Associated Press declares war on alternative medicine (opinion)

Natural News ^ | 10-07-09 | Mike Adams

[mlizzy]

(NaturalNews) The Associated Press has declared war on alternative medicine, publishing a series of stories attacking everything from nutritional therapies to bioidentical hormones. These stories, which are syndicated across thousands of websites around the world, are prefaced with the following highly-opinionated "Editor's Note":

EDITOR'S NOTE: Ten years and $2.5 billion in research have found no cures from alternative medicine. Yet these mostly unproven treatments are now mainstream and used by more than a third of all Americans. This is one in an occasional series examining their use and potential risks.

What this note reveals is an extraordinary bias against natural medicine from the start. It's clear from the claim of "examining their use and potential risks" that the Associated Press isn't even looking for potential benefits of natural medicine. They're just looking to discredit it. And the part about "Ten years and $2.5 billion in research have found no cures" is factually incorrect.

[mlizzy]

It has always been my belief that when the Good Lord created us, he also created that which would heal us ... In our household, it's holistic cures first -- and only if necessary -- conventional medicine second ...

[Vaduz]

The Associated Press has declared war on alternative medicine,yet no word on Obama’s voodoo healthcare plan.

[PGR88]

As the Gov’t collapses our medical system, people will be looking for more alternative cures of all kinds - holistic medicine, herbs, Chinese medicine, travel to 3rd countries for care. The Govt will consider it all bad.

[ntmxx]

Is this the first wave against having medical care without government supervision?

Show me that which modern medicine has done lately and I will show you billions wasted upon HIV/AIDS, psycho-pharmaceuticals, and mass drugging of children.

[Lorianne]

Nevermind, alternative medicine won’t be an option under Pelosi-Care (TM).

[mlizzy]

As the Gov’t collapses our medical system, people will be looking for more alternative cures of all kinds - holistic medicine, herbs, Chinese medicine, travel to 3rd countries for care. The Govt will consider it all bad.

A well-known, well-respected doctor cost me my hearing ... but now -- through holistic means -- the Good Lord is giving it back to me (in small increments, but I'm thrilled with my progress).

[SaintDismas]

Dear God in heaven, they really do want everyone sick and dead.

[alloysteel]

Alternative medicine may be all that is available to the common citizen within a few years, as the wait lists for the “orthodox” medical practice will be so long, that a number of patients may well die while waiting for and EVALUATION of their then current state of health.

There will be great opportunity for quackery, and just plain crackpot medical theories, but people could largely count on the “placebo” effect to contain and control their perceived medical problems.

Actually, prayer and the power of positive thinking, are by themselves some pretty powerful medicines for many conditions. The human body is a highly adaptable organism, and there are hundreds of redundant “work-arounds” in the various body systems. The body can take some irritant, that could cause disabilities, or even death, and isolate it to a degree that function continues with or without medical attention, or sometimes, even in spite of the medical attention.

People are about as healthy and wealthy as they make up their minds to be. No government decree or law will change that. What can be changed, however, is morale and optimism, over which government has only limited degree of control. Morale and optimism may be easily destroyed, but only with painstaking development of trust and confidence, can they be built back up.

[mlizzy]

Flu Shot Victim Desiree Jennings CURED of “untreatable” Neurological Disorder

Update on Desiree Jennings.

Thank you!

[GGpaX4DumpedTea]

Ping for later read...

[mlizzy]

Alternative medicine may be all that is available to the common citizen within a few years, as the wait lists for the “orthodox” medical practice will be so long, that a number of patients may well die while waiting for and EVALUATION of their then current state of health. There will be great opportunity for quackery, and just plain crackpot medical theories, but people could largely count on the “placebo” effect to contain and control their perceived medical problems. Actually, prayer and the power of positive thinking, are by themselves some pretty powerful medicines for many conditions. The human body is a highly adaptable organism, and there are hundreds of redundant “work-arounds” in the various body systems. The body can take some irritant, that could cause disabilities, or even death, and isolate it to a degree that function continues with or without medical attention, or sometimes, even in spite of the medical attention. People are about as healthy and wealthy as they make up their minds to be. No government decree or law will change that. What can be changed, however, is morale and optimism, over which government has only limited degree of control. Morale and optimism may be easily destroyed, but only with painstaking development of trust and confidence, can they be built back up.

