Controversial Alternative Heart Treatment Shows Hint of Benefit

But this is the first rigorous study of chelation therapy and more research is needed, experts say

November 5, 2012 

A controversial alternative treatment known as chelation therapy, in which a special infusion seeks to remove heavy metals from the body, did show modest benefits for heart patients, researchers report.

The trial -- the first large, long-term study of its kind on the issue -- was funded by the U.S. National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine and the U.S. National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. However, its findings are not likely to settle the decades-old debate on chelation therapy, which has never gained U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for use in heart patients.

The trial results were presented Sunday at the American Heart Association (AHA) annual meeting in Los Angeles. Speaking at an AHA press briefing, commentator Dr. Paul Armstrong said chelation therapy has had staunch supporters and equally adamant detractors.

"On one hand, it's been suggested that chelation therapy is valuable, effective and safe, while the other pole of opinion suggests that it's likely unsafe, certainly ineffective and should be abandoned," said Armstrong, chair of the department of medicine at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada.

The treatment is arduous, expensive (about $5,000 on average, according to experts) and involves dozens of infusions of a complex mixture aimed at leaching metals from the body. The new study involved more than 1,700 heart attack patients from 134 sites across North America, most of whom had already undergone major interventions such as bypass surgery or angioplasty.

The patients received 40 infusions of chelation solution, at 500 milliliters per infusion. Some of the patients were randomly assigned to receive the chelating solution, which contained disodium EDTA (an amino acid), vitamin C, B-vitamins, electrolytes, a local anesthetic and the blood thinner heparin. The other patients were randomly assigned to receive either vitamin and mineral supplements or an inactive placebo pill.

Patient outcomes were tracked for more than four-and-a-half years.

According to lead researcher Dr. Gervasio Lamas, chief of the division of cardiology at Columbia University, there was a slight benefit noted among those receiving the therapy. Twenty-six percent of the people taking the treatment suffered a serious cardiovascular event (such as death, heart attack or stroke) versus 30 percent of those who took the placebo. The highest benefit occurred among diabetic patients, but this subset of patients was relatively small, "so we must look at this in a very cautious way," Lamas said.

A second study presented at the meeting looked at patients' quality of life after chelation therapy, but unlike the Lamas study, it found no benefit. Researchers led by Dr. Daniel Mark, professor of medicine at Duke University Medical Center, randomized more than 900 heart attack survivors to either chelation therapy or a placebo.

The study found no difference in patients' ability to perform the tasks of daily living or their overall emotional well-being. "Patients weren't any worse, but they weren't any better," Mark said in an AHA news release.

So, where does all this leave patients and their doctors?

For his part, Lamas said that the findings, while "unexpected," are not the green light for this controversial treatment. "Additional research will be needed to confirm or refute our results and explore possible mechanisms of therapy," he said at the news briefing. According to Lamas, the study "does not at this time constitute sufficient evidence to recommend the clinical application of chelation therapy."

He also warned that chelation therapy does carry dangers, especially if patients receive the infusions too quickly. "Very rapid infusions can cause hypercalcemia [calcium overload], and if they are administered to patients that have kidney failure it can increase the risk of kidney failure," Lamas noted. "So, there is the potential for danger which has been reported and deaths have been reported with chelation therapy over time."

Armstrong agreed that the trial would not change his advice to patients who might ask about chelation therapy.

"When I am asked that question, I say that there is significant potential hazard and I am unaware of any benefit, and I would advise against it," he said. "And my advice to that patient today would be the same as it was before."

Coment

This piece of news published in the section Health of the US.NEWS’web page on  Monday  5^th November 2012, is about “chelation therapy”, an alternative treatment that consist of the elimination of “heavy metals from the body”. With this are achieved the improvements in the heart’s activities.

Chelation therapy has a long history of use in clinical toxicology. For the most common forms of heavy metal intoxication -those involving lead, arsenic or mercury- the standard of care a number of chelating agents are available.

The chelating agent may be administered intravenously, intramuscularly, or orally, depending on the agent and the type of poisoning.

