ban on homeopathy for animals, but not humans!

[Green Aura]

Oooh you are awful.........

[the.fee.fairy]

Can't see Youtube - Can someone give me the edited highlights please?

I looked at that article about the taiwanese cancer rates - It is quite scary! I'm going to have a nose around a TCM pharmacy and see if they sell a lot of that particular plant/herb. I have to admit - TCM pharmacies smell so much nicer than Boots!! They have a lovely earthy herby smell to them.

I've been treated using UTCM (Untraditional Chinese Medicine - TCM made into tablets instead of drinking horrible teas), and it was mighty successful. It was used in conjunction with antibiotics (tonsillitis) and cleared it up really really quickly. If it had been the UK they would have expected me to be better in 5 days, here they wanted me back in 3 to make sure it had gone. I don't know what was in the UTCM - I've probably got the box somewhere, but whatever it was was for stopping pain, and it worked.

What I've noticed a lot with the TCM practitioners now is that they all like IVs. If someone has anything wrong, they like to hook them up to a drip. I think (not a chemist, can't read the labels) that the IVs are mostly fluids and vitamins. They do work really well though. I was treated a couple of years ago for H1N1, and I thought I was going to die! They gave me two bottles of the special stuff and a bottle of saline, an injection in the backside and handfuls of tablets - both TCM and non-TCM. After 24 hours I had to go back and have another bottled of saline and a bottle of the special stuff, and more tablets. But, after 3 days I was well enough to go back to work. I don't know what was in the special stuff, but it made me sweat like mad. My sister had H1N1 at the same time and she was given tamiflu, but suffered for 10 days or so. I understand that bodies are different, but I definitely believe in the special stuff!

So...if allopathic is the wrong term, can someone tell me the right term please? I don't want to use 'western' or 'normal' because neither of those seem like the right thing to use either. I do apologise if anyone was offended by the term i used, it's the only one i know!

[demi]

Can't see Youtube - Can someone give me the edited highlights please?

I looked at that article about the taiwanese cancer rates - It is quite scary! I'm going to have a nose around a TCM pharmacy and see if they sell a lot of that particular plant/herb. I have to admit - TCM pharmacies smell so much nicer than Boots!! They have a lovely earthy herby smell to them.

I've been treated using UTCM (Untraditional Chinese Medicine - TCM made into tablets instead of drinking horrible teas), and it was mighty successful. It was used in conjunction with antibiotics (tonsillitis) and cleared it up really really quickly. If it had been the UK they would have expected me to be better in 5 days, here they wanted me back in 3 to make sure it had gone. I don't know what was in the UTCM - I've probably got the box somewhere, but whatever it was was for stopping pain, and it worked.

What I've noticed a lot with the TCM practitioners now is that they all like IVs. If someone has anything wrong, they like to hook them up to a drip. I think (not a chemist, can't read the labels) that the IVs are mostly fluids and vitamins. They do work really well though. I was treated a couple of years ago for H1N1, and I thought I was going to die! They gave me two bottles of the special stuff and a bottle of saline, an injection in the backside and handfuls of tablets - both TCM and non-TCM. After 24 hours I had to go back and have another bottled of saline and a bottle of the special stuff, and more tablets. But, after 3 days I was well enough to go back to work. I don't know what was in the special stuff, but it made me sweat like mad. My sister had H1N1 at the same time and she was given tamiflu, but suffered for 10 days or so. I understand that bodies are different, but I definitely believe in the special stuff!

So...if allopathic is the wrong term, can someone tell me the right term please? I don't want to use 'western' or 'normal' because neither of those seem like the right thing to use either. I do apologise if anyone was offended by the term i used, it's the only one i know!

OMG i wouldnt touch any of that Chinese medicine stuff! its not regulated at all. Ben Goldacre took samples from different practitioners and tested them to see what was in them. he found a whole load of toxic substances such as lead and arsenic, along with pharmaceutical drugs which are in there to give the illusion that the 'medicine' is really working.
the same principle applies to homoeopathy, its not regulated at all and there could potentially be anything in those sugar pills they sell.
cant you see its just a scam to get your money! and a potentially dangerous one at that!

and what you were saying about the IV's and injections, thats a fine example of the placebo effect. an IV or an injection is a more powerful placebo as it is a more invasive form of treatment so we perceive it to be stronger and more effective than a sugar pill.

this was all written in that bit i posted, if anyone had cared to read it:

"The placebo response is about far more than the pills – it is about the cultural meaning of a treatment, our expectation, and more. So we know that four sugar pills a day will clear up ulcers quicker than two sugar pills, we know that a saltwater injection is a more effective treatment for pain than a sugar pill, we know that green sugar pills are more effective for anxiety than red, and we know that brand packaging on painkillers increases pain relief.

