling stories! What is super disturbing is the number of alternative medical practitioners that were willing to tell their followers to abandon conventional medicine because it rendered the alternatives ineffective. It's like this: No matter what kind of 'medicine' it is, if it is making me feel obviously worse, I am not sticking with it! That's just common sense. I have read some whoppers over the past year regarding the abilities of various herbs to affect the physiology of the body. One huge whopper was the claim that a certain herb could induce the development of new blood vessels. I really can't make myself believe that one. What sort of tests and trials would be needed before I could believe that? Well, I just don't have the equipment to determine whether or not new blood vessels are growing. If I did, I'd dearly love to test this and most likely shoot it out of the tree. If only I could afford my own MRI machine! I think a contrast MRI might map the blood vessels accurately enough to determine whether or not new ones have formed. Of course, I'm no expert. http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/magnetic-resonance-imaging-mri. Yes, I have had negative experiences with conventional modern western medicine, and have definitely shot some practices out of that tree for myself if no one else. The same must apply equally to alternative medicine. If I don't believe it, or find evidence clearly to the contrary, BLAM! here goes. I talk about the herbs I've tried for just that reason. I'm not out to promote them, or my own zany health regimen so that I can fatten my purse. I try to base my trials on the alleged chemical composition of the herbs and the alleged beneficent powers of those chemicals. Heck getting rid of a few more free radicals surely couldn't hurt...or..could it? I haven't found anything to suggest that it's harmful yet. And to put a cheery note in this, most of the really powerful plant substances are illegal. Marijuana, opium poppies and coca leaves definitely produce effects on the body and they are all illegal, so herbal practitioners sure can't proclaim their virtues to enhance sales in order to enrich themselves. It's a good idea to investigate the science behind every sort of substance or program available for treatment of ailments or enhancement of health. Sometimes there is not enough scientific evidence, and then that's where the real fun of winging it starts. And then, there is the other side of the coin in which theory has been presented in a factual manner within conventional medicine. For instance just look at all of the fabulous antidepressants and antipsychotics. The funny thing about those drugs is that so many people think that they have obtained relief through their use, just as many people believe that they have obtained relief through alternative medicine. What a conundrum! Presentations from both areas have been made that are inaccurate. I do think there should be some sort of  malpractice punishment for those that sell alternative treatments which are presented as definite cures for serious conditions that have led to harm for members of the unwary public, just as there is punishment for malpractice within conventional medicine. Yes, let's revoke that mail order degree or diploma and publicise the act that led up to it far and wide. There's a start! Speaking of whoppers, here's another one that I just can't swallow after careful study: http://www.marshallprotocol.com/
'Dr.' Marshall's credentials are indeed most interesting. I have studied biology, microbiology, and many other medically relevant courses over the years, and I refuse to accept that ditching vitamin D can be a good thing. I think vitamin D deficiency promotes osteomalacia actually. Matter of fact, so does the good old Mayo clinic and most everyone else with any sort of accurate biological knowledge: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/osteomalacia/DS00935 And pulsed antibiotic therapy is not a good idea at all because this leads to the development of antibiotic resistant organisms. That's why the doctors always tell us to finish all of our antibiotics even when we start feeling better! If antibiotics are given at insufficient doses or for incorrect lengths of time, the hardiest mutations of the pathogens survive and flourish. Please, please get your children vaccinated. http://www.infowars.com/do-vaccines-cause-autism/ I believe that the notion that vaccines can cause autism is pure crapola, and I know for a fact that polio cripples and kills because my great grandmother was rendered paraplegic by polio, and that all the other diseases for which there are vaccines are maiming and killing diseases because like I said, I have studied microbiology. Just help yourself to some Google images of measles, mumps, diptheria, rubella and such. It's a real treat! Better yet, crack open a good microbiology text. None of my children is autistic from vaccines either, which furthers my belief that the notion they can cause autism is very dangerous crapola. http://www.babycenter.com/0_vaccines-and-autism-separating-fact-from-fiction_1470554.bc , http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/07/130716-autism-vaccines-mccarthy-view-medicine-science/ And, if it came right down to it, I would much rather have an otherwise healthy autistic child than to hold my child in my arms as she died of measles or diptheria or any of those other horrid illnesses. We are fortunate that we do not see the results and ravages of these diseases due to the promotion of vaccinations. They are absolute horror made real. I think any parent considering skipping vaccines needs a close personal encounter for themselves with a hideous disease. Nothing like reality to change an opinion based on lack of first hand experience. But please, don't let that experience come through the deaths of innocent little babies and children! Anyone in the alternative world that is discouraging vaccinations is irrevocably guilty of intent to harm in my eyes and should be convicted of alternative medical malpractice. Are these people so darn crazy that they think harm is O.K.? Primum Non Nocere! (Even if you aren't a medical doctor!)

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