In this article we can see how, before and actually, there was and is a discuss that continues opened, about its effectiveness and application in heart patients. Many experts say that “chelation therapy is valuable, effective and safe” and other say that “it's likely unsafe, certainly ineffective and should be abandoned”. Despite that there were testing and monitoring during a long while to try to corroborate some of the opinions.

After all “there was a slight benefit noted among those receiving the therapy. Twenty-six percent of the people taking the treatment suffered a serious cardiovascular event (such as death, heart attack or stroke) versus 30 percent of those who took the placebo. The highest benefit occurred among diabetic patients, but this subset of patients was relatively small”.

So, with all this, we know that not all are achievements and benefits in that area of medicine. To get a new and useful treatment are needed many more years of researching and challenges.

So from my point of view, surely in a recent future we could take pleasure in different therapies that now don’t work, everything thanks to many people’s work that try to get a quality of life, on an issue as important as health.

 So we must think in disadvantages before test a treatment like that, because we are exposed to several side effects… For many people this doesn’t mind due to they want to cure oneself and they go on an adventure. But for other people, whose disease is very complicated, the most important think and what they prefer is try to help to answer many question about the disease, maybe to can solve, not their problems but the same problem in other that may have the possibility of bounce back. Thanks to this kind of people, then are achieved many developments in lot of people or even in themselves.

Ancient foot massage relieves cancer symptoms

ANI Nov 14, 2012, 05.00PM IST

Reflexology - a type of specialized foot massage practiced since the age of pharaohs - can help cancer patients manage their symptoms and perform daily tasks, a new study led by a Michigan State University researcher has suggested.The study is the first large-scale, randomized study of reflexology as a complement to standard cancer treatment, according to lead author Gwen Wyatt, a professor in the College of Nursing.

"It's always been assumed that it's a nice comfort measure, but to this point we really have not, in a rigorous way, documented the benefits. This is the first step toward moving a complementary therapy from fringe care to mainstream care," Wyatt said.

Reflexology, which is widely practiced in many parts of the world, is based on the idea that stimulating specific points on the feet can improve the functioning of corresponding organs, glands and other parts of the body.

"Reflexology comes out of the Chinese tradition and out of Egypt. In fact, it's shown in hieroglyphics. It's been around for a very long time," Wyatt said.

The study involved 385 women undergoing chemotherapy or hormonal therapy for advanced-stage breast cancer that had spread beyond the breast. The women were assigned randomly to three groups: Some received treatment by a certified reflexologist, others got a foot massage meant to act like a placebo, and the rest had only standard medical treatment and no foot manipulation.

Wyatt and colleagues surveyed participants about their symptoms at intake and then checked in with them after five weeks and 11 weeks.

They found that those in the reflexology group experienced significantly less shortness of breath, a common symptom in breast cancer patients. Perhaps as a result of their improved breathing, they also were better able to perform daily tasks such as climbing a flight of stairs, getting dressed or going grocery shopping.

Wyatt said she was surprised to find that reflexology's effects appeared to be primarily physical, not psychological.

"We didn't get the change we might have expected with the emotional symptoms like anxiety and depression. The most significant changes were documented with the physical symptoms," she said.

Also unexpected was the reduced fatigue reported by those who received the "placebo" foot massage, particularly since the reflexology group did not show similarly significant improvement.

Wyatt is now researching whether massage similar to reflexology performed by cancer patients' friends and family, as opposed to certified reflexologists, might be a simple and inexpensive treatment option.

The study was published in the latest issue of Oncology Nursing Forum.

Coment

This article was published in The Times of India newspaper on 14^th November 2012. It’s about a “type of specialized foot massage” that exists since a long time, but now it serves as “a complement to standard cancer treatment” very useful to people in the day to day.

Reflexology is an alternative medicine involving the physical act of applying pressure to the feet, hands, or ears with specific thumb, finger, and hand techniques without the use of oil or lotion. It is based on what reflexologists claim to be a system of zones and reflex areas that they say reflect an image of the body on the feet and hands, with the premise that such work effects a physical change to the body.

