What is your attitude to Western medicine?

thelad95

By Western Medicine, I mean the plethora of pills available for any sort of physical ailment from a headache to heart disease.

From my experience, I think it's gone down the wrong path in that nearly everything is now directed towards treating symptoms instead of finding the cause of physical ailments and creating medicine to eradicate the cause. I don't buy into the big pharma conspiracy theory where cures are hidden but I do believe pharmaceutical companies do direct their efforts to creating symptom cures as opposed to disease cures knowing which is more profitable.

Take for example, the incredibly common condition of acid reflux, also known as heartburn. Any GP quack will tell you that between PPI's and antacids you'll be on medication for the rest of your life. So after millions of years of evolution apparently it's perfectly normal for acid to start flowing up into your throat. Of course there's a cause and cure but it's far more profitable for pharma to churn out treatment drugs which make billions annually.

What are your thoughts?

PARlance

thelad95 wrote: »

By Western Medicine, I mean the plethora of pills available for any sort of physical ailment from a headache to heart disease.

From my experience, I think it's gone down the wrong path in that nearly everything is now directed towards treating symptoms instead of finding the cause of physical ailments and creating medicine to eradicate the cause. I don't buy into the big pharma conspiracy theory where cures are hidden but I do believe pharmaceutical companies do direct their efforts to creating symptom cures as opposed to disease cures knowing which is more profitable.

Take for example, the incredibly common condition of acid reflux, also known as heartburn. Any GP quack will tell you that betwee

You ok OP?

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

I don't know what GP you have experience of but mine advises medication as a last resort. When I had heartburn problems he investigated, found, and rectified the problem. When I had extremely high blood pressure he did the same.

So you are generalising incorrectly. And, let's face it, modern pharmaceuticals have saved many lives and made many more bearable.

Temptamperu

I only use crystals and feather therapy.

MilesMorales1

I find rubbing myself with a chicken while naked in the bath does the trick for various ailments.

feargale

Leeching is your only man.

Tigger

Abdullah Cool Babel wrote: »

I don't know what GP you have experience of but mine advises medication as a last resort. When I had heartburn problems he investigated, found, and rectified the problem. When I had extremely high blood pressure he did the same.

So you are generalising incorrectly. And, let's face it, modern pharmaceuticals have saved many lives and made many more bearable.

i thought you were a gp?

BlinkingLights

feargale wrote: »

Leeching is your only man.

You just dissolve two leeches under your tongue.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Tigger wrote: »

i thought you were a gp?

I'm a Dr. yes but not a medical one.

Grayson

thelad95 wrote: »

Take for example, the incredibly common condition of acid reflux, also known as heartburn. Any GP quack will tell you that between PPI's and antacids you'll be on medication for the rest of your life. So after millions of years of evolution apparently it's perfectly normal for acid to start flowing up into your throat. Of course there's a cause and cure but it's far more profitable for pharma to churn out treatment drugs which make billions annually.

If the acid is caused by a hernia that can be cured by drugs. If, for example in my case, it's caused by a hiatus hernia, then it can be cured by incredibly invasive surgery. Or it can be managed by PPI's and modifying diet.

So I'm not sure what you're getting at?

btw, I'd be dead from meningitis, pneumonia or whooping cough if it wasn't for modern (western) medicine. So I'm more than happy with it.

Wanderer78

id agree to some degree with people like gary null and ellen brown, that there is an element of profiteering with western medicine but i do also accept it has helped saved the lives of millions if not billions. id love to be a fly on the wall in some of the boardrooms of these pharmaceutical companies and within our political departments that have to deal with these industries. id say theres some shocking stuff there.

Pickpocket

Western medicine, alternative medicine, Chinese medicine, etc.

Medicine is medicine.

Not medicine is not medicine.

quadrifoglio verde

thelad95 wrote: »

By Western Medicine, I mean the plethora of pills available for any sort of physical ailment from a headache to heart disease.

