On this thread, which is about a psychic surgeon, the topic of antidepressant drugs and chemical imbalances came up. I thought I would start a new thread here, to avoid going off topic on the other thread.

Feel free to express your opinions here.

Since it was me who got into that I think I covered all I needed to say in the previous thread..

Just for clarity I wasn't condoning the psychic just making the point that our conventional route to wellness or treatment is not as great as it would have us believe.

Shrink:

Thanks for posting.

-Jim

After being put on (and I know I will not spell these correctly) 200 mg Lamictal, 200 mg Zoloft, and 1 mg Clonipin (for insomnia), I feel like a whole new person. I was on the brink of suicide, and now I love life. Of course, I will be on these pills for the rest of my life, but it is better than the alternative.

After my mom's surgery 3 years ago we all thought she had gone insane. The doctor at the rehab facility said this sometimes happens with older folks after a serious surgery. She got so bad, hallucinating, etc... that someone suggested putting her in a psychiatric hospital.

One week later she was normal. All they had to do was clear up a urinary tract infection and change some of her medicines.

Sometimes people who need care need an advocate - someone to work/fight for them. The dr. we had proved the old adage: "What do you call the person who graduated last in their class at medical school? You call him dr."

Or you can call him the defendant, if it is a civil suit, or the accused if it a criminal proceeding.

There are those that actually do good work in both Alternative (Eastern) medicine and Western medicine, there are those who are just plain dangerous, and should not be allowed near patients in both Alternative or Western medicine practices.

"Hmmm, let's see ... Madam, your disease requires swift and aggressive treatment ... after years of studying this condition, scientists have found a treatment that works in many cases and could save your life."

"You can't guarantee I'll be cured? And the treatment will be difficult?"

"Every case has its differences, no responsible physician would guarantee success, but after thousands of trials the outcome will probably be good. And there may be some side effects. But this is the latest discovery."

"Well, I wouldn't want any side effects ... I want ALTERNATIVE treatment ... doctors don't know everything ... there's a practitioner who promised me that I'd get better with his very expensive massive doses of vitamins, plus acupuncture, high-colonic coffee enemas, aromatherapy, and a trip to his very reputable and safe clinic in the back woods down in Mexico (you know, the medical establishment is against him so he has to work out of Mexico) I am guaranteed to get better. Oh, yes, plus he has to re-align my chakras and tweak my chi."

I refer you to http://www.quackwatch.org

On the other hand, "There are some people that if they don't know, you can't tell 'em." - Louis (Satchmo) Armstrong.

My own mother seems to think "more is better" ... I should always look for more therapy for the after-effects of my stroke, ask another doctor, read another article ... except of course when I tell her I've got back what function I'm gonna get back, those "doctors" are suddenly a bunch of idiots and I should go to her chiropractor because "he's a doctor, too, and besides Doctors don't know everything". This is the "doctor" who, if chiropractic doesn't work, also offers aromatherapy, "color therapy", he even used an old faith-healer trick to "demonstrate" that one of my brother's legs was 4 inches shorter than the other so no wonder he had backaches! (Real doctors pointed out that if that were true, he wouldn't be able to walk at all!)I showed her the trick and even "healed" him right before her eyes after a bit of prayer and such ("Look! Look at that! It's growing even as we watch! Hallelujah! God has done something wonderful again!") but that, of course, made no impression.

Well, I've written enough. Excuse me, I have to go chant now.

