Alternative Medicine Goes Mainstream
Posted June 8, 2009 12:25 PM
How did things get this way?
Fifteen years ago, Congress decided to allow dietary and herbal supplements to be sold without federal Food and Drug Administration approval. The number of products soared, from about 4,000 then to well over 40,000 now.
Ten years ago, Congress created a new federal agency to study supplements and unconventional therapies. But more than $2.5 billion of tax-financed research has not found any cures or major treatment advances, aside from certain uses for acupuncture and ginger for chemotherapy-related nausea. If anything, evidence has mounted that many of these pills and therapies lack value.
Yet they are finding ever-wider use:
- Big hospitals and clinics increasingly offer alternative therapies. Many just offer stress reducers like meditation, yoga and massage. But some offer treatments with little or no scientific basis, to patients who are emotionally vulnerable and gravely ill. The Baltimore hospital, for example, is not charging for Reiki but wants to if it can be shown to help. Other hospitals earn fees from treatments such as acupuncture, which insurance does not always cover if the purpose is not sufficiently proven. The giant HMO Kaiser Permanente pays for members to go to a Portland, Ore., doctor who prescribes ayurvedics -- traditional herbal remedies from India.
- Some medical schools are teaching future doctors about alternative medicine, sometimes with federal grants. The goal is educating them about what patients are using so they can give evidence-based, nonjudgmental care. But some schools have ties to alternative medicine practitioners and advocates. A University of Minnesota program lets students study nontraditional healing methods at a center in Hawaii supported by a philanthropist fan of such care, though students pay their own travel and living expenses. A private foundation that wants wider inclusion of nontraditional methods sponsors fellowships for hands-on experience at the University of Arizona's Program in Integrative Medicine, headed by well-known advocate Dr. Andrew Weil.
- Health insurers are cutting deals to let alternative medicine providers market supplements and services directly to members. At least one insurer promotes these to members with a discount, perhaps leaving an incorrect impression they are covered services and medically sound. Some insurers steer patients to Internet sellers of supplements, even though patients must pay for these out of pocket. There are networks of alternative medicine providers that contract with big employers, just like HMOs.
A few herbal supplements can directly threaten health. A surprising number do not supply what their labels claim, contain potentially harmful substances like lead, or are laced with hidden versions of prescription drugs.
"In testing, one out of four supplements has a problem," said Dr. Tod Cooperman, president of ConsumerLab.com, an independent company that rates such products.
Even when the ingredients aren't risky, spending money for a product with no proven benefit is no small harm when the economy is bad and people can't afford health insurance or healthy food.
Source: , Associated Press/AP Online
Comments (9)
Have something to say? Share your thoughts.
Posted June 12, 2009 9:17 PM
it is always sad to read letters from people objecting to Homeopathy and making statements that are not true about this wonderful gentle technique of healing that has no side effects and is very inexpensive and for common ailments has books for everyday people to read and understand how to select the right remedy for the condition described. I know America once was the world leader in Universities and Schools and clinics that supported Homeopathy and that in the 1918 epidemic did exceptionally well in helping people get through it. Much better than the medicine of that time. Pharmaceutical Companies and the AMA worked hard to destroy this paradigm of healing as it does with all alternative healing. But in time Homeopathy, the Flower remedies, Acupuncture, Chinese medicine and all the others will come to be respected and used again in the mainstream. Let us all hope this happens before the side effects of Pharmaceuticals and the wrong directions of our Health Care system have killed us all.
Posted June 11, 2009 6:32 PM
Having been educated as an allopathic physician and with a long-standing intrest in holisitic approaches to health and well-being, I find the article to be misleading, Unfortunately, there is no author identified so it is impossible to know the qualifications of the commenter that wrote the material.
While I still believe that conventional medical services are most valuable, there are other options that can complement those services. In addition, there are some conditions for which conventional medical treatment is insufficient and something else is needed.
Another complicating factor is the marked limitation of physician services imposed by managed care schemes. It is no wonder that patients seek help from other sources when they feel dissatisfied with the availability of physicians that can take the time to really hear their complaints. Unfortunately, much of medicine in the US is the treatment of symptoms and disease, not treatment of a person that has symptoms.
One of the more promising areas of complementary health care is that of "energy medicine" and also "energy psychology." It will probably be a long time before these options are taught in medical schools because they have been developed outside the traditional methods based in scientific method.
Posted June 11, 2009 3:01 PM
Disciplined, well conducted studies have scientifically proven that listening to specific music (sleepwithoutpills) reduces discomfort, lessens pain, and strengthens the immune system for patients undergoing chemo therapy and other established treatments for cancer. This is a smart way to ameliorate the bad side effects of chemo because you are avoiding any possibility of worsening your condition by ingesting, unproven, untested, possibly dangerous supplements. Music therapy does help. sleepwithoutpills.com
Posted June 11, 2009 7:04 AM
It is irresponsible to state that "Homeopathy and Flower remedies are safe and do not have side effects." The side effects are chronicled in many of the homeopathic medicines. Yet it is not the responsibility of science to prove that they are harmful or even without benefit. Rather, it is the responsibility of the makers to use a recognized study using the scientific method described by Renes Descartes in the 17th century from principles first espoused by Ibn al-Haytham in the 11th Century. The proponents of these alternative therapies are now billionaires and yet refuse to subject their quackery to scientific tests. They should be ashamed of themselves. They do much harm with no care for how many get hurt. The homeopathic industyr only cares about profit not truth.
