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Attraction to Alternative Medicine Can Often Be a Fatal Attraction
Alternative Medicine's Assault on Science, Medicine and Reason Not Healthy
Most people agree that respect must be earned, so it was with some concern that I read Catherine Greene's letter to the editor of The Sunday Gazette on March 1 asking for more respect for alternative medicine. What concerned me even more was a letter to the editor in support of Greene's on March 4, written by Robert Weissberg, M.D., who supports integrating alternative medicine with science-based medicine.Greene claims to have been healed from cancer by using alternative medicine. I won't argue with her claim. However, I will point out that in the Winter 2008 edition of CRAAB, Greene told how the first time she got cancer, she had surgery, chemotherapy and radiation and went into remission for nearly 10 years. Yet she attacks this conventional treatment in her March 1 letter.
For every person who claims to have been healed by alternative medicine, there are one or more people who have died from it. I know two of them — two relatively young friends who died of cancer because they refused chemotherapy and opted for alternative medicine. Doctors had diagnosed both with breast cancer in its early stage. The last time I saw one of these friends, she described how she had just spent several weeks getting alternative cancer treatment in Colorado and was now planning to go to Germany for more. Four months later I went to her funeral.
My wife is also a five-year cancer survivor. She was diagnosed with stage three primary peritoneal cancer in 2004. She had surgery within a week of the diagnosis and then received chemotherapy for the next several months. Today, she is doing very well thanks to New York Oncology and doctors Charland, Marsh and Sheridan of Amsterdam.
Throughout history, people have claimed to be healed by many alternative medical treatments, including faith healing, Scientology, Christian Science, immersion in the Ganges or the spring at Lourdes, witchcraft, voodoo, hypnotherapy, reflexology, healing touch, colon cleansing and so on.
Comments
I am terribly sorry to hear about your friend. I, too, have lost friends to cancer, and I know how much it hurts to face the possibility that things could have turned out differently for them. I advocate an evidence-based approach to naturopathy and I'm disappointed in the tendency of the mainstream to equate "alternative" with "quackery", when there are many highly effective, science-based practices in alternative medicine. Oil of oregano outperforms Vancomycin for treating MRSA. Elderberry is more effective than Tamiflu in treating influenza. After all these years, a HEALTHY DIET-- the cornerstone of naturopathy-- remains the key to overall good health. There are a lot of scams within alternative medicine (homeopathy comes to mind) but there are also many within mainstream medicine. Even as an herbalist and nutritional consultant, I have never advised anyone to skip chemo or any other necessary procedure. I don't like that you've lumped all alt-med advocates into one category.
Robert
(Guest)
(Guest)
10/18/2009
Excellent article. Your main point - that too many alt medicine fanatics apply a double standard when promoting alternative medical treatments while vilifying traditional western medical practices. As most commentators note, there *is* a middle ground, where traditional research and science can rigorously test herbalist and other claims (although at this point herbalists should have the resources to do this themselves), and alt medical practitioners and adherents recognize that traditional (Western) medical practices serve a positive function in many, many cases.
However, when alt medical adherents blindly chomp herbs because some former stand-up comic turned guru says those herbs are good for a 1,000 diseases, or that a Swine Flu vaccine is somehow a mysterious government conspiracy, they are not only doing themselves a disservice, but everyone who is dependent on them, and everyone who must interact with them (including family members and co-workers).
Researchers and scientist make
With all due respect and kindness, your friends did not die from alternative treatments, they died from cancer. Alternative medicine is, like you said, not necessarily safe just because it is natural. I completely agree with you there. But I also believe that the medical community in the US needs to take another look at alternative medicine and begin to explore what may or may not help us. Penicillin came from nature. So did Botox and aspirin. If it comes down to it, even vaccinations have their start in a natural, organic compound (well, virus, anyway). People should not discount alternative medicine just because it is ancient or natural, nor should they assume automatically that all treatments are safe and appropriate for their use.
Nearly all scientific studies of herbs focus on extracts of one or two chemicals from a plant. The medical industry has thus far failed to apply rigorous testing to herbs for any condition, and they are the ones with the labs and cash. I hear ya about the poisonous mushrooms, but add that anyone eating them demonstrably falls outside of any established herbal tradition. Also most pharmaceuticals were originally made from components of whole herbs, aspirin comes to mind. Most testing for pharmaceuticals is carried out by the pharmaceuticals, hence the claims of conflict of interest. I've heard it described that traditional medicine is good for preventing chronic conditions and western medicine excels at treating acute trauma.
Swan_writes
(Guest)
(Guest)
03/17/2009
For some real systemic health problems, I have had more personal success with alternative healing than I have from traditional western medicine. I'm also thankful for western medicine in many of it's applications. There is a need for all of these traditions of healing to compliment and engage each other. Setting up any one as wrong or another as the only answer is the fatal flaw. Bureaucracies have not learned to accommodate diversity, and western medicine is an entrenched bureaucratic system. There is not only one answer for all people, but many variables. Alternative medicines open doors, and in this they offer a real service of healing for many.
Martha Phillips
(Guest)
(Guest)
03/16/2009
Thanks for the insightful article. Even vitamins and minerals can be toxic at certain levels.
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