Chiropractic care has helped me tremendously. No one ever got a headache because they were running low on aspirin or Tylenol. I no longer get heartburn from drinking a glass of water and enjoy the jalapeno and spicy foods. Commercials pitching medication to take if you think you might get heartburn crack me up. Western medicine, for the most part, treats symptoms. When I have a problem I'm looking to the root cause for a cure.
Stress on the body comes up the winner most times. A persons immune system when stressed doesn't work properly. Stress comes in three forms; physical, chemical, and mental. When most people hear stress they picture the last, mental. We get chemical stress from the air we breathe, liquids we drink, and foods we eat. Physical stress can be from something as simple as being born. Forceps applied to the head and the pulling can miss align cervical vertebrae. Other times we get banged around from various activities like falling out of a tree house, off the roof cleaning gutters, car wrecks, pole vaulting missing the mat, you get the idea.
Chiropractic's main problem is they can't get on the same page. There are those way out on the limb that balance energy and use color therapy. There are those that insist that the only thing that matters is the first two vertebrae, the atlas and axis. If these are in line the rest follow suit. Others believe that when adjusting every vertebrae must be moved. Some detect using hands or machines which ones are not moving and move those only.
There are unscrupulous Chiropractors as there are M.D.s and Magicians. There is a guy who sells a system to Chiropractors to get the patient to pay for the entire treatment, whatever the Dr. says it will be, up front in full. He may truly care for the patients in his own practice, but the people he has following up teaching his system are no less than dogs. I witnessed one of these disciples bragging about how he used his "selling" tactics to make a woman break down and cry to get her to pony up.
I believe that the mind and body work together in ways that western medicine has no clue of. As far as chi balancing, color therapy, acupuncture, etc. just like it is in Magic, if it works for you use it.

You mean Ritalin and Paxil are not Panacea?

Jerrine....
I think you hit on the very core of most of our current problems.

It really comes down to the individuals morals. We can expand this into just about every occupation, or walk of life. There will always be a small percentage of individuals who are unscrupulous and will take advantage of their customers or clients.

There are also institutional prejudices. For example, are stomach ulcers due to bacteria or not?

I believe in the root theory of Chiropractic, that the body has an innate ability to heal itself if the nervous system is unhindered. Stomach ulcers may be spurred by Helicobactor pylori the body was unable to defend against due to poor immune system, or brought on by the use of such anti inflammatory medications such as aspirin. The jalapeno is also a very good natural anti inflammatory agent and wouldn't do an ulcer a lot of good. Then again smoking cigs is also not so good for the stomach. In my case the message to turn on the digestive juices was solid but the one to turn them off was not. Click-pop and the nerves were able to send the message and my stomach could function properly.
I think that both M.D.s and D.C.s, even the D.O.s have their place. It's the Shrinks we have to watch out for!

I think you lost me on that one... Why is that???

Only my weak attempt at humor.

I've never taken Ritalin, Paxal is a panacea.

Not a bother... Thought you might be correct... Are we truly sure that the inmates have not take over the Aslyum...

Unfortunately, this is the sort of thing that makes people forego Western medicine that's based on science and has a proven track record. It's only natural that, faced with health problems, some people are going to latch onto something mystical. Some of those people will experience a placebo effect. Unfortunately, the human mind puts a lot of weight on annecdotal evidence. These people tell others, some of whom will buy into it and expose themselves to risk.

Chiropractic adjustment is, at best, massage therarpy and, at worst, a needlessly dangerous adjustment of the spine that significantly increases the chance of stroke. As for accupuncture, there's a great article here: http://www.scientificamerican.com/articl......4B7F0000

There's a temptation to ask "So what? if peple believe it and it makes them happy, why does it matter?" The simple answer is that when we condone pseudoscience we undermine public confidence in real science. People lose the ability to meaningfully distinguish between the two. This does more than just cost suckers money. It costs science, because people waste time funding pseudo-scientific studies when they could invest in something that, one day, may actually provide someone (or all of humanity) with a measureable benefit.

In closing, http://www.quackwatch.org rules.

Your brain without doubt is the best cure for lots of your ills, you cut yourself badly, your body automatically takes over to repair itself,you don,t need to think about it, it just does it,there are a lot of alternative treatments out there,that a lot of people say they work,not for everyone ,but you try anything within reason that's been recommended and maybe it will work for you,maybe if you have severe headaches and someone said go chew some bark of a willow tree ,it works for a lot of people,it may work for you,for the benefit of those who do not know,thats where they get aspirin from, my opinion ,always keep an open mind.

Paul,After reading some of the info you put up in regards quackery,you certainly got me thinking, I would still keep an open mind but with a lot more reservations,now i,m more wary, thanks, mike

So is it okay to use quicksilver or not?