Procesan y envasan medicina natural para pacientes pobres

Domingo 14 de abril de 2013

06:52 pm  - Alexis Espinal  

El proyecto es impulsado por las autoridades de la Iglesia Católica de la zona sur a través de la Clínica de Medicina Natural San Pablo.

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VER GALERÍA DE FOTOS (4)

CHOLUTECA,

Honduras

Cancelar el costo de una consulta con un especialista resulta imposible para Ángela Castillo, quien sin dudar acudió a la Clínica de Medicina Natural San Pablo.

El centro donde es asistida Castillo funciona en la ciudad de Choluteca, lugar que mantiene como su única alternativa, ya que además del ahorro de los 600 lempiras de la consulta en una clínica privada, pagará menos por los medicamentos que le receten.

La paciente está consciente de que el efecto curativo de los brebajes que recibirá es más lento, pero aseguró sin dudar que sanará.

“Viajé desde la comunidad de Santa Ana, Orocuina, y antes visitaba el Hospital del Sur, pero al ver que solo con problemas me encontraba cuando buscaba los servicios de salud decidí buscar otra alternativa como la medicina natural”, dijo la paciente.

La clínica atiende un promedio de entre 40 y 50 personas a diario. María Oralia Rodríguez, naturista, encargada de dar la consulta a los pacientes que llegan a la clínica, expresó que el gasto estimado de los pacientes que atienden son 100 lempiras.

De acuerdo con Danilo Puerto, director regional de Cáritas de Honduras, el único propósito de Cáritas y la Iglesia Católica es apoyar a las familias de escasos recursos económicos.

A causa de la efectividad de los brebajes que se preparan en el establecimiento la demanda de los pacientes llega desde otras zonas del país.

En los listados aparecen pacientes de Yoro, La Ceiba, Tegucigalpa, La Paz y El Progreso, quienes adquieren los medicamentos naturales hasta para un mes.

Cada frasco del líquido preparado con hojas, raíces y ramas de plantas se comercializa a un costo de 50 lempiras.

Entre las dolencias que se tratan con los jarabes están la hipertensión, mala circulación, problemas de colon, asma, diabetes, infecciones urinarias y anemia.

Ingredientes

Los medicamentos son preparados por seis grupos de personas que han sido capacitadas en diferentes parroquias de la zona sur.

Las personas encargadas de cocinar los brebajes viajan hasta la ciudad de Choluteca de acuerdo con la demanda de medicinas que reporte la clínica de atención.

Estas mismas personas se encargan de traer desde sus comunidades los principales ingredientes para preparar las medicinas naturales.

Según Gustavo Martínez, uno de los encargados de preparar las medicinas, desde hace varios años atrás fueron capacitados para preparar las medicinas.

Los grupos están conformados por seis personas a quienes se les entrega un aporte económico simbólico por la preparación de los jarabes.

“Nosotros lo hacemos para ayudar a los más necesitados ya que solo sacamos los costos del pasaje”, dijo Martínez. Este proyecto nació hace 10 años, a través de la iniciativa de monseñor Raúl Corriviu (QDDG).

Las medicinas son envasadas por lo general cada tres meses en un lugar que reúne las condiciones higiénicas, denominado como el laboratorio, sitio donde solo ingresa el personal encargado de fabricar los brebajes.

Se estima que en cada jornada de cocción se utiliza un quintal de cada planta medicinal que se utilizará para los medicamentos.

Entre las plantas que se utilizan están el pino, ciprés, eucalipto, corteza de marañón y mangle, encino, cola de caballo, hierba del aire y uña de gato.

También la corteza de indio desnudo, jícara, zarzaparrilla, culcumeca, hierva del dolor, uva de monte, sábila y romero, entre otros ingredientes.

Proceso

Las hojas y corteza de los árboles medicinales se someten a un proceso de lavado, en tres diferentes recipientes, con el fin de retirar cualquier sucio que se les haya adherido.

De forma posterior son depositadas en un recipiente amplio junto con agua para iniciar el proceso de cocción, el cual tarda 20 minutos por cada ingrediente, y en su mayoría cada preparado lleva tres tipos de plantas.

Es así que el tiempo de cocimiento de las hojas y cortezas lleva cerca de una hora para luego dejarlas reposar durante una noche, para luego colar el jarabe y envasarlo.

El último paso es el etiquetado de los frascos para luego colocarlos en los estantes de la clínica para que sean adquiridos por los pacientes.


COMENTARIO

Nos encontramos ante una noticia publicada en el periódico EL HERALDO de Honduras, el día 14 de abril de 2013. En ella se refleja cómo ante la necesidad de tratamientos para curar ciertas enfermedades y dolencias, la Iglesia ha llevado a cabo una especie de cadena de elaboración de tratamientos alternativos.

