How do you talk to people who are into alternative medicine??!

[Pruni]

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No No No - I believe -I'd bloody better - just paid £2k to learn how to be a homeopath. It's just that some ardent believers can be very very ardent IYSWIM.

Lol - I just assume people are as soft as me... forget that there is always someone from any belief who will beat you until you agree that blue is pink!

nqc, the side effects can be serious tho, even for medicines that work....that's what i mean about conventional medicine being sometimes effective but pretty much always draconian. i hope that we are learning to be more preventative, take more responsibility for our health (this includes our emotional health as that is paramount to good physical health), and to work with rather than on the body.

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the bad press that complementary medicine has usually arise from lack of knowledge - self presscribing etc. Don't you think that the resurgence the popularity of holistic therapies that involve touch and listening are symptomatic of the way society is recognising that we are missing these things in our everyday lives?

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Iris I think it's also because GP's have about 5 minutes to see you and a complemtnary therapist will spend an hour listening to you.

We are also MADLY self-obsessed with our health and are used to living in an incredibly state free from pain and suffering. There's no such thing as backache in third world countries....

Prufrock - only 2K to train as a homeopath! I was quoted nearer 4!!!! u lucky thing - and I thought London was more expensive than the Shires!! lol (know where I'll be applying !)

There's a big difference between those therapies where there is some evidence and those which are just flaky, IMO. Osteopathy and acupuncture were thought of as 'alternative' not so long ago; now they are both properly regulated, so as long as you check out someone is registered with the appropriate body you should be fine.

Unfortunately there are a lot of gullible people out there and a lot of people who will take their money - not just proponents of Atlantean whatever it is but people promising you will make a fortune out of property if you spend £1k going on their course, or people selling home testing kits for Alzheimer's disease which are basically a scratch and sniff book (which they defended by saying loss of the sense of smell is one of the signs of Alzheimers, FFS).

cod - lack of time for life maybe and using money to redress the balance (that western disease of rich with "things" but poor in time")

Used homeopathic sleeping tablets with dd on a long distance flight - fantastic. I have used valerian for sleeping - it certainly helped relax me and I slept.

Went to dd doctor (conventional) recently as she had spots on her vaginal area. Doctor sent me away empty handed with the advice - get sage tea and apply to area. Worked great. Gave the advice to a friend whose doctor told her to use a medicalised cream on her dd and the thrush was reoccuring - did not have to go back to the doctor or use cream further.

Oestopathic treatment saved me from the knife of a othopedic surgeon who wanted to operate on my back after a car accident. And I put some effort in and learned about my body and that has been better than any drug, because I took responsibility for my own body.

Had a naturopathic doctor in NZ instead of a conventional one... he listened to me more and gave me wonderful brown bottles of herbal tonic that calmed me and helped me in a temporary time of sadness. Friend drank some and said she felt like she was on speed

Have had wonderful results from Acupunture - from Acupunture practioners and conventional doctors who practise it.

And yup, nothing wrong with the placebo effect. I don´t dismiss it - think it is a great way to heal, mind over matter.

Thich Nhat Hanh a Vietnamese Buddhist tells that he was very ill at one stage and after taking medicine for several years and having medical treatment there was no change. He healed himself through breathing - meditation.

If you think about grief and the stages of grief then the mind does have the power to heal itself if given a chance.

I find alot of conventional drugs abit of a lazy option. Personally I have learnt lots, grown lots by taking an alternative holistic path to health care than a conventional one. Makes me less ignorant of my own body.

I thought it was the conventional medical industry that was intent on making money!!! Certainly doctors are given financial incentives to use the drugs from a particular drug company.

Pruni and others who think it ´cack´I encourage to you to learn more about alterative remedies and about your own bodies.

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Any therapist worth their salt will also tell you if their particular therapy isn't appropriate for your condition. However, this also needs some personal responsibility in researching an appropriately qualified practitioner to meet your needs.

And 'Work of the Devil' or not the old Pharmaceutical industry saved dear old dh 11 years ago

I just want them to pull their fingers out and do it again this time.

I wouldn't want to have to depend on his ability to kill off the Leukemia himself, he is not your 'alignment' kind of a guy.

It's not quite true that your gp doesn't make money directly from prescribing certain drugs/treatments.

I went to the gp twice in a week last winter and saw 2 separate gps. They both pestered me to have a flu jab (I'm in the at risk category). I asked the second one why they kept asking me, and almost jokingly asked if he got a bonus for each person he got to have one. I was quite shocked when he said yes!

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They do get a bonus for meeting thie vaccination quota (also smear quotas) but there is no monitary incentive for doc to prescripbe specific drugs. This is forbidden by the Association of the Pharmaceutical industries code of practice. They are reasonably tight rules on what can be provided. So a doc migh be given a new BP monitor but not the cash equivalent. The drug rep can give a talk and prove lunch for attendees, but it his to be 'Reasonable' ie about what a Doc would pay for lunch for him/herself...so sandwiches would be OK, Lunch at the Ritz would not.

OK, sorry! I'm still not imressed by the practice though.

anyone bored enough can find the code of practice by googling for it.

I've tried to cut and paste but failed. It is the second entry on the UK only list if you google for ABPI Code of Practice

Good point re Gillian McKeith Pruni. Have you seen her programme? They are always very careful to say 'Gillian believes that sunflower seeds cure whatever it is'.

Homeopathy does have dramatic effects - including dramatic side effects so you have to be very careful about going to someone who is properly trained. Which is difficult to work out when it isn't properly regulated (at least, last time I checked it wasn't). Something is clearly going on there.

Was some reputable study recently that I've forgotten the details of but gave an interesting theoretical mechanism for homeopathy - not the full story but an interesting field for further research. Think was at the level of physics rather than biochemistry though - Jimjams mentioned an earlier study in that area further down the thread.

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Drug companies can and do pay for doctors to attend conferences abroad, for instance. Covering flights, accommodation and entertainment - I went on one to San Francisco once (accompanying docs, am not one myself). Had a fab time. The docs there weren't cynical money-making swines, they were genuinely interested in respiratory medicine (the subject of the conference) but it is an area where the lines can be very hazy.

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