Talk about health

It's all very well to talk about complementarty and alternative medicine or CAM, but when it comes to the point do you really use it or do you run off to your conventional doctor?

I've thought about this problem quite a bit recently, partly because with my advancing years some of my friends have taken ill. For all their support in what I am doing to get the CAM word out there, not one has told me they went to their alternative practitioner.

Now, I understand that in an emergency, conventional medicine just can't be beaten. They rush you to the hospital and stop the bleeding, get your heart going again, set broken bones and generally get you back together using the latest techniques. And I applaud them for that. They are the very best at that side of medicine. And, if you are unfortunate enough to have a heart attack or stroke, the emergency treatment will be second to none.

Because I have been brought up on the perceived benefits of conventional medicine and indeed because I worked almost exclusively in that field for more than 35 years, I have to admit my first reaction to illness is just the same as my friends.

I don't know if is the shock of being ill that propels me towards the GP or the idea that there is a pill to cure whatever ails me. Whatever it is I'm sure most people of my generation feel much the same. There's something very comforting about the conventional system, the reassuring chat and the prescription at the end of it all.

However, more and more I am hearing about the shortcomings of conventional medicine and the lack of basic help and advice that comes from it. It has become an unsympathetic money guzzling machine. Doctors are too busy pushing paper and ticking boxes to really care about the patient. Money and the desire to get as much as possible out of the system while allowing politics to muddy the waters is making more people worry about whether the system will kill them rather than cure.

One of my favourite ideas is that by all means use your doctor to get diagnosis and a start to treatment. Then , once you are over the initial shock and settled down again and feeling better, that is the time to think about whether keeping going with the conventional approach is best. The chances are it could be all you need.

But, there is a growing chance is that something else may be just as good but without the side effects, or even better. You really have to look around at the options - and there usually are a few to choose from.

Its remarkable the effect your diet might have on your condition. It's very basic, but the more I research disease, the more I realise how important diet is. Just by changing from processed and fast foods to organic, home grown, whole foods cooked in the old fashioned way, you could turn your health around. From stress to cancer to ADHD, diet plays an important part.

Equally important is exercise. Just 30 minutes a day can make significant inroads into weight loss and improving the condition of your heart and muscles, not to mention your brain.

You probably know that, but do you do it?

Then, there are many CAM therapies that might offer ways forward. The thing is that you don't have to stick to only one. I've been surprised just how much they have to offer in all kinds of ways to all sorts of disease states.

The important thing is their holistic approach. It's important to remember that your mind as well as your body is involved. CAM takes account of that and therapies treat your mind as a way of healing. And that is usually missing from conventional treatment. (Although I know that modern treatment of stroke now includes treatment for depression - not before time!)

The point is that by all means use conventioal medicine when you need it, but don't forget that it's not the only option. CAM has much to offer, along with proper dietary advice and exercise.

SO, don't close your mind to the variety of effective options out there. My aim in what's left of my life is to let you know as much as you need to, so that you can make an informed choice. You choose what you want and need in order to improve and maintain your health.

Have a look at my site at http://www.healthexplored.co.uk , join my newsletter (for free) and check out my booklets, reports and articles, or just drop me an e-mail to let me know what you think about all of this.

Wishing you the best of health.

If you've read any of my articles or visited my site at http://www.healthexplored.co.uk you will have gathered that I have a real interest in trying to explain about health, how to get it and how to keep it once you've got it. And, having spent a lifetime in conventional pharmacy, I've come to realise that many people are being conned by the hype and advertising put out by drug companies and the conventional health lobby.

The more I read about various conditions that are widespread today, the more I wonder how anyone can stem the tide. Most people that I know remain convinced that conventional drugs will cure each and every illness. If one doesn't exist so far, then it will surely come along soon.

In fact, in my experience, I've known several people with life-threatening diseases who were "hanging on" with the belief that a cure would appear at any minute.

Yet, in this age of accountant-control, the availability of drugs is being controlled on a cost-effect basis. This means that people are being told that certain drugs are not available unless they want to use their own money just because some more expensive new drug is being used in another disease treatment. If you are unlucky enough to have some illness you may not get a drug not because it won't work, but because a committee say's you can't get it.

And, this is just another factor in the increasingly complex health services of the UK, and maybe elsewhere as well. But, that's not to say that the NHS doesn't do a lot of good work, especially in emergency situations. It does!