Como bien podemos leer en el texto, se ve como debido a la situación de pobreza en la que se encuentran muchas personas, se ha tenido que recurrir a este tipo de acciones, de la mano de la Iglesia y otras organizaciones que ayudan a que los enfermos puedan tener al menos posibilidad de curarse, aunque los procedimientos no sean a los que estamos acostumbrados, es decir a los de la medicina convencional. Por ello estos “medicamentos” alternativos son de origen totalmente natural, elaborados por personas que colaboran con esta iniciativa.

Lo que sí es cierto es que aunque en este texto te defiende, entre otros aspectos, el tema de la higiene, esto puede dejar dudas, ya que, como se ve en la foto de la propia noticia, el objetivo de esta cadena de elaboración es proporcionar “medicamentos” a gente que los necesita, normalmente urgentemente, por esto, a veces se puede descuidar ciertos momentos de su elaboración, como la que observamos en la imagen.

Otro tema importante, es que se dice como las clínicas de medicina alternativa reciben numerosos pacientes al día, que probablemente se encuentren en la misma situación que la señora a raíz de la cual se publico esta noticia, y esto se debe a que le medicina convencional, al contrario que en otros países llega a ser más costosa aquí que en otros lugares, y por ello sale más rentable echar 4 ingredientes naturales; que en mi opinión pueden conllevar a peor resultados al final; que ir a una farmacia o al lugar donde se distribuyan los medicamentos y comprarlos, por la cantidad de tasas e impuestos (los convencionales, también). 

Por todo esto, he de decir que a pesar de que la iniciativa es de agradecer, y que posiblemente le funcione a mucha gente, hay que tener en cuenta que los ingredientes y el proceso de elaboración son muy importantes, y que los responsables de esa cadena “de montaje” tienen que tener mucha precaución porque tienen en sus manos la vida de muchas personas. También hay que aclarar que en muchos casos estos tratamientos solo son útiles siendo complementarios y no únicamente con tomarlos uno se va a curar. Estas son algunas de las consideraciones que hay que considerar antes de consumir este tipo de productos.

Path to Alternative Therapies Is Littered With Obstacles

November 13, 2009

WHEN Diane Klenke was told five years ago that she had pancreatic cancer, she was given three months to live. “The doctor told me to go home and put my affairs in order and that was it,” Ms. Klenke, now 52, remembered.

Instead of taking that advice, Ms. Klenke, who lives in Green Bay, Wis., decided to fight. She researched other doctors and alternative therapies until she hit upon the Block Center for Integrative Cancer Care in Evanston, Ill., which uses an approach of traditional and holistic therapies to treat cancer patients.

After undergoing intense chemotherapy along with propernutrition, nausea and stress management therapies at the Block Center, Ms. Klenke’s cancer went into remission and has stayed that way.

So where is this anecdote heading? Glad you asked.

Cancer and its treatment are so complicated and relatively unpredictable that this column is in no way meant to advocate Ms. Klenke’s approach to dealing with her disease.

As a Patient Money columnist, I don’t pretend to have that expertise.

Instead, my purpose here is to provide financial guidance for those who, like Ms. Klenke, choose to take the medical path less traveled.

Besides learning the ins and outs of complementary andalternative medicine, Ms. Klenke has also become something of an expert on how to pay for these treatments. With the help of the Block center and her own research and persistence, she persuaded her insurance company to cover her entire course of treatment and the follow-up treatments that she continues to pursue, as she puts it, “to boost my immune system and keep me cancer-free.”

So-called complementary and alternative medicine — or CAM, as it is known by practitioners and adherents — is becoming more mainstream every day. In 2007, more than one in three adults and nearly one in eight children, according to a federal study sponsored by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, a division of the National Institutes of Health, used some form of CAM — from self-prescribed nutritional substitutes to repeat visits to alternative health care practitioners. So commonplace are the alternative providers that chiropractors and acupuncturists, for example, are now licensed by most states. At the same time, many traditional medical doctors, recognizing patients’ demand for alternative therapies, have signed up for training in alternative therapies or added alternative professionals to their staffs.

Alternative medicine is also a big business. Americans spent nearly $40 billion out of pocket on alternative therapies, according to that same 2007 study, to pay for practitioners as well as vitamins and supplements. Often, the treatments aren’t cheap. A session at the acupuncturist can easily run $100. And as with pharmaceuticals, vitamins, herbal supplements and homeopathic remedies have a huge price range — from a $12 bottle of vitamins to supplements costing hundreds of dollars.

