Alternative medicine

[Guest guest]

On Wed, 3 Mar 1999 01:39:40 -0500 ne M Isbill isbills2@...>

writes:

ne, let me take some excerpts from your posting and make a few

suggestions. First of all, any topic is confusing unless you have a

guide to help you. In the case of alternative medicine, the answer is

simple: Go out and buy " Prescription for Nutritional Healing " by Balch

and Balch. It describes what vitamin, herb, etc. to take for various

problems, and--in spite of its comprehensiveness--it's less than $20. Be

sure to get the " revised and expanded " edition, however. (You should see

that phrase on the top right-hand corner of the cover.) This will help

you immensely. Moreover, if you limit your vitamin, herb, etc. purchases

to well-known, national brands, you will always know what purity and

strength your purchases will be.

Without repeating my sentiments about why it's a Good Thing that the FDA

doesn't have veto power over what I choose to take, I'm not sure that I

agree with the group's " consensus; " if, in fact, such a consensus

exists. There are various substances which we ingest which keep our

bodies healthy. Water, for instance. Is this a drug? Or carbohydrates.

Or protein. These are all necessary for health, and will correct

deficiency symptoms once reintroduced into our diet. Are they drugs?

Recent articles have suggested that cooked tomatoes help prevent prostate

cancer. Are tomatoes drugs? I could go on and on. Please understand

that I'm not making fun of your question. I'm just suggesting that there

is a practical reason for the distinction between drugs and other

substances; and that self-education is preferable to governmental

intrusion into the family dinner hour. Moreover, I--for one--don't want

to have to get a prescription in order to take Tension Tamer Tea.

There are far more deaths from prescription pharmaceuticals, or from

swimming pools, or even from falling off the family ladder than from

vitamins or herbs. In fact--since the tryptophan scare many years

ago--I'm not aware of any alternative medicine deaths; except for the

odd instance where some poor fool takes mega-doses of some substance.

Any activity entails some degree of risk. And, of course, just because

one herb helps someone, doesn't mean it will help everyone; but some

*do* help. Just educate yourself and proceed accordingly.

End of sermon. :-)

Hal

___________________________________________________________________

You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail.

Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com/getjuno.html

or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]