In this article tell us only about feet massages and his property to get find the feet’s key points where the rubdown causes a placebo effect. Also, recent studies show that this type of therapy effects appeared to be primarily physical, not psychological. So with this massage treatment lot of people that suffer different kinds of cancer , can make their lives easier.

This piece of news discusses about studies tested in patients; “385 women undergoing chemotherapy or hormonal therapy for advanced-stage breast cancer that had spread beyond the breast” and all the challenges and advances that have been achieved like the reduced fatigue and especially physical improvements.

One claimed explanation is that the pressure received in the feet may send signals that 'balance' the nervous system or release chemicals such as endorphins that reduce stress and pain.

In my opinion, each day I’m more surprised about medical advances, even with alternative procedures with thousands of years old. It’s amazing how a feet massage can help in diseases as cancer. It’s also incredible the complexity of our organism that makes all this possible, opening the possibility to use different therapies to relieve various pains in various parts of the body.

Earlsheaton dad’s shiatsu therapy ‘saved’ son’s life

LIFESAVER?: Shane Spencer may have saved the life of his son, Riley, using his shiatsu skills. The pair are pictured with Caroline Hadfield. 

Published on Wednesday 5 September 2012 07:00

FULL-time dad Shane Spencer learned the hard way that being a shiatsu therapist was what he was meant to do.

After a spell learning the Japanese healing technique, Shane put his skill on the back burner.

It wasn’t until years later, when he started treating his new son’s heart condition, that he realised he truly had a gift.

The Earlsheaton father-of-one started studying shiatsu 12 years ago as part of his university studies, but had to leave his course suddenly.

Then, in 2008 when son Riley was born with a heart murmur, Shane started practicing shiatsu techniques on the new-born’s arm.

He said: “Six weeks went by and when Riley woke for feeding five or six times a night I got up with him and as I fed him, I gently worked the heart meridian – which runs down the inside of the arm to the little finger – with my thumb in the attempt to maybe help him.”

But Shane, who lives in Frances Road, was dealt a blow at Riley’s six week scan when doctors said the baby would need an operation as soon as possible as blood was not flowing into his heart properly.

After the operation, Riley was put on life support.

Shane, 29, worried that his shiatsu had made his son’s condition worse.

“Our world got turned upside down,” he said. “The next 11 days went by in some kind of weird dream with lots of tears and no sleep.”

But soon news came that actually, without Shane’s shiatsu, Riley may have suffered a heart attack before his operation.

He said the heart has thousands of tiny veins which go down the arm, taking pressure off it.

“Maybe, just maybe, I helped to direct Riley’s heart by working the heart meridian in the arm,” he said.

Shane has decided to open his own shiatsu therapy practice in Dewsbury, and first told us about his venture via Twitter.

Coment

This piece of news, published in the newspaper Dewsbury Reporter on Wednesday 5th September 2012 , is about the story of a family in which the baby was born “with a heart murmur” and his father has help this disease unknowingly. Without his shiatsu’s treatments, maybe his son wouldn’t be alive.

This father, who has studied shiatsu during 12 years, always tried to his baby was well, and when the doctors noticed him that the baby should be operated, he feels really bad, because he thought that it was be his fault.

Shiatsu Japanese for "finger pressure"; it is a type of alternative medicine consisting of finger and palm pressure, stretches, and other massage techniques. There is no scientific evidence for any medical efficacy of shiatsu, but some shiatsu practitioners promote it as a way to help people relax and cope with issues such as stress, muscle pain, nausea, anxiety, and depression. And it this case it looks that it worked.

Recent studies have shown that there are many types of heart disease, all of which have some effect on the heart. Different diseases will cause different effects but at the same time, one effect can be due to more than one disease. But we can’t know yet, how this type of alternative therapy has help by this way to this disease so difficult to remedy.

Who knows… if the that father hadn’t done this  the baby, maybe, wouldn’t be alive now.

In my opinion I think that it is a sentimental story, surely a little bit retouched… I only know that it’s very difficult to heal this kind of diseases, especially if they are related with the heart and the blood and they happen in children. For me it is very difficult to believe it, but it really it is true I admire this man because he can say that HE HAS SAVED HIS SON, and I see well that he had set up a clinic to help more people. If I were him I would be proud of myself.

