JW's & alternative medicine (page 4)

RunningMan

I would like to make some additional comments on Alternative Medicine.

First of all, just because something is natural does not mean that it is
not effective, or powerful, or have serious side effects. Many medicines
are derived from natural substances. Natural substances include things
like penicillin, heroin, and poison ivy.

However, most natural cures are unresearched (no one has done double
blind studies to determine if they work and what they are good for). Most
natural cures are unregulated (you don't know exactly what you are getting
or if it is pure). And many natural cures make outlandish claims that can't
possibly be true.

For example, I know of some JW's who drink small quantities of diluted
hydrogen peroxide. Apparently it is good for cancer, ulcers, allergies,
asthma, and dozens of other things. Even if this substance is effective,
it cannot possibly work on all of the things claimed.

Then there are the completely goofy concepts, like ear candling. (You
place a hollow beeswax candle in the ear of a person laying on their side.
Then light the candle. It is supposed to draw toxins out of the head).
I know two JW pratitioners of this stupidity.

My other beef with natural medicines is the quality of the practitioners.
My wife took my son to a naturopath for iridology and live blood analysis
a few years ago. This person is well known and has clients who travel
from all over the continent for his services. He diagnosed my son with
fungus, yeast, and blood parasites, and prescribed some herbs and
laxatives.

We have recently found out (through surgery) that my son has Crohn's
Disease. The Naturopath's diagnosis (which incidentally, was confirmed
by a second Naturopath), was not only completely wrong, but his solution
was probably the worst thing that we could have done. Another year
of natural treatment and he would have been dead.

Now I am going to really inflame some people:

Natural medicine practitioners are in the same category as Astrologers
and Palm Readers. If they get the right answer, it is either by accident
or clues obtained from the patient (victim). Their cures may work
occasionally, but thier incidence of success is no better than opening
a medical book at random and taking the medicine on that page.

I know these statements are inflamatory, but after decades of being a JW,
I can no longer let untruths go uncontested.

I will now sit back and wait for the onslaught.

Mulan

No onslaught. You made some really good points. Medical practice too is just guessing, even when they do tests. Sometimes the test results are wrong or inconclusive. I have a daughter in law who is a lab technician in a hospital and she has told us some horror stories.

To larc: As to the statistics and averages things, you obviously have all the right answers and information. I am not educated in that, but I am educated in alternative health care. And I repeat, for those who just don't "hear" me: I believe there is a place for both alopathic and alternative treatments. There are some people who still think chiropractors are witch doctors.
Here is another statistic for you: "Every year over 100,000 people die in hospitals from PROPERLY administered prescription drugs." The New England Journal of Medicine.

I am off for the weekend now, so attack away, everyone.

LDH

Rob, Liberty, Larc,

I agree with all of your points! And I certainly didn't mean to imply that non-Western medicine has no valid use!

It's just that most JWs who 'research' this stuff do so using the reading material provided with the product, as Mulan pointed out. This is the same technique they use to prove 'the truth' is 'true'--they read the literature provided by Crooklyn.

On the other hand, most Westerners who turn to Eastern Medicine are well-informed, even scholarly.

And Liberty is dead-on. Why is non-traditional medicine ok, but god forbid you mention Yoga or Tai-Chi, which is an integral part of overall well being.

JW pick and choose what they want, because like YK, they think the boogey man is coming to get them.

VeniceIT

Well all I have to say is I've gone to several medical doctors, had about every test done, and all they can say is well this doesn't make sense. Some of these results are impossible. I've never been giving any kind of helpful treatment. Fortunetly for me we had a friend who was a naturepath and he helped me!! He helped me get rid of a brain tumor I had in my Junior year of hugh school for one example.

I'm not saying it's the ONLY thing, somethings only a doctor can do, I know that. When I broke my arm I went to the doctor. But alternative medicine has helped me more then anything. Acupuncture releived my asthma 6 years ago! (I can not list on this forum all that it has done for me)

I don't care what anyone else thinks about it, I don't care what your statistics say. I know it works, it works for me and my family! If you don't want to try it that's your loss! I personaly can do relexology and muscle testing, I've taken some courses. I think it's the greatest thing if you can heal yourself naturally, because you don't have the side effects or the costs. Plus it's more ummm how do you say 'Natural'.

Ven

slipnslidemaster

Oh Venice, my mother does that Reflexology and muscle testing stuff too.

I always try to trick her on how many vitamins I need to take in a given day.

Slipnslideius Masterus: ... Strength and Honor ...

RedhorseWoman

RunningMan, I can understand your concern about your son. I also have Crohn's disease, but I started out on the allopathic route, and ended up being helped most by natural treatments.

I spent over a year going to hospitals for tests, but the doctors couldn't determine what the problem was. Several of them declared that my illness was psychosomatic and urged me to get therapy. Only one doctor pushed the issue, since, as he said, "you look MUCH too sick for this to be all in your head".

I spent a month as an in-hospital patient, undergoing daily tests trying to determine the cause. Just prior to going in the hospital, I was given medication to help the uncontrolled vomiting I was experiencing. I could keep nothing on my stomach without throwing up. The medication I was given caused me to have seizures that would have caused my death if I hadn't gotten to the local emergency room in time.

When they finally found the cause, I was put on steroids, which in and of themselves can cause major problems.

While I was in the hospital, a sister gave me Adelle Davis' book, Let's Get Well. Up until this time I had pooh-poohed the use of vitamins and natural therapies. However, at this point in time I figured I had nothing to lose. The disease alone could kill me and was incurable, and the medication I needed to take to control it was almost as dangerous as the disease.

I kept taking my medication, but I also began using the suggested vitamins to strengthen my immune system and to lessen the side effects of the steroids.

Through this vitamin regimen I was able to put the disease into remission within a year. I had one relapse a couple of years later because I stopped taking my vitamins. However, since that time I have had no more problems. That was 30 years ago.

As with anything else, the onus is on the patient to determine what is right for them. Doctors take educated guesses, and many times they are wrong. Doctors prescribe medications with serious side effects that can kill. In many cases (my own for example) there are side effects to these medications that are unexpected and much more serious than the doctors realize.

As far as Naturopaths diagnosing by picking up clues from the patients..... Well, how do you think Allopathic physicians arrive at a diagnosis? They....duh....pick up clues from the patients, and then run whatever tests are available to verify (hopefully) their diagnosis.

From my own experience, I've learned that NO practitioner is a god. They are simply people who are more educated in a certain area than I am. I am ultimately the one who is reponsible for my own health. Naturopathic and Allopathic physicians are simply my resources to accomplish this.

VeniceIT

Yo Running Man!!!!
___________
1. They are uneducated, thus lacking the knowledge to refute these
simplistic ideas.

2. They are gullible, accustomed to accepting ridiculous ideas without
adequate evidence.

3. They have an ingrained mistrust of the medical establishment, so
they naturally look to alternative healers.

4. They have little or no critical thinking ability, caused by years of rote memorization from the Watchtower.
____________

Well I'm just glad I'm not as smart as you, because then I would have died of that brain tumor .

Ven

JW's & alternative medicine

RunningMan

Mulan

LDH

VeniceIT

slipnslidemaster

RedhorseWoman

VeniceIT

Mommie Dark

slipnslidemaster

RedhorseWoman

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