Healing the Wounds of Alternative Medicine

It has not been a good few weeks to be a supporter of alternative medicine. We have seen reports that GP prescriptions of homeopathic remedies are in terminal collapse. A Nutritional therapist has had to get their insurers to fork out hundreds of thousands of pounds after a patient was left brain damaged. And of course, genocidal maniacs appear to be able to shift their talents quite easily into becoming homeopaths and live unnoticed for years.

In the Guardian, Rose Shapiro described how this was the week when “alternative medicine finally gets the reputation it deserves and is seen for what it is – a massive social and intellectual fraud”. Not to be disheartened, the Prince of Wales is announcing large cash prizes for quacks that do well in infiltrating mainstream medicine. Or, in his words,

[The] prestigious Integrated Health Awards shine a spotlight on outstanding examples of how integrated health can make a real difference to people’s lives. Where treatment is offered they should draw on the best that mainstream medical science and complementary approaches have to offer in order to prevent illness and treat the whole person.

A Judges’ Special Award is going to be made for “the project that in some way stands out from all the rest as a great example of integrated health.” The prize money of £2,500 to each region is generously being provided by ConvaTec who make things like ‘faecal incontinence management systems’, which I thought was nicely ironic for an award for people who cannot stop spouting shit.

ConvaTec specialise mainly in ‘wound care’. They are a subsidiary of Bristol-Myers Squibb; about as Big Pharma as you can get. BMS is as guilty of all sorts of dodgy commercial practices as any other Big Pharma company, including anti-competitive obstructive measures to stop the development of competitive generic versions of its cancer drugs.

I cannot wait for the results. Who in the alternative medicine world, is going to be prepared to accept the Big Pharma money? Will the homeopaths take the allopathic penny? Will the Reiki healers withstand the bad vibrations from the cheque? What a hoot.

7 Comments on Healing the Wounds of Alternative Medicine

  1. The issue is even more grave when you have conventional Drs supporting the alternative groups. From my own experience I was a great believer in alternative medicine until I dated a medically trained Dr who practiced it, one of his great interests was Goji juice in fact he endorsed it as a cure all for everything from the cold to cancer. He works in a private hospital not far from te M25 and in Wimpole Street, he has not been gainfully employed for seven out of the fourteen years he has been qualified but done many short courses of 1,2,3,4, day duration and presents himself as an expert in child health. The Goji is a sideline – he recruits people to sell it in what appears to me to be a pyramid scheme that is active all over the world. He is a real Dr charging huge amounts of money for the short courses he has taken that make him in to an expert in both fields although if you look closely at his qualifications they do not add up to much. But who does – you go to a hospital and expect to find qualified people, who have been checked out by the hospital. I think its great that GPs will have to regegister every five years and better if patients have a say about their conduct and if they are happy with their services. Anyone who can be preceived as giving advice on your health should be open to this scrutiny and it should be tightend up in all areas.

  2. Oh well Alternative medicine is all bad then- nothing good about it.
    Chiopracters-All dangerous neck twisting bastards
    Herbalists- All poisoning bastards
    Acupuncturists- All sadistic bastards
    Reflexologists- Foot fetish bastards
    Homeopaths- Well just bastards
    Allopathic medicne always wonderful
    Drs, Pharmacists, Pharmaceutical industry all totally ethical at all times.
    Thank you all for this wisdom.

  3. This must be the stupidest and most ignorant site on the internet.Of course there are quacks,but there are just as many in the NHS as in alternative medicine.

  4. I am sorry but why should you view this site as such my point was made from both aspects of medicine, yes I wrote the first message – I was born with a congenital heart defect – and for the first twenty years of my life was told – I was attention seeking and had no problems with my health other than the issue being psychosomatic and mental by my family GP. I had emergency surgery when I was 21 to save my life. My heart condition was so severe I could have died of it at any point during the previous twenty years. This was my issue with allopathic Drs. I then turned to alternative medicine. My point of view is that there are as many quacks in the alternative field as the standard field of medicine. Just because someone is a Dr does not mean that they are god – and a lot of Drs think they can walk on water. In the same breath that does not give alternative medicine practitioner the right to prey on people and many of them do. And the Dr I almost married is a medically trained dr who then took a course in osteopath who practices environmental medicine and is qualified in both fields. His CV is impressive but when you dig into it he is a fraud – most of the qualifications are bought as long as you turn up and pay your money you get them. There has to be more stringent measure to protect us – as a society we hate estate agents, banks etc but we trust Drs – we take what they say as fact – some of us dare not question them! You should question and if they work in the alternative field or not – ask anyone who is treating you about qualifications – ask about the validity of the qualification with the governing body and note that if they belong to a professional body – it may not mean anything at all. It may mean that they paid their fee and spent a day in a classroom and they are then qualified to put an endorsement after their name that makes them more genuine. When it comes to your health take some responsibility for yourself. And that is in both fields allopathic and alternative. The allopathic Drs are accused of being in the pockets of the pharmaceuticals – well I can tell you Goji juice has made my ex a huge amount of money and continues to. Dont be drawn in to the point that alternative practitioners are altruistic, they are looking at the bottom line too! And the fact that some allopathic Drs are endorsing the alternative medicine route may make them more appealing but they may be exploiting you too for their own financial gain its a multi milliom pound business and believe me some Drs see it as that a business.
    I am more than happy to discuss my personal experience further and give details of the hospital and Dr concerned my contact no is 07949275130.

  5. MAXIDEX WARNING

    I had eye surgery and in the post-op pack was MAXIDEX(dexamethasone) drops by ALCON LABS.

    Two days later I was BLIND

    Use Google and enter EPOCRATES MAXIDEX REACTION to verify

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