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sarahmichiganI know some people probably find my bashing of many alternative remedies and treatments and dismissals of them as "bunk" to be annoying. However, I have to say that the reason I get so het up about these things is that I do not think that believing in them and using them is always harmless.
At best, I think people are harnessing the power of belief/mind-over-matter/the placebo, and they might be wasting a bit of cash that could be better spent elsewhere.
At worst, people make really bad, frightening decisions about their health and health care based on pseudoscience, and this disturbs me greatly. I'm somewhat hostile to many of the people that push these remedies but less so to people who use them. I don't think people are stupid for using them, I'm just concerned about them wasting money and perhaps spending energy on unproven remedies instead of researching and pursuing treatments that have a better track record and science behind their effectiveness.
Case in point: I've been reading through the archives of the autoimmune community, and one woman was very sick with some condition that was likely rheumatoid arthritis, though she had trouble with doctors over this since her test results weren't conclusive. She went to a naturopath who took her off her meds, told her she was sensitive to MSG and to stay away from it, and gave her some nutritional supplements to take. The poor woman suffered for several more years before going to an M.D. who definitively diagnosed her with RA and put her on some drugs that actually provided her some relief.
Of course, you can get bad diagnoses and stupid advice from regular Western doctors as well- I've got enough skepticism to spread it around pretty evenly.
You don't have to agree with me, but where I draw the line is:
a) does the explanation for how this alternative treatment works reference actual physical processes and entities (as opposed to some reference to mystical "energies")?
and
b) is the method proven to work in double-blind scientific experiments?
If the answer to one or both is 'yes,' I keep an open mind. If the answer to either or both is 'no' I'm more skeptical.
For instance, I think that accupuncture probably does have some use as a pain-reliever, and as far as what I've read, it has stood up to some standard Western scientific testing. I don't think you need to posit Qi energy and/or meridians/pressure points to justify how it works. Putting needles in people probably releases endorphins and/or other happy chemicals that are know, via Western science, to relieve pain.
Homeopathy? Don't believe in it. I don't believe that diluting a substance in water to the point that none of the active chemical is left is useful or that the chemical has some how left its "imprint" on the water. Sounds like gradeschool make-believe to me, and no reputable scientific tests have shown homeopathic remedies to have any effect beyond the placebo effect.
My passionate feelings about the subject are not because I scornfully believe that people who put their trust in alternative remedies are stupid or naive or whatever. My passion about the subject comes from my feeling that a) users are often not very well versed in the scientific method and are too credible and b) people selling these remedies are unethical and taking advantage of people who are frightened, in pain, and/or desperate for help and relief and possibly not getting compassionate care from their traditional Western doctors.
At best, I think people are harnessing the power of belief/mind-over-matter/the placebo, and they might be wasting a bit of cash that could be better spent elsewhere.
At worst, people make really bad, frightening decisions about their health and health care based on pseudoscience, and this disturbs me greatly. I'm somewhat hostile to many of the people that push these remedies but less so to people who use them. I don't think people are stupid for using them, I'm just concerned about them wasting money and perhaps spending energy on unproven remedies instead of researching and pursuing treatments that have a better track record and science behind their effectiveness.
Case in point: I've been reading through the archives of the autoimmune community, and one woman was very sick with some condition that was likely rheumatoid arthritis, though she had trouble with doctors over this since her test results weren't conclusive. She went to a naturopath who took her off her meds, told her she was sensitive to MSG and to stay away from it, and gave her some nutritional supplements to take. The poor woman suffered for several more years before going to an M.D. who definitively diagnosed her with RA and put her on some drugs that actually provided her some relief.
Of course, you can get bad diagnoses and stupid advice from regular Western doctors as well- I've got enough skepticism to spread it around pretty evenly.
You don't have to agree with me, but where I draw the line is:
a) does the explanation for how this alternative treatment works reference actual physical processes and entities (as opposed to some reference to mystical "energies")?
and
b) is the method proven to work in double-blind scientific experiments?
If the answer to one or both is 'yes,' I keep an open mind. If the answer to either or both is 'no' I'm more skeptical.
For instance, I think that accupuncture probably does have some use as a pain-reliever, and as far as what I've read, it has stood up to some standard Western scientific testing. I don't think you need to posit Qi energy and/or meridians/pressure points to justify how it works. Putting needles in people probably releases endorphins and/or other happy chemicals that are know, via Western science, to relieve pain.
Homeopathy? Don't believe in it. I don't believe that diluting a substance in water to the point that none of the active chemical is left is useful or that the chemical has some how left its "imprint" on the water. Sounds like gradeschool make-believe to me, and no reputable scientific tests have shown homeopathic remedies to have any effect beyond the placebo effect.
My passionate feelings about the subject are not because I scornfully believe that people who put their trust in alternative remedies are stupid or naive or whatever. My passion about the subject comes from my feeling that a) users are often not very well versed in the scientific method and are too credible and b) people selling these remedies are unethical and taking advantage of people who are frightened, in pain, and/or desperate for help and relief and possibly not getting compassionate care from their traditional Western doctors.
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Date: 2007-10-04 06:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-04 08:38 pm (UTC)(Where xxx starts at 100 and increases progressively as I further ponder your words)
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Date: 2007-10-04 10:37 pm (UTC)Now, ironically, I believe there is truth in that phrase for non-alternative, older, tried-and-true remedies, as they would like you to use their newer more expensive, more-effective-than-a-sugar-pill pill (all they have to prove of efficacy) and not look at the cheaper prescription, or even over-the-counter or exercise/diet standbys which may be even more effective. (see Consumer Reports -- I assume October 2007 -- just got it in the mail yesterday -- for more on this).
no subject
Date: 2007-10-05 01:08 pm (UTC)And while I agree with just about everything you said, from an empirical point of view, I also know that numbers can be massaged, the pharmaceutical industry has way too much influence over what drugs are marketed, and healthcare is too much of an industry itself.
So....I therefore feel that people should be free to choose whatever form of care they want, be it alternative, homeopathic, or western/medical. This goes along with my new-found philosophy (via HAES, actually) that there is no moral imperative to be healthy, or to choose the "best" form of medical care. People have to make their own choices, even if I don't agree with them.
But on the other hand - those "alternative" therapies that make all sorts of claims that have nothing but anecdotal evidence? Shut them down, in my opinion.
no subject
Date: 2007-10-05 02:13 pm (UTC)I agree with you that people should be free to choose the care they want, but you can bet your ass if it was my mother or a close friend who had a serious condition and who was choosing an unproven alternative treatment, I would gently but relentless hound them to examine the data and research proven treatment methods.
And yes, I think that naturopaths and other alternative practitioners are often alluring because they spend more than 6 minutes with a patient and actually LISTEN and treat them as a whole person, talking about exercise, stress, and so on. Western doctors are capable of that, too, and should be spending more time listening and looking at the holistic health picture, but they have a lot of pressure from managed care to get in-and-out quickly.