Can aromatherapy help cure pain?

11.20.2012 

You might find aromatherapy at the spa or to make your home smell good, but could it help cure kids' pain?

Aromatherapy is just one type of alternative medicine now being used at some major medical centers. Doctors say these types of treatments can help calm nervous kids down and that helps them to start healing.

14-year-old Hanna Miller says she’s had mysterious pain on her side that's plagued her for more than a year. "It's throbby and achey and sometimes it's stabby," says Hanna.

Yet no one could figure out what was causing the pain.

"We've been through test after test. We've been through lab work repeatedly. We've been through cat scans, x-rays," says Hanna’s mother Heather Miller.

When she finally visited the Complex Pain Medicine Clinic, doctors diagnosed her as having "chronic pain" and suggested an unusual course of treatment.

It didn't involve drugs, just smelling scented oils, Reiki and Tibetan singing bowls.


Dr. Sarah Elizabeth Rebstock is the clinic's medical director. She says alternative medicine is becoming main stream as more and more studies back up their use. While they don't always know exactly why these treatments work, Rebstock says they seem to help kids relax and that can spark healing

"It was better than any other medicine that I could have given her at that time," says Dr. Rebstock. "If they think this is part of play and relaxing and they're hearing things that are pleasant for them, they're also going to feel like they can get better, more relaxed. This doctor isn't threatening to me. This doctor is going to help me."

Registered Nurse Marian Mcevilly is the hospital's expert on these techniques. She's the one doctors call on when they've run out of treatment options.

"We just have to figure out which works best for which patient and use that on them to help them heal themselves," says Mcevilly.

Her regimen includes aromatherapy, which is having patients smell different oils depending on their problems, Tibetan singing bowls, an ancient instrument that is supposed to shift energy and the emotional freedom technique or EFT. The technique has patients tap their fingers on acupressure points around their body while talking out loud about whatever is bothering them.

"People think I'm crazy, especially the doctors. They say, oh, you're doing that tapping thing. But when they see it work, they're the first ones to call me to ask me to do the tappy thing with some kid," says Mcevilly.

Mcevilly says she's not sure how it helps, but patients like Hanna Miller say her pain is now diminished.

"It just makes me calm down," says Hanna.

Hanna says the pain is still there, but it's now tolerable. Both she and her mother believe she's finally on the right path to healing.

"I hope it all goes away and I hope she lives a normal life," says Heather Miller.

Hanna’s treatment isn't completely drug free, she still takes one medication and undergoes physical therapy.

Right now, Children's National Medical Center is using alternative medicine in their pain clinic, as well as for some kids who are dealing with a lot of fear and anxiety about being in the hospital.

They are testing aromatherapy for nausea, especially for people who get sick when coming out of anesthesia.

Coment

This piece of news published in the CNYCENTRAL’s web page on 20th November 2012 “talks” about the use of aromatherapy and its effects, mainly in kids.

How we have said in other comments, they are many diseases that we don’t know why they happen, we only know that they disturb us because they causes pain, and although we have drug, it effectiveness doesn’t work enough. So the last option and solution for many people is go to a alternative clinic that process the problem personally and independently from other, focusing only in the patient and his causes and symptoms, without try to generalize the disease, looking for a quickly settlement.

There is something that step by step we are awarded about it, and it is that each one is a particular case of any issue, and that rarely the comparisons are used in medicine (except common diseases, anyway don’t affect the equal way to each person).

Aromatherapy is a new treatment based on the smell of plants and flowers that cause influence on us. In many cases they are used to solve or improve the health of people who doesn’t know the causes or root of its problems.

This happens to the girl that appears in the text, 14-year-old Hanna Miller, that suffers  a “mysterious pain on her side” that provokes on her “throbs” “and achey and sometimes” “stabs”. After been having drugs during a while her mother had decided to try this method to see how it can amend or beat her daughter’s disease.

Now they are very happy, because aromatherapy has gotten something that the traditional medicine and its procedures; as cat scans or x-rays; had’t gotten, to calm the Hanna’s chronic pain.

