Herbal Medicine and Alternative Therapies

[beefche]

I would caution anyone who is on prescribed meds to not just quit taking them without consulting your physician. There are side effects to any medication and sometimes just stopping cold turkey can cause some very serious withdrawal symptoms.

Also, I think there is a time and place for man made medications. I think for routine, benign illnesses, we really should look at changing lifestyles or adding herbal supplements to help us. But sometimes these just don't work. Or the illness is more serious.

I would never in a million years tell someone who has serious heart problems, diabetes, cancer, etc. to just take an herbal supplement and forgo physican based treatment which would include meds.

I tend to self diagnose and self prescribe (after doing research) and then if I'm not seeing results, I will consult with my physician. On a couple of occasions, I've had to take prescriptions. But for the most part, my routine problems were taken care of by changing eating habits or taking a supplemental herb. Things such as infections, I will take antibiotics lest they become something more serious than just a sinus infection (has happened to me before).

I do think that as a nation, we tend to immediately seek a pill to cure us. If we would change our eating habits and exercise, I think we would see a reduction in some of the more common illnesses--mild depression, back aches, obesity (which can lead to some serious stuff), etc.

[Bob_Blaylock]

Originally Posted by Gemma

'Man-made' medicine can be just as much a gift of God as the herbal alternatives - after all we're all tools in his hands! And the major advantage of the man-made medicine prescribed by you doctor is that it has been tested in rigourous clinical trials and has been given to you by someone who has spent at least 5 years (in the UK at least) learning about medicine full time. This is very different to the gentile medicine of Joseph Smiths time which included things like arsenic!

I absolutely believe that heavenly father provided herbs and plants for our health, but I have seen my grandmother treated for depression for over 15 years by a homeopath who the rest of my family are convinced is a quack. In 15 years he's made no perceptable difference, and has told her not to take anything her GP gives her! The same man told my grandfather to stop taking his heart medicine, which terrifies me!

There is probably some valid basis for some “natural” medicines, but there is a huge amount of quackery in that area as well.

Modern “man-made” medicine is based on hard science. There is an incredible standard of scientific proof that is requires, for a drug to be proven to be “safe and effective”, before it is allowed to be sold as such. Science isn't perfect, of course, and mistakes do occasionally happen, but on the whole, it is far ahead of the traditional “natural” approach, which is often based on little or no science at all, and often on theories that have been solidly disproven by science.

Homeopathy is a good example. As “alternative medicine” goes, it's relatively harmless, which is why it was so successful at the time it was devised. Much of the traditional medicine of the time turned out to do more harm than good, so a course of treatment that had no effect at all was better than that.

Today, we have proven medicines that can successfully treat conditions such as your grandmother's depression, and your grandfather's heart condition. Though homeopathy is not directly harmful, I think the harm is obvious when patients are convinced to follow a course of treatment that will have no effect at all, instead of pursuing a course than will actually help them.



The OP is in the process, according to his own statements, of forming a company to profit commercially from the promotion of “medicine” that, at best, borders on quackery, while denigrating genuine, science-based medicine.

[Bob_Blaylock]

Originally Posted by ZenMormon

I want to talk about qi, according to the Chinese this is the force that gives us life. Our qi can be effected by everything, from the music you listen to, the movies you watch, your friends.

If you can actually prove that there is any such thing as this “qi” of which you speak, then I know of someone who will give you a million dollars. You can't of course, because it's pure, unadulterated nonsense.

[pam]

Can I have my million bucks now?

[Maya]

The "old people" knew a lot about herbs in my country. Luckily they ahve written down some of the knowledge so we dont loose all that knowlwdge. I also use herbs in food like nesle in stead of spinich... you just have to cook them first nd trow the water. I wish I would know a lot more about eatable herbs in the forest.

[Bob_Blaylock]

“There is none so blind as he who will not see.”

Originally Posted by ZenMormon

I have yet to see where man-made drugs are a benefit.

You might as well claim that you've never seen any benefit to using an internal-combustion-engine-powered automobile for transportation, instead of a plain old-fashioned horse. The proof is all around you, but you refuse to see it.

Originally Posted by ZenMormon

Has far as for your grandfathers heart medicine, my mother ran out of hers and I was concerned about it, so I had her start taking cayanne pepper with lunch and dinner, and she has been great. Cayanne Pepper will actually strength your heart to help prevent any heart problems, and if by some chance she does her heart will be strong enough to recover quickly.

This is where your brand of quackery will kill people—substituting a fake treatment for a genuine treatment, for a genuine, life-threatening condition.

[ZenMormon]

Originally Posted by Bob_Blaylock

If you can actually prove that there is any such thing as this “qi” of which you speak, then I know of someone who will give you a million dollars. You can't of course, because it's pure, unadulterated nonsense.

Qi, is been proven to exist. There have been countless studies done on Qi. Chinese have known about qi longer than China has been a country.

Herbal Medicine is older then Man made stuff, it also has been given scientific studies done.


Has Christ said, "If any man will do his will..." This is just has true with medicine and qi has it does about the gospel.

Let your friend who has a million dollars come on here and speak with me.

[ZenMormon]

[/QUOTE]This is where your brand of quackery will kill people—substituting a fake treatment for a genuine treatment, for a genuine, life-threatening condition.[/QUOTE]

If this is true, why is my mom healthier then she has been then when she was on her heart medicine?

Man made Medicine is not safe, 100,000's of people die each year from pharmaseticals. People don't die when using herbs in their proper usage. Doctor's medicines have built in Side-effects, Herbs only have allergic reactions. (big difference between the two.)

[brmecham]

Originally Posted by ZenMormon

Man made Medicine is not safe, 100,000's of people die each year from pharmaceuticals. People don't die when using herbs in their proper usage. Doctor's medicines have built in Side-effects, Herbs only have allergic reactions. (big difference between the two.)

I agree. Pharmaceutical medicine would be the rare exception for me.

I've personally experienced the benefits of herbs. I also know others who have used herbs and healthy living to cure cancer, liver / kidney / gall bladder problems, asthma, allergies, depression and more.

Some prefer man-made medicine...

I prefer the "excellent qualities of the many plants and roots which God had prepared to remove the cause of diseases" (Alma 46:40)

[ZenMormon]

[QUOTE]You might as well claim that you've never seen any benefit to using an internal-combustion-engine-powered automobile for transportation, instead of a plain old-fashioned horse. The proof is all around you, but you refuse to see it.[QUOTE]

Comparing Herbal medicine and Man Made, to a ICEP automobile is illogical.