Q&A on Alternative Medicine

Interesting. As a pharma rep for traditional remedies, I look forward to learning and reading your column.

Where can I find more information on mindful eating? It really struck a chord with me.

Thank you for the wonderful information Robert.

Mr. Bazell,

I greatly appreciate your reporting skills and particularly enjoyed your report on Monday, May 5, 2008 that referenced the medical application of hypnosis and visualization.
However, please be advised that hypnotism is not an alternative therapy. It has been considered as Complementary since being accepted by the AMA (American Medical Association) in 1956.

The difference between alternative and complementary is significant and noteworthy. Complementary methods are typically intended to work with Western Medicine and not as an alternative to, or in place of Western Medicine. The National Institutes of Health even excludes Hypnotism from it's list of Alternative Therapies in it's research programs because it is accepted as being complementary to Western Medicine, even though they may still do studies on using hypnotism in therapy.

As for being Complementary to Modern Western Medicine, hypnotism was in use thousands of years before ether was discovered for use as an anesthesia in surgery and it continues to be "re-discovered" for pre and post-operative management, resulting in less required medication, less anesthesia, faster recovery with less blood loss, less hospitalization time, increased comfort and less scarring.

I appreciate that you may have several writers who prepare information for you, so I offer this comment to you as additional information in regard to the Complementary Medical use of hypnotism.

Respectfully,

R. Bayliss, CH, CI
Specializing in Tinnitus Nashville, TN & Dallas, TX

Two points to share: One on terminology & the other on CAM for PTSD prevention. Mr. Williams used the term 'traditional' to reference our modern Conventional/Western Medical approaches in introducing this series. After teaching 'Cultural Aspects of Health' and a course on 'Complementary & Integrative Modalities for Nurses' I have come to recognize 'traditional' describes our great grandmother's medicine: ancestral practices that included prayer, botanical/herbal preparations, Tai Chi and other rituals intended for healing. The Global community uses the term 'traditional' to describe the traditions of their ancestors so I have made an effort to do the same and avoid confusion. I wish to bring to your attention the collaborative research being done in by the Samueli Institute and the Dept of Defense to gather evidence regarding what will will help our vets recover from PTSD (CAMP PTSD Study group at Walter Reed, Fort Bliss Integrative Center in El Paso Tx, and the use of Guided Imagery - GIFT study for military sexual trauma - by J. Strauss at the V.A. in Durham NC). I am intrigued by the advances in brain research that show us the value of mind/body approaches to healing after trauma. Given the rates of PTSD among veterans, survivors of disasters & other traumas I believe we need to try new approaches. When one can be taught to view the body based symptoms of PTSD (hyper startle, hyper vigilence) in the context of a disregulated autonomic nervous system (see Trauma First Aide) you put the problem in a domain that soldiers know how to take action in - the body. Instead of training to be 'at the ready' you now train to settle the sympathetic response and bring forth parasympathetic (rest & digest) function to calm the hyperstartle response and hopefully restore the nervous system and normal sleep patterns. The basics of this approach is congruent with the teachings of Florence Nightingale who advised nurses to place the patient in the 'proper environment for nature to act upon him'. Conventional medicine still holds this phenomena in the domain of psychopathology (a scary place - no one wants to be labeled as 'crazy', especially people required to carry guns). I live in Louisiana between Katrina & Rita affected areas where NBC has done a fine job of keeping post hurricane related concerns in the news. After working as a community nurse/educator for 6 weeks in a mega-shelter, I have developed a deeper understanding on the effects of stress & trauma. I used many CAM tools extensively to help address this problem in our community and have joined with other nurses in an initiative called 'Ready 4 the Return' to teach this view to soldiers returning from war and first responders (Fire, EMTs, medics) whose services were strained in the wake of the hurricane response efforts. We view our work as a PTSD prevention model and I for one am grateful for the growing body of evidence that gives us new avenues to help us to return to a new normal.

As for these "clinics" do they really work or is it consumer beware? I look foward to learning more.

I must confess, I was disappointed in tonight's report. When I first heard that they were going to be doing a series of reports on the mind-body connection, I looked forward to learning useful information on various options, one of them being Tai Chi. Tonight's report seemed to focus primarily on some research involving electronic monitoring of a subject who was performing Tai Chi, and gave the distinct impression that the practice had little or no value based on those results.

