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Welcome to Healthacres.com: The cutting edge of complimentary medicine. The purpose of this blog is to share with others some of the most recent scientific research on complimentary and alternative medicine, examined in the light of careful scientific review on the one hand, while providing the non-technical reader with practical suggestions based on this research.
The problem: There exists in the world of science and medicine today a huge gap between conventional medicine, as is taught in most medical schools, and the field of complimentary medicine which is growing more popular. Conventional doctors and the scientists whose research backs them view much of complimentary medicine as a fraud, propagated by “quacks” and charlatans who seek to take advantage of an unsuspecting public, who in some cases are desperate for solutions to difficult medical problems. The world of complementary doctors and the scientists who back them see the world of conventional medicine as a huge conspiracy of doctors, scientists and drug companies to reap huge profits on an unsuspecting public, calling into question many of the most important advances in modern medicine such as antibiotics and vaccines, which saved so many lives from the scourge of infectious diseases. In many cases, few if any individuals are open enough to examine the absolute merit of each approach in the light of clear scientific methodology and critical analysis.
The story: I, the author of this blog was originally trained as a research biochemist, at a major American university A few years into the beginning of my career, I developed an increasing set of medical problems which involved allergies, asthma, and later a strange illness which left me feeling exhausted and achy as if I had a chronic case of the flu. At first, after going from doctor to doctor, and put through a battery of tests for almost every infections agent (bacteria, virus and parasite) at the time, the doctors were baffled and could come up with nothing which could account for my condition. As some doctors are still want to do, some doctors concluding that my condition was surely psychological, or psychosomatic in nature. It would be many, many years later that a doctor would finally tell me that I suffer from fibromyalgia, and then basically tell me that there was nothing much he could do to help me cope with the illness. Like most that were trained in my field, I was deeply skeptical of alternative/complementary medicine, which I viewed as “snake oil” of little real value, echoing the attitudes of my professors and mentors. Diet, vitamins and supplements were the domain the “pseudo-science”, and not real science I thought at the time. Yet, faced with an illness which had no available treatment (at the time) from conventional medicine, I eyed with interest reports of health benefits of dietary changes, supplementation with vitamins and other natural products, and other alternative approaches to health. Yet, I could not overcome my own skepticism on the value of these which came from the scientific training, to ever really try to see if any of these approaches could help me with this painful and debilitating disease, fibromyalgia.
What changed my attitude was a medical problem which if faced in 1997: a torn meniscus in my left knee. In 1997 I had an accident while swimming which would result in a torn meniscus in my left knee, in which my left knee was locked entirely. After visits to orthopedists, I would undergo arthroscopic surgery (two months after the initial accident), to remove the damaged cartilage in the knee. When I woke of from the surgery, I was told that my meniscus had been torn in two places, and folded over upon itself, and the surgeon removed half of the cartilage in the knee. I woke up with my knee straightened out for the first time since the accident, and felt confident that I would soon walk again, buoyed by the doctors who told me to expect to be “back to normal” in a few weeks. What followed was another four months in which I was unable to walk. More orthopedic doctors, and many sessions of physiotherapy did not help. Six months after the initial accident, I still could not walk, and even the doctors could find no reason for my problem. Each examined my knee, looked at x-rays and said that could see no reason why I could not walk. Yet, I felt a sense of weakness in the muscles of the left leg. Months on crutches and in a wheelchair had left the muscles with no strength, and to doctors and physiotherapists could not understand why I could not walk. Finally, in desperation, my brother-in-law suggested that a see a nutritional counselor. I was, to say the least, very skeptical, but at this point, I figured that it was worth a try. I went to see his nutritional counselor; a women trained at the same university as myself, and described in detail my problems, mainly with my left knee, but including my problems with allergy, asthma and fibromyalgia. She reeled off a list of supplements and vitamins which I copied down in detail, while thinking to myself that it was all a huge waste of time and money. The list included numerous suggestions of vitamins and cofactors, and something new which she called “nutraceuticals”. I went out and bought the items on the list, still muttering to myself about how anyone could believe that these “snake oil” pills could really help. When it came time to start taking the items on the list to try them out, I decided to try first simple multivitamin supplement made by a well-known manufacturer. I took the huge orange tablet thinking what a waste of time and money this is, but going through the motions because I wanted to be able to tell my brother-in-law that I had tried his suggestion. To my utter surprise and shock, I felt within the next hour a major change in the muscles in my legs (and elsewhere). I felt a clear strengthening of the muscles which had not functioned for over half a year, and within a few hours, tried to walk again without my crutches. To my amazement, I succeeded in walking! I could not believe it! By the next morning, I was walking again unaided, and did not need the crutches again. In the world of science, this story would be called “anecdotal evidence”. This is merely a story, which lacks the control and planning of a scientific experiment which can draw scientific conclusions. Yet for me, this story changed the way I look at the field of complementary/alternative medicine. Bottom line: it worked! How it worked, and why it worked, I don’t know. Yet for me, as a trained scientific researcher whose motto was “prove it to me”, this incident would change the way I looked at an entire field.
