Parents seek alternative treatments

Dr. Natalia Panasjuk-Paliwoda treats 12-year-old Kathleen MacIsaac using acupuncture to help relieve the Woburn sixth-grader’s headaches at Long Life Acupuncture in Braintree.

There are some things a pill can’t fix.

Twelve-year-old Kathleen MacIsaac learned that the hard way when she started getting headaches so painful they landed her in the emergency room.

After scans and specialists ruled out a brain tumor or injury, and five different medications failed to make a difference, she began to experiment with alternative treatments. Now, the Woburn sixth-grader has become a big fan of acupuncture, which she says doesn’t hurt at all and is really relaxing.

There’s plenty of evidence to show that acupuncture is an effective treatment for headaches in children, but most doctors wouldn’t have suggested it, and her mother, Lisa, a nurse, admits it felt weird at first to try an approach she hadn’t learned about in school.

Her doctor’s urging, Lisa MacIsaac said, made her more open-minded to such an alternative treatment.

On the other hand, as many as 70 percent of families with chronically ill kids use alternative therapies, according to a new study — and many of them don’t talk about these treatments with their doctors.

Doctors specializing in integrative medicine — the melding of conventional and alternative treatments — say that it’s crucial for patients and doctors to work together to find the safest therapies that are most likely to help children. Doctors need to be more accepting of approaches parents are trying with their kids, they say, and families need to be more willing to discuss these approaches with doctors.

“I’m open to whatever they want to try, as long as I have the opportunity to explore whether it’s going to be helpful or harmful,” said Dr. W. James King, a consulting pediatrician at Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario and a leader of the new study, published this month in the journal Pediatrics. “If we can’t show it’s going to be helpful, we want to be sure it’s not going to be harmful.”

It’s not clear whether the use of complementary and alternative medicines — often referred to as CAM — is rising in children, because studies like King’s are just beginning to quantify its use. The definition of CAM varies widely, and can include a wide range of supplements and therapies, from vitamins and herbs, to yoga, acupuncture, massage, chiropractic or osteopathic manipulation, and a Japanese stress-reduction technique called Reiki.

King’s study looked at children in five clinics at two Canadian hospitals: cardiology, gastroenterology, oncology, neurology, and respiratory. The sicker the child, the more likely the family was to use complementary therapies, King said. Children were also more likely to receive alternative treatments if their parents had already tried them. And the older the child, the more frequently parents used alternative therapies, King said, perhaps out of frustration that conventional treatments weren’t working.

That frustration has driven up the popularity of complementary medicine.

“The current widespread interest in this among the general public I think is fueled by dissatisfaction with conventional care that is sometimes perceived as being limited, compartmentalized, specialized, and doesn’t look at the whole person,” said Helene Langevin, director of the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Other families, particularly recent immigrants, arrive at the doctor’s office with as much or more faith in remedies indigenous to their home countries as western medicine.

Dr. Sean Palfrey, a professor of pediatrics and public health at Boston University and Boston Medical Center, said he once had a patient, an infant, who was dying of a genetic disease. There was nothing western medicine could do to change that outcome.

The family, originally from Somalia, wanted to “coin” the child, a practice in which a heated coin is placed on the skin to remove harmful substances, leaving red marks and sometimes minor burns. Palfrey said his first instinct was to protect the baby from these burns. But then he realized that the family would feel more at peace if they believed they had tried this remedy first. He discussed ways they could make the ceremony safer for the child and then allowed them to go ahead with it.

Palfrey said he became convinced of the effectiveness of such traditional medicine while working in China, where he saw “hundreds if not thousands of natural substances that are effective in ways that we have not studied in terms of western medicine.”

It’s important for western medicine to validate these treatments, he said, both to ensure that patients are safe when they use them, and also to acknowledge the value of his patients’ history and preferences, he said. “We feel, with a certain amount of conceit, that we practice the pinnacle of scientific medicine but there are many things we don’t know, don’t understand, haven’t studied yet.”

On the other hand, Palfrey said he’s leery of some of the herbal and “natural” medicines his patients take.

“These products are not regulated by the [Food and Drug Administration] or the consumer products agency because they are not considered medications, or they are made up of so many different components that it’s impossible to study them,” he said. “Families don’t know what’s in them. I don’t know what’s in them.”

