In true Bill Maher style, I found this piece to be brilliant -- and not because it echoes my own views (recently published HERE) but because it's sensible, practical and well-written. Above all, it intimates that the immune system is a powerful thing and that bolstering its power through nutrition and supplements and common sense from birth onward might be a better prevention tool than vaccines and antibiotics.
Read it HERE.
Indeed! Excellent.
ReplyDeleteI agree. A wonderful article. And on the same page, this one:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/amie-newman/to-induce-or-not-to-induc_b_307799.html
which is about a medical intervention close to my heart- labor induction.
Why do we keep trying to introduce new technology and medications and procedures (whether in labor or other areas) where there really is no need?
Love Bill Maher. Interesting read.
ReplyDeleteI guess where this and other topics are concerned, I'm "pro-choice," meaning that it's nice that the option exists for the people who want/need it. And to clarify, it seems to me that "need" can be a relative term.
Oh, also. I think that if the medical system is going to be changed, it needs to change in medical school.
ReplyDeleteDocs aren't trained on diet and alternative medicine. (When I asked one of the house psych docs about vitamin supplements for E-Niner he goes, "if you think he's vitamin deficient, give him a Flintsones!" Totally didn't get it, and at that point, he's too far gone in his own world to be open minded.) They're taught to trust science, which in some cases, can be to a fault.
At the same time, there needs to be some more "mainstream" diagnostics on the efficacy of treatments that don't fall under traditional western medicine. For all that's wrong with traditional western medicine, there's a lot that's right, too.
endswith8741 - I don't think it's possible to change mainstream medical education, actually. I think the iron grip of economics, money, whatever you want to call it portend a pretty dismal likelihood that this would ever happen. I think it's entirely up to consumers, actually -- and that means taking responsibility for one's own health but also for being informed about everything. I maintain a pretty unswerving belief that western medicine is probably best for acute stuff (broken legs, bacterial infection, etc.) but that the paradigm must change for chronic illness and preventive medicine.
ReplyDeleteWell that was thourough!
ReplyDeleteI should have known you loved him too.
ReplyDeletexoxox
Thank you for the article, Elizabeth! He brings up some excellent points that are usually swept under the carpet. And I agree wholeheartedly that the ideal would be the fusion of naturopathy and western medicine.
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