Aren't Non-medical Therapies Awfully Risky,
Even Dangerous?
Safety IS a valid concern, considering the fact that we're all, in a sense, "living on the edge". You've heard of that vital gaseous element so necessary for life that constitutes approximatelly 21% of the earth's atmosphere, oxygen? Well, it turns out (according to Material Safety Data Sheets that accompany Medical and industrial compressed or liquid Oxygen cylinders) that prolonged exposure to levels higher than 75% can cause central nervous system depression including headache, dizziness, drowsiness, poor coordination, slowed reaction time, slurred speech, giddiness and even UNCONSCIOUSNESS. And breathing greater than 40% concentration for 1 - 2 days by newborn, and especially premature, infants has been reported to cause blindness. (Journal, Indian Academy of Clinical Medicine Vol. 4, No. 3 July-September 2003 p.235; Kelly F.J. Free radical disorders of preterm infants. British Medical Bulletin 1993;49 (3):481-93.) That sounds pretty risky, doesn't it? (Of course, prolonged oxygen deprivation can be even MORE dangerous!)
Now, if even something so "safe" and necessary can be dangerous when out of it's natural state and handled unwisely, everything else MUST carry SOME degree of risk. EVEN MEDICAL TREATMENT??? Or is that not supposed to be brought up in "polite society"? If not, the statistics are apparantly rather "impolite".
An exceptionally comprehensive and candid "study of studies" was reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 279 No. 15, April 15, 1998 (JAMA.1998;279:1200-1205). In their article "Incidence of Adverse Drug Reactions in Hospitalized Patients -- A Meta- analysis of Prospective Studies", Jason Lazarou, MSc; Bruce H. Pomeranz, MD, PhD; and Paul N. Corey, PhD analyzed over 30 years of data from U.S. hospitals (which use only FDA approved prescription drugs with "professional" supervision) to obtain the overall incidence of SERIOUS adverse drug reactions -- defined as those that required hospitalization, were permanently disabling, or resulted in death.
Based on the resulting percentages (of which they report VERY SMALL variation throughout the entire period) and a recent year's total hospital admissions, they estimated that approximately TWO MILLION hospital patients ANNUALLY have SERIOUS adverse drug reactions with approximately 100,000 FATALITIES (calling it the 4th leading cause of death in the U.S.! -- ahead of pulmonary disease, diabetes, AIDS, pneumonia, accidents, and automobile deaths).
Incidently, FDA's (U S Government Food and Drug Administration -- www.fda.gov) Center for Drug Evaluation and Research was still quoting those statistics in their 2002 "Adverse Drug Reaction learning module" and even in their Feb 22, 2006 Budget Formulation and Presentation for 2007. (They're not very "polite" either, are they?)
Dr.Barbara Starfield, M.D. (July 26, 2000 Journal of the American Medical Association, 284(4), 483-485. "Is US health really the best in the world?") indicates that America's TOTAL healthcare-system-induced deaths are the THIRD leading cause of death in the U.S., after heart disease and cancer. According to several research studies in the previous decade, a total of 225,000 Americans PER YEAR have died as a result of their medical treatments:
12,000 deaths per year due to unnecessary surgery
7000 deaths per year due to medication errors in hospitals
20,000 deaths per year due to other errors in hospitals
80,000 deaths per year due to infections in hospitals
106,000 deaths per year due to negative effects of drugs
Awfully risky sounding stuff, wouldn't you say?
So, by comparison, what's the danger of non-medical health care? Good nutrition? Surely not! Proper posture and physical alignment? Not likely! Oh! "It doesn't actually CURE anything." Well, let's get this one thing straight here and now. Drugs and surgery don't actually "cure" anything, either. Mostly they alleviate the symptoms (sometimes life-threatening ones -- so they CAN be quite valuable to some folks at times), but other times they simply mask or cover up the symptom so it doesn't bother us. Either way, we get what many non-prescription medications promise: "Prompt, Temporary Relief". Naturally, we're all attracted to that "Prompt" part. When we're sick the last thing we are is patient. (The doctor who first started calling sick people "patients" was surely indulging in wishful thinking.) But we're inclined to overlook the "Temporary" part.
Most non-medical therapies, on the other hand, concentrate on the cause of the ailment. Not the absolute root cause, mind you. No field of human knowledge really understands that completely. But, addressing the chief contributing causes often brings more lasting relief by means of the body's own built-in healing abilities. That's the only TRUE healing there ever is. (Not to say there are NO risks. See the page - or keep reading - you'll get there.)
This objective might also be described as a functional difference. Most drugs in one way or another tend to FORCE the living organism (animal or human) to respond biologically in a specific way whether or not it has the inner resources to do so successfully and whether or not it needs to accomplish something else first in order to heal itself properly. (If you're remodeling, you don't usually install new carpet 'till you've pulled up the old and cleaned up from the rest of the renovation.) The more natural therapies try to supply the body what it needs to do IT'S work IT'S WAY, or help and encourage in any way possible and practical without arbitrarily "taking over" and maybe inadvertently working AGAINST it's efforts instead of WITH it. Sure, this may take a little longer; but it doesn't mean the therapy isn't working.
To those who have never personally seen or experienced anything but the "Prompt, Temporary Relief" scenario this aspect of natural healing may be a bit "alarming" at times, and they may assume nothing is being done; someone is being terribly neglected; "the person's gonna to die!" Granted, there's no therapy that ALWAYS works. REMEMBER THE 4th LEADING CAUSE OF DEATH CITED ABOVE! If that's the risk you prefer to take, that's your choice and YOUR BUSINESS. But some of us for decades have seen and experienced reasons to feel much safer taking these other "risks" instead.
( If WE promise NOT to get all excited and upset over the risks we perceive YOU'RE taking and try to tell YOU what to do; promise you won't get all excited, upset and worried about OUR health care choices? )
"Ah! yes. But personal experience can be deceptive!" you're saying. "Is there any SCIENTIFIC evidence these natural therapies really work?" See: "IS Alternative Health Care Unscientific?" next.
"On the Edge" of the Grand Canyon, Colorado, U.S.A.
National Park Service Photo
"Natural" Healing
(Non-medical Health Care) -- Why Controversial?
The Issues
101:
Safe?
( THE PAGE YOU ARE READING.)
Scientific?
Legal?
The REAL Problem?
But Is It For YOU?
Unconventional Concepts
(You May or May Not Have Considered)
You Don't HAVE to Eat it All at One Meal
Typical USDA food/nutrition pyramid. http://www.usda.gov
Perfect Posture?
Mysore, India. Photo by Wen-Yan King, medapt.org
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