His biggest fear for children, he said, is that these products might contain lead, which has been used before to sweeten traditional medicines. (Lead poisoning can severely damage the developing brain.)

Palfrey recommends that families discuss any indigenous or home remedies with their doctor — even if the doctor doesn’t ask about them directly. And he suggests that doctors try harder to ask patients about what therapies and remedies they’re using, especially if prescribed medication isn’t working as expected.

In some cases, though, the problem is too little access to complementary therapies, not too much.

National surveys show that affluent white families are the heaviest users of treatments like acupuncture, massage, and yoga — “I think because they can afford it,” said Dr. Paula Gardiner, a family physician and integrative medicine expert at Boston Medical Center. Gardiner has found that when she made such treatments available in Dorchester, Codman Square, and South Boston, “we have been finding that patients love it and are open to trying it.”

Gardiner said most of her patients are referred by primary care doctors who have run out of conventional therapies, “and now we’re here to help, to try the things outside the box.” Her team offers stress reduction, yoga, healthy eating programs, and instruction in meditation. “We’re giving them different tools to help them think about their lives in a different way,” she said.

And she tries to keep it all affordable. Gardiner has arranged partnerships with nearby schools of massage and acupuncture, for instance, to provide training opportunities for students in exchange for free services to patients.

Lisa MacIsaac, whose daughter is Dr. Gardiner’s patient, said it was great to get access to these for free, but neither really helped Kathleen. Instead, it is a private acupuncturist, charging $120 a week for two sessions, who has helped the most. MacIsaac has taken on extra nursing shifts to pay for the sessions.

MacIsaac said she now thinks stress is the source of Kathleen’s headaches. A recent illness her father suffered, and the transition to middle school — where there’s no recess, more social stress, and higher academic expectations — have all taken their toll this year, her mother said.

In addition to pain relief, MacIsaac said she hopes the alternative treatments will give Kathleen more coping strategies, “so when she’s an adult she’ll have the tools and techniques she needs to have a healthy life.”

Be aware

The quality of alternative practitioners varies widely, and there’s no standard for determining the best ones. People who practice acupuncture, for instance, may have just three hours of training, or years of training. Practitioners affiliated with hospitals will tend to have more experience.

Before giving your child herbs, it’s a good idea to do some research and discuss them with your doctor.

Comment
This new written by Kristen Weintraub was published in The Boston Globe on February, 18th 2013.
This new shows a reality, not many people trust on alternative procedures. But once they try them, they realise that they are very effective in many cases, even in those where the most prestigious doctors have failed.
The girl the new talks about has a serious illness and acupuncture is the only way she can release of the pain. The acupuncture is a type of alternative medicine which consists on nail sharp nnedles in specifics parts of the body with the objetive of releasing the pain of the pacient. Maybe if Kathleen MacIsaac, the girl of the new, or her mother hadn't been so open-minded and tried new therapies, she would be still suffering of awful pain. So it's important to look for a second opinion or not convencional treatments because they can be as good, or even more, than thoe which are usually used.
 However, we have to be careful because many therapies are not tested and they can be negative consecuencies like more pain or the damage of another part of our body.
In this video we can see how the procedment of acupuncture is:

“Hoy la ciencia médica está sumando medicina tradicional complementaria y alternativa”

Martha Sabat Cruzado Tineo, es Médico Cirujano egresada de la Universidad Nacional San Luis Gonzaga de Ica con Diplomados en Gerencia de Salud y Auditoría en Servicios de Salud de la Universidad Nacional San Agustín de Arequipa. Actualmente sigue estudios de Segunda Especialización en MEDICINA ALTERNATIVA en la Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia y labora en EsSALUD Ayacucho.

¿Cómo conceptualizar la medicina alternativa desde una visión genérica?

Debemos establecer desde todo punto de vista que contribuir al desarrollo de la medicina alternativa y complementaria en nuestro país es; primero, materializando el concepto de salud natural e integral como consecuencia social y resultante de una armoniosa relación con la naturaleza en forma general e íntegra. Recordemos que nuestro principal eje motivador es mejorar  la calidad de vida de nuestra población hecho que no nos separa e inhibe de prácticas de medicina convencional como apoyo a esta nueva corriente en el tema de salubridad pública.