More insurance companies are now offering full or limited coverage, or arranging discounts, on these treatments. But, as Ms. Klenke learned, getting even limited coverage can be time-consuming and tricky.

And most people pursuing alternative therapies should expect to pay some, if not all, costs out of pocket, says Mark Stengler, a naturopathic doctor in the La Jolla area of San Diego who is licensed in California. He holds a doctorate from the National College of Naturopathic Medicine, now called the National College of Natural Medicine, in Portland, Ore. Naturopathic training is often similar to the training conventional doctors receive and includes holistic training. Dr. Stengler is the author of several books and the Bottom Line newsletter on natural healing. If you venture forth, here’s advice on how to make the most of your insurance coverage and find the best prices for the highest-quality alternative treatments and medicines.

INSURANCE INS AND OUTS Before you do anything, be sure to read your health insurance policy thoroughly. It may spell out some of the alternative practitioners and treatments it covers, for example, 50 percent of all acupuncture and chiropractor visits.

More often, says Linda Bourdosis, a patient advocate at the Block Center, coverage is more subtle. For instance, your insurer may pay for certain specific treatments — massage therapy for muscle strains, for instance, or fish oil supplements to reduce inflammation from arthritis — if they are prescribed by your primary physician for a diagnosed ailment and coded correctly. Many require preauthorization from the insurer.

Keep at it, Ms. Bourdosis says. Getting the insurer to pay “doesn’t always happen the first time,” she said. “It can take two, three or four claims. You’ve got to be persistent.”

Don’t be afraid to negotiate with your insurer and with your provider, particularly when treating serious illnesses. Ask to speak to the claims manager or your case manager. In Ms. Klenke’s case, the Block Center was willing to discount its rates 25 percent in return for being considered part of the network that Ms. Klenke belonged to through her husband’s group insurance plan. In her case, Ms. Bourdosis at the Block Center negotiated with her insurer, but sometimes the patient needs to be the middle man to get an insurer and health care provider to agree.

Or, you might want to try to find an alternative practitioner who is part of a larger group of traditional doctors, or vice versa, Dr. Stengler says. That way, if you need lab tests or other diagnostics, your primary physician can prescribe them and they will be covered — even if alternative treatments are not.

COMENT

This is a piece of news published in THE NEW YORK TIMES newspaper on 13^th November 2009. In this news is spoken of as a woman has managed to dodge many difficulties, mainly economic in tackling costs, both of chemotherapy as alternative therapies that have been submitted by their own will.

This person is a clear reflection of a large part of society, in the sense that a normal woman has to pay out of pocket, mostly, but can receive aid from the insurer.

It should be known that this type of alternative therapies, although they are used increasingly more often by great diversity of people, their costs are still higher than conventional medical treatments.

Advocates of alternative medicine hold that the various alternative methods are effective in treating a wide range of minor and major ailments, and argue that recently published research demonstrating the effectiveness of specific alternative treatments.

They say it can provide health benefits through the active participation of the patient, offering more options to the public, including treatments that simply are not available in conventional medicine.

For all this, in my opinion, must take into account all considerations before putting time and money involved. We must learn before all kinds of treatments, many alternative and conventional, about the effectiveness, side effects, etc.

Por creer en la medicina alternativa, la separan de su hijo con un tumor cerebral

LONDRES, 24 de marzo.- Una madre narró hoy cómo su hijo de ocho años de edad ya no es "el chico que conocía" después de que se sometió a un tratamiento de radioterapia al que ella se opuso legalmente.

Sally Roberts, de Brighton, East Sussex, Inglaterra, quien perdió un publicitado juicio el año pasado para detener el tratamiento del tumor cerebral de su hijo Neon, dijo que "sólo se derrumbó" tras recibir radioterapia.

La señora de 37 años dijo que su hijo ha asistido a 30 sesiones de radioterapia desde la batalla legal y ahora está "roto" por fatiga crónica, "gris y frágil", "llora por las cosas más pequeñas" y "apenas come".

Sally Roberts quería curar a su hijo Neon con medicina alternativa en vez de radioterapia, lo cual le costó perder la custodia.

"Miro a los ojos de mi hijo y no hay nada ahí", dijo a la publicación Sunday Mirror . "Veo a este niño, que siempre estaba riendo y feliz, sentado con su pequeña cabeza entre las manos llorando".

"Lo que más me asustó fue saber que la radiación le cambiaría, le haría daño. Y ha hecho ambas cosas. Los tribunales me han quitado a Neon porque yo traté de protegerlo".

Añadió que su hijo también sufre de estreñimiento, úlceras en la boca y una reducción en la producción de saliva.

