Orac <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...
Quoted message said:In article <[email hidden]>,
[email hidden] (toby jones) wrote:
Quoted message said:Quoted message said:Quoted message said:> Do you understand that for many who go in search of alternative
> solutions, safety is far and away the more serious concern?Two problems with such a statement: First, not all alt-med therapies
are actually "safe."I did not mean to suggest that they were. However, compared with
risks associated with surgery, for example, including the possibility
of unnecessary surgery and consequences from that, many alt approaches
involve rather less risk.Most of them also involve considerably less efficacy as well.
Quoted message said:And many are considered preventative rather than cures. This means
that someone may wish to try the "stone flush" or whatever, not as a
cure for a disease but as part of a general health-improvement
program.Of course, the beauty of that, as far as alties are concerned, is that
if they stay healthy they can claim it was their "preventatives" that
did it, whether there is actually any objective evidence that the
"preventative" actually prevents any disease!
Your concern appears to be with "people making false claims" rather
than with the therapy or treatment that resulted in people making
those claims.
Quoted message said:Quoted message said:Quoted message said:Second, taking something that is "safe" but ineffective
is no better than taking nothing at all and letting the disease run
its course.That sounds self-evident, but it is not that simple.
(And wasn't there are a recent study showing noticable _placebo_
effects?)Placebo effects usually do not involve objective improvements in
clinical condition (tumor regression, for instance, or regression of
atherosclerotic plaques in blood vessels). They involve the patient
feeling better, whether his disease process is actually affected or not.
That may not always be a bad thing, but don't confuse placebo effect
with true efficacy.
In the recent study on placebo for pain, the effects included physical
changes in the brain and neurological pathways. (iiuic)
There may be greater potential for physical healing, from within
the mind, than has yet been considered. For some people, the main
questions surrounding any health treatment, whether alt or standard
med, concern the extent that it may facilitate or impede the
mind-and-body's ability to heal itself. And so, safety, side effects,
etc, are a main concern.
Quoted message said:Quoted message said:People trying out alt therapies usually try several, whether
sequentially or at the same time.
And in many cases they _are_ happy with the overall results; they
find that "something" worked, for them. They find various health
improvements.Or, more commonly, they think they find various health improvements.
You base this on..?
Quoted message said:Quoted message said:Also, our understanding of what may have an effect in regard to
health, changes over time. In accordance with that, adjustments are
made, such as, for example, the fortification of breakfast cereals
with vitamins.Which is more of a marketing gimmick for cereal companies more than
anything else.
Folate?
Quoted message said:Quoted message said:Quoted message said:> And that for some of them, this is because of having had
> unfortunate exeriences from within the medical system.That is unfortunate for them. However, such bad experiences do not
mean we should not challenge them when they make unsupported
assertions about how great they think various alt-med therapies are.Most certainly, - question, and find out what was really happening, if
someone is making outrageous claims of "success" with something that
should have had no effect.That is really all I do. However, some alties react rather violently
even to relatively mild skepticism.
There seem to be reactive and reactionary elements on mha.
It may be that one extreme begets the other. And, the lines are not
always clear cut: they appear to vary according to the sphere of
discussion.
Quoted message said:Quoted message said:Quoted message said:Unfortunate
experiences within the conventional medical system do not give them a
free pass when they spout pseudoscientific nonsense.The one does not follow automatically from the other.
I never said it did. However, on this newsgroup, it does often enough.
Conversely, someone's belief that something is "nonsense" should not
be a deterrrent to serious discussion of that matter, if it falls within
"alt health".
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