As you know, those in the medical field and drug companies have a virtual monopoly on your health (by law).
Providing health advice is a tricky thing. To protect against liability claims, authors add a disclaimer in health books and on most health websites stating that the reader should always discuss health problems with their doctor, that all information presented is for entertainment or educational purposes only, and that the book or website has not been approved by the FDA.
The government, particularly the food and health branches of the government, assumes that people are not intelligent enough to assess for themselves what is best for them. These agencies value information provided by doctors and do not recognize procedures or information from other sources.
Doctors, sometimes through ignorance or personal financial motives and association with the pharmaceutical industry, often prescribe unnecessary surgery or over-prescribe prescription drugs. Often doctors fail to fully inform their patient of or underestimate the side effects or consequences of recommended drugs, treatments or surgeries.
Take a look at this chart on deaths induced inadvertently by a physician or surgeon or by medical treatment or diagnostic procedures (over 775,000 annually), or the annual unnecessary medical events (over 16 million per year). These numbers are staggering: Table Of Iatrogenic Deaths In The United States
The pharmaceutical industry also tries to minimize the side effects of their drugs. Pharmaceutical companies push drugs on the public with sophisticated marketing techniques and research grants to doctors and medical colleges even if the drug is harmful. This is apparent from the high number of drug recalls that happen after those side effects manifest in later years.
Your doctor's main interest may be to maximize income, not to improve your health. We have a sickness-care system, not a health-care one. Doctors believe that "prevention" means "early detection," which translates to more money for the doctors and the pharmaceutical industry, and a greater dependency on doctors and drugs. I believe it is wise to get several opinions before allowing anyone to "treat" or "diagnose" you.
In defense of well-meaning doctors, they have not been trained to determine the underlying causes, and the public has not been adequately educated about the responsibility they have for their own health through lifestyle, diet and exercise choices. There simply is a lot of ignorance around the sad state of our health.
Many patients have entrusted their health to their doctors, and doctors play the role they were trained for—diagnose and treat symptoms with the latest medical or pharmaceutical information and procedures.
Maybe there should be a disclaimer like the following on doctor sites or medical association sites:
“Please be advised that the information contained herein is based on symptomatic medicine and should not be used to understand the underlying causes of disease. Since we are industry funded and influenced, many side effects of our practices, procedures and surgeries are played down; we allow many drugs to be sold that have not been properly tested for long-term effects on your health.
Please discuss with your alternative health practitioner whether the information is safe and useful to you before undergoing treatments, surgeries, radiation, chemotherapy or taking other possibly toxic drugs.”
The medical field and pharmaceutical companies discourage us from using our brains! They want you to believe that alternative health information is not valid and should be taken with a big grain of salt, as it may be harmful to your health (and that their information and procedures are not). They claim that your doctor knows best and has only your interest at heart and that your doctor is truly informed about disease causes and alternative treatments.
Well, I don't believe that, yet — to play it safe — you will find a disclaimer at the end of this section, because I am required to include that statement to protect those in the medical field and protect myself against liability claims.
I do believe that people have the ability to make sense of information, learn from it, and choose what is best for their health. Of course you should check with trusted health advisers who truly have your interest foremost and are open to new ideas. This does include your doctor if he or she is one of the rare ones who look at the whole picture and see you as a whole person.
Yes, there are many bogus fast-buck alternative health sites on the web, but this does not mean all alternative health sites and books are useless or dangerous.
You will find doctor-run sites and clinics that are highly promotional that claim amazing results with their latest techniques. These techniques have been shown to be no more effective than regular procedures!
Being informed and learning are our right, and people can turn to certified alternative practitioners or whomever for good information and advice. In the end you are the one responsible for your health choices even if you give that right to your doctor.
My views on Western medicine may sound harsh. There is a time and a place for Western medical achievements—like emergencies or acute conditions! Sew me up! Regular doctors can be incredibly useful for traumas and injuries and corrective surgeries. I applaud them for their skills in these areas and for their dedication.
