Guest blog by Musick_makerOften in our "modern" society, we are told that anything not labeled by a drug company and sold as medicine, is an "old wives" tale and should be utterly scorned with lofty disdain.
Nature is not only extravagant in lush beauty, but filled with treasures of balm and healing that are not only therapeutic, but if used properly, are almost completely free of any undesirable side effects.
What if modern "science" put all the effort that they are throwing into developing new drugs, that only mask or take away symptoms, into the study and research of plants, minerals, and the vast array of holistic methods that nurture the body and aid it's own abilities to repair itself?
Again, I believe that all natural things should be respected and used with care. Foolish use of any good thing masks its merits and tarnishes its abilities. But one must question organizations like the
FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) and
AMA (American Medical Association) that hold such unchallenged power!
Why after years of cancer treatments that ravage the body and have such a staggering rate of failure, have they not at least opened their minds to consider the natural options that surround us? Why are they so malicious in their efforts to shut down any doctor that practices holistically and makes claims of cure?
My own mother nearly died from health complications. She tried doctor after doctor only to be met with callous ignorance and an attitude of: "We can't find a problem", "We don't know how to fix it", "It must be in your head", "There's nothing wrong with you."
Such bigotry anywhere else, would be met with a public uproar. But for some reason, the general population sits back and passively accepts that it is a "realm beyond our knowledge. They must know best."
In the end, my mother was told by a friend, about an American doctor practicing in Mexico because the AMA would not allow him to do so in the US. His name is Dr. Charles Rogers & he has formal American Medical training (originally he had intended to be a surgeon), as well as over 10 years of herbal training in China.
This combination of knowledge allows him to be an amazing doctor - for he not only believes in the power of God's nature, he also knows how to scientifically understand the medicines he is working with, as well as the human body.
He saved my mother's life and while she and my father were staying at his clinic, they saw and met numerous people who he had cured of cancer with his herbal elixers that he formulated specifically for each individual. They called him "The Physician of Hope".
I have done extensive research online myself in regards to the ingredients that are in our food & personal care products. I prefer to find out the truth - to search it out as best as I can, so that I am informed. The truth was astounding as I read article after article from a slew of different sources and backgrounds, the most credible I could find.
I won't go into that here, if you want to take your life into your own hands and really be making the choices that determine your destiny, then you will take the initiative to find out for yourself as well. I simply started with the ingredients in the bottle of Baby Shampoo that was sitting in my shower shelf, and progressed from there with different products I had in my house.
I do want to share with you today, a website that I have subscribed to and found to be a great practical source of knowledge in regards to living healthier. Dr. Ben Kim is one of the most balanced, practical natural medical advisers I have ever read after, and for this, I respect him greatly. In all things it is important to have a balance. Radicality in any belief or system leads to irrational claims that will go to any length to prove a point.
Dr. Ben Kim is level headed, compassionate, and has several years of experience in his own clinic that speak for themselves.
Do you think American doctors should be more open to others forms of medicine? Why or why not? Have you ever been to a doctor other than the typical American hospital doctors? If so, what kind of doctor?
Comments (12)
I don't possess enough scientific knowledge to provide any intellectual commentary, but I can say I agree with you in that Western medicine masks problems and produces a lot of side effects. "Modern" medicine doesn't solve all problems (and for me, it doesn't help me much so I don't take it and I just let my body heal on its own)
It's like prescribing pain killers to solve a problem. Doctors are like "here, have some vicodin" and then they send you away. That doesn't help. Yeah, it might take the pain away for a day but then it comes back because doctors don't delve into the root of the problem and fix it!
Someone I know suffers from immense menstrual pain, and she can't do anything about it but take pain killers. And now she has developed liver problems because of the pain killers. *sigh*
"Modern medicine" is sketchy now, if you ask me.
Most American doctors have the mentality that if science did not create the cure, then it is no cure at all. When I get sick I try to refrain from going to the doctor's and use natural products (like teas, etc.) to help me cure my illness. Also, I do not take pain killers for muscle pain, I use Tiger Balm and it works like a charm!
My parents are nurses and sometimes they admit that doctors do not know what the heck they are doing.