A baby will respond to its parents’ expectations and behaviour, and the placebo effect is still perfectly valid for children and pets. Placebo pills with no active ingredient can even elicit measurable biochemical responses in humans, and in animals (when they have come to associate the pill with an active ingredient). This is undoubtedly one of the most interesting areas of medical science ever."


and just in case you are wondering who is this Dr Goldacre guy, how do i know he can be trusted, look here: http://www.badscience.net/about-dr-ben-goldacre/

also, if you havent read it already, go on amazon and get a second hand copy of his book for a couple of pounds. its the best book iv read on the subject, i couldnt recommend it highly enough. it should be made part of the school curriculum so the kids go into the world with a sensible head on their shoulders and are able to spot quackery at a mile off! honestly EVERYONE should read this book! http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bad-Science-Ben ... 926&sr=8-1

[gregorach]

So...if allopathic is the wrong term, can someone tell me the right term please? I don't want to use 'western' or 'normal' because neither of those seem like the right thing to use either. I do apologise if anyone was offended by the term i used, it's the only one i know!

Well, the usual terms would be "modern medicine", "scientific medicine" or "evidence-based medicine"... I favour "real medicine" myself.

The thing is, modern medicine isn't really a single field with a unifying underlying ideology (except "you should at least try to actually prove it works"), so there isn't a nice, neat, catch-all term for it. It encompasses a vast array of different practices and approaches.

[gregorach]

Can't see Youtube - Can someone give me the edited highlights please?

It's a very well-known Mitchell & Webb sketch - there's a transcript here: Homeopathic A&E.

[the.fee.fairy]

OMG i wouldnt touch any of that Chinese medicine stuff! its not regulated at all. Ben Goldacre took samples from different practitioners and tested them to see what was in them. he found a whole load of toxic substances such as lead and arsenic, along with pharmaceutical drugs which are in there to give the illusion that the 'medicine' is really working.
the same principle applies to homoeopathy, its not regulated at all and there could potentially be anything in those sugar pills they sell.
cant you see its just a scam to get your money! and a potentially dangerous one at that!

Don't have much choice when you can't breathe enough to ask questions, and your fever is reaching hospitalisation levels...

I think to be honest, it depends on WHERE the samples were taken. Many of the practitioners overseas who sell TCM because it's fashionable do rip their customers off. Remember - I live in China, the home of TCM. The practitioners here don't get a chance to rip people off... If their medicine causes any deaths, they say hello to a firing squad.

[The Riff-Raff Element]

I think to be honest, it depends on WHERE the samples were taken. Many of the practitioners overseas who sell TCM because it's fashionable do rip their customers off. Remember - I live in China, the home of TCM. The practitioners here don't get a chance to rip people off... If their medicine causes any deaths, they say hello to a firing squad.

Well, it would hardly be newsworthy if "98% of TCM samples were shown to contain pure herbal extracts of significant therapeutic value" would it?

Drawing strict lines of demarcation between "modern" (or "real") medicine and "traditional" is ludicrous, members of both camps, mired in dogma do it. There are hundreds of "modern" medicines that have their origins in plant or animal sources, so any researcher choosing to floccipend (I am responsible for the conservation of the word, so I have to use it ) "traditional" remedies out of hand is not worthy of the title. Similarly a "traditional" healer must know the limits of his / her therapy and when it is necessary to call in the drugs squad.

All medicine - modern, traditional & preventative - should be considered complimentary.

[wabbit955]

All medicine - modern, traditional & preventative - should be considered complimentary

i think all have there good point and bad
after surfering with carple tunnel in both hands for years a had injections in them 2 opertion on one hand and one on the other still did not help
then i try homeopathy helped a lot at least i could use my hands with out being in pain all the time
then i try Acupuncture although was told it would not cure it but would help had a 6 week course on both hands 4 years ago and had no promblems with my hands since even stop them being like ice all the time

my son who surfers bad hay fever drinks nettle ans camline tea now and as long as he remembers to drink it never sufer
so i am always happy to give all ago you don't know until you try it