From my point of view, I believe that it can help to people who are worried about them due to the panic of anyone knows why the disease happens and that take whatever they take they don’t improve.

It might it would be a swindle, but if it can resolve the major problem of a person, who cares?.

FSU embraces alternative medicine

It’s why we gargle with salt water to alleviate the pain of a sore throat instead of going straight to the doctor’s office, or why we try the heating pad on a sore back before rushing in to our local physical therapist.

It’s natural and it’s alternative medicine. 
Over the last several decades contemporary Western society has started emphasizing concepts of Eastern spiritual and physical practices, often as a mechanism of dealing with the daily hustle and bustle of modern life.
Now, practices such as acupuncture, meditation, aromatherapy, medicinal herbs and even yoga face a certain “otherness” when viewed in adjacent with traditional Western medicine.

Ignoring the fundamental differences in practice, the goal of medicine, East or West, is always the same—to heal. 
As a means to this end, the use of alternative medicine is thriving. 
Expanding so far into popular culture as to even grace the cover of Time Magazine’s Oct. 23 edition.

COMENT:

This news was posted on October 5, 2012, in The New York Times, and it was written by William Bred.

This is an opinion column, where a journalism gives his points of view on alternative medicine which is a kind of technique that people naturally use, like when we try the heating pad on a sore back before rushing in to a physical therapist . So he states that this is a kind of fashion, which has been around for as long. But this has become important when there have been scientific studies that have proven effective about it.

Alternative medicine began in China and it has since been studied by many doctors, but all have reach to a common goal: to achieve healing of the patient in the best way possible. In Time magazine, is an article that refers to this story, in which Brent Bauer discussed the limiting power of the practice’s very name and the effects such a label may have on our connotative interpretation of it referring to the occasional ache and pain, in both mind and body, fix themselves without the intervention of a nurse or physician. Even if the pain is continuous must act and not ignore.

So from my point of view is that it's just as important to have a healthy mind as it is to have a healthy body. Anything, Such as yoga, meditation or aromatherapy, that helps relax the mind, I think is really great.

Knowledge is best complement to alternative medicine

More people are going beyond the borders of scientific medicine, searching for a cure to their ailments or simply seeking to improve and rejuvenate their health.

One of my patients, suffering from chronic pain from arthritis despite conventional medicines, told me she is much better after acupuncture.

Some of the commonly asked questions by patients are: Can I take herbal medicines? They are natural, right? Does garlic actually reduce cholesterol? I just don't like these drugs; can I try Chinese remedies? Are they harmless?

A lot of people resort to alternative therapies. It has now grown into a $35 billion industry. These nostrums include naturopathy, homeopathy, acupuncture, Ayurvedic medicine, herbal therapy, yoga and meditation, tai chi, mega doses of vitamins and dietary supplements and many more.

All these are grouped under the term complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), defined as medical approaches traditionally not addressed in allopathic or western medicine.

The National Institute of Health established the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine in 1998 to research alternative medicine and disseminate authoritative information to the public and professionals alike.

Be well-informed about alternate therapies, especially herbal supplements, and make wise health decisions. And always let your treating physicians know if you are using alternatives. For information, see nccam.nih.gov on the web.

COMENT:

This news was posted on August 23, 2012, in a London newspaper.

  This is a collaborative column in which a doctor explains that alternative medicine can be good or bad. 

He explained through examples that there are people that can be helped with alternative medicine which allow them to recover quickly. But there are other people who are affected, causing a worsening of their disease. I have searched for information and found cases like: An older gentleman who had coronary bypass surgery twice and still experienced frequent angina decided to go for chelation therapy. He returned after a few weeks in a much worse situation. One woman on blood thinners had excessive bleeding that turned out to be from concomitant usage of a Chinese herb for improved memory.