Do you think American doctors should be more open to others forms of
medicine? Why or why not?
Yes. There are plenty of natural remedies that could be a wonderful complement to Western medicine... without many of the nasty side effects.
But if the docs were open to doing that, then they wouldn't really be "doctors" as we know them.
Have you ever been to a doctor other than
the typical American hospital doctors? If so, what kind of doctor?
You name it, I've probably tried it. Herbalists, naturopaths, acupuncturists, chiropractors... and probably lots of others that you've never even heard of.
Why is so little research being done on plants and natural remedies? The answer is simple: money. You can't patent an herb or a plant. But you can patent a drug.
Shows you where those companies' priorities really lie, doesn't it?
I've always thought that, if you really think about it, medicine is a form of art...or at least that was of one first quotes I've heard during pharmacy school. If artists are willing to open their mind and soul onto many different compositions, forms, techniques, then doctors should as well. But it's not a matter of whether they should or shouldn't...it's more of matter of whether they can or can't. It's such a sad thing that in many of the doctors mind nowadays, especially with Medicare and Medicaid programs along with big baby boom population, all that is really on the majority of their mind is quota and quota...I'm not saying that's what they all do, I do believe there are many many facinating doctors that will do their miracle job, however there's not enough of them!
Coming from a culture based mainly of western medicine and studying eastern medicine at the same time, dealing with grandparents that will go do both and end up hurting themselves (oh only the horror begins when west and east collids). Nonetheless, your story facinates me...I think that what a lot of doctors base their practice on is experience and facts and mere hope. Doctors, as well as patients and basically anybody, love black and white...it paints a clearer picture...grey area is very very hard to deal with and very hard to get away from...and right now, herbals and naturals are very very gray, but they're getting more and more studied...Well, I'm speaking from a pharmacy point of view...we're trying more nowadays to suggest natural traditional remedies rather than straight for the Tyelnol Cough and Cold Sinus Relief OTC. Nothing better than a nice cup of tea with honey and lemon to help a sore throat and lost voice.
As artists will say, there is never any real color as black and white..so as modern medicine evolved...I hope one day that natural herbal medicine will as well...=] Do i make any sense here? lol Sorry if I offended anyone...
Doctors have a tendency to over prescribe medication and miss diagnose illnesses but they're not all bad. Most o the time, they're just trying to help with the knowledge they've gained in their years of med school. Usually that doesn't include herb lore, natural cures,etc. Don't blame them for using what they know and shying away from gray areas that could get them sued.
Don't get me wrong, I love the natural healing methods that keep me out of a doctor's office and I avoid taking meds like the plague but as far as practicality in marketing goes, herbal remedies aren't really feasible for mass retailing the way drugs are. Most of them have to be fresh to retain full potency and the ones that aren't usually require insanely high dosages to be effective.
However they are gentler on the system and leave considerably less damage to the liver and kidneys. I like them better but I don't have the time or skill to tend an herb garden in my backyard and I would jump if there were herbalists or holistic healers in my area but there just aren't.
I think, as a society, we are shifting slightly back to more natural methods in general. There are thousands of people who've switched to organic produce and to supplements like ginseng and ginko as alternatives to caffine. I like that ^^
I don't really know much but there's my opinion for what it's worth.
-Scruffy
I'm currently a senior premedical student, and my family (myself, most definitely, included) has all suffered through the "there's nothing wrong" "yes, there is" "no, there isn't....it's in your head" walls with doctors. People, especially physicians, are only able to apply what they have been taught, and nowadays with crowded waiting rooms, overbooked nurses and harried physicians running about driven by adrenaline and coffee.....it's no wonder that people are pushed to the wayside when their disease isn't immediately understandable or treatable.
I currently see a holistic DO (another form of medical degree just as qualified and equal to an MD in the US) and am applying solely to DO schools for my graduate degree.....my physician uses a combination of traditional and "nontraditional" therapies to treat his patients.....and I find that the mix is perfect. One must be able to utilize all tools given to him to make a better result. I also appreciate my doctor because he takes time with each patient...and when you go in, you know he'll be running late, and you're happy about it.