¿Qué diferencia entre la medicina denominada tradicional y la alternativa?

La medicina tradicional es todo un conjunto de conocimientos aptitudes y prácticas basadas en teorías creencias y experiencias ligadas a determinadas culturas, lo que indubitablemente no la desmerece como parte del estudio e investigación científica de ala medicina humana. Lo cierto es que actualmente prestigiosas universidades como la Cayetano Heredia y la Universidad San Marcos entre otras están inmersas en cada detalle utilizado en la denominada medicina tradicional que tiene importantes avances desde el proceso de tratamiento de enfermedades físicas y mentales.

¿Dónde radica la importancia de la medicina complementaria?

Porque se especifica un efecto complementario hacia la medicina convencional y además es considerada como un conjunto de sistemas, prácticas y productos médicos y de atención a la salud que no se consideran actualmente como parte de la medicina convencional pero hay enormes pruebas objetivas de los resultados óptimos en diversos tratamientos, por lo que actualmente se complementa con la medicina convencional.

¿Hay pruebas fehacientes de su uso y resultados ante tratamientos inmersos en la medicina alternativa?

Quienes siendo profesionales en medicina humana e interesados en la medicina complementaria y alternativa estamos investigando y estudiando constantemente las diferentes experiencias y casos donde por ejemplo el tratamiento de cáncer se realiza a través de dietas especiales en lugar de cirugía radiación o quimioterapia, la utilización de imanes y agujas que tienen especial reacción en problemas de diferente índole a nivel de la salud humana es solo una pequeña muestra del enorme bagaje dentro de la medicina alternativa, riqueza de conocimiento y practica que por cierto nos anima a seguir mejorando constantemente.

¿Cómo está poniendo en práctica dicha especialidad novedosa?

Actualmente nos tienen laborando en Essalud Ayacucho además de nuestro consultorio particular en la Urbanización Pío Max Medina, pero también todos los miércoles a las 8:30 p.m. estamos en el programa periodístico SIN MORDAZA de canal 33 para poder absolver una serie de dudas e interrogantes que la teleaudiencia quiera hacer. Recordando que actualmente existen muchas alternativas innovadoras que también vienen desarrollando nuevas acciones médicas en bien de la medicina convencional, nuevas opciones de tratamiento que estaremos dando a conocer asiduamente.

Comentario
Esta noticia se publicó el 21 de febrero de 2013 el Diario la Voz de Huamanga y fue escrita por Luis Ledesma Estrada. 

En la noticia, la doctora Martha Sabat Cruzado Tineo explica en qué consiste la medicina alternativa y destaca su importancia como complemento a la medicina convencional. 
La medicina alternativa presenta muchas ventajas respecto a la convencional. La primera de ellas es que nos se usan tantos productos químicos, es más natural y por tanto menos perjudicial para el organismo. 
Sin embargo tambien presenta la desventaja de que es menos efectiva. Los tratamientos con medicina alternativa proporcionan más o menos los resultados que los de medicina convencional pero se requiera mucho más tiempo para obtenerlos.
Para obtener esta ventaja y evitar la desventaja e combinan los dos tipos de medicina y así se evita proporcinar dosis tan altas de medicamentos, ya que el producto alternativo complementa su acción.

Treating Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Jan 31, 2013

When a child is diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or ADHD... prescription medication is one treatment option that doctors may recommend for managing the symptoms.

Some parents seek out alternatives...like fish oil supplements...or behavioral therapy. So European researchers wanted to know which, if any of them, worked.

They analyzed data from 54 studies involving 6 non-drug interventions. In some of the studies participants had no idea what treatment, if any, was allocated In other studies, people had complete knowledge of the intervention.

The team found that when treatment was done under unblinded conditions...there were positive effects for all types of treatments.

However, when the assessments were done blinded, only 2 treatments showed small, but significant effects. Fatty acid supplements, such as Omega 3s and Omega 6s were still found to have a positive impact-. Restricting food dyes did, as well.

Researchers say more evidence is needed to make the case for behavioral interventions, neurofeedback,

cognitive training, and restricted

elimination diets.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that between 4 percent and 12 percent of school-aged children have ADHD.