Posted June 10, 2009 7:15 PM
If the pharmaceuticals are to be our example of tested safe medicines then we are indeed in a peck of trouble. On the other hand it is known without a doubt that Homeopathy and Flower remedies are safe and do not have side effects. This article places them in amongst herbal medicines and the like that do have side effects which by association makes your readers believe that Homeopathy is a vague untested kind of medicine needing adjudication and this is just not so. I resent the innuendos of this article and one bad apple in any system does not mean we should condemn and vilify and spread doubt about the whole system. We are being led astray by the wolf in sheeps clothing the Big Pharma who are more and more being questioned about the real efficacy over time of many of the drugs they sell. It is time we all woke up and recognized our whole health care system is being led by corporations whose first and primary goal is profit and who will take the law suits against them as long as they make their profits. It is sad and I for one will do what I can to bring down the Emperor with no cloths on.
Posted June 10, 2009 4:43 PM
Alopathic medicine may as well accept the fact that people are no longer confident about conventional treatment and are going in droves to Integrative or Alternative health care. And if most people would be alert while watching some of the pharmaceutical ads on tv, you can see why this is becoming the case. If one just really takes note of all the side effects relating to those prescription drugs, it's enough to scare the pants off of anyone. I honestly don't understand why anyone would want to take the chance and submit to using these dangerous drugs! The article above lightly skimmed over the fact that 'prescription drugs do have their problems too'.....as if to say that it was more of a nuisance than anything...but did anyone bother to take notice that 60,000 deaths occurred with the drug Vioxx!!! That is a staggering number! Can anyone show where that many people have died as a result of taking an herbal supplement or vitamin etc.? No wonder so many people have resorted to alternative medicine when they are asked to ingest poisonous drugs to treat a disease! How can the body heal itself when you are feeding it poison. And by the way, any doctor will tell you that chemotherapy IS poisonous! Just ask any of them if they'd submit to it themselves if they or a member of their family had cancer. I doubt you'd see many of them rushing to to get treated!
My one question I pose to people when discussing the pros and cons of conventional medicine is; what do you think people used before synthetic drugs came into being? These drugs only came into existence at the turn of the twentieth century, whereas natural remedies have been around for thousands of years! So please don't tell me they aren't any good! Maybe there are some charlatans out there who market sub-standard products .... and they should be exposed and run out of business, but don't throw the baby out with the bath water! Also there are instances where it appears that an herbal preparation may not work and that is usually because of the potency of the product. Perhaps its shelf life has expired or perhaps poor quality herbs were used in the manufacturing process. All of these problems could be responsible, but can you vouch for prescription drugs manufactured in China.....YES, some of them are manufactured in China.....and some of them have been found to have contaminants in them. Really bad stuff too!!!
Well just to let you know, I'm not a natural health care professional, nor do I sell any products, but have to confess I do use them whenever I feel the need. I guess I'm fortunate too in that I take responsibility for my own health and consider myself very fit and healthy.
But more than anything, I want the right to choose which kind of treatment I want.
Posted June 10, 2009 4:18 PM
Consumers would not be "wasting" billions of dollars on vitamins, herbal supplements, and alternative medical practices if they did not work. Consumers are not that stoooopid.
Posted June 10, 2009 3:13 PM
I agree with the person below somewhat ...and I like taking supplements along with a healthy diet and exercise...I do take vitamin B complex, calcium, vitamin D, vitamin C, cod liver oil and fish oil, and I take grapeseed extract and or drink purple grape juice which has antioxidants to prevent heart disease...the French who drink red wine don't get heart disease and the grapeseed exctract is a way to get it without the the sugar or alchohol.
I have been to South America many times and appreciated being able to go to the pharmacy and buy something if I had an infection and once I had pink eye just before a trip to the mountains I had paid for and I was able to get the medicine and go on my horseback riding trip (and not lose the money I paid for the trip)....and if I needed to see a doctor it would cost about $12...it's pretty pathetic in America if you get pink eye you have to wait and see a doctor and pay maybe $100 for an appointment to get a tube of stuff to put in the eye; meanwhile the eye is red and infectious and if you have an important job to do like photograph a wedding you have to go do it with a red infectious eye until you can get to the doctor.
Some other countries there is more freedom to choose how to do your health care and in this country they just want to put everybody on drugs. I prefer to prevent the problem in the first place and go after the cause rather than take drugs that are a band aid and don't get rid of the cause of the problem. Also if you read all the side effects on these drugs they are a joke...hard to believe the list of side effects. I am 57 and don't take any drugs and hope to keep it that way.
Posted June 10, 2009 3:02 PM
There is TOO MUCH GOVERNMENT CONTROL OF MEDICINE IN THIS COUNTRY!!! AND THERE IS NO MEDICAL BENEFIT FOR THE TAXPAYERS!!! I believe that Americans are not stupid and we should be allowed to pick and choose our health care and be given health benefits in return for the taxes that we pay. This country has the worst health outcomes in comparison to other countries e.g. highest morbidities and infant and child mortalities. The elderly go without medication, children and infants go without preventative care because parents are working two and three jobs just to pay for a roof over their families' heads!! Wake up, America!! Alternative medicine is NOT a problem!! If a person wants to use a herb to heal themselves from anything from warts to cancer, this is the United States of America!! By God, let them choose their poison. Let's get America for the people, by the people, and all that milarky back into our government. Give me a choice and don't make me choose between paying to see a licensed medical doctor just to get a freakin' prescription for an antibiotic when I'm coughing up yellow mucus!!! I shouldn't have to choose between sitting in an "MD"'s office waiting to be examined just because I have a freakin' productive cough and using that same money to buy food or pay a mortgage payment!! THERE IS TOO MUCH GOVERNMENT BUREAUCRASY!!! Allow me to purchase antibiotics over the counter and all other medications. If I kill myself in the process, so be it. Let the buyer beware!
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