Alternative Meds Become Mainstream

[thaiboxerken]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090607/ap_on_he_me/us_med_unproven_remedies

"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 even-wider use:"


"The latest government survey shows the magnitude of risk: More than a third of Americans use unconventional therapies, including acupuncture, homeopathy, chiropractic, and native or traditional healing methods. These practitioners are largely self-policing, with their own schools and accreditation groups. Some states license certain types, like acupuncturists; others do not. "


This is an article written by an AP medical writer and she's really on target with this. She outlines the dangers of alt-meds and how they became so mainstream.

 

[Eos of the Eons]

Does this mean that practitioners are taking advantage of the placebo effect to stop spoiled Americans from whining about every ache and pain they get as they age?

 

[casebro]

I guess the only known treatment for Cyberchondria is SCAM?

 

[Eos of the Eons]

I guess the only known treatment for Cyberchondria is SCAM?

I think SCAM may be a cause of it actually. You go on SCAM sites and you're guaranteed to come away thinking something is wrong with you and can only be fixed by SCAM, but then you get trapped in the cycle of SCAM and feel you always need SCAM treatments of some sort and never get cured-thus the success of SCAM.

 

[Eos of the Eons]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31083316/

People turn to unconventional therapies and herbal remedies for everything from hot flashes and trouble sleeping to cancer and heart disease. They crave more "care" in their health care. They distrust drug companies and the government. They want natural, safer remedies.
But often, that is not what they get. Government actions and powerful interest groups have left consumers vulnerable to flawed products and misleading marketing.
Dietary supplements do not have to be proved safe or effective before they can be sold. Some contain natural things you might not want, such as lead and arsenic.

Finally, an article about this chit I LIKE! Not all journalists are clueless.

 

[Gord_in_Toronto]

Some years ago Consumer Reports did a series on "Complementary" medicine. It was "balanced" to the point that it just did not recommend most of them; rather than my humble opinion that they are all ******* worthless if not dangerous. But they did point out that "treatment" by a complementary practitioner was less expensive than real medicine and thus was cheaper for insurers paying for treatment of their insured.

Now there is a conspiracy theory to conjure with!

 

[Eos of the Eons]

Now there is a conspiracy theory to conjure with!

yeah, but it's not anti-big pharma so the alties won't market it, and nobody will hear it.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

Unbelievable and sad at the same time. I don't think these people get the difference between being culturally sensitive and junk medicine.

 

[Dorian Gray]

Tim Minchin said it best in his Storm bit, at about 3:06: "By definition, Alternative medicine has either not been proved to work, or been proved, not to work. Do you know what they call alternative medicine that's been proved to work?

Medicine."

 

[Eos of the Eons]

http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2009/06/08/alternative-medicine.html

The story is on our CBC news now, and we have nutters claiming how great TP is for cancer. Ugh.