Therefore, alternative medicine isn’t always good and this studied scientifically proven to be detrimental contrary. We must ask for studies on this type of medicine as it can have great benefits, but these should be studied to check for side effects that can worsen our disease. Such unscientific remedies are big business worth millions of dollars a year. In another article, Dr. Resden says that it is not that people are disenchanted with conventional medicine, but they feel some of these therapies would be complementary to their current regime and might enhance their health and well being

In my opinion, these techniques can be supplemented with chemical medicine but they must be tested, because their secondary effects can be terrible

Para combatir el cáncer, Eric del Castillo pone su fe en la medicina alternativa

Pese a que hace un mes al padre de Kate del Castillo le detectaron cáncer de próstata, este malestar sigue sin irrumpir la tranquilidad del actor quien como todo un hombre ha sabido enfrentar con el mejor ánimo su padecer.

Incluso, Eric del Castillo, cada día le demuestra al mundo que sus ganas de vivir son tantas que hará hasta lo imposible para conservar lo más preciado, la vida.

Fue su esposa, Kate Trigo quien reveló para Basta!, que el veterano de 82 años de edad no está llevando quimioterapia, sino un tratamiento que está relacionado con la medicina alternativa, pues confía en que librará la enfermedad de manera positiva.

"Sí, está llevando un tratamiento, como no, desde hace 3 meses más o menos. Está tomando de todo lo que le dicen, muchas cosas naturales, también lo que el doctor le dijo, la prescripción la está llevado al pie de la letra, son pastillas que toma durante 3 meses", refirió Trigo.

Finalmente, aseguró que su esposo se encuentra de buen ánimo tanto que no ha querido interrumpir su trabajo en una película que está grabando en Cancún.

COMENTARIO:

Esta noticia fue publicada en el periódico digital how.com el viernes 26 de octubre de 2012, poco después que la mujer de Eric del Castillo hiciese pública  la noticia de que su marido no estaba recibiendo quimio en la revista ¡Basta!

Tras diversos estudios, pruebas y comprobaciones se ha determinado la eficacia de los remedios naturales. Un claro ejemplo puede ser apreciado en esta noticia, donde se muestra que Eric del Castillo está ganando al cáncer mediante el uso de medicina alternativa, ya que no está siendo sometido a ningún tipo de quimioterapia. Estos tratamientos le están permitiendo no solo sobrellevar la enfermedad sino poder realizar una vida plena y normal, ya que no ha querido interrumpir su trabajo en una película que está grabando en Cancún.

Personalmente, me he estado informando sobreel posible tratamiento del cáncer mediante este tipo de remedios naturales y he podido averiguar que el caso de Eric del Castillo no es aislado, sino que muchos pacientes anteriormente han llevado acabo este tratamiento con excelentes resultados.

Podemos observar el caso de Steve Jobs (comentado por mi compañera Elena) el cual consiguió frenar la enfermedad durante mas tiempo gracias a la medicina natural.

Alternative Medicine Cabinet: Thyme for Toenails

The Remedy: Thyme

The Claim: It cures toenail fungus.

The Science: It’s not exactly a life-threatening condition, but toenail fungus, known in the medical community as onychomycosis, can be cosmetically unattractive and painful. It is also somewhat prevalent, striking about 15 percent of Americans. And it can be a burden to treat. Conventional treatments are expensive, have a low success rate and can carry significant side-effects. The prescription drug Lamisil, for example, can cause liver damage. But those who want a natural alternative can try remedies that contain thymol, the primary oil found in thyme, a well-known herb and antiseptic. Thymol is commonly found in medicated chest rubs, including Vicks VapoRub.

In one study, scientists tested the antifungal effects of the ingredients in a generic medicated chest rub. Of the seven ingredients, thymol was among the most effective at inhibiting the growth of dermatophytes that cause nail fungus. Other studies in animals have also shown thymol oil to be effective against dermatophytes. And studies have also shown that thymol oil destroys another cause of nail fungus, Candida, by disrupting its cell membranes and metabolism. While the evidence is strong that thymol can attack the organisms that cause toenail fungus, no human studies have been conducted to test whether thymol is a lasting and effective treatment.

But for people vexed by the ugly fungus who don’t want to risk the side effects of a prescription drug, it’s worth a try. Adding the essential oil of thyme to regular foot baths is one option. Joe and Terry Graedon, authors of the popular People’s Pharmacy books on alternative remedies, suggested coating the affected toenail once or twice a day in Vicks VapoRub.

