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[EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>]

Lynn Wigglesworth wrote:

> That's my biggest complaint about western medicine. It doesn't work very 
> well...it's what makes "chronic" conditions "chronic". My mother takes a 
> slew of pills, yet still has high blood pressure, high colesterol, etc. The 
> medications are dangerous and have many bad side effects, but they just keep 
> upping the dose (and give her Lasix to counteract the edema, and Sanctura to 
> control the constant peeing from the Lasix).

I saw a commercial yesterday that began.."2 of 3 people who take 
anti-depressant medications still suffer from symptoms of depression." 
LOL...what??  Now to me, that says either they aren't truly depressed or 
that their doctor is not very good...but apparently it means you need an 
additional pill...lol



> The 'alternative' treatments are actually GOOD for you. They prompt your own 
> body and immune system to work better. They make you stronger and healthier. 


I think you have to be just as careful with alternatives as will 
traditional Western medication.  I think you should probably limit your 
statement with "can be" or "some".  Since not many people on the list 
seem to watch TV anymore, you probably missed the Barbara Walters 
interview with Patrick Swayze who has just survived a year with 
pancreatic cancer.  Most people live two months after a Stage 4 
diagnosis, he has a year and counting.  For the most part, he is going 
conventional, he says.  I think he believes in alternatives but he says 
that he has to be careful not to feed the cancer.  Anything that makes 
him stronger and healthier will also feed the cancer.  Therefore, he 
takes the poison of chemotherapy and tries to live through the side 
effects.  I'm sure he would be eating things like garlic and practicing 
some 'alternative' treatments, but he isn't on any special diet like 
macrobiotics, nor did he stop smoking, ironically.  I can kind of see 
that...if you only have a few months to live, you concentrate on living, 
not giving up the beast.  He did say that once he feels like he will 
live, he will lay down the smokes, he just has other priorities now.


> Garlic (raw, untreated) is one of the strongest antibacterial/antivirals 
> known, but it doesn't harm normal stomach flora; it also stimulates your 
> immune system and is anti-hypertensive, and can help regulate blood sugar. 
> Amazing stuff, and you can grow all you need in your backyard. No 
> pharmaceutical company has figured out how to prevent you from growing 
> garlic, or how to put healthy eating or exercise or yoga in a pill, so they 
> can't make money from it. As long as pharmaceutical companies run the  FDA, 
> alternatives will be dismissed as quackery, or even banned.

Not only that, but I think there is much to be said for the balance of 
natural, bio-available nutrients that come from real food grown locally. 
 If you eat a balance of food, you create a balance in your body, so 
that all systems work in harmony with each other.  This definitely is a 
preventative measure, and maybe a treatment as well.

--
"The world is my country, all mankind are my
 brethren, and to do good is my religion."
 Thomas Paine (1737 - 1809)