But healing chronic conditions — no way. Chronic conditions develop over time. As such they have real underlying causes. Symptomatic mainstream medicine is light years away from understanding causes and hence true healing.
Physicians are not trained to find causes; they are symptoms experts. Doctors even think that early detection is prevention, when in fact detecting early symptoms still does not address the real underlying causes of the disease or disorder.
Giving people drugs earlier is not preventing diseases and disorders. Making symptoms seemingly go away is not healing, as the underlying causes have not been addressed. In the case of prostate diseases like benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and prostate cancer, surgeries not only have many undesirable side effects, but also often require another surgery later on, which is less effective.
Discover the causes. Change the conditions. Allow healing to happen. That's my formula.
This is not to say that there are not many well-meaning doctors. Some excellent ones also practice alternative healing (at the risk of being disbarred). As in anything, there are good doctors, poor ones and great ones.
There are some who are in it for the bucks or feel they are a god because they are the doctor, and there are some who genuinely want to help, are open to other healing modalities and put you first. I have been fortunate to meet some of the latter—and it helps cancel out some of the others!
Doctors spend just a minute amount of time being trained on prevention, believing that the symptoms are the cause. For example, doctors believe that as men get older their prostates get larger; thus getting older is the cause. This is ridiculous! There are many cultures in other parts of the world where prostate disease is minimal even among older men!
Alternate views challenge the medical worldview and are not easily accepted by established medical practitioners. What this means in the case of your prostate disease is that doctors will attempt to remove prostate symptoms through medical intervention.
Doctors play down the major side effects of these interventions like incontinence (adult diapers needed) or erectile difficulties (bye-bye sex life!) and ignore the dangers of some of their testing procedures (e.g., biopsies that can increase your risk of prostate cancer).
On the other hand, natural healing doctors or natural health consultants like naturopaths look to find the underlying causes of the disease and change those so that the symptoms disappear as a consequence. Doesn’t this make sense?
Seek out practitioners who deal with cause, provide clear information, work to prevent disease, and who address you as a whole being who has the innate ability to heal yourself. Educate yourself by reading everything you can find about your health problem, including information from outside the medical establishment. What you find may truly help you!
Now for the official disclaimer!
The statements on this website have not been evaluated by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) or any other government agency of any country. Nothing on this site is intended to treat, cure or prevent any disease. The information presented is not intended to replace the advice of your doctor.
This website is for informational and educational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis or treatment provided by a qualified health care provider. It is offered as research to help you understand your current situation and to help you expand your knowledge as a more informed participant in your health choices. You and you alone or with your doctor's advice are responsible for what you do.
Please see your physician before changing your diet, doing a cleanse or treatment, starting a new exercise program, or taking any dietary herbs or supplements of any kind, or following any of the advice or suggestions in this website. It may also be wise to seek the advice of a qualified natural health professional to supplement the advice of your doctor.
The views and statements expressed in this website represent the opinion of the author and should not be considered scientific conclusions. The author does not assume any liability for the information contained herein. Specific medical advice should be obtained from a licensed health care practitioner.
As the viewer, you agree that no responsibility or liability will be incurred to the author with respect to any loss, damage, or injury caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by the information contained herein. If you do not agree to this statement, then please do not read this website! If you have a severe medical condition, please see a licensed healthcare practitioner.
The information in this website is not intended to replace your doctor and is not to be viewed as medical advice. It is intended as a sharing of knowledge and information from the research and experience of the author. I encourage you to make your own health care decisions based upon your own research and in partnership with your physician.
This website does not give medical advice or engage in the practice of medicine. Under no circumstances do I recommend a particular treatment for your health condition and in all cases I recommend that you consult your doctor before pursuing any course of treatment.
Taking any advice described in this website should be a decision based on personal research and on: the understanding of; the advice and support of; and under the direction of a qualified natural health professional and your doctor or physician or all of them!
Whew – that was a mouthful! Hope you got the message! How ridiculous that such a disclaimer is needed. (I stretched it way out for emphasis.)
Bottom line: you decide if anything here makes sense and then seek whatever other advice and help you want, including the advice of your doctor.
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