In an era when more and more people are aging and out of shape, and therefore less able to do other types of exercise, it would seem to be a valuable thing to show people the physical & mental benefits possible through the practice of Tai Chi and/or Qigong. I didn't feel that message came through in that report.

And with medical costs soaring, it would be a valuable thing to do a report on other types of "non-traditional" healing, such as Reiki and Quantum Touch. I recently taught myself the basics of Quantum Touch using the book by Richard Gordon, and was amazed at how quickly and easily I was able to master the basic skills. If more people knew that they have the power to quickly and easily control pain using their minds instead of narcotics, our country could save a small fortune on pain meds, and we'd have far fewer people battling addiction problems. And for those who like more "scientific" approaches, bio-feedback is another way people can learn to use their minds to impact their health. I hope if these various methodologies are not already to be included in the Thursday and Friday segments of this series, you will consider looking into them in more depth for reports in the future.

The subtext to the entire notion of alternative medicine seems to be that main-stream medicine, for reasons of scientific elitism or closed-mindedness, rejects the benefits of these more traditional or less invasive remedies.

After all, alternative medicine is only "alternative" if it is not embraced by main-stream medicine and it is only worth practicing if it yields results or is perceived to yield such results.

I do not discount the placebo effect - the notion that because the patient thinks a treatments should do something that it does - but controlling for that, have there ever been any controlled studies that quantifiable demonstrate some benefit from something like Tai Chi or Mindful Eating that extends beyond the benefits of simple exercise and good diet?

How much of this seems to be about legitimately helping the patient and how much is about creating and distinguishing a health care service brand?

I would like to ask your findings regarding the benefits of Reiki healing
Judith Vidal

I'd love to hear your thoughts on green tea. I've been drinking it for years and it's been intersting to see how popular it's gotten in recent months with even nestea making some.

Does the sugar in most cold green tea outweight the benefits of the green tea? how about the gingko in it? And if gingko is for memory is that only helpful for older people (I'm 39)

I find it curious that every time there is a mind-body article there is never a discussion on how an emotional state comes about, how a behavior comes about or what influence the subconscious has in regard to all of these issues.

There are many different methods talked about to externally affect an emotional state with mindful eating as the best example. You could have put the Geico cavemen in this segment and it would have seemed totally natural with the smelling and the licking of the food.

The only true Mind-Body connection will begin with how he subconscious works. One will never be able to assert true control unless one begins with what controls us to begin with.

Best,
Kelly Burris

Dear Mr.Bazell,

I think the segment on mindful eating was very good. Food can be a source of comfort when a person is stressed and sometimes too much of the wrong types of foods are eaten when this occurs. It is very important to do things in moderation instead of being too excessive towards one particular food. Diets can be restricting and not work for people because they don't stick to it. I think people can gain from mindful eating and actually become healthier. Also, I know someone who is always having pain in the joints and muscles and has to take medicine for the condition everyday. I am wondering if Tai Chi may help her joints to feel more relaxed and alleviate her pain. Medicine can help alot, but would this be good practice for her? I appreciate your time today in answering these questions Mr.Bazell.

Thank you
Lisa

Since it is difficult to measure scientifically the results of many of these "mind-body" techniques, I would like to challenge you to do a little bit more in-depth research on the subject-- do more than just learn ABOUT them, learn TO DO them! The people who have learned to use various techniques such as Tai-Chi, Qigong & Yoga, as well as things like Reiki & Quantum Touch, all seem to believe they have gotten great benefit from their efforts. Do you think they are deluded? Imagining things? The very existence of the placebo effect is evidence that the mind plays a huge role in the ongoing process of the maintenance & repair of our bodies.

The only way YOU will know and be able to report on their effectiveness, is if you have tried to do them yourself. So pick one, any one. Surely NBC will pick up the tab for you to start learning one of them. And in time, you will be able to present a more balanced report for us that can include the experiences of both teachers & practitioners, not just scientists. No disrespect for scientists, but there is much in life that cannot be measured by machines.

"Because I can almost guarantee you that you're paying a premium price at the clinic for some of this Eastern-minded mