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[poiuy]

I tried the search function but got no results for this topic. 

Assuming a similar thread is not lurking somewhere in the archives from 5 years ago, I would like to hear from others about alternative medicines:  homeopathy, herbal, Ayurveda, acupuncture, hypnosis, just about any other. 

Have you tried any?  For what?  Did it work? 

Or do you think they are all hogwash, and potentially dangerous (e.g. lead or arsenic in homeo remedies)?

I tried homeopathic medicine for acne when I was in my late teens, and each medicine would work for a little while and then stop.  I tried several, then gave up and went back to allopathy, alas.  I've had acne all my adult life, and I still have to take a pulse treatment of antibiotics once every couple of years or so. 

Now I am wondering whether to investigate homeopathy or even acupuncture for some of my son's ADHD type symptoms, but it's difficult to find a good practitioner here. 

Any others' stories?  Any knowledge of clinical trials? 

[secretweapon]

I think they are neither hogwash nor a panacea.  I think it's silly and arrogant to assume that absolutely nothing can be gained from alternative medicine, especially medicines that have been used for hundreds of years.  I find it equally ridiculous that some advocates of alternative medicine (and here I am thinking of friends and acquaintances, not necessarily public advocates) believe that alternative medicine can only do good things.  If you accept that something has the power to work, you have to accept that it could potentially have adverse affects, too.  I hear a lot of, "oh, try it, it's herbal so if it doesn't work it won't do you any harm." 

[licaone]

Of course alternative medicine works. Anything at all works: since most illnesses go away even doing anything, if the person who's ill tries enough cures, or insists enough with one cure, sooner or later he improves, and attribute his recovery whatever he was doing at the time.

[tenured_feminist]

The problem is when people try out alternative herbal medicines figuring they can't hurt and then discover that, wow, they actually do have pharmacological properties that interact with their prescriptions or the other stuff they are taking!

It really scares me when someone (like my FIL) decides to take a little of this Chinese traditional herbal cure alongside that South American herb and combine it with something he picked up off the internet about some cool Navaho remedy.

I would say that if you're going to experiment, TALK TO A PROFESSIONAL. The person doesn't necessarily have to be in your region. And I think it's best if you either stick to one tradition (and a practitioner thereof) or go with stuff that's undergone standard scientific testing.

[madhatter]

Sadly for me, I know too much about science, statistics, and logic to be able to give my trust to alternative medicine.

Also sadly, the tenor of the first handful of posts on this thread is the opposite of what I usually see on other message boards.

[inthelab]

All the evidence is anecdotal, as opposed to hard evidence.  Very few double-blinded clinical trials have been carried out.

Here's a true story about one:  At a cancer meeting, folks presented their prospective trial results on saw palmetto for prostate cancer.  The saw palmetto was donated (a usual practice).  The results were good- too good.  So good that the investigators were suspicious and sent some of the saw palmetto to an independant lab for analysis, which found that the saw plametto had been spiked with the #1 drug for the first-line treatment of androgen-sensitive prostate cancer.

There is no regulation for herbs, vitamins, nutritional supplements, etc.  In the NYC area, the news channels have sent supplements to labs to see what in them: strychnine (a rat poison), arsenic, herbs not listed, you name it.  Even animal feces. 

And homeopathic preps? Even someone with a high school class in chemistry who remembers Avogadro's number can tell you they are nothing but expensive water.

[tenured_feminist]

All the evidence is anecdotal, as opposed to hard evidence.  Very few double-blinded clinical trials have been carried out.

Here's a true story about one:  At a cancer meeting, folks presented their prospective trial results on saw palmetto for prostate cancer.  The saw palmetto was donated (a usual practice).  The results were good- too good.  So good that the investigators were suspicious and sent some of the saw palmetto to an independant lab for analysis, which found that the saw plametto had been spiked with the #1 drug for the first-line treatment of androgen-sensitive prostate cancer.

