Post subject: Get the right information about alternative medicine

Alternative medicine is really taking off in US, but many also report that alternative medicine has adverse effect on certain symptoms and also many of existing drugs. I briefly mentioned about this in this forum, but one member suspected commercial interest behind these reports. More specifically, pharmaceutical companies may not like the adaptation of alternative medicine. It's a valid point. Now, how do you get the right information about alternative medicine, considering this?

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iRule - you are absolutely right. Advertising about drugs is in your face, in your bedroom and everywhere else. It is ironic that nearly every drug cites that complications with that drug could cause stomach bleeding, serious muscle pain (and on, and on, and on like the small print in your credit card offer letters ) but still public feels safe taking them.

On the other hand most herbal medicines will not cause side effects when not combined with adverse drugs and herbs. Herbal medicines in the US are more about prevention then cure whereas in many other countries including India, they are a cheaper and perhaps trusted medicine system. Govt. of India spends millions of dollars each year to promote ayurvedic medicines, hospitals, colleges and much more.

Take a look at this page: http://indianmedicine.nic.in/html/ayurveda/afmain.htm

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iRule

The best information you can get is from places like WhatDoctorsDontTellYou ( www.wddty.co.uk - they have Lynn McTaggart on their side), Curezone ( http://curezone.com ) and other alternative sites. There are loads of them actually. They are labelled as 'crank sites' by orthodox medicine & pharma companies, but in fact they're not. As both Shilajeet and I have said in other parts of this forum, they are too much of a threat to corporate money making, and are thus libelled & trampled on as much as possible.

Country people, and not so country people, have used traditional remedies for centuries - it has to have something going for it!! And peoples in many countries even now - S America, eastern Europe, China, India, etc - rely on herbal & other traditional medicine for most of their health problems.

Alternative medicine in the West is having to fight to the death at the moment, having to 'scientifically prove' that things work! When in fact, centuries of use has already proved this.

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Do you guys and gals have any opinion about how regulatory bodies like FDA and NHS(is NHS also a regulatory body?) should be handling alternative/complementary medicine?

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I can only see them recalling herbs They havent been able to properly regulate an industry that makes Billions of dollars and provides tons of (often biassed) research. I dont see how they can regulate this succesfully. Herbs are everywhere; they dont usually come in packages.

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I also wonder how people's perception affects this. Since herbs have been used in countries that have very long history like India and China, arguably herbs have been tested much longer than conventional medicine, but they have not been tested thoroughly in lab. Also there is this perception that goods coming from India and China are often unsafe and/or illegitimate. It wouldn't be too surprising if many reject the use of herbs initially for this reason.

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True, however it is incorrect to assume that herbs only come from asian countries such as India and China. Native Americans also known as Red Indians are one of the best known herbalists in the western hemisphere. There are countless examples of good herbs that are only found in western hemisphere and have been used by American Indians. Some good examples are Maca Ginseng, Plantain, and Yerba Santa Tea.

We have survived through thousands of years with no labs (as in what we know as labs today); herbalists have always had labs - they figured out what worked and what did not, from experience and knowledge passed on from their teachers. It is important to note that modern drug industry orignated from the knowledg of herbs. Pharma companies invest millions of dollars in understanding herbs but they have not incentive to tell us that.

The math is really simple to understand: if some one sells ground nuts, he makes far less amount of money compare to some one who sells ground nuts based chocolate or candy. The higher in the food chain one is, the more money they make.

It is also incorrect to assume that herbs coming from India and China are unsafe even though a particular source may not be. It is in the pharma industries interest to claim that herbs (or import medicines) are safe vs. certain other products are not. Logic is simple and you can choose to not believe it but one can only imagine, if these products were unsafe, people who consume it will suffer the consequences and we in the west will know. (I dont have to tell you how much lust media has towards jumping on stories like this.). I have not seen any wild stories where some one was injured or harmed by using herbal products inappropriately.

Another thing to keep in mind is that even the medicines that we consider safe are only safe when used according to the guidelines. Simplest medicine like aspirin can take lives or save lives.