Is "Holistic Medicine" REALLY "holistic"?

Hydrogen Cyanide said:
The honest confusion comes into play when the classical homeopaths are taught to ONLY treat according to the symptoms. At least this is what I gathered from the discussions here on homeopathy over the past year or so (do check the link in Rolfe's sig).

This was very evident after my oldest child had a complaint that he could not run much... and when he did his left arm would hurt. At first we thought (including our family doc) that it was because it was the arm he injured when he fell a few months before.

BUT... during a regular well-child physical the doctor heard a heart murmur. This was new... and something no homeopath would find out since none would use a stethoscope (they just sit and talk to the patient for an hour or so). So an echocardiogram was set up... where a video of how his heard was actually working was made (takes a half to a whole hour).

It was there that the initial diagnosis of a genetic heart disorder was found. Then he was referred to a pediatric heart specialist... where ANOTHER echocardiogram was given, a chest X-ray and three different EKG's (a normal one, another where he was on a treadmill, and another that required him to wear for 24 hours a holter... not a mis-spelling -- it is device that records the EKG). The EKG leads are placed on his chest, neck, arm and ankle.

Now please note how much of a difference that is in treating the WHOLE body... versus a homeopath or other alt-medder claims. (also the family doc gave us a referral to a counselor, because let's face it... this is not a diagnosis a teenager likes to deal with).

I've discussed this with some of the homeopaths on this board (do a search) and I have yet to get a definite answer on how a homeopathic remedy would be better than Atenolol... or even if it could do anything. It is often amusing.
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:eek: Is he OK?

As an aside, I remember a story in the original "Aerobics" book by Kenneth Cooper, where he would be running with a friend who would grab his arm and complain about "arthritis" only when they were running uphill . Cooper relates that the friend had a treadmill ECG where they discovered moderate heart disease.
 
Anecdote of good conventional medicine vs. bad conventional medicine:

My mother had a bladder condition where the walls of her bladder are damaged in some manner. (She has to avoid acidic food most of the time. If there are any doctors who can guess the condition, please refresh my memory.)

When she went to the doctor, he sent a probe of some sort into her to confirm the damage. He then gave her some light surgery to install a muscle stimulator she would manually activate. (Had an attached controller. If it worked, they'd upgrade her to a remote controlled version.) She was in pretty bad shape for a long time, and was growing concerned about the doctor's general lack of attention to her, namely assuming she had certain symptoms, or that reported symptoms were just in her head. As a result, she had the stimulator removed and switched to a doctor she knew personally. He ran a more complete series of tests and found she had an infection and was running an internal fever (which explained her inability to find a comfortable temperature). He gave her some antibiotics, and within days she was pretty much back to normal. If the infection hadn't been treated, she might have died.

Lesson: Don't look for a single cause.

She still has to avoid acidic food to some extent, but she's well enough to mooch off my Dr Pepper on a regular basis, now.
 
Diamond said:
:eek: Is he OK?

....
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Mentally or physically? Right now his horse dosage of beta-blockers is keeping the mitral valve from being damaged anymore. He is prevented from any physical exertion, so he is allowed only to take yoga and "indoor games" for high school PE (the latter is ping-pong, golf, and some fun things that he is allowed... except for the wall climb).

Mentally... it is not so good. His real only social outlet was soccer, and now he cannot do that. Also, he seems to have encountered some kind of bully in school (I think of the female kind) and has stopped doing anything. Including homework, video games, and anything other than eating, sleeping and not talking to us. So he is seeing a child behavorial psych, one who specializes in teenagers with medical conditions.

edited for pre-coffee kick-in spelling error
 
BronzeDog said:
...
Lesson: Don't look for a single cause.

...
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I was looking at the website for my kid's condition: http://www.4hcm.org/WCMS/index.php?symptoms ... and it has a list of MISdiagnoses,

Most commonly seen is asthma, specifically ‘athletically induced asthma” as a first sign or symptom. This is likely due to transient shortness of breath often seen in HCM. It is also common to have a diagnosis of “mitral valve prolapse” prior to a proper diagnosis of HCM. This often happens upon an audible murmur that is thought to be simply mitral valve prolapse a common condition. It is not uncommon to see people diagnosed with anxiety attacks, panic attacks or some forms of depression only to find that the underlying cause of the symptoms is HCM.
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