There is no regulation for herbs, vitamins, nutritional supplements, etc.  In the NYC area, the news channels have sent supplements to labs to see what in them: strychnine (a rat poison), arsenic, herbs not listed, you name it.  Even animal feces. 

And homeopathic preps? Even someone with a high school class in chemistry who remembers Avogadro's number can tell you they are nothing but expensive water.

This is a very important point. Anyone who wants to try one of these preps should find a product that is what it says it is. I think Consumers' Report may have had an issue on this a few years back.

I worry a bit that the total dismissal of herbs as useless will contribute to the misimpression that trying them out can't hurt and, if they're probably useless, there's no need to do any research or consult with anyone. Many herbs have pharmacological properties, and not a lot of testing has been done to figure these things out, especially in combination with other drugs and herbs.

[zharkov]

I recently ordered, this:

Trick or Treatment: The Undeniable Facts about Alternative Medicine
by Simon Singh and Edzard Ernst.

After reading a review, IIRC in the WSJ.

In summary, some of it works to some extent (chiropractic, accupunture, some herbs like St. John's wort), most of it doesn't, based on clinical trials.

[tenured_feminist]

I recently ordered, this:

Trick or Treatment: The Undeniable Facts about Alternative Medicine
by Simon Singh and Edzard Ernst.

After reading a review, IIRC in the WSJ.

In summary, some of it works to some extent (chiropractic, accupunture, some herbs like St. John's wort), most of it doesn't.

This sounds about like my vague memory of what Consumers' Report said. Of course, my FIL would not hear it. My father's into this stuff, too. Gah.

[irhack]

I think Dr. Andrew Weil takes a very sensible approach to this sort of thing. His approach is more focused on stregthening the body's own defenses: by improving one's diet, getting good rest, exercise, air, water.

Before I medicated for ADHD I would be eliminating artificial colorings and flavorings from the kid's diet, and making sure he was getting plenty of exercise every day.

[prof_mom]

I think Dr. Andrew Weil takes a very sensible approach to this sort of thing. His approach is more focused on stregthening the body's own defenses: by improving one's diet, getting good rest, exercise, air, water.

Before I medicated for ADHD I would be eliminating artificial colorings and flavorings from the kid's diet, and making sure he was getting plenty of exercise every day.

This is good advice. Limiting sugar and artificial flavor in the diet might be difficult, but it is a good solution for many kids. You should also turn off the TV (or at least limit screen time to no more than 1 hour per day) and make sure the kid is getting enough sleep. No one knows the long term consequences of using those ADHD drugs on children. The tests on safety were all done on adults and none of them that I have seen examined long term effects.

[zharkov]

One thing that you might investigate for ADHD is mindfulness or meditation.  I don't know if it has been tried for ADHD, but Jon Kabat Zinn at U Mass has been doing some interesting work on mindfulness, as did Herbert Benson years back at BU (IIRC).

[obprof]

You might be interested in this website:

http://www.quackwatch.org/

It is a compendium of articles about various homeopathic, naturopathic, and alternative remedies, written mostly by scientists and MDs.

[namazu]

I started to write a long, more general post, but I don't think I'm sufficiently awake for it to be worthwhile, so I'll stick to the facts instead of editorializing...

One thing that you might investigate for ADHD is mindfulness or meditation.  I don't know if it has been tried for ADHD, but Jon Kabat Zinn at U Mass has been doing some interesting work on mindfulness, as did Herbert Benson years back at BU (IIRC).

There was a recent preliminary study of mindfulness meditation for ADHD.  It was small, and the abstract isn't super-informative, but here it is:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18025249?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

[cms99]

FWIW, my wife started undergoing accupuncture when we were struggling to get pregnant.  It seemed to help, at least in regards to her circulation, and the doctors often wondered if she was getting enough blood to her uterus.  After being married for 10 years without accupuncture and then her starting it I noticed that her feet were never cold anymore, which they always were.