Americans Spend Billions on Alternative Medicine

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Western medicine does not have all the answers, even though they claim to. Even a trip to the Mayo Clinic failed to improve my problems so I decided to start down the path of complementary and alternative medicine, and my health improved so much I call it "unbreaking" your health. There are literally hundreds of therapies available to help, especially with chronic conditions. A good place to start is UnBreak Your Health - The Complete Guide to Complementary & Alternative Therapies (Loving Healing Press 2009). There are dozens of free podcasts available at www.unbreakyourhealth.com that introduce you to some of these therapies. The bottom line is that there is ALWAYS hope, even when the doctors tell you to "just learn to live with it" or worse.

Alan Smith of TX 10:20AM August 04, 2009

An excellent article by Steven Reinberg that brings attention to the fact that allopathic medicine, as wonderful as it is for emergencies and trauma, is failing when it comes to eliminating chronic pain. So what is the answer?
Presently, the United States is entrenched in a silent epidemic of pain which, according to the National Center for Health Statistics, disables more Americans annually that than all those suffering from diabetes, heart disease, stroke and cancer combined. I have linked this epidemic of pain to a foot structure (Primus Metatarsus Supinatus) that I discovered and then published on in 2002. This foot structure causes the foot to twist (pronate) when you stand or walk. It is this foot twist that is linked to the development of chronic muscle and joint pain.
In my book, Forever Free From Chronic Pain, I discuss the importance of this direct link between foot twist and the development of chronic pain and a non surgical, non drug intervention (termed Rothbart Proprioceptive Therapy) eliminate it.
Professor Rothbart
www.RothbartSite.com

Prof/Dr Brian A Rothbart of FL 7:09AM August 03, 2009

A car accident ... incurred fractured skull, injured shoulder, sciatica, broken eye vessels, and injury to my back.
After 2 yrs of physical therapy which aggitated my sciatica and later being told by the orthopedic Surgeon that injuries were in operative and that I would have to live with the pain,I got very upset and decided I would take care of it myself.Healthy sign that you are determined to get better!
knew nothing about Natural Healing
This began my journey....22 years later I have heal myself of all of the above and maintain very good health. Reading, researching, trying it out on myself and using only the best have worked for me.
Common Sense is key and listening to your inner voice. You know your body better then any MD.
And no one will take better care of you then yourself! I have spent less money out of pocket then what I would have paid in premiums and ended up drugged up and worse off physically with very little results.
Knowledge is POWER and it has been the best thing I have done for myself. NO REGRETS AT ALL.

Moon Dancer of CA 1:20AM August 03, 2009

The crushing premiums similar to the peak fuel price last year may offer a hint, I suppose.

hsr0601 11:29PM July 31, 2009

Science is our best tool for understanding how things work, including ourselves. So why is our science-based allopathic healthcare system so abysmal at dealing with so-called western chronic diseases of affluence? After all, these are what most of us die from, after a long lingering period of poor health -- heart disease, cancer, obesity, diabetes.
To find the answer, consider cultures that don't suffer these problems. Consider rural China. Heart disease, our number one killer, pretty much didn't exist in rural China. Now that western culinary culture is starting to creep in, heart disease is beginning to appear. The absence of heart disease wasn't due to genetics. Scientific studies, called migration studies, show that when people from these no-heart-disease cultures move to western cultures, they get heart disease.
The situation is similar with obesity and type 2 diabetes -- those diseases are very nearly nonexistent in rural China. Again, when these people move to the west, they become obese and get diabetes. The situation is only somewhat similar for cancer; people in rural China get cancer, just not nearly as frequently as we do in the west. And it's not just rural China that exemplifies these differences; they are present in multiple non-western cultures.
So what's going on? Science shows there's a simple reason for these differences: Lifestyle. People in rural China, though consuming more calories, eat a low-fat whole-plant diet essentially devoid of animal products. They also get a lot more exercise than we do.
A overview of the relevant science can be found in T. Colin Campbell's book The China Study; more recent scientific results in Michael Gregor's human-nutrition DVD, The Latest in Clinical Nutrition, volume 3.
If the science is so clear, why aren't we doing something about these self-inflicted diseases? This is THE central question healthcare reform must address. Failing to deal with this issue won't work in the long run, period.
We spend about twice as much, per capita, on health care as Canadians, yet our level of health is far inferior. Many of our citizens have no health insurance, compared to universal healthcare in Canada. Our infant mortality rates are abysmal, falling just below those of Cuba, after gradually getting worse for decades. It didn't use to be this way. What changed?
The answer lies in how thoroughly our system, including our health system (or should it be called our anti-health care system?), has been corrupted by big-money special interests. Malcolm X was right in the views he came to later in his life. Our society, including our healthcare system, is sick, corrupted by big-money special interests - pharmaceutical interests, insurance companies, big health-care outfits. Essentially, we, as a society, are being preyed upon.
Copyright 2009 by Mike Rudnick

Mike Rudnick of NY 3:03PM July 31, 2009

Yes, we need a fair way to validate true holistic and natural health standards into the new Health Care Reform Bill. Truly allowing people this without AMA mandated pre-approval would open up a tremendous amount of natural modalities that often cost much less than conventional allopathic methods.
The biggest challenge to getting this done is either doing away with lobbying interests [not going to happen] or supporting a viable organization doing their part in DC to see strong support for "alternative medicine" funding. We are keeping up with this at the web's "Healing News Network", and also have a counter message to those claiming non-organic is as healthy as organic foods.
To really make this country healthier though, people need to be educated that there are better ways that do not include poisonous chemicals and drugs.

Dennis Knicely of NM 2:27PM July 31, 2009

I was pleased to see this article on CAM. I use them for my health and want to see less regulation, not more! There is a daily barrage of ads for pharmaceudicals with all the side effects, including death and serious injury and yet how many people have Ever died by taking vitamins and minerals and herbs! There is plenty of Good science that proves the healing qualities and properties of these natural methods and substances. What is really needed is an end to the laws that set the pharmaceddical companies and the allopathic form of medicine as the only ones that can diagnose and treat disease! That is a lie. I have successfully treated even serious illnesses in myself with herbs and vitamins. My husband and I are in great health while all of my friends and siblings have heart disease or cancer in one form or another. They go to doctors and take all kinds of drugs and I avoid allopathic medicine and take suppliments. Please, don't make a sham out of this,there is true natural healing out there and we the people deserve the freedom to choose and not have the natural means regulated. Thank you for this forum.

Kathleen LaRock of CA 1:07PM July 31, 2009

Sometimes mainstream doctors are so narrowly focused that they refuse to see the patient as a whole person, but only as an arthritic joint, for example, or as a hyper-tensive-heart. They may prescribe medicine after medicine without checking the lifestyle habits of the patient, like exercise, salt use, processed food, smoking and so on.
When that happens what choices do we have? How many pills do we take? Making pharmaceutical companies richer by the second would be the only benefit. And the side-effects of these drugs can be awful. But the doctors say, "well, there are always side-effects. There is no free lunch, so get used to them!"
Or the doctors simply don't see the connection between the side-effects and the new problem.
Very few doctors look at patients in a holistic way. So it is no surprise that patients look elsewhere for a more "human approach", being treated as a whole person, and possible relief.
I wish insurance companies start paying for some of these services like Acupuncture and Yoga.

Padma Shandas of CA 12:12PM July 31, 2009

It wouldn't surprise me that people spend so 34 billion dollars on products unregulated,
untested, or even worse, found to be ineffective. We, collectively, have grown numb to buying poorly engineered, low quality products generally. We fill our bodies with fast food and want to buy some inane algae supplement to undo the damage of decades long abuse and neglect. Have you ever noticed how Costco has aisle after aisle of products that have no legitimate clinical testing (or have been clinically proven ineffective) that make general claims of improving "your sense of wellness?" This speaks to the bigger cultural issue that Americans are just poor consumers generally.

Mike of CA 11:37AM July 31, 2009