La señora Roberts describe ver a su hijo cumplir con las instrucciones de los médicos mientras él estaba atado a una mesa y con una máscara colocada sobre la cabeza, con ganas de gritar y aporrear los puños contra una pared de cristal que tenía delante de ella.

La madre, natural de Nueva Zelanda, había huido con su hijo porque ella no quería que fuera sometido al tratamiento, pero ambos fueron encontrados en diciembre pasado.

Los médicos dijeron que Neon podría haber muerto si no hubiera sido sometido al tratamiento, pero la señora Roberts insistió en que estaba preocupada por el daño que éste podría haberle causado a largo plazo, con efectos como daño cerebral e infertilidad.

Ella tenía la esperanza de recurrir a tratamientos alternativos que evitaran la destrucción de su sistema inmunológico y otras complicaciones asociadas con la radioterapia, informó el Sunday Mirror.

Tras una batalla legal, el padre, Ben, tiene la custodia del menor. Elektra, la hermana gemela del muchacho, todavía vive con la señora Roberts. "La pérdida de uno de ellos es como perder una extremidad", declaró la madre.

El próximo mes comenzará el tratamiento de quimioterapia de Neon y la señora Roberts dijo que no puede impedirlo, a menos que reúna £80,000 para pagar los costos del NHS (Servicio Nacional de Salud, por sus siglas en inglés) si pierde el caso.

A Neon no se le permitirá vivir con su madre hasta que haya concluido su tratamiento, lo que podría tardar un año.

COMENTARIO 

Nos encontramos ante una noticia publicada en el diario digital mexicano ARTÍCULO 7 el día 24 de marzo de 2013. En ella, se habla de cómo una mujer ha sufrido la pérdida de su hijo, el cual tenía un tumor cerebral, porque se negaba a que se sometiera a quimioterapia.

En su defecto, esta madre quería que su hijo probara con tratamientos alternativos que no tuvieran que recurrir a las sesiones de radioterapia, ya que, alegaba, que estas estaban consumiendo el atisbo de vida que le quedaba al pequeño. Esta mujer veía como su hijo se veía más sensible, padecía otros dolores y apenas comía, es decir como la quimioterapia le afectaba bruscamente.

La quimioterapia es el tratamiento del cáncer con un medicamento antineoplásico o una combinación de dichas drogas en un régimen de tratamiento estándar. Sus agentes más comunes actúan destruyendo las células que se dividen rápidamente, una de las propiedades principales de la mayoría de las células de cáncer. Esto resulta en los efectos secundarios más comunes de la quimioterapia: mielosupresión (disminución de la producción de células sanguíneas, por lo tanto inmunosupresión),mucositis (inflamación del revestimiento del tracto digestivo), y alopecia (pérdida de cabello).

Mientras por otro lado, las terapias alternativas existentes contra el cáncer son relativamente poco tóxicas, a diferencia de la quimioterapia y la radiación, que destruyen a las células normales. Estas terapias apuntan a limpiar el cuerpo, estimular sus defensas naturales y su capacidad para destruir tumores. Poseen niveles de seguridad relativamente altos en comparación con los tratamientos ortodoxos. Muchas o la mayoría de las terapias alternativas combinan dietas especiales; complementos vitamínicos, minerales, y enzimas; desintoxicación; oxigenación; estimulación inmunológica; y regímenes psicológicos o espirituales para promover una curación gradual, centrándose en la reconstrucción de la inmunidad natural del cuerpo y el fortalecimiento de su habilidad inherente para destruir las células del cáncer, en lugar de atacar al tumor de manera agresiva.

El problema residía en que los médicos defendían que sin la quimioterapia su hijo no sobreviviría, que era un tratamiento obligatorio para que siguiera con vida, y en ningún caso sustituible por ninguna de las terapias alternativas que la madre quería probar. Debido a esto, esta madre perdió la custodia de su hijo, por peligro a que si estaba con ella se pudieran volver a fugar; como ya habían hecho antes.

En mi opinión creo que aquí el papel de los médicos fue de gran importancia ya que ellos son los especialistas, y no creo que hubieran sometido a un niño tan pequeño a quimio si no hubiera sido estrictamente necesario, y sabiendo además que su madre estaba en contra, que supondría un problema, y que el niño estaba sufriendo. Por otro lado comprendo la visión de esa madre sumamente preocupada por su hijo. ¿Qué haríais en su caso, dejar que vuestro hijo muera por tratar de buscar otra terapia alternativa, que quizá no llegara a tiempo, o someterlo a un proceso que va destruyendo poco a poco lo que queda de él, haciéndolo irreconociblemente infeliz?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThgN_BxfQd4

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.