Purpose of modern medicine: no obstacle to economic growth

[greentara]

New research shows:




HALF of the benefit of taking sleeping pills comes from the placebo effect, according to a new study.

Researchers in Britain and America say that the effectiveness of drugs including Sonata and Ambien "is of questionable clinical importance" once the placebo effect is taken into account

[greentara]

Overweight children in China, for drugmakers it's a boon! "While first borns start out smaller than siblings, they gain weight faster and are bigger as adults, a trajectory that increases obesity risk and may explain why China's diabetes prevalence has more than tripled in a decade, said Chong.
"You have a whole group of first borns growing up in China who are all at a slightly higher risk for obesity and diabetes than in other societies," said Chong, an obstetrician who is investigating the origins of diabetes on the island-nation of Singapore, where 74 per cent of residents are ethnically Chinese.

Their findings will help shape new approaches to preventing diabetes and other chronic diseases that Health Minister Chen Zhu says threaten to sap the labor force and slow the pace of economic growth.

For drugmakers such as Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly, the metabolic condition is a boon for revenue. Sales of diabetes medicines in China will expand 20 per cent a year to reach $US3.2 billion by 2016, consulting firm IMS Health says."

[corrine]

Just personal experience.

I live a very healthy lifestyle. However, i am a full time volunteer in a public institution and am exposed on a regular basis to people who are sick with communicable diseases including all sorts of viral and bacterial illnesses. From time to time I catch one of these because I am regularly sneezed and coughed on. I have tried, at those times, to just use natural methods to get well. Sometimes this works. At other times it does not and at those times it is only modern antibiotics that have saved my life. Last year I became extremely ill with bronchitis but had decided that I would not use modern medicine. This was a mistake and ended up with my being bedridden for much longer than necessary.

The young may be able to overcome all illness on their own, though I doubt it having nursed others with cancer, heart failure etc., but I am old and my body no longer is able to deal with serious illness on its own. I have learned through experience to recognize that which can be overcome naturally and that which cannot. I could just choose to die naturally, I suppose, but I do not think that my work is finished yet.

I have found that absolutes such as all modern medicine is a racket or that all natural medicine is incapable of healing, are usually wrong. Between black and white there are many shades of gray.

corrine

[greentara]

Some slick operator in the USA is marketing 'Raspberry Ketone Ultra drops' as a sure fire weight loss program. I've been getting emails from overseas from excited friends about the product. Apparently the sales of the 'ultra drops' have gone wild. Upon further research I don't think there have been any respected clinical trials yet. It shows how deregulated the market has become.

[justsit]

It shows how deregulated the market has become.

It also shows PT Barnum was right.

[greentara]

NASA has invented a lightbulb that promises a remedy for sleepless nights at a cost of $450,000 each. The light strip is designed to help astronauts on the International Space Station, but the technology is expected to become available to the public in the next few years.

The bulb helps regulate the release of melatonin, the key sleep hormone, by changing colour in the night

[mandala]

You don't see many doctors out there at the front line presenting medical objections against pollution from the new factory opening near a residential area, opposing new highways which will cause lung problems from all the increased particulate matter in the air, opposing the increasing work hours most people are undertaking which always takes a bodily and psychic toll, opposing nuclear plants, or doing anything in general to promote health in a preventative matter.

This struck me as a really interesting point. While I appreciate modern medicine in the event of trauma and injuries, their main objective does seem to be damage control. They are certainly not championing the cause for a healthier and environmentally safer community. I find it ironic to be in the hospital waiting room next to a vending machine full of junk food and sugar drinks.
I've been scoffed at by medical 'specialists' for inquiring if there was an alternative to taking HRT (hormone replacment therapy). And don't even get me started about the number of doctors who've expressed 'concern' about being a vegetarian - if the people looking after our health believe in the propaganda from the big business meat, dairy and sugar industries (and not even talking about big pharma kickbacks) then it's hardly surprising we're getting fatter and sicker.

I get it - the job of doctors is to cut you open and sew you back up & get the bed freed up asap - but then what? This is what bothers me, there's a total disconnect between modern medicine and you, as not just a body part but a person with feelings and a history and lifestyle. I'm yet to feel like I've ever been treated like a 'whole person' by a medical professional.. just a body part or a diagnosis or a test result that that matches up with pricey medications.

What I'd like to see is doctors who recognise they can only offer a 'damage control' service - and are taught about traditional medicines/alternative therapies enough to offer a choice of referrals for preventative and holistic health care(instead of laughing in your face when you ask if there are alternatives to meds or surgery). It's a pretty big ask, but more likely (imo) than doctors taking diet, mental health, lifestyle and preventive health seriously themselves.

[justsit]

[What I'd like to see is doctors who recognise they can only offer a 'damage control' service - and are taught about traditional medicines/alternative therapies enough to offer a choice of referrals for preventative and holistic health care(instead of laughing in your face when you ask if there are alternatives to meds or surgery). It's a pretty big ask, but more likely (imo) than doctors taking diet, mental health, lifestyle and preventive health seriously themselves.

Those doctors are out there - Dr. Oz is even on Oprah. You just have to do your research and find them. And be ready to travel, they will likely not be right around the corner from you. And be ready for them not to take your insurance (keeps costs down).

Not the way it should be, for sure, but the way it is.

[Thrasymachus]

@mandala:
I am glad another actual person read and actually understood what I said. Recently I landed a new job and during the orientation I asked if instead of receiving health insurance, they could just give me a bigger paycheck. My fellow co-workers scoffed and thought I was nuts. Later I observed almost all of them go into the cafeteria and drink soft drinks and eat whatever unhealthy crap they served there while I ate whole grain pasta, pasta sauce and nutritional yeast(what many vegans use as a healthier cheese alternative) I brought in.

People will just never get it, because they don't care to. The majority will always spend most their time with toying around with their cellphone constantly, watching tv, gossiping, etc. So they will continue to live poorly, baste in ignorance and love doctors. And when someone sees the illusions of their constructed world and calls them out: "How can you not believe in the wonders of modern technology and medicine ... how can you say my chronic health problems are my fault." Yeah, doctors can give you chance to sew your severed fingers back, but if there were no power-saws, automobiles and other modern miracles, we would not need most of such medical miracles anyway.

What you observe is true. Western thinking is based on a discrete and separate self. It sees the body and the world as a machine of production which can and should be understood as much as possible. You can tell a fool is a fool, because he thinks this scientific pursuit is a neutral, and noble pursuit, but the purpose is to create as much as top-down domination as possible and liquidate as many natural human behaviors and that which we call nature till only printed representations of life known as money are left. It is only too bad we have not figured a way to turn everything into value added products and money, but hopefully science, and in this example science based medicine can take us there one day. For example there is the concept of Taylorism -- before which working at a factory was very different, workers had to know and perform many different tasks, instead of one narrow one just for the sake of the greater efficiency of overall production. It is known that while this is more efficient, it leads to people being less happy and less emotional well-being. Can you name a single movement out of the modern medical professional to oppose Taylorism which is destroying everyone's psychological well-being and health?