From my experience, I think it's gone down the wrong path in that nearly everything is now directed towards treating symptoms instead of finding the cause of physical ailments and creating medicine to eradicate the cause. I don't buy into the big pharma conspiracy theory where cures are hidden but I do believe pharmaceutical companies do direct their efforts to creating symptom cures as opposed to disease cures knowing which is more profitable.

Take for example, the incredibly common condition of acid reflux, also known as heartburn. Any GP quack will tell you that between PPI's and antacids you'll be on medication for the rest of your life. So after millions of years of evolution apparently it's perfectly normal for acid to start flowing up into your throat. Of course there's a cause and cure but it's far more profitable for pharma to churn out treatment drugs which make billions annually.

What are your thoughts?

100 years ago there wasn't a ppi. You got nothing. Perhaps an opioid of some sort for the pain.
We also tend to investigate the cause of heartburn. It's rare that you'd be told take this and go away. Perhaps for the first month or two, but after that it's cause should be examined in case it's something sinister. If its acute, treat the symptoms, chronic investigate the cause. It can be caused by a bacterial infection and although ppis are available over the counter there's a reason why the pharmacist should refer you to a gp if, after two weeks supply of a ppi the symptoms remain

Anyway I digress. Modern medicine has done wonders at increasing life expectancy. However the net effect of that are the whole problems that an increase in life expectancy brings. Increased pressure on hospital beds, nursing homes, home help services and social welfare services.
Yes you might live longer than your grandparents and have a better quality of life in your 70s compared to your grandparents in their 70s. However you'll also have a good chance of surviving into your 80s which you'll spend burying your friends, being fed through a tube, unable to get it up and ****ting into a bag.
And you may develop dementia/Alzheimer's.

The thing that annoys me most about modern medicine? They tell you it increases life expectancy!
What they never tell you however is that those extra years are the difference between dying in your nineties and not your eighties. Look at a ninety year old and ask yourself do you ever want to be that old!
Those extra years sadly don't come in your twenties so I say enjoy the hangover and the tasty foods

ToddyDoody

Google your symptoms and see what else may be available. It might be just a lack of love, for instance.

quadrifoglio verde

ToddyDoody wrote: »

Google your symptoms and see what else may be available. It might be just a lack of love, for instance.

No matter what your symptoms, doctor google will always diagnose death is on the way

ToddyDoody

quadrifoglio verde wrote: »

No matter what your symptoms, doctor google will always diagnose death is on the way

It is anyway irregardless

Esel

They has de best drugs.

Elemonator

I don't think its like that at all. There are many different ailments under the same name which ultimately means that one cannot be treated with a drug for another. There isn't always a cure for many things. Modern medicine has made life bearable for some, though it can be prohibitively expensive.

MonkieSocks

thelad95 wrote: »

Acid reflux,

Eat a stick of chalk....that will cure it

sjb25

Damn right OP i go to this guy for migraines he doesn't take medical cards tho

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fztZQyjQ_CQ

robindch

thelad95 wrote: »

From my experience, I think it's gone down the wrong path in that nearly everything is now directed towards treating symptoms instead of finding the cause of physical ailments and creating medicine to eradicate the cause.

I suggest you set up your own "Big Pharma" company and create an actual cure.

If you're right, well, the billions are there just for the taking - aren't they?

BTW, would I be right in thinking that you've no medical or scientific training of any kind?

odyssey06

Western medicine is also antibiotics, vaccines and advanced surgery techniques ... so I reject the opening narrow definition of western medicine.
If you have a problem, that could kill you, western medicine has to be your first resort. Western medicine is powerful.

Is Western medicine as good when it comes to niggling, chronic complaints?
Pills can help to manage the symptoms, but sometimes you need less power and more time to solve things.

Evolution probably hasn't even caught up with agriculture yet, we're supposed to be hunter gatherers.
We're not supposed to have to worry about widespread infectious diseases such as smallpox or flu, because hunter gatherer population densities are too low to support them. They need crowds and even better, herd animals.
So evolution hasn't equipped us for sedentary modern life. Or highly processed foods. Or living past 60.
Evolution starts to care less and less about you past 60, because natural selection is going to apply more pressure to those for whom reproduction and rearing offspring is at stake.