Since then, I proceeded to take a much more careful look into diet, supplements and other aspects of complementary, alternative and nutritional medicine for other chronic health problems from which I suffer: fibromyalgia, allergies, asthma, and inflammatory bowel disease amongst others. I have carefully researched the subject over the last 10 years trying to look at some of the most current reports in the research literature, as best I could. I read a lot, analyzed and compared, and conducted experiments on myself with various approaches to diet and supplements. I would like to use this blog to share the results of what I have learned and the results of the experiments I conducted. I would also hope that others who have experiences and anecdotes to report would share their observations with me that I could try to broaden and correlate the basis of what I have now. First, the bottom line: I do not promise a wonder cure to any of the problems described above or any other problems. The research results are still out, and what little research has been done is not always conclusive. Even the experiments I conducted on myself are only the results observed for one person. Each of us has a tremendous genetic diversity. What applies to one, or works for one, does not necessarily apply or work for the next person. In the scientific sense, my experiments on myself lacked a proper control, and represent a statistical sample group of n=1, hardly enough the draw conclusions. Yet, I wish to share what I have found with others, and what I have learned. Instead of putting this all into an e-book which would sell for $29.99 promising that with one click you can be free of fibromyalgia, I have opted to put all the information into the blog for everyone to see, for free. The most important part of the bottom line: much of what I have now come upon after the years of studying, research and self-experimentation has helped a lot. I am not cured of anything described above, but I am far better than before I began all of this using the protocols which I will describe here in detail. It is my hope that some of you will also share with me some of your “anecdotal experiences” in these areas, if you have them. Perhaps we will learn together new things which can help each other. Perhaps if enough “anecdotal evidence” accumulates, some sophisticated analysis, correlation and statistics may shed some light on medical facts to be learned from all the “anecdotal” episodes. Of course, then some enterprising scientist may start a more rigorous clinical study to formally test the efficacy of something found from these anecdotes, and report to the medical and scientific community the results. Nonetheless, the internet allows unprecedented levels of communication and interaction, which if properly used, can take the millions of seemingly unconnected “anecdotal stories” and weave the proper understanding of the patterns that may underlie some of them. Perhaps some of us can help point the way, in some way large or small. That’s what this blog hopes to be all about. If it succeeds, and some people are healthier because of it, than I think it will be worth all the effort.
Of course now is the time to say, as I will be printing on every page of this blog, over and over again, that anyone who chooses to try any of the protocols, diets described in these pages does so solely on their own responsibility. The author of this blog states that each person must consult with his/her medical caretaker/authorities to advise on the safety of anything they wish to take, do, or any dietary change which they wish to undertake. Some of you are allergic to specific things which I am not, and some things described here could be dangerous for you. Some of you are taking specific drugs which could interact with some of the things described here in a dangerous way, or cause the drug therapy to loose its efficacy. No one should do anything without first consulting with her/her doctor(s), and the author of the blog takes no responsibility for the consequences of anyone who fails to consult with the proper medical authorities.
With all that said, the author summarizes: as a trained scientist, I still say prove it. But my mind is much more open now to new directions and approaches which I once considered worthless. At the same time, I do not believe every report of another vitamin/supplement which makes claims to “cure what ails you”, but rather, I look for a solid scientific basis behind the approach, and at least some solid research to support it. There are definitely some charlatans out there in the world of complementary medicine. And I also think there are some drugs, therapies and techniques of conventional medicine which have much bigger problems and much smaller benefits than their manufacturers are willing to admit. Yet, I also don’t believe in the “big pharma” hysteria which discredits every drug and technique developed in conventional medicine as part of a huge conspiracy. Some of that also goes on, and each case should be judged carefully looking at all the available research evidence on its own merits. The process of making such judgments on both conventional and alternative therapies is not the job of one person, or even one review board of a prominent scientific journal. In some cases certain issues would take years to sort out and come to the appropriate conclusion. If we start now, and use the unprecedented power of the internet to communicate, perhaps we can move a little closer to those conclusions.
To illustrate this, I would like to give a little story from my own scientific background. As a graduate student, I worked in a prominent laboratory which discovered and characterized one of the important proteins of the epidermis, the skin. Our laboratory was in direct conflict with another major laboratory on the chemical nature of this protein. We made our claims, and the other lab had other conflicting results, which they claimed. We published paper after paper making our claims, and attempted to prove them in multiple studies. The other lab published their own series of papers proving their results. This argument went on for many years through the medium of peer-reviewed scientific journals. It would take many years before the weight of evidence, and other labs would confirm the results claimed by our labs, which is the accepted view today. How could the two labs have such a fundamental disagreement on what seems like a straight forward issue? Science makes use of tools and methodologies. Sometimes seemingly insignificant minute details of a particular technique and procedure could make all the difference in the results of an experiment. Sometimes, careful analysis of results, even when backed by statistics fail to interpret properly the data which was produced, which always is subject to the need for proper interpretation. These are small examples of why science is not always “True-False”, “Right-Wrong”. Some issues are just much more complex then any of us would like to admit or deal with.
With that in mind, let us hope that we can encourage a dialog and interchange of competing views on this blog, which will help to expose through critical analysis, the proper directions in certain medical and scientific issues under discussion. People who only want to make a buck are not interested in competing views or critical analysis that comes only when one’s findings are challenged. They are looking for propaganda which will drive their advertising campaigns designed to get you to push to “pay now” in the checkout section of their site. Some of you may indeed also decide to buy certain things based on what is written in this blog, but let us hope that it comes not though propaganda advertising the “make the sale”, but rather through intelligent discourse and consideration which airs all sides of an issue, for everyone to hear and decide. I hope we reach our goal together.