COMENT

This piece of news published in the Eyewitness News newspaper on Jan 31, 2013, and it’s about ADHD; Attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder, a neurobehavioral disorder characterized by either significant difficulties of inattention or hyperactivity and impulsiveness or a combination of the two.

If it is already difficult to bring up a child imagine if your son/daughter has inattention, hyperactivity, disruptive behavior and impulsivity (common in ADHD.) Academic difficulties are also frequen too. Everything is further complicated by this symptoms are especially difficult to define because it is hard to draw a line at where normal levels of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity end and clinically significant levels requiring intervention begin.

 In the medicine of the mind and the body has used a variety of techniques designed to strengthen the capacity of the mind to affect bodily function and symptoms. This text indicates that some techniques that were considered CAM past have become mainstream (for example, patient support groups and cognitive-behavioral therapy). 

Behavioral therapy is a type of psychotherapy that focuses on reducing behavior problems and in promoting adaptive skills. Behavioral therapy uses psychological techniques to improve physical, mental and communicative. 

The activities used vary widely according to the age and disability. It will use some techniques to discourage destructive behavior and others to encourage self-sufficiency. Behavioral therapy can complement physiotherapy as encouraging children to master tasks that promote muscle development and motor.  

The praise, positive reinforcement and small prizes can encourage the child / to learn to use weak limbs, overcome speech deficits and stop negative behaviors like hair pulling and biting. Sometimes this is called behavioral management therapy or behavior modification.

 So, although all this is not very investigated yet, we can see that there are different ways to try to solve this kind of problems in children that may can help us.

Can't Sleep? Drug-Free Alternatives That Really Help

 01/28/2013 

Insomnia is a widespread sleep problem among adults. Nearly 40 percent of men and women in the U.S. experience some symptoms of insomnia in a given year, and as many as 15 percent of adults struggle with chronic insomnia. Relaxation techniques are considered a standard form treatment for insomnia by sleep professionals, and the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. These techniques include: 

• Muscle relaxation exercises


• Deep breathing exercises


• Imagery and visualization

These effective therapeutic practices are inexpensive, drug-free, easy to learn and integrate into a daily routine, and can be very effective in improving sleep. Non-pharmaceutical sleep remedies are attractive to many people who don't want to use medication to treat their insomnia and other sleep problems. This often leads people to seek other options in an area known as complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). CAM is defined by the National Institutes of Health as "a group of health care systems, practices, and products that are not generally considered part of conventional medicine." The NIH estimates that as many as 38 percent of adults in the United States use some form of CAM, most often in conjunction with conventional medicine rather than in place of it.

Despite its popularity, we don't know a great deal about how people use relaxation techniques and CAM, including what health problems they're being employed to treat. Researchers at Harvard Medical School and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine sought to remedy this by conducting this study to assess how people with insomnia use relaxation techniques and CAM to treat their sleep disorder. They found that while many adults with insomnia are using these therapies, only a small percentage of them are using them specifically to treat insomnia.

Researchers used data from the National Health Interview Survey, a large-scale, in-person surveyon a wide range of health issues conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Centers for Disease Control. The final study group included 23,358 adults.

Researchers in the current study investigated the prevalence of relaxation techniques, including deep breathing, muscle relaxation, biofeedback and guided imagery. They also examined the use of CAM, which they separated into four broad categories:

• Alternative and mind-body medicine: including meditation, yoga, tai chi
• Manipulative practices: including massage, chiropractic and osteopathic treatments
• Other CAM practices: including acupuncture, Ayurvedic medicine, homeopathy, naturopathy
• Natural products: including non-vitamin and non-mineral supplements, particularly those used for insomnia treatment, such as melatonin and valerian

Researchers collected information about reasons for using relaxation and CAM, and whether people used these therapies specifically for insomnia. Finally, they asked whether people who used these treatments had informed their physicians about their use. They found that use of both relaxation and CAM techniques are common among people with insomnia -- more common than in people without insomnia. However, the vast majority of people with insomnia who use these therapies are not using them specifically to treat their insomnia. Here are some of the details:

• Eighteen percent of those included in the study had regular insomnia or difficulty sleeping in the past year. More women than men suffered from insomnia, as did older people, and those with lower education and income levels.
• Of those people with insomnia, 22.9 percent used some type of relaxation therapy in the past year, compared to 11.2 percent of people without insomnia. Deep breathing exercises were the most common type of relaxation therapy used.
• Fewer than one-fifth -- only 19.1 percent -- of people discussed their use of relaxation therapy with their primary physician.
• Nearly 30 percent of those with insomnia reported using relaxation exercises for specific medical issues, but only a very small number -- 30 individuals in total -- reported using relaxation techniques to treat their insomnia. This was too small a figure for researchers to calculate a population-based estimate.
• When it came to CAM, 45 percent of adults with insomnia used some form of complementary or alternative medicine in the past year, compared to 30.9 percent of those without insomnia.
• Natural products were the most commonly used of the four categories, followed by manipulative practices. However, researchers found that use of natural products specifically for insomnia was very low.
• Fifty-four percent of adults with insomnia used some form of CAM for specific health problems, but only 1.8 percent reported using CAM to treat insomnia.
• In the case of both relaxation techniques and CAM, women were more likely than men to use these therapies, as were people with higher levels of education and income, and people who reported higher levels of physical activity.

There seems to be a real missed opportunity here, to improve insomnia by applying therapeutic techniques that people with this sleep disorder are already using. These broad categories of relaxation and CAM cover a wide range of treatment options. Not all of these techniques will be right for everyone. And further research is needed to fully evaluate the effectiveness of specific therapies. But there exist a number of relaxation and CAM therapies -- including meditation andvisualization, yoga and acupuncture -- that have shown promising results in helping alleviate insomnia and other sleep problems.

Talking with your doctor is an important step in making the most of relaxation techniques and complementary or alternative therapies to improve insomnia. It's disappointing to see that most people who are using these remedies are not discussing them with their physicians, according to this current research. Increasingly, conventional medical practitioners are open to, informed about and encouraging of techniques such as these. Don't go it alone. Your "regular" doctor can be a valuable resource in making choices about "alternative" therapies for insomnia and other sleep problems.

COMENT 

This piece of news published in the Huffpost Healthy Living newspaper on 28th January 2013 explains how insomnia affects to millions of people.

 Insomnia is one of the most common sleep disorders. Although insomnia is often only seen as difficulty initiating sleep, the truth is that sleep disturbance can take several forms like difficulty falling asleep at bedtime, waking up frequently during the night or waking up too early in the morning, earlier than planned. 

This prevents the body needs recovery during sleep and can cause daytime sleepiness, poor concentration and inability to be active during the day.

 Factors such as stress, high body activation or depression are relevant. Today, it is common prescription drugs for the short term treatment of insomnia. However, drug treatment is not an adequate solution to medium and long term, and is preferable to assess these cases the use of other techniques such as cognitive behavioral therapy or behavioral as shown in the piece of news through meditation, yoga, tai chi, massages, chiropractic and osteopathic treatments, massage, chiropractic and osteopathic treatments, or even non-vitamin and non-mineral supplements, particularly those used for insomnia treatment, such as melatonin and valerian. 

Finally from my point of view I think that we must considerate this disorder like a dangerous illness that can kills you (if is chronic) or makes you feel effete hindering the development of a normal life.

The Alternative Medicine Cabinet: Cetaphil for Lice

MARCH 24, 2010,

The Science: Every year, millions of Americans are treated for head lice, a vast majority of them schoolchildren. Conventional treatment usually calls for a neurotoxic insecticide, but few regimens are entirely effective, and in recent years drug-resistant lice have emerged.

But some doctors advocate an inexpensive and simple alternative that requires little more than a bottle of Cetaphil skin cleanser and a hair dryer. In one study published in the journal Pediatrics in 2004, 133 children with hard-to-treat head lice were recruited and subjected to a regimen that involved coating the hair with Cetaphil, combing it, then blow-drying it until it hardens and shampooing it out eight hours later. The idea is to create a “shrink-wrap” effect that suffocates lice. According to the study, this method produced a roughly 95 percent success rate when it was repeated once a week for three weeks. That beats the general success rate of more conventional treatments like Malathion (about 17 percent) and Dimethicone (about 73 percent).

“It creates a game for parents and kids,” said Joe Graedon, a pharmacologist and author of the book “The People’s Pharmacy Guide to Home and Herbal Remedies.” “You create a helmet head, and you shampoo it out in the morning.” To prevent flaking, he added, throw on a shampoo cap.

The Risks: Cetaphil is extremely mild and is not known if cause any significant side effects.

COMENT 

We are faced with an article published in the New York Times on 24 March 2012, dealing with lice treatment that is becoming increasingly popular due to lice resistance to existing treatments.

Lice are the cross of many parents. They are tiny parasitic insects that proliferate wingless in human hair and feed on trace amounts of blood drawn from the scalp.

As much disgust that can cause, lice are a very common problem, especially among children three to 12 years (more common in girls than in boys).

While there is more novel methods to treat these parasitesin this text is explained a fast and effective alternative is "a bottle of Cetaphil skin cleanser and hair dryer." It is not quite over and natural measure but it is a chemically simpler and less harmful than other lice products.

This shows that much progress we make sometimes the simplest things are the most useful, reminding me, for example, the use of vinegar to prevent lice that many of our mothers have used with us.

So it your children have lice lice you can choose among many solutions, depending on your values and the gravity of the infection. What it is recommended is to look for them frecuently in the children's head due to  they are passed by some other heads quickly and very easily and they can be a nuisance for our little loves.

Alternative medicine, prescriptions can collide

CHEO study discovers that parents often don’t disclose all the medicines that they give their children

Physicians must be more sensitive to health care choices, and families have to be more open with their physicians, says Dr. James King, the lead author of the CHEO arm of the study.
“As a profession, we need to be receptive and trained to ask the right questions of families — and be non-judgmental.”
The researchers looked at the use of CAM among children and youth being treated in clinics at CHEO and the Stollery Children’s Hospital in Edmonton. Their illnesses ranged from asthma to cancer.
Of the 979 families approached to be surveyed, 233 were at CHEO, and 222 completed the survey.
Just over 42 per cent of the eastern Ontario families reported using CAM.
Vitamin and mineral supplements were among the most common, but the therapies reported included herbal products, homeopathy, acupuncture, magnets, Chinese traditional medicine, chiropractic, yoga, aromatherapy and faith healing.
Among the findings: Children described as being in fair or poor health were more than three times more likely to use CAM. Those whose parents used it were almost seven times more likely to be using CAM.
About half of the Ottawa families said they had private insurance that covered CAM.
The researchers noted that, over time, patients with chronic conditions were more likely to use CAM.
That means physicians need to ask the family about CAM use every time they see a patient, he says. Many parents didn’t think of over-the-counter remedies as CAM.
Physicians have to be able to tell parents if products and treatments are harmful, beneficial or have no evidence, King says.
“Sometimes people can become desperate and reach for things where there is no clear benefit. It’s important that people be open.”
One in five families surveyed did not tell their physicians they were using CAM.
Among their reasons: concern that the physician would be negative; the belief that the physician didn’t need to know and that the physician didn’t ask about CAM use.
Over 60 per cent said their source of information about CAM was “family.”
In the Ottawa portion of the study, 14 “adverse events” were reported after using CAM, 12 of them minor and two more that were moderate. The families at Stollery reported both more CAM use and more adverse events.
King says the majority of alternative therapies aren’t harmful, but there are potential interactions with medications such as blood thinners and immunosuppressants.
“There’s a need for a lot more research in this area.
“We need to know what works and what’s safe,” says King, who notes that medical students at the University of Ottawa, where he is a professor, now take a course in “integrated medicine.”
Attitudes are changing. At CHEO, there are staff members who have expertise in these areas and are available to help parents, particularly in oncology.

“As a provider, one of my responsibilities is to come up with a plan for optimal health,” King says.
Bryce Wylde, a homeopath who is a media commentator on alternative health, says it’s important to have an underlying health condition diagnosed by a qualified health-care professional before embarking on treatment.
All products that are safe and effective are issued an eight-digit Natural Product Number (NPN) or Homeopathic Medicine Number (DIN-HM) by Health Canada.
Distrust alternative treatments that promise a magical cure, Wylde advises. “There’s a lot of hokey stuff out there. Every industry has its weakness.”

COMENT:

This article was published on January 19, 2013, in the Times.