Maybe having too much acid in your stomach was an advantage when you were only able to get tough or slightly off meat, or uncooked meat... not an advantage when everything is juicy tender fillet... All that acid breaking down the meat and anything nasty clinging onto it.
Humans who evolved to gorge on high calorie and high fat food when available, and carry some extra weight, maybe they made it through the tough times that took out leaner humans. Not an issue as long as you aren't in an environment when such food is available 24x7, or where its adverse consequences in the shape of heart disease don't catch up with you until you're over 60... and likely dead already or past the point where you are passing on DNA.

Shenshen

I have a husband who, in the last 5 years, suffered kidney stones, a heat attack and is currently in hospital with a staphylococcus infection getting antibiotic IVs.

If it wasn't for "Western" medicine, he would have suffered immense pain and be dead by now.
Overall, I would say I'm rather satisfied with what modern medicine has achieved.

sjb25

sjb25 wrote: »

Damn right OP i go to this guy for migraines he doesn't take medical cards tho

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fztZQyjQ_CQ

You should start a facebook campaign/ candlelight vigil/march on the dail..
Have people holding signs..appeal to simon harris..itl work..

evolving_doors

ToddyDoody wrote: »

Google your symptoms and see what else may be available. It might be just a lack of love, for instance.

Tut tut... using western communication. Could you not use homing pigeon to send a request to a shaman?

xLisaBx

Life expectancy has risen considerably, and continues to rise, due to the advances of modern medicine. Isn't that what nature boils down to anyway? Survival?

Medicine and science are only trying to advance nature and make our species survive, which is what other animals do (in different ways). I don't see a problem here?

Shenshen

Shenshen wrote: »

I have a husband who, in the last 5 years, suffered kidney stones, a heat attack and is currently in hospital with a staphylococcus infection getting antibiotic IVs.

If it wasn't for "Western" medicine, he would have suffered immense pain and be dead by now.
Overall, I would say I'm rather satisfied with what modern medicine has achieved.

I hope he has a speedy recovery, Shenshen. And I hope you're doing ok too.

OP, without western medicine I'd be dead ten years, so I personally love it.

meeeeh

I love it. Especially horse strength painkillers. They are great when you want to get stoned.

Big pharma man

Shenshen

Candie wrote: »

I hope he has a speedy recovery, Shenshen. And I hope you're doing ok too.

OP, without western medicine I'd be dead ten years, so I personally love it.

He's recovering well, thanks
It just winds me up if people whinge about "Western" medicine when it can't cure something as minor as heartburn instantaneously, when so many people every single day have their lives saved and their suffering reduced thanks to it.

Of course it can't cure everything yet - it's well possible that it never will be able to cure everything. And yes, it is expensive. Very expensive. But if you've been to a hospital and seen the equipment, if you ever read up on how long it can take to develop a new drug, how many tests and trials are needed and how many legal stages there are to getting it accredited, you might just realise that there has to be a price tag to all this.

But if my husband had had his heart attack 20 years ago, his chances of survival would have been far lower. And I honestly can't thank modern medicine and "big pharma" enough for saving him.

Academic

thelad95 wrote: »

By Western Medicine, I mean the plethora of pills available for any sort of physical ailment from a headache to heart disease.

[...]

This is a pretty unique definition of "Western medicine," to put it mildly.

farmerwifelet

as Dara O'Brian says when you are hit by a car do you want a (western) medical doctor or the person shouting "stand back everyone im an aromoatherapist i can save them"?

im opting for the MD and the pills

Dara O'Briain : The reason it's called 'alternative medicine' is because if it worked, it'd just be called 'medicine'.

bnt

That's pretty much it: talking about Western vs. other medicines is a false dichotomy. Ever taken the bark of a white willow tree for pain? You have - or a purified or synthesised form - since it was trademarked by Bayer as "aspirin". One of the latest therapies for MS is derived from an insect-eating fungus that has been used in some Chinese medicine, though not for MS.

The other thing the OP might not get abouut "Western" medicine is the incredibly high standard of testing required before a drug can be sold. Multiple phases of testing to fine-tune the dosage, identify side effects, and gauge the effectiveness of the drug over time.