Well, if so, many will find "cures" for their illnesses that are good FOR them too, and actually heal their woes instead of just cover up their symptoms.

I liked your comment ... all I can add to it is the importance of the specific prayer, the Rosary -- 'Remembering Lepanto'. And all the more important to remember the Battle at Lepanto since Mother Teresa herself said "the fruit of abortion is nuclear war."

[Polybius]

It has always been my belief that when the Good Lord created us, he also created that which would heal us ...

The Good Lord promised to create that which would heal your soul .... not your earthly body.

In 1850, before the advent of evidence-based medicine, the average life-span for a newborn infant in the U.S. was 38.3 years. In 1900, at the dawn of evidence-based medicine, it was 48.2 years. By 1940, it was 62.8 years and it is now 75.7 years.

The Good Lord did not love babies born in 2009 any more than He loved babies born in 1850. The only difference is that the intellect and reason of Man, that the Good Lord created, has, through scientific, evidence-based medicine, discovered proven methods to postpone our inevitable deaths.

In our household, it's holistic cures first -- and only if necessary -- conventional medicine second ...

There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Just bear in mind that, if there has been no evidence-based research to back up the alleged curative properties, you might be spending your money on something as effective as a witch doctor waving his rattle at you.

If it has been proved by evidenced-based studies, then it has already passed on into the so-called "conventional medicine".

It is funny how the ever-changing, evidence-based medicine, which can throw out years or decades of previously accepted practice once new scientific research proves it wrong, is labelled "conventional medicine".

The term "conventional medicine" is best applied to those alleged remedies that have been passed down, from generation to generation, for centuries, without ever questioning whether the alleged benefits are proved by controlled experiments.

[darth]

Once when I worked for a major government contractor we had a strategy meeting to figure out how we could win a $5B contract. Our corporate PR guy asked one of the marketing guys to write a story for publication in the primary weekly magazine of our industry which the government customers all read.

I asked the PR guy how he was going to get a major magazine to run a story that essentially was one big advertisement on why my company should get the contract. He winked and said, “Reporters are cheaper than hookers.”

They are running propaganda for the medical and pharmaceutical industries. Someone needs to check the bank accounts of the reporter and/or editor to see what presstitutes charge these days.

[Polybius]

A well-known, well-respected doctor cost me my hearing ... but now -- through holistic means -- the Good Lord is giving it back to me (in small increments, but I'm thrilled with my progress).

Your experiment lacks a control. Many conditions are self-reversing, no matter what you do or do not do.

Example:

Five people have a bad flu.

One person goes to an M.D. One person tries holistic cures. One person prays. One person lies in bed drinking beer and watching TV. One person sacrifices a chicken at midnight.

After three weeks, every single person is cured of the flu.

One person believes he was cured by the medicines his doctor prescribed. One person believes he was cured by holistic medicine. One person believes he was cured by the Good Lord. One person believes he was cured by Samuel Adams Beer. The last person believes he was cured by the liberated spirit of the dead chicken.

Without controlled, evidence-based experimentation, every story and claim is like a belly-button .... Everybody has one.

[mlizzy]

The Good Lord promised to create that which would heal your soul .... not your earthly body.

I will have to run that by Fr. Bill, my brother-in-law. He would agree that the soul is more important to find a healing for (via the Most Holy Eucharist) rather than the earthly body, but he, himself, told me almost a couple decades ago when I could not have been more miserable (without in fact dying), that "Maybe the Lord plans to heal you slowly," and he was referring to my physical health at the time. I think through trees, herbs, vegetables, fruits, etc., God has indeed given us healing ways to live. So I can't really agree with you on that score, however, I'll run it by "the priest.":)

Just bear in mind that, if there has been no evidence-based research to back up the alleged curative properties, you might be spending your money on something as effective as a witch doctor waving his rattle at you.