The Risks: Allergic reactions to thyme, when applied to the skin, are rare but can include itching and rash. Vicks VapoRub can also cause temporary reddening of the skin in some people.

Ancestral Remedies to the Rescue

Ethnobotanists are fond of the joke that pills don’t grow on trees. The punch line, of course, is that they actually do. Countless pharmaceutical products originate from trees or other plant species, many of which are probably still waiting to be discovered. This week around 1,300 natural products researchers and practitioners gathered in New York to discuss the latest findings in their field, including the ways in which nature, culture and conservation overlap to provide health benefits to millions and how those links can best be preserved.

“The goal is not only to identify plants but to guard and honor this traditional wisdom in order to keep bio-cultural diversity intact,” said Michael Balick, the vice president for botanical science and director of the Institute of Economic Botany at the New York Botanical Garden. The hope, he said, is to help underserved peoples deal with globalization and the loss of their cultures.

In a presentation at the conference, Dr. Balick discussed his work helping the islands of Palau, Pohnpei and Kosrae identify and preserve their ethnobotanical heritage in the face of Western cultural intrusions.
Scholars coined the term ethnobotany about a century ago for the study of the many ways that indigenous peoples make use of plants. Today that field studies and analyzes traditional medical practices based on natural substances that were the basis for the development of novel pharmaceuticals.In many cases, it took hundreds of years of trial and error for cultures around the world to identify what local species could treat a stomach ache or defuse an infection.
 In some cases – in China’s ancient pharmacopeias, for example, or Europe’s 16th-century texts on medicinal herbs — that knowledge was preserved in writing for future generations. In other cases, however, the traditions were never codified, but rather passed down orally.In many communities today, that traditional knowledge threatens to be snuffed out in a generation or two. In many cases, “young people would rather watch television, get on the Internet or migrate to more Western locations,” Dr. Balick said. “So a lot of the elders are concerned about loss of information.”
In Micronesia, for example, no one he interviewed over a 10-year period could recall how to make clothing from fibers from local breadfruit trees, a tradition that used to be common amongst the islanders.
Local knowledge can also help save lives. When a cholera epidemic hit Pohnpei, the local medical dispensary quickly ran out of pharmaceuticals to treat patients’ severe diarrhea. The pharmacist’s great-grandmother then offered a remedy that involved what seemed like common weeds growing around the clinic. Her homegrown treatment helped alleviate some of the epidemics’ symptoms and also inspired the idea of creating local health-care manuals.
Dr. Balick helped enlist around 60 experts — including traditional healers, physicians, botanists, toxicologists, linguists and social scientists, many of them native to the islands — to assemble the manuals. His team began by interviewing elders about which resources, both above ground and in the reefs and waters surrounding the islands, they relied on for medicinal benefits. “People were invited to share information that they would like not to be gone when they pass,” he said.
They compiled island-specific manuals for Palau and Pohnpei that addressed primary health care for ills like bites, stings, colds, flus and infectious diseases. In some cases, including “mangrove sickness,” which is characterized by achy muscles, stomach ache, dizziness and fatigue, people identified nine separate plants as useful treatments. Those who shared their knowledge are fully credited in the books.
Dr. Balick said he hoped the manuals would help the islanders become self-sustaining and self-reliant, as they were in the past, in treating ailments that deplete life and financial resources in the communities. In conducting surveys, he found that the more traditional knowledge people have, the more they report being healthy and happy as they age. The manuals are not meant to replace allopathic medicine but rather complement and support it.
He points out that nearly three billion people on the planet have limited access to Western medicine and thus depend on some level on traditional medicines derived from plants. “My goal is to try to help people help themselves in a way that is sustainable and respectful to the environment,” he said.
Sustainability initiatives often originate within the communities and nations themselves. The Micronesia Challenge, for example, was organized by Micronesian nations with the goal of conserving 30 percent of their marine resources and 20 percent of their terrestrial resources by 2020 so they can preserve local flora and fauna for future generations’ use.
Dr. Balick’s colleagues help support the initiative by identifying and inventorying endemic flora, fungi and biodiversity hot spots on the islands. From there, they work with locals on designing protected areas to preserve rare species.
“What we find is more successful is not that outsiders designate and exclude people, but that local communities are directly involved in conservation and sustainable management of their resources,” he said. “We’re in a race against time to hopefully identify where those rare species are so we can help local people and organizations get them into protected regions.”
An earlier version of this post misidentified Pohnpei and Kosrae as island “nations.” The two islands are actually two of the four states of the so-called Federated States of Micronesia.

