Brushing off TCM as pseudoscience is quite ignorant. There are plenty of legitimate TCM research and verified treatments that have improved the lives of many in the world.
Are you really claiming that TCM and other such pseudosciences have been a net positive for the world? Unproven treatments that may make problems worse, while also encouraging patients to stay away from tested treatments, should play no part in a modern society. If you're in any doubt about this, perhaps you should read 'Bad Science' by Ben Goldacre, which takes a whistle stop tour of such quackery, as well as the various unethical practices undertaken by pharmaceutical companies.
So Goldacre's finding is that unethical practices and unproven treatments exist both in mainstream pharma and "CAM" [1].
So why is your contempt reserved for "CAM"?
> Unproven treatments that may make problems worse, while also encouraging patients to stay away from tested treatments
I keep hearing this but I've only witnessed the opposite.
I've utilised "CAM" for conditions that mainstream medicine couldn't help with (after years of trying to get help from different mainstream practitioners).
Only a combination of treatments from "CAM" modalities (naturopathy, osteopathy, myotherapy, yoga/pilates, limited chiropractic & TCM) has enabled me to get properly well.
Every "CAM" practitioner I saw encouraged me to keep checking in with mainstream doctors, which I did and have continued to do.
My mainstream doctors now look at my test results and just say "whatever you've been doing, keep doing it".
I get that there are horror stories, as there are in many facets of life. But like much of what makes up mainstream news reporting, the very thing that makes them noteworthy is that they are exceptions to the norm.
As someone who has gone about as deep into researching health/medicine as one can without actually undertaking a medical degree, I'm comfortable that the hysterical reactions over "CAM" are overblown.
So, it would seem, are government regulators around the world who are actually looking at the data, otherwise there would be even more stringent controls imposed on practitioners than are already in place.
Dunno - stuff like acupuncture works for pain relief but is still part of TCM. If you have a bad back it probably has a lot less side effects than being put on opioids as is common in the US.
EmbarrassedFuel|7 years ago
tomhoward|7 years ago
So why is your contempt reserved for "CAM"?
> Unproven treatments that may make problems worse, while also encouraging patients to stay away from tested treatments
I keep hearing this but I've only witnessed the opposite.
I've utilised "CAM" for conditions that mainstream medicine couldn't help with (after years of trying to get help from different mainstream practitioners).
Only a combination of treatments from "CAM" modalities (naturopathy, osteopathy, myotherapy, yoga/pilates, limited chiropractic & TCM) has enabled me to get properly well.
Every "CAM" practitioner I saw encouraged me to keep checking in with mainstream doctors, which I did and have continued to do.
My mainstream doctors now look at my test results and just say "whatever you've been doing, keep doing it".
I get that there are horror stories, as there are in many facets of life. But like much of what makes up mainstream news reporting, the very thing that makes them noteworthy is that they are exceptions to the norm.
As someone who has gone about as deep into researching health/medicine as one can without actually undertaking a medical degree, I'm comfortable that the hysterical reactions over "CAM" are overblown.
So, it would seem, are government regulators around the world who are actually looking at the data, otherwise there would be even more stringent controls imposed on practitioners than are already in place.
[1] "Complementary and Alternative Medicine"
paraditedc|7 years ago
Chinese people have been practicing it for thousands years and we are doing just fine in terms of life expectancy, actually better than US.
matthewbauer|7 years ago
tim333|7 years ago
paraditedc|7 years ago
"Traditional" simply means TCM hasn't changed much over the years.