In one of the major hospitals in United States, a nurse walks around the bed of a patient, waving his arms as if attempting to frighten evil spirits. Another woman in a bowl rubbed with a quartz rod, emitting sounds that are mixed with the beep of the monitors and the hiss of a respirator that kept alive the individual.
Both have a reiki session, a therapy which is believed to help the patient with invisible energy fields. The anesthesiologist Richard Dutton said it was “mystical tales”, but uses them.
“It autohiponotizan” and that helps to relax patients, he said. “If you tell yourself you do not hurt so much, then you do not hurt much.”
Another way to heal
Alternative medicines are reaching the mainstream and are increasingly accepted by physicians formal, insurers and hospitals like the University of Maryland.
Appeals to people and herbal therapies to treat and sofocones from sleep problems to cancer and cardiac problems. Tends to mistrust the government and pharmaceutical companies, and preferred medications considered safe and more natural.
Often, however, is not what they receive. The attitude of the government and powerful sectors that make consumers vulnerable to misleading advertising and failed products.
Food supplements do not need to prove they are safe or effective to be sold. Some contain natural elements that you want to avoid, such as lead and arsenic. Other things that can interfere with a consumer, such as birth control pills.
“Herbs are medicines that can be good or bad reactions, said Bruce Silverglade of the consumer advocacy group Center for Science in the Public Interest.
Many of these products are not scores of small operations, craft, but manufactured by major laboratories. Its ingredients and country of origin is a mystery to consumers. Are sold using techniques that manipulate the feelings, like a car or a garment.
It exaggerated the benefits of therapies that can help in certain conditions, such as acupuncture.
Open your eyes
We analyzed dozens of studies and interviewed more than 100 people to see that there is an underground system that operates in daylight, with principles other than those of traditional medicine and millions of people have a blind faith in these products.
- Major hospitals increasingly turn to alternative therapies. Many offer treatments that relieve stress, like meditation, yoga and massage, but some offer treatments with little scientific support to seriously ill patients and vulnerable.
- Some medical schools give lessons to future doctors about alternative therapies and cures, sometimes paid by government funds. The idea is to educate them about treatments that people prefer to make sound recommendations and objective. More than one institution, however, has strong ties with people who practice or promote alternative methods.
- Insurers are enabling firms to offer alternative medicine offer their products and services directly to members. I even recommend buying supplements in certain Internet sites.
Be careful what you consume
There are herbal supplements that can affect health. A surprising number of products which are not advertised on their labels and may contain harmful substances such as lead or disguised versions of medications that require a prescription.
“In tests, one in four supplements have a problem,” said Tod Cooperman, president of ConsumerLab.com, an independent firm that analyzes such products.
Even when the components of medicine are not dangerous, the money spent on products whose benefit is not proven can not be a good investment, as well as risky.
There are cancer patients who miss their only opportunity to fight evil in betting on alternative medicine. People with clogged arteries may suffer cardiac arrest. Children can suffer injuries from the use of therapies whose effectiveness has not been checked, followed by parents who do not rely on traditional medicine.
Traditional medicines also have their problems and many have been taken out of circulation is found that the adverse reactions. These medicines, however, are subject to regulatory systems and are closely watched by surveillance bodies.
The monitoring of alternative medicine is much more limited.
Nevertheless, the use of alternative medicines and dietary supplements like vitamins, minerals and herbs, is widespread.
“We are annoyed when people say that we are a marginal resource,” said Steven Mister, president of the Council for Responsible Nutrition. He added that the supplements are a “reassurance” when people do not eat well.
Some are widely recommended by doctors, such as vitamins for pregnant women and calcium for adult women who can get osteoporosis. It is believed that such uses are safe.
Several studies indicate that a deficiency of vitamins can produce disease, but it is unclear whether consumption of supplements to solve the problem. Some studies suggest that it may cause inconvenience, according to Jeffrey White, director of the department of medicine of the National Cancer Institute.
Medical Alternatives
White, however, believes that alternative medicine offers good opportunities. ” As does Josephine Briggs, director of the National Center for Alternative Medicine, an agency created by Congress.
“Most patients do not receive satisfactory treatment too. If we were successful and effective treatments will probably not need these other strategies,” he said.
That is why Mitchell Gaynor, a cancer specialist from the Weill-Cornell Medical Center in New York, monitors nutrition and offers meditation and relaxation techniques in their treatments.
“There are people who think that ‘chemotherapy is pure poison”‘ said Gaynor, who tells the patient not think so. “Cancer is an evil that develops over decades, so that one can not say that will heal by changing the diet or doing meditation. Must be treated with conventional medicine.”
Many people buy supplements to treat minor problems such as sleep problems, sofocones caused by menopause, memory loss, excessive weight and sexual disorders.
Kathy Allen, dietitian of the Moffit Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida, said that people should be skeptical about the term “natural.”
He stated that the supplements have not been shown to be safe and provide benefits. If you are wondering if you are willing to consume traditional medicine in those conditions, “most of us would say no,” he said.
“When the label says’ natural ‘, it is believed that it can not hurt and that is simply not true,” he said.