"Alternative Medicine" - Natural Health Care? - Reform?
Non-commercial, purely-educational facts you need for freedom of informed CHOICE -- not merely informed CONSENT.

Note -- If you're FOR one choice and against another, just remember: It may be FOR you, but it isn't FOR everybody; so don't "make a religion of it" (or a "crusade" or an "inquisition", either) by ASSUMING we all need the same things and have the same personal values. WE DON'T! Grant everyone else the same freedom of choice you cherish.
- Free E-Book - Continued -

The Truth About "Natural" Healing
-- Ten Things You Should Know

3. Is It Safe?

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 doesn't exactly sound "safe", does it? (Of course, prolonged oxygen deprivation can be even MORE dangerous!)

But, if even something so "safe" and necessary can be dangerous when out of it's natural state and handled unwisely, surely everything else MUST carry SOME degree of risk, mustn't it? --- EVEN MEDICAL TREATMENT??? --- Or is that not supposed to be brought up in "polite society"? If not, the facts 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? ---
*****************************************************
Incidentally, this article is no longer available to the public, but is "archived" in a password-protected section of their website ----you and I were NOT supposed to see this.

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 one thing straight here and now. Drugs and surgery don't actually "cure" anything, either. Primarily they alleviate symptoms --- sometimes life-threatening ones ---so they CAN be quite valuable to some folks at times. But drugs mostly mask, hide, or cover up the symptom so it doesn't bother us. So, even for SERIOUS ILLNESS, we often get what many non-prescription medications promise: "Prompt, TEMPORARY Relief". Naturally, we're all attracted to the "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 that "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 understands that completely. But, addressing the chief CONTRIBUTING causes (rather than just the pain or other symptoms not of ease but of DIS-ease) 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 Part 8 - "Is It For You" --- 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 a room (or the house), for example, you DON'T install new carpet 'till you've pulled up the old and cleaned up from the rest of the renovation. Likewise, 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 perhaps inadvertently working AGAINST it's efforts instead of WITH it. Although this may take a little longer (and progress somewhat "unconventionally" at times), it doesn't mean the therapy isn't working.

But, to those who have never personally seen or experienced anything except the "Prompt, Temporary Relief" scenario, this aspect of natural healing may sometimes be a bit "ALARMING"; so they may assume nothing is being done, someone is being terribly neglected, or "the patient's gonna die!" Granted, there's no therapy that ALWAYS works. REMEMBER THE 3rd LEADING CAUSE OF DEATH REPORTED 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.
(See:
"Growing Up REALLY Drug Free --- A True Story" for an example. Or keep reading --- you'll get there.)

( 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?"

Please see "4. Is It Scientific?" on the next page--->

"Safety first, last and always"?
---Wellllll - - -
"On the Edge" --- Grand Canyon, Colorado, U.S.A.
Medical Risks ---
National Park Service Photo


The Truth About "Natural" Healing --- Ten Things You Should Know

1. What IS It -- REALLY?
Scientific "Alternative Medicine"? OR Psychosomatic Occult Superstition?


2. The Issues ---
Widespread Claims & Misconceptions


3. Is It Safe?
( THE PAGE YOU ARE NOW READING.)

4. Is It Scientific?

5. Is It Legal?

6. What's the REAL Problem?

7. Is It Enough? --
Growing Up REALLY Drug Free - A True Story


8. Is It For YOU?

9. How Does It Work? ---
Unconventional Concepts of Illness & Health --- You May or May Not Have Considered


10. How You Can Learn More
--- Sources & Resources


Text-only Version --- for Printing the Above Pages
(Opens in a new window so you won't lose this navigation bar)
SEE Copyright Notice below

Appendix --
Other Observations
--- and Questions
You May or May Not
Have Thought About


Appendix 2 --- A Natural-Healing Perspective on Coronavirus --- and most other "microbes" that are blamed for various illnesses

Living Wills, Advance Medical Directives, and SERIOUS considerations


Good Nutrition?
Plate/Food-Groups Graph from www.choosemyplate.gov
Typical Nutrition-Guidelines Graph from US Department of Agriculture and National Institute of Health - see: https://www.supertracker.usda.gov/default.aspx & http://www.health.gov/dietaryguidelines/ for details


Perfect Posture?
Woman Carrying Basket on Head
Mysore, India. Photo by Wen-Yan King, medapt.org

Click On Any Picture For More Picture Detail
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NOTHING in these pages is intended to diagnose, treat or cure ANY illness or disease; nor to prescribe, endorse, OR EVEN RECOMMEND any substance, therapy or other health care choice. All material is provided as INFORMATION ONLY for the exclusive use of persons wishing to take greater PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY for their body and health or those desiring to defend the reasonableness of doing so.

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