Can Acupuncture Work for You?

Alternative Medicine Heals Wounds of War for Veterans

The wages of war can take a toll on military veterans - both physically and emotionally. 

Some local vets are turning to alternative medicine to ease the pain.

In this solemn peace, the sacrifice of service is slowing healing for veterans like Susan Walker.

"This helps. This does more in a one hour clinic per week than all the pills that they can stuff down you."

Marie Arnberg, a licensed acupuncturist, says, "It's energy medicine. Or that's how I like to put it. Every practitioner may have their own spin on it but it's energy medicine that doesn't distinguish between mind and body."

Acupuncture has long been used to help the body heal by tapping into a person's energy. 

Recently licensed acupuncturists Tom Jamieson, Marie Arnberg and Ashleigh Hart started offering the treatment in Bangor to veterans and their families, for free. 

Jamieson says, "When veterans go through either physical trauma or emotional trauma, they manipulate their chi in order to do what they need to do and it gets stuck. What we do is help the body relax and that chi to flow again."

That's made a difference for Gene Nardi, who struggles with a sore knee. 

But it's the mental relief that's surprised him. 

"For me, it's more of a relaxation type. I feel that I'm not quite as uptight."

Veteran Edward Leonard says, "I don't get so upset, in a way, because I'm more relaxed. Because when you dwell on the pain, it's hard to be relaxed."

When it comes to helping these veterans, that feeling of ease flows both ways.

Hart says, "I know they have given so much, so much of their life and after serving. My life is just a little better to know that I gave someone a few minutes of tranquility and a little better health."

The free acupuncture treatments are every Thursday evening at Grace United Methodist Church in Bangor.

They're also available to active duty military and their immediate family. 

Comment

This piece of news published in the Wabi Tv5’s web page on 12th  November 2012 is about how the acupuncture and other alternative therapies can improve the health and the psychological conditions of a person.

It’s true that military veterans have seen a lot of unpleasant situations and they support much more pressure and stress than other people, so they need something to try to abide certain terms. Its work is like that, they had decided how their lives would be, and now they can see the consequences. Maybe they are sorry or not, but something has changed… Before people couldn’t help these military veterans, but now thanks to the amount of challenges there are options to these people don’t feel so bad anymore.

Acupuncture is a new method of relax, whose effectiveness has already been proven by many people who corroborate it. It helps them to get the perfect situation of complicity between mind and body, suppressing the worries, bad thoughts and problems a person could have.

It plays with the people’s energy and the situations of relaxation that the sessions get it, manipulating all to get the goal, to avoid the decay or the lapse into the costs physically and emotionally again.

This type of treatments work better than any drug or spill, because it is directed to the brain, creating, also, a placebo effect, helping to the body is relaxed. It is, how the texts says, “the mental relief “what prevents the tension causing flow vitality and quiet.

                                                         As we can see in this video.

Personally, I think that that’s good not only because they are military and they have helped the country (because this is their job)  but rather if there is some product that it can solve a problem for someone, it is always welcome, regardless of the person’s job. But, also it is true that this kind of people can need more cares due to traumas, as firefighters or police officers and other security.

 I know and I can say first-person, as a military’s daughter that it is very very hard see as your father goes to countries in war to help people who are there. But I know too that it his responsibility, a huge responsibility, but work after all. So if that can help him or us in one of the worst moment of our lives I think that is very useful.

Maybe it is a little unfair, because I am aware that much more people suffered also, due to other causes, but it must be considerate as a investment in the army, which has been careless many times.