The article shows how parents do not tell doctors that their children are being treated with alternative medicine (CAM)CAM is defined by the National Institutes of Health as "a group of health care systems, practices, and products that are not generally considered part of conventional medicine." The NIH estimates that as many as 38 percent of adults in the United States use some form of CAM, most often in conjunction with conventional medicine rather than in place of it.

Children with chronic illnesses commonly take complementary and alternative medicine — and that’s cause for concern because parents sometimes won’t or don’t tell their child’s physician.

I have looked for a study that included the families of more than 200 patients at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario.

These figures are disturbing, because as we have seen in other reports in this paper the combination of conventional and alternative medicine (without knowledge of the physician) is counterproductive.

In my opinion the best solutions are evidence-based, so we have to look for the benefits for our health in order to get an evidence-based medicine.

Kenya: Alternative 'Medicine' - Health Supplement

A botched circumcision procedure left two-year old Raymond Kintu with partial paralysis over his entire right side. Doctors said the procedure severed a nerve which caused the paralysis. For almost two years Raymond was unable to walk or use the toilet on his own.

But just two weeks after being put on a health supplement by his grandmother, Raymond started walking and could even stretch out his right arm, which had for months remained 'stuck' in an awkward position. This had made it impossible for him to lower his arm.

The 'Pros' of Supplements

Raymond was given GBG, a chew-able '10-in-One' supplement tabletin October last year. Now four, he can play football and go to school - two things he was unable to do early last year. Though he still walks with a slight limp, his parents and grandmother are grateful that he is no longer bed-ridden and credit the supplement for what they call a 'miraculous' recovery.

Raymond is not the only one to have recovered from paralysis thanks to the supplement. The product is a flagship product developed some 15 years ago by a group of nutritionists including author of acclaimed Vitamin Bible Dr. Earl Mindell.

Twenty-five year old Susan Kinyua suffered a mild stroke at 18 years causing a loss of feeling in all her limbs. "They used to take me to Kenyatta hospital in a portable bed because I couldn't move my arms or legs", Susan says. Her stroke which at the time it occurred made it impossible for her to sit her final Form Four exams. Even when her condition improved slightly over the years, Susan still had problems with her memory. "I could place something on the table and moments later forget I'd put it there".

The supplement upon recommendation by her mother's friend helped improve Susan's memory and got her back on her feet just two weeks after she started taking it. Susan's mother says that in the grips of the illness her daughter also lost her speech and as such had to be taught afresh how to speak. "She was like a nursery school kid", her mother said. Now, barely six months after she began taking the chew-able tabs, Susan can walk and even do some chores around the house and has planned to enroll back in school as soon as possible.

COMENT:

This news was posted on December 10, 2012, in the Times.

The news tells the incredible story of Raymond, a child who was left quadriplegic. Drugs could not help, so his grandmother underwent some alternative therapies. Thanks to these therapies Raymond can walk and even play football.

Doctors cannot explain this rapid improvement without the use of pharmaceuticals. Raymond's family says it is a miracle, thanks to which your child has been able to return to school and play with friends.

Although the child has a slight limp, doctors say that combining alternative remedies grandmother with conventional medical therapy the child will recover soon.

The healing remedy his grandmother was based on a supplement, which is suitable for cardiovascular ailments, bones and joints and is additionally a memory and mood energizer. The multi-vitamin is a product developed by licensed nutritionist and thus also functions as an anti-oxidant, immune enhancer, digestion booster and vision enhancer.

So this post is again reflected as alternative medicine combined with conventional is the best choice to achieve good health.

Acupuncture - Is the Alternative Treatment Effective For Seasonal Allergies?

Acupuncture has been touted as a helpful aid in pain relief for some patients, but now the alternative therapy treatment may prove useful for another condition.

A new study looks into the efficacy of acupuncture when used to treat seasonal allergy suffers.

The study's author Dr. Benno Brinkhaus from the Institute for Social Medicine, Epidemiology and Health Economics at Charité University Medical Center in Berlin said that he would recommend acupuncture to patients who have tried more traditional therapies first.

"From my experience as a physician and acupuncturist, and as a researcher, I would recommend trying acupuncture if patients are not satisfied with the conventional anti-allergic medication or treatment or they suffer from more or less serious side effects of the conventional medication," Brinkaus said.