My advice to all of you out there facing medical problems being dismissed....DO NOT GIVE UP! You know your body better than anyone else, and if you think something is wrong, it probably is. Keep going, keep calling, keep keeping on. Make sure you annoy them, persist in your complaint and research on your own if possible. Brainstorm, be your own doctor. I know that's what the guy in the white coat is for, but today, with health insurance, crappy economies and overworked staff, doctors are only as good as the sleep they are running on. They are human, too. Don't give up! My mom took a year to find a doctor *a physical therapist actually* to confirm her suspicion of a hernia. It took me three years to get a diagnosis of an autoimmune disease........
Time, determination, openness. Physicians are only here to amuse us as we get well.
First, let me apologize to the author. As I must say, I find this article seems a bit inerudite. While I agree with the author, that nature is in fact “lush in beauty”, I find the ‘meat’ of this article to be quite dubious. I promise not to clog up the comment board to much. As I know, this can be rather annoying. But there does seem to be a bit of misinformation (if not, out right logical fallacies) within this blog. As a result, I will be posting a critique/rebuttal on my own weblog. But I will summarize some of my concerns, here.
“Nature….if used properly, are almost completely free of any undesirable side effects”.
Well, No. Similar to physics, (similar, not just like, for any physicists out there) in medicine for every action, there is a reaction. When you put something into your body, whether it is naturally occurring or synthesized, it will have an effect on your body. Well that’s the idea right? Well it also does undesirable things. A funny example, eating is unquestionably good, yes? Of course it is. If you did not eat you would die. But as a result of eating, you have bowel movements, something very undesirable if one were, say on a date. I know that has little relevance to medicine, but it is a funny sort of analogy.
This next statement is logically flawed, and I will tell you why, but first. What is up with the quotations on the word science?
“What if modern "science" put all the effort that they are throwing into developing new drugs, that only mask or take away symptoms, into the study and research of plants, minerals, and the vast array of holistic methods that nurture the body and aid it's own abilities to repair itself”.
Ignoring the fallacious claim that science (I’m assuming the author means science-based medicine) only develops drugs that mask or take away symptoms, we can argue the point of scientists studying plants for medicinal purposes. THEY DO!!!! In fact most “modern medicine” is derived from a plant (Aspirin, for example comes from willow). But unlike holistic medicine and naturopathy (who give unregulated and sometimes untested doses), medical scientists take the time to find out what, in the plant, produces the desired effect and or effects, and isolate it, and give proper dosing.
That is it for now. Like I said I will be posting a somewhat more meticulous review on my own site at some point, hopefully, tommorrow.
"Often in our "modern" society, we are told that anything not labeled by
a drug company and sold as medicine, is an "old wives" tale and should
be utterly scorned with lofty disdain."
I was never told that, and I don't really know anyone who was. o_O
Chinese medicine. Some doctors just need to look into how some doctors in China just take herbs and mix them to create medicine. They follow the old belief of "We don't just cure an arm or a leg. We cure the whole body."
I think that American doctors should scrap "the West and the rest" thinking. Oh yea, they can learn a lot from other cultures' practices. For one, the American doctors should not be so intimidating to patients with their formal white coat usually and powerful accesory symbols that instill inferiorority in patients. American doctors need to act like they give a damn about patients and their differing backgrounds. One thing I dont like about American medicine is that if the patient has psychosematic symptoms, nor underlying psychological issues are noted. They need to place empasis on mind-body dualism. I have read several accounts were American doctors go visit healers, they come back to the states more knowledggable about how to treat patients with a wide spectrum of remedies.
See an osteopath, a D.O. They're licensed doctors who are taught a lot more about how to work with the body using different kinds of methods to help it to function correctly, not just throw drugs at you. But they can also prescribe normal drugs if they choose to. Not all are great, but you'll probably get much better results from them if you're looking for a more open approach.
@enterthelabyrinth@xanga - i first and foremost agree with this. DO NOT GIVE UP. i went through many doctors before finding one that fit me.
As someone associated with healthcare closely, I find that doctors can be very close minded. There definitely needs to be more consideration taken in areas besides curative medicine. Preventative treatment would be a great start for ALL doctors and their patients...