Last night I had dinner with my 19-year-old daughter (who returned from college for one day) and we actually verbally CONVERSED. It was the first time in well over ten years I was able to have a conversation with her (that wasn't written on paper) because of my severe hearing loss. My daughter's smile and tears in her eyes is all the "evidenced-based research to back up the alleged curative properties" that I need. I had been deemed "incurable" by top-notch ENTs -- I've seen a number of them -- barring an out-and-out miracle, or new pathways in medicine which aren't yet available in my situation. I would love to see the evidenced-based physicians (thanks for the correction) work more closely WITH the holistic doctors, but, unfortunately, that doesn't seem possible.

[Marie]

This terrifies me. I just got off Synthroid and put on Armour Thyroid. That was a life-saver. I can't imagine not having access to this life-saving hormone. On Synthroid, I was horribly depressed and anxious. I had no energy and my hair was starting to fall out. I couldn't *think*.

On Armour, I feel like I'm alive again. I'm loosing weight, have energy and my mind is starting to sharpen up again.

Why the h311 do bureaucrats think that they know better than doctors what's best for patients???

[Polybius]

I had been deemed "incurable" by top-notch ENTs -- I've seen a number of them -- barring an out-and-out miracle, or new pathways in medicine which aren't yet available in my situation. I would love to see the evidenced-based physicians (thanks for the correction) work more closely WITH the holistic doctors, but, unfortunately, that doesn't seem possible.

At our hospital, we do. Some holistic practitioners even have hospital privileges to come to the hospital, at patient request, to perform acupuncture treatment.

From my experience, the best approach is to encourage BOTH if the patient wishes it and not make it an adversarial choice of "one or the other".

If a patient wants to take herbal pills that may or may not be proved effective, in addition to proved therapy, so what? If it makes the patient feel more confident, that's great.

Where I have a huge issue is where some "natural" healers push their agenda as an "either us or them" with tragic consequences that I have witnessed first hand. One "organic" patient that had a curable cancer that was melting away to the size of a grape suddenly "stopped the poison" of proved chemotherapy to go off to California to have some "curative herbs" administered only to come back nine months later with a recurring tumor that was, literally, the size of a football.

Resumption of proved surgeries and chemotherapy saved the life but that patient is now horribly disfigured. It is much easier to finish killing off a small grape than it is to kill off a football that has eaten away some rather important bones in your body.

Controlled experiments are not Rocket Science. Any 8th Grader who has studied the Scientific Method knows the basic principles.

Even if somebody comes up with a once upon a time seemingly ridiculous hypothesis ("Peptic ulcers can be caused by a bacteria named H. pylori"), once that hypothesis is proven with controlled studies, the World will beat a path to his door.

So, in your case:

You take large enough series of patients with the same condition that you had. You divided them into three groups. With one group, you do nothing. With another group, you administer sugar pills and "treatments" that you invent out of thin air. With the third group, you administer the treatments that you had.

You wait however many months your treatment is supposed to take to work. You test the patients for improvement.

If the groups show no difference in results, your result was probably a fluke related to your own body.

If the group that used your treatment showed statistically significant better results than the other groups, then your treatment gets published as a proved therapy and joins the ranks of other treatments in evidence-based medicine.

[BenKenobi]

Six of one, half a dozen of the other. I worked for a natural foods store that included medications. There is much that is complete and utter bunk, but there is some good stuff in there.

The key, as always is to trust, but verify.

[Polybius]

Six of one, half a dozen of the other. I worked for a natural foods store that included medications. There is much that is complete and utter bunk, but there is some good stuff in there. The key, as always is to trust, but verify.

Exactly.

"Trust, but Verify" what the Scientific Method is all about: Don't disbelieve something without proof - Don't believe something without proof.

Faith belongs in the realm of religion and not in medicine or engineering.