Alternative medicine
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| —Tim Minchin, Storm | ||
Alternative medicine is any medical treatment that hasn't scientifically proven its efficacy. Alternative medicine includes "traditional medicines" (i.e. medicinal systems rooted in non-Western, non-scientific traditions), and "folk remedies", both of which are based on systems of knowledge which are not contingent on scientific analysis. It also can encompass experimental techniques that haven't yet been proven to work yet, but are promising treatments regardless - often research into them is held back by legal or moral objections such as with the use of criminalised drugs for medical use.
Alternative medicines, or therapies, range from the potentially provable, to the benign, to the ridiculous and the downright dangerous. In the case of being "potentially provable", it is still likely that the reasons given by practitioners for the treatment's effectiveness are not correct, they probably work as very effective placebos or by some other complex process. Benign treatments have the advantage of not directly injuring a patient, however, using them may cause an unwell person to forgo useful treatments; taking a homeopathic remedy for cancer, for example. The ridiculous cannot possibly have any medical effects (beyond that of the placebo effect at the least), or may be actively dangerous to the patient.
Since alternative medicines are, more or less by definition, unproven, many advocates (known, to some, as "alties") tend to appeal to "health freedom" rather than actually try to prove that their nostrums work.
Many practitioners exploit vulnerable patients. They give false hope to people who are incurably sick and frequently charge high prices for useless treatments. The belief that alternative medicines are somehow "less risky" or "less harsh" than conventional medicine has led some to take alternative medicine over conventional medicine. While this may often be true (though don't say that to someone who's lost skin or body parts to "black salves" sometimes used for skin cancers), the potential health risks of not taking conventional medicine for an illness far outweigh the risks from the side effects of these medicines.
Contents |
[edit] Potentially provable
- Acupuncture ("Pointillism", as it is known in the art world) — like the caricature of using voodoo dolls, but practiced on the
victimpatient directly. - Chiropractic — but only in relieving some back pain.
- Herbal supplements — some are fairly effective for some conditions; others close to useless.
- Medical marijuana — essentially already proven, just not yet accepted in all quarters for reasons that are more political than medical.
[edit] Benign
- Aromatherapy — smelling nice has some advantages.
- Reflexology — as a massage therapy, not an alternative to conventional medicine.
- Male enhancement capsules — To cure the desire to buy a large SUV.
[edit] Somewhat benign, occasionally dangerous
- Chiropractic — to cure anything except back pain.
- Colloidal silver — an alleged "natural" antibiotic, its only possible use is for that very tiny segment of the population that has a burning desire to look like a smurf.
- DMSO — an industrial solvent by-product of paper manufacture, used topically for a variety of health claims.
[edit] Ridiculous
[edit] Inefficacious
- Ear candling — a silly practice alleged to draw toxins out of the ears.
- Homeopathy — using dilute solutions with no remaining active ingredient to treat conditions.
- Coffee enemas — as ridiculous as ear candling, but exponentially more disgusting.
[edit] Dangerous
- Black salve — (aka cansema) a paste made from bloodroot that is said to "draw out" cancer cells in tumors; known for causing massive disfiguration. If chemotherapy is slash'n'burn, this stuff is a West Coast thousand-acre wildfire. [1]
- Laetrile — attempting to cure cancer using cyanogen compounds found in stonefruit pits, particularly apricots.
- New German Medicine — attempting to cure cancer using psychological conflict resolution.
- Trepanation — intentionally drilling a hole in one's head.
- Sungazing — staring at the sun cures all ills. Actually it will more likely damage your eyesight.
[edit] See also
[edit] Footnotes
| Alternative medicine articles on RationalWiki | ||
|---|---|---|
| Aromatherapy - Autism: Peddling false hope - Bee venom therapy - Chelation therapy - Chiropractic - Cleanse - Colloidal silver - Hulda Clark - Colonic - Color therapy - DMSO - Ear candling - Faith healing - Fasting - Folk remedy - Geier family - Hair Analysis - Health freedom - Heel (company) - Herbal supplement - Homeopathy - Kombucha - Laetrile - Lupron therapy - Macrobiotics - Magnetic therapy - Medical marijuana - National Health Federation - Narconon - Oxygen therapy - Q-Ray - Reflexology - Rolfing - Shark cartilage - Shiitake mushroom - Therapeutic touch - Trepanation - Kevin Trudeau - Unani Diet woo: Blood type diet - Caveman diet - Ephedrine - Fad diet - Food woo - Jesus Diet - Lemonade diet- Low-carb diet - Organic food - Raw foodism - Self help | ||