ROVER_1912

i discovered how to make lsd on the internet

what a wonderful world

BalcombeSt4

I like it a lot. Valium, Xanax & Codeine are my favs. Oh yea Zimos you gotta have Zimos.

Ayuntamiento

Realistically the plethora of pills that 'big pharma' have developed are in response to the fact that most people are lazy and want to pop a tablet rather than address the underlying issue that's causing their diabetes/blood pressure/high cholesterol, etc.
I have none of the aforementioned health issues because I run 60 miles per week, eat sensibly and have never smoked. I work with people who have every chronic health issue under the sun. I know for a fact that they could be 'cured' if they put the same hard work that I do into into maintaining their health.
God help the poor GP who actually calls you out on the fact that you're fat and basically killing yourself through your own inertia. If the aim of GP is customer satisfaction (it is a business after all) they may as well prescribe you a pill rather than tell you the truth.

snowflaker

Homeopathy ftw


bollox, give me ALL the pills!!!!

Capt'n Midnight

Once upon a time there was ye olde medicine.

Then it split into "alternative medicine" and the stuff that's proven to work.



That said For PROFIT medicine needs to be eradicated.
- Because of the need to pay for CAT scanners 1% of cancer in the US is caused by CAT scans.
- Big Pharma marketing in the USA and profit taking far outstrip the amount spent on R&D
- Big Pharma is only profitable during the patent phase, there is next to zero customer loyalty , so it's more or less a hostage situation.
- the insane costs of patented drug are the main reason a million people die every year from counterfeits

Capt'n Midnight

snowflaker wrote: »

Homeopathy ftw

yore doing it rong.

homeopathy works better when there's less of it :P

Graces7

Ayuntamiento wrote: »

Realistically the plethora of pills that 'big pharma' have developed are in response to the fact that most people are lazy and want to pop a tablet rather than address the underlying issue that's causing their diabetes/blood pressure/high cholesterol, etc.
I have none of the aforementioned health issues because I run 60 miles per week, eat sensibly and have never smoked. I work with people who have every chronic health issue under the sun. I know for a fact that they could be 'cured' if they put the same hard work that I do into into maintaining their health.
God help the poor GP who actually calls you out on the fact that you're fat and basically killing yourself through your own inertia. If the aim of GP is customer satisfaction (it is a business after all) they may as well prescribe you a pill rather than tell you the truth.

That is very harsh indeed.

I was fit and careful and all you say when I fell ill. Highly trained in advanced classsical ballet Did not drink or smoke ,, careful diet

My problem with some aspects of Western meds, when you are on eg a medical card and have a condition difficlut to diagnose, is the pelthora of pills for every symptom

When i finally after 30 years gt the correct name for my illness, I was on 28 pills a day.. some to counter the side effects of the others.

I got myself off everything including benzos and now take only what I absolutely need and I decide what that is. and check everything offered.

Western meds can save and heal but it can also destroy. Had I not taken matters into my own hands?

Shenshen

Graces7 wrote: »

That is very harsh indeed.

I was fit and careful and all you say when I fell ill. Highly trained in advanced classsical ballet Did not drink or smoke ,, careful diet

My problem with some aspects of Western meds, when you are on eg a medical card and have a condition difficlut to diagnose, is the pelthora of pills for every symptom

When i finally after 30 years gt the correct name for my illness, I was on 28 pills a day.. some to counter the side effects of the others.

I got myself off everything including benzos and now take only what I absolutely need and I decide what that is. and check everything offered.

Western meds can save and heal but it can also destroy. Had I not taken matters into my own hands?

I would argue that this is neither the fault of the science of medicine in general, nor of the pharma industry, it's a failing on behalf of your doctors to diagnose correctly.
Not that I'd blame them, I understand that the single most difficult aspect in treating any illness is diagnosing it correctly. There are only so many symptoms a human being will display, and they could point to so many different things actually going wrong underneath the skin.
Some things are easy enough to identify, such as broken bones, but if you're trying to find the cause of, say, recurring migraines it can take years of observation and tests.

