Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Alternative Medicine

I believe that, at times, alternative medicine can work wonders as an adjunct to traditional treatments. For example, I have used acupuncture very successfully to eliminate severe pain caused by neuralgia. Traditional medicine could only offer painkillers which were not the permanent solution that acupuncture proved to be. Many people who suffer from arthritis look to acupuncture to relieve their pain for several weeks at a time instead of taking traditional painkillers on an ongoing basis.

I am the first to admit that not all alternative therapies are worth considering. Case in point, we hear more and more about the benefits of drinking “liquid gold” i.e. one’s urine. Its proponents, or urophagists (the technical term for urine drinkers), say that traces of substances that cause illness are secreted through urine and that when these are reintroduced into the body antibodies are produced to fight the problem.  Proponents add that urine drinking eliminates the need for medication or surgery, yet people in China and India have been drinking liquid gold for centuries and have not eliminated the need for medical attention.

         Although it is said that urine is safe to consume unless someone has an infection I think I’ll stick to tea. It has a lower grossness factor.

When it comes to alternative therapies, I think we should all make certain we fully understand how they work. I don’t think I would object to beer baths now the rage in spas in some parts of Europe. The idea is that beer rejuvenates the skin while soothing muscles and joints to reduce the use of traditional painkillers. However, I would think twice before getting maggot debridement therapy although it has surfaced because of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. It is reported that maggots can actually dissolve infected tissue where antibiotics have proven useless. Who knows? This might one day replace antibiotic treatments.

And leech therapy used for blood detoxification is being hailed by some celebrities as having rejuvenating properties. Perhaps that’s true, but once after swimming in a lake I was covered with leeches when I got out. I can testify to the fact that having to pull them out one after the other negated any possible positive effect, in my mind at least!