Talk about health
Treating illnes and keeping or regaining health is a constantly evolving picture. All of us are affected at one time or another. We all need the information so you and I can make the most out of the available options. This blog is a chance to discuss some of these choices.Tuesday, April 03, 2007
Why alternaive therapies?
I'm sometimes asked why I chose to follow complementary and alternative medicine. While I worked in pharmacy I had the same blinkered view that many health professionals have of their own situation. After all, whatever job or profession you happen to be in, I'm sure you have a bias towards it and will readily justify it to any outsider who questions it.
It's the same with medicine. While I was studying pharmacy at university, I shared a flat with a friend who was studying building. After a hard day at the learning interface we would meet up to relax and unwind. the conversation took the form of, "How many pills did you count today?" and "How many bricks did you count?" Hardly side splittingly humorous but it gave an outsider's view of a fellow professional.
In a way this is true today, perhaps even more so. From the outside, any skill or profession can be reduced to some basic truth. From golf to nuclear physics, it's all the same. But when someone questions your particular job, you react immediately by justifying your own position even if you harbour doubts.
So, while I was a pharmacist, I would leap to my own defence quoting the apparent logic of drug research and development, the costs involved, the reasons for supporting drug companies and the wonderful work done on our behalf by medics everywhere.
Age comes with a wider perspective, realism and even cynicism. It's as if the scales drop from your eyes. All of a sudden, you see the cracks, the faults of your situation and the weaknesses of your arguments. No longer is conventional medicine the be-all-and-end-all. No longer does conventional medicine have all the answers. Now you see where it does more harm than good. Now you can look at the vast numbers who gain nothing from drugs and those who suffer and die at their hands.
I don't make excuses for not seeing this before. I worked long and hard to try to make my business prosper. I tried my best to help my patients and customers, even if i didn't sell them anything and simply gave my advice. Many of them became friends.
But, what all those years of effort did do was to make me throw off my blinkers. Conventional medicine is not the only route. There is a plethora of alternative approaches out there. You only have to look.
I've spent quite a few years now learning about just some of these alternatives. And. I've been surprised at just how effective they can be. Just like conventional treatments, alternatives don't always work for everyone, and sometimes they have side effects and sometimes you need to be careful, and sometimes you should use an appropriate professional for help and advice.
So what? It's only what you would do if you were buying a new car or TV. Get some information, preferably independent; review the possibilties that suit your situation; think about the pros and cons; then make up your mind and go for it.
It's just the same with alternaitve therapies. You need information on what's available, the potential problems and benefits, the costs, where you can get it and so on. The important thing here is to accept that its your health, your family , your future. So. it is really the most important thing you can do and you need to be careful.
I'm sure you don't think about a visit to the doctor so carefully. Why not? You could be putting your health at risk.
The basis of this is that you should look at health treatments as a whole and not be blinkered by convention or any single alternative. Look at the bigger picture. Get some information to help you make up your mind, and go for your chosen path. You can only help yourself.
If you want or need any information on any alternative therapy or even an old pharmacist's view of conventional treatment or new drugs, why not visit my site at http://www.healthexplored.com or drop me an e-mail at info@healthexplored.co.uk . I've got a free newsletter and article bank and a series of booklets and special reports to help.
Wishing you the very best of health.
It's the same with medicine. While I was studying pharmacy at university, I shared a flat with a friend who was studying building. After a hard day at the learning interface we would meet up to relax and unwind. the conversation took the form of, "How many pills did you count today?" and "How many bricks did you count?" Hardly side splittingly humorous but it gave an outsider's view of a fellow professional.
In a way this is true today, perhaps even more so. From the outside, any skill or profession can be reduced to some basic truth. From golf to nuclear physics, it's all the same. But when someone questions your particular job, you react immediately by justifying your own position even if you harbour doubts.
So, while I was a pharmacist, I would leap to my own defence quoting the apparent logic of drug research and development, the costs involved, the reasons for supporting drug companies and the wonderful work done on our behalf by medics everywhere.
Age comes with a wider perspective, realism and even cynicism. It's as if the scales drop from your eyes. All of a sudden, you see the cracks, the faults of your situation and the weaknesses of your arguments. No longer is conventional medicine the be-all-and-end-all. No longer does conventional medicine have all the answers. Now you see where it does more harm than good. Now you can look at the vast numbers who gain nothing from drugs and those who suffer and die at their hands.
I don't make excuses for not seeing this before. I worked long and hard to try to make my business prosper. I tried my best to help my patients and customers, even if i didn't sell them anything and simply gave my advice. Many of them became friends.
But, what all those years of effort did do was to make me throw off my blinkers. Conventional medicine is not the only route. There is a plethora of alternative approaches out there. You only have to look.
I've spent quite a few years now learning about just some of these alternatives. And. I've been surprised at just how effective they can be. Just like conventional treatments, alternatives don't always work for everyone, and sometimes they have side effects and sometimes you need to be careful, and sometimes you should use an appropriate professional for help and advice.
So what? It's only what you would do if you were buying a new car or TV. Get some information, preferably independent; review the possibilties that suit your situation; think about the pros and cons; then make up your mind and go for it.
It's just the same with alternaitve therapies. You need information on what's available, the potential problems and benefits, the costs, where you can get it and so on. The important thing here is to accept that its your health, your family , your future. So. it is really the most important thing you can do and you need to be careful.
I'm sure you don't think about a visit to the doctor so carefully. Why not? You could be putting your health at risk.
The basis of this is that you should look at health treatments as a whole and not be blinkered by convention or any single alternative. Look at the bigger picture. Get some information to help you make up your mind, and go for your chosen path. You can only help yourself.
If you want or need any information on any alternative therapy or even an old pharmacist's view of conventional treatment or new drugs, why not visit my site at http://www.healthexplored.com or drop me an e-mail at info@healthexplored.co.uk . I've got a free newsletter and article bank and a series of booklets and special reports to help.
Wishing you the very best of health.
posted by James # 1:31 AM 
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