> -----Original Message----- > From: Dana [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Tuesday, July 19, 2005 4:39 PM > To: CF-Community > Subject: Re: the mechanism of action is unknown > > All very true. But explain to me how you are going to test the effect of > the > mind on healing in a double-blind study? This isn't something from the > National Enquirer we're talking about... this is Lancet. Ergo, the science > is sound, or they would not have published it.
Well there a definite differences between drug therapies and other therapies - we've been mixing the two willy-nilly here but you simply can't use the same tests for both. For therapies like Theraputic Touch you have several avenues of exploration but they boil down to "does the therapy work?" and "does the stated mechanism of the therapy work?" It's pretty clear in the case of Theraputic Touch that the second case is a resounding "now". According to practitioners they "feel wrongness" in their patients and can correct it. The patient doesn't have to be conscious or even a whole body (practitioners have claimed to be able to affect cancerous growths in Petri dishes). However the first is a more complex question. Does the therapy work, but in some other way? This requires lots of testing in different ways - it's clear from current studies that there's no effect if the patient isn't aware of the treatment for example. So what if we have a control group getting "fake" treatment that shows the same benefits? > On a slightly different topic there is also a problem with the current > paradigm in that drug companies are being relied on for research. Based on > my adventures in the land of coumadin, I can assure you that a similar > effect can be had with either ginko balboa or gingseng. However, there is > an > issue of standardizing the dose, one, and monitoring the very considerable > side effects. Therefore, people with clotting issues are given a substance > best known for being a rat poison, rather than a substance best known for > improving memory, because there is a patent on the former and not the > latter. I can't agree with you more. Herbal remedies definitely have an effect and, I feel, should be controlled substances. However the current system leads to several problems: +) In nearly all cases patients are self-medicating or accepting dosage contracts from people with, at best, questionable credentials. +) Since such "supplements" aren't controlled as drugs are it leads to problems with handing and contamination. There was a case not too long ago in Australia where a shipment of Ginko (if I remember correctly) was contaminated with a highly toxic mold sending several people into comas. Even without that extremity tests continuously show many popular, uncontrolled supplements to be tainted and their labeled dosages to be wildly inaccurate. +) Although many "natural" remedies affect the body just as much or more than prescription medication most people don't tell their doctors about them. This leads to nasty interactions and sometimes serious problems. +) Natural remedies are not tested for efficacy or dosage. Traditional cures are linked with traditional illnesses and in many cases that's that. In the same vein "mega-dosing" herbal remedies and vitamins (popular in certain circles) has been shown to do essentially nothing. +) Its all folklore and association. For example Ginko has some benefits for certain things but (to my knowledge at least) has never been proven to help memory at all. Instead certain tests indicated that Ginko might provide some specific relief to Alzheimer's patients. This was then twisted by the supplement companies as being a "miracle memory pill". The same thing happened when injections of shark cartilage was shown to have some positive effect on specific kinds of tumors. This was suddenly twisted to show that eating "Shark Pills" could prevent cancer. In all sorts of ways herbal and other natural remedies stated and accepted uses snowball out of control. Being uncontrolled there's an underground movement convinced that these miracle, natural remedies are being "held back" by the big drug companies (a conspiracy theory so plausible because it's not far from the truth) and a knowing wink made whenever the "these statements have not been evaluated..." disclaimer is shown. The labels "natural" and "homeopathic" get thrown around in this arena with no regard for what they actually mean. "Homeopathic" in particular is ridiculous as it's now a selling point for blatantly non-homeopathic drugs (meaning the drugs actually have active ingredients)! The whole area is a huge mess. Jim Davis ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Discover CFTicket - The leading ColdFusion Help Desk and Trouble Ticket application http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=48 Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:165447 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
