Is alt-med more like a religion than a medical discipline?!


Question: I've always wondered the same thing. It seems that they require no evidence and they accept anything as a cure as long as it's tied to some ancient practice, or natural products. I attended an alternative "medicine" conference once and it seemed that they spent most of their time reassuring each other that their treatments actually work. No critique of methods, no discussion of new approaches, absolutely no internal dissent. Homeopaths are the worst. They truly are a religion.


Answers: I've always wondered the same thing. It seems that they require no evidence and they accept anything as a cure as long as it's tied to some ancient practice, or natural products. I attended an alternative "medicine" conference once and it seemed that they spent most of their time reassuring each other that their treatments actually work. No critique of methods, no discussion of new approaches, absolutely no internal dissent. Homeopaths are the worst. They truly are a religion.

Yet the alt-med is not entirely recognized by the licensed doctors, it has nothing common with the religion.
The alternative medicine takes from the nature what people has observed that in some circumstances is helpful, instead of chemical drugs. (for example, is a good idea to use daily honey, home made teas, or whatever came directly from the nature, this will enforce your defense system to fight against diseases, and will reduce the need of taking pills).

Aromatherapy?

Yes & no.

Lavender is a prooven skin healer, it's used in medicated creams.
Eucaliptus is a prooven decongestant, it's used in things like vicks vapour rub.

I use lavender oil to prevent spots & heal cuts.
I use eucaliptus oil when i have a cold.

Some phisical complaints like this can be delt with very effectavly in this way. (cheaper than going to the quacks too)

But people must be realistic!
If you can't sleep, or are in pain, ......go to your doctors & get some pills!
Some people think alternative medicen is the be all & end all of health, if someone thinks sniffing something is going to mend a broken leg or something they need to be sectiond.

No it is not like that but so called alternative systems of medicines there are lot systems and faiths working on the name of alternative systems which are not having scientific testing and relsults. Naturopathy was being practiced by German Pharmcist Hooper who was the father of medicines. Many of the Phds at those times when we were not having or raw MBBS they also accepts results of Naturopathy and they were practising the same. Naturopathy believe in five elements such as mud(earth), water, air, sun (Heat) and sky (Space) dwhere as other systems are only depend on one system that is earth.

Some people may ask is standard medicine more like a religion?
They repeat things again and again which don't work, and also often stand on dogma without much proof if any.
Just this year it came out people taking combination cholesterol medicines have twice as fast blocked arteries, and also that post-menopausal hormone treatments cause increase in several types of cancer, even years after it's stopped?
They're still both being prescribed wholesale?
My question is always, could alternate medicine do any worse?

No offense to anyone but I thought about this the other day. They are a set of fantastic beliefs practiced by a clergy (altmed practitioners) with the believer having faith in the outcome and seeking to gain new converts.

That's what I make of it anyhow.

if you count cults as religion

most of it is based on the placebo effect. take this for instance, 85% of chronic pain sufferers got relief from expensive sugar pills. some herbs do work, but its the same deal with the majority of the stuff. there is usually little or no science (and sometimes even logic) behind alternative treatmetns, which is why they are called "alternative." you need to take a leap of faith

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080304/hl_n...

i'd agree with the cult statement.

but i'm a total freak for the stuff so i can't really be talking ^ ^

No.

Much of alternative medicine is based on avoiding problems in the first place. Conventinal medicine is also known as allopathic medicine, meaning it cures mostly the symptoms by prescribing drugs instead of getting to root causes and fixing those (most of the time).

Much of the things in alternative medicine have been proven by studies, so they are not all quakary. It's just that most people do not read these journals where the studies are published and they may not appear on regular news (because much of regular news is funded by prescription drug companies by advertising). Sometimes these studies do make it to regular news, but many people forget about them. I have a whole bookmark folder which collects these studies just in case someone wants proof that something works.

I'm not sure if it's a medical discipline. People do get certified to be holistic doctors and things like that. Not sure about all the details. I know one who is a OM instead of an MD and practices alternative medicine.

It's not a religion because it is scientifically proven that the human body; if kept in good shape by exercise, diet, and attention to other aspects of health; will most likely avoid all the major diseases and avoid colds, flus and minor sicknesses like that. Religion cannot be proven by science. Some aspects of alternative medicine have not been proven by science, though, and might be bull. It's always good to keep your BS detector on at all times and take every aspect of alternative medicine as something separate instead of lumping everything - to real and the bull- together.

Of course not. I use both herbal and conventional treatments for any health problems that I may have. I'm not fanatical about either method and I don't have blind faith either.....I like the treatments to have undergone proper research and testing for safety.

In a word? No.

EDIT: I smell Morten W here.





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