What I'm getting at in a very round about way is that it is becoming increasingly more important to look after your health yourself. If you become ill you need to have a range of options to help you cope and get better. Clearly, one option is drug treatment, and that may well be useful.

Other choices in the complementary and alternative therapies abound, if you have some idea of what they can and cannot do. The bottom line is that you need to take charge of your health in a positive way. You simply can't rely on doing anything you want to your body and digestion and expect some drug to cure it when something goes wrong.

It's up to you to do your very best to avoid being ill, by eating properly, getting some regular exercise, and limiting the amount of stress you suffer at work and play. In other words do your damndest to not be ill in the first place.

If you are ill look further than your doctor for help. Other therapies may be just what you need. I have to admit that I have written a series of booklets on some of these - Aromatherapy, Herbs, Homeopathy, Flower Remedies, and I've also written a booklet on Vitamins and Food Groups to help with your diet.

Anyway, the theme today os to work on your own life and try to be a healthy as you can be so you won't need to rely on anyone else. I think the longer you stay our of the conventinal doctor's clutches the better you will be.

That's my rant for today.

For more information and a chance to invest in your future good health, visit http://www.healthexplored.co.uk

The question is about whether sufficient doses of vitamin D will help prevent colds and flu. There is logic in the argument for it, based on the fact that vitamin D levels in the body mirror the incidence of colds and flu. And if you take a moment to think about it, it's probably true.

In the autumn, vitamin D levels drop at the same time as colds and flu take hold. In winter vitamin D is at its lowest and flu reaches a peak. Then, comes springtime and vitamin D rises agin as flu decreases until summer comes and vitamin D peaks while colds and flu reach their lowest rate.

I read this discussion on a vitamin D site so there is a certain single mindedness about it, despite its truth. What they are saying relates to your immune system as well as vitamin D. So, you could argue that the answer is more about making sure the immune system is in the best of order.

Since the research has been done with reference to vitamin D, the conclusion is to try to maintain your vitamin D levels at a summer high all the year round. In summer, exposing your skin to sunshine stimulate your skin to produce vitamin D. And this, along with some dietary sources such as fish, eggs, milk and green vegetables gives a maximum vitamin D count.

As the seasons change, and as you get further away from the equator, the amount of sunshine deteriorates and the skin production falls significantly, even if you are regularly out of doors.

The dietary sources take over and supplements may be needed to keep levels up. Fish oil and cod liver oil are the most popular, while multiviatmin and mineral supplements help, too.

But, there are two other factors you need to think about. One is having a flu jab to boost your resistance to flu. You may see this a a simple, one-off answer. A painless injection in the autumn will tive you the necessary strength to fight off flu. Or will it?

A recent article in the Lancet reviewed the evidence and came to the conclusion that the flu jabs at best show a modest improvement in flu prevention. After all these years of extolling the percieved benefits of immunisation against the flu and the benefits are only modest!

You have to askif the programme of flu injections is worh the time and money if the outcome is as limited as the review suggests.

And then, every year at autumn time, we hear of the problems associated with the current year's flu vaccine production. It need to be reformulated each year to take account of the current strains of virus that are causing flu - they mutate regularly making previous vaccines useless. Every year there are delays in producing or supplying them in sufficient quantity for the expected demand.

Just exactly who is profiting from this? The recurring supply delays makes the headlines and causes panic among those people who believe that no vaccine means an unprotected tussle with the flu virus. The publicity opens the flood gates and people in the "at risk" groups besiege the doctors. The doctors complain to pharmacists and health chiefs. No one is happy.

Well, not exactly no one. I reckon there are at least one or two happy organisations. The manufacturing companies have the monopoly of production. They create great demand by informing the media of this year's problems and wait to see their profit figures grow.

The result of this is to point out to that if you want to avoid the flu or winter colds, you had better start doing it yourself. Forget the flu jab and concentrate on building up your immune system while you can. Get more vitamin D from whatever source. Add a supplement to your diet; improve your diet to include the vitamin D sources; don't forget the other vitamins and minerals that help, especially vitamin C and zinc.

If you catch the flu, look to some of the herbal preparations to help fight it. Things such as echinacea have good records of success, as have larger doses of vitamin C and vitamin D.

Start right now and you can thumb your nose at the pharmaceutical industry st least so far as flu is concerned.

Get more information on vitamins and minerals as well as details of supplements and alternative therapies at http://www.healthexplored.co.uk