Kathleen has a relevant post up about ht use of holistic medicine in "treating" children's medical issues. Growing up in the church this was common practice since going to doctor's was strictly prohibited. That anointed cloth was the cure all along with lemon juice, honey, vinegar and whisky for colds and Mogen David wine for cuts and scrapes.
There are lots of bright, loving parents out there who are afraid of or have a problem with medical science. So when their kids get sick, they "treat" them with "alternative medicines." What's wrong with that?
First of all, most parents aren't familiar with the course a disease takes, so they can mistake what appears to be "getting better" for actually getting worse, much, much worse.
Second, "alternative medicines" that have stood the test of time--that work--aren't called alternative medicine; they're called medicine. Props to Tim Minchin.
Here's why you don't want to "treat" your child with holistic medicines to the exclusion of proper care from a licensed healthcare provider: In a heartbreaking case, Tamara Lovett, a Canadian mom from Calgary, Alberta "treated" her seven-year- old son, Ryan, who was sick with not just one, but several treatable illnesses, with "holistic medicines." He died. Had she taken him promptly to a medical doctor, he would be alive today. She stood trial and was found guilty of "failing to provide the necessaries of life, causing death." I don't want that to happen to you. More important, I don't want your child to die unnecessarily.
Now there is reason to be concerned about the over-use of antibiotics, and you should talk to a licensed healthcare provider if you are wondering about that. There's also a very helpful book available to help you talk intelligently with that doctor. Breaking the Antibiotic Habit: A Parent's Guide to Coughs, Colds, Ear Infections, and Sore Throats by Paul A. Offit, MD. Caution: reading this book, even repeatedly, does not make you a licensed healthcare provider, and you need to take your child to a real one. Use this book to help you have intelligent conversations with healthcare providers.So if you like using, say, "aroma therapy," knock yourself out; it will make your house smell good. But when your kids are sick, for God's sake, for your own sake, and most importantly for your children's sake, take them to a licensed healthcare provider.
Dying for God's Sake
10 comments:
This is the quackery that the con artist Bob Thiel make money with. He is a peddler of holistic pills and other quackery. The "Dr.'s" that worked for the church infirmary in Pasadena made a fortune off of selling these useless pills and other "organic" junk to students, employees and church members who were not smart enough to go to a real doctor.
An obscene amount of members and children have died in COG circles from easily treated ailments like appendicitis. HWAs own wife died from an easily treated ailment that could have been solved with minor surgery.
Bob Thiel is close to being a "witch doctor" IMHO.
Balance, balance, balance! Obviously, you wouldn't get a Chiropractor to adjust your spine for as treatment for syphilis. An antibiotic prescribed by an MD would be the appropriate measure.
There are times when a holistic approach can help you in maintaining good health, but people take things to extremes, and attempt to treat life-threatening conditions that require deeper measures with fasting or eating garlic, and then are surprised that death ends up being the result. There are also extremes in overuse of antibiotics, causing superbugs that are drug resistant.
Adults with crackpot ideas and practices should not be allowed to impose those practices on their children when they could result in permanent damage or death. Freedoms are all subject to regulation to protect those who lack common sense from their own stupidity.
BB
I still have a sister who is so befuddled by this nonsense that she and her husband will not get flu shots, apparently because a virus caught her right after she had one and she blamed the shot. I've known others who concluded the same thing, but they never bothered to check with a qualified medical expert to see if their conclusions were valid. My wife and I get them every September, and if I might happen to contract a cold right after one, I certainly would not blame the shot. So far, we have never had influenza, but we have had an occasional cold. They are two totally different things. Her doctor told my wife thirty or forty years ago to never let herself get the flu after she survived a very serious infection and asthma. We do everything we can to take advantage of immunisations and both of us have been protected against shingles. My poor mother had that, and it was horrible.
Allen C. Dexter
In all of human history, vaccinations have been the most effective way of lessening children's deaths and children's suffering.
Remember the "iron long" days of my childhood? They're a relic of the past now, thanks to polio eradication. That disease seriously handicapped a former president. I have an elderly friend who has been blind most of his life, due to measles. Those diseases should be going extinct, and they would, except for opinionated and totally stupid people.
Allen C. Dexter
Holistic Medicine is fine if its for you as an adult. I go to one of these doctors (who is a MD also) and when he tells me that a chemical method works great and quick I use it.
Day to day all of us can take care of ourselves but when something that we are not sure of requires a more knowledgeable opinion.
Like one of the commenter's here noted, we cannot know the course a unknown disease may take. We do not have the training. Like Bob says, BALANCE!
It suddenly dawned on me why the placebo ginseng is so valued in Chinese and other alternative treatment regimens. To get it out of the ground, you have to dig holes. That makes it holistic.
"Here's why you don't want to treat your child with holistic medicine -in a heart breaking case . . ."
Another example of an extreme event made out to be the norm!
Let's conveniently overlook the fact that medical errors and screw ups have been labeled the third leading cause of deaths in the U.S., approximately 250-400 thousand/year! But hey, that's ok!
"Here's why you don't want to treat your child with holistic medicine -in a heart breaking case . . ."
Another example of an extreme event made out to be the norm!
Let's conveniently overlook the fact that medical errors and screw ups have been labeled the third leading cause of deaths in the U.S., approximately 250-400 thousand/year! But hey, that's ok!
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