Does Alternative Medicine Work ?

[really?]

[craig weiler]

I find that it's a tough call. There are a lot of prescription medications that have gone through testing that has been dodgy at best, due to pressure from big pharma. So many of those that are legit only barely surpass the placebo effect in effectiveness. About 100,000 people a year die directly as a result of prescription medication so it's not a slam dunk to go with tested prescription drugs.

You can make a serious argument that people are better off many times with the placebo effect since it has no side effects, is not dangerous and when done properly, has a very good success rate.

Energy healing is being investigated in some long term studies at the moment. Should be interesting.

[ProfWag]

[craig weiler]

Oddly enough, I would be cured by energy healing, but you would not. Therefore, you have good reasons not to trust it. But it's moot. I know that I am never going to get cancer and neither are you. You're going to die of something else, (but in a "natural causes" sort of way. Nothing tragic.)

Many prescription medications can and do help, but their use needs to be weighed against their side effects and the alternatives, many of which are better. Suicide is a side effect of some anti-depressant medications for example.

I mean seriously, should we be taking medicine to lower our cholesterol or cutting the true cause of heart disease, a combination of too much sugar and fat, out of our diet?

[Arouet]

[craig weiler]

Because if you cut the sugar and the fat out of your diet, you don't need the medicine because you won't be at risk for a heart attack.

[Arouet]

Well, putting aside that you can't cut sugar and fat (you need one or the other for energy - what we should cut is sugar - but that's a topic for another thread), the point is, many people are already in trouble and won't eat properly, and others still may develop problems anyway, so why not encourage healthy eating AND also work on effective treatments?

[ProfWag]

[Arouet]

The point that we should eat healthier to avoid the unpleasant side effects of not eating well is fine. There just doesn't seem to be a good reason to not ALSO develop medications for those who got these conditions. Pretty well every doctor tells you to eat better. But they also try to help you when things go bad.

[craig weiler]

ProfWag,
Cholesterol is not a problem unless it's a dense type B version, which you get by stuffing your body with sugar and fat. Think Ice cream.

Arouet,
The drugs don't do that much to prevent heart attacks and unlike a dietary change, your heart and surrounding tissue will not heal using drugs.
The effect of diet change is dramatic improvement. The effect of the drugs? A minor change. Me? I stay away from sugar and processed foods.

[ProfWag]

[Nostradamus]

[Craig Browning]

[Nostradamus]