"Also because acupuncture is a relatively safe treatment."

Acupuncture is a process in which tiny needles are placed under a patient's skin at specific points to reduce particular symptoms a patient is experiencing. For allergy sufferers this could mean pesky symptoms like nasal congestion, runny nose and itchy eyes that are associated with the condition.

In the study published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, 422 people who tested positive for pollen-related allergies and that experienced nasal symptoms as a result of it were analyzed by researchers.

The subjects recorded their symptoms and indicated which medications, along with doses, they took for their ailment.

They were then split into three groups: one received 12 acupuncture treatments, the second group received 12 faux acupuncture procedures as well as took antihistamine medications as needed and the third group took antihistamines alone.

The researchers surveyed the patients after two months and found that the group who received the acupuncture therapy displayed a higher amount of improvement in their allergy symptoms.

And the findings also suggest that there may be a strong placebo effect associated with acupuncture because even the group who received the fake treatments reported some relief of their allergy symptoms.

But the study also acknowledges that more research needs to be performed to establish the efficacy of acupuncture in the treatment of seasonal allergies.

"The effectiveness of acupuncture for [season allergies] compared with other antiallergic interventions and the possible underlying mechanisms of any effect, including context effects, need to be addressed in further research," the study says

COMENT:

This entry was posted on January 10, 2013, after conducting a study on allergy symptoms.

Therefore it was determined that the use of acupuncture, a process in which tiny needles are placed under a patient's skin at specific points to reduce particular symptoms a patient is experiencing.

 For allergy sufferers this could mean pesky symptoms like nasal congestion, runny nose and itchy eyes that are associated with the condition, healing benefits of allergy symptoms more effectively than using conventional therapies based on conventional medicine. 

But using this technique is reserved for patients who are not satisfied with the conventional anti-allergic medication or treatment or they suffer from more or less serious side effects of the conventional medication.

From my point of view, this study shows a clear picture that is displayed in its outcome, the effectiveness of acupuncture for [season allergies] compared with other ant allergic interventions and the possible underlying mechanisms of any effect, including context effects, need to be addressed in further research

Most cardiac patients report using alternative treatments

Most cardiac patients report using alternative treatments February 12, 2013 in Cardiology The majority of patients with cardiovascular disease receiving outpatient cardiology evaluations report using complementary and alternative medicine therapies, according to a study published in the Feb. 1 issue of The American Journal of Cardiology. (HealthDay)—The majority of patients with cardiovascular disease receiving outpatient cardiology evaluations report using complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies, according to a study published in the Feb. 1 issue of The American Journal of Cardiology. Ads by Google Rabbit Monoclonal Abs - 10000+ Proteins,Antibodies,cDNA, Best  undergoing outpatient cardiology evaluation at a tertiary medical center. The researchers found that 36.8 percent of participants had cardiac symptoms for more than 10 years and 48.2 percent had coronary artery disease. CAM therapy use was reported by 82.5 percent of patients and included dietary supplements (75.4 percent), chiropractic therapy (31.5 percent), mind-body therapies (23.9 percent), and massage (19.2 percent). For cardiac symptoms, the top four treatments were relaxation techniques, stress management, meditation, and guided imagery. Only 14.4 percent reported discussing CAM use with their physicians, and almost half (48.6 percent) reported being interested in participating in a future CAM clinical trial related to their cardiovascular disease.

COMENT:

This article was published after obtaining the results of the study conducted on 12 February 2013.

Through the study found that different types of cardiovascular disease could be partially or completely cured by the use of alternative therapies such as relaxation techniques, stress management, meditation, and guided imagery.

Patients were people who had the disease for ten years, and who had already received therapy convecional own medicine. Alternations methods obtained in a year other benefits that had failed in five.

All patients were satisfied with the treatment and they reported being interested in participating in a future CAM clinical trial related to their cardiovascular disease.

It is also said that eating nuts is very important to improve these diseases, constituting a nutritional therapy which is reflected in the study

From my point of view, this technique is simply fantastic not only for the results, but because patients are very happy with their evolution. In conclusion, research directed with an integrative approach to cardiovascular care might prove beneficial when designing future studies