Jrop

While I advocate eating healthily and exercising. I think it can dangerous to go the 'alternative medicine' route.
Like the woman in New Zealand who thinks a vegan diet will cure her breast cancer.

Your Face

thelad95 wrote: »

By Western Medicine, I mean the plethora of pills available for any sort of physical ailment from a headache to heart disease.

So its pills you don't like.

Western medicine is keeping my girlfriend alive and those stomach acid tablets you're on about stop her stomach from eating itself as a side effect of the steroids.

Should she just walk it off and accept the five-years-till-you-die prognosis that existed for her a few decades ago?

Mrs OBumble

If anything from alternative medicine works, we call it "medicine".

sbsquarepants

MonkieSocks wrote: »

Eat a stick of chalk....that will cure it

Must be what my baby is trying to tell me - she can't see a stick of chalk without an irresistible urge to eat it!:D

Jawgap

farmerwifelet wrote: »

as Dara O'Brian says when you are hit by a car do you want a (western) medical doctor or the person shouting "stand back everyone im an aromoatherapist i can save them"?

im opting for the MD and the pills

Yep, I'll forego my adherence to 'western medicine' when I see "Homeopaths Sans Frontieres" tackle and contain an ebola outbreak

Graces7

Shenshen wrote: »

I would argue that this is neither the fault of the science of medicine in general, nor of the pharma industry, it's a failing on behalf of your doctors to diagnose correctly.
Not that I'd blame them, I understand that the single most difficult aspect in treating any illness is diagnosing it correctly. There are only so many symptoms a human being will display, and they could point to so many different things actually going wrong underneath the skin.
Some things are easy enough to identify, such as broken bones, but if you're trying to find the cause of, say, recurring migraines it can take years of observation and tests.

I agree with some of your words ie it was a total failiure by GPs etc. Disagree with what I have bolded.

But then this was the NHS in the UK then medical card here and if you have private health care here that is a very different matter. You can call the shots.

And the misdiagnosis lasted 30 years as inappropriate meds were masking reality and doing great and permanent damage.

Which is with me until the end of my days now

I have no trust left in drs frankly. None. Or basically for me in what they practice.

In the UK drs have same power as the priests used to have here and are all but impossible to deal with sensibly.

I got myself off damaging and highly addictive meds with no help except a wonderful internet group
So trust if you choose. I do not .
:eek:
Currently without a GP since my move, and I think I will leave it like that. Have had enough.

Oh and if you think well she does not give them a chance? The mess they have left my wrist in after a simple break ....

And yes I am very glad you get good care and I mean that. I really and honestly do. Bless you!

And the OP did ask !

Graces7

Deleted User wrote: »

Western medicine is keeping my girlfriend alive and those stomach acid tablets you're on about stop her stomach from eating itself as a side effect of the steroids.

Should she just walk it off and accept the five-years-till-you-die prognosis that existed for her a few decades ago?

Of course she should not do that. So glad you have the right care for her. Agree re acid reflux; finally learned by accident that mine is part of my auto immune issues.

Took almost 40 years to see that though!

Graces7

thelad95 wrote: »

By Western Medicine, I mean the plethora of pills available for any sort of physical ailment from a headache to heart disease.

From my experience, I think it's gone down the wrong path in that nearly everything is now directed towards treating symptoms instead of finding the cause of physical ailments and creating medicine to eradicate the cause. I don't buy into the big pharma conspiracy theory where cures are hidden but I do believe pharmaceutical companies do direct their efforts to creating symptom cures as opposed to disease cures knowing which is more profitable.

Take for example, the incredibly common condition of acid reflux, also known as heartburn. Any GP quack will tell you that between PPI's and antacids you'll be on medication for the rest of your life. So after millions of years of evolution apparently it's perfectly normal for acid to start flowing up into your throat. Of course there's a cause and cure but it's far more profitable for pharma to churn out treatment drugs which make billions annually.

What are your thoughts?

Someone close to me had appalling acid reflux for a physical reason. Wanting to get away from chemicals, we got slippery elm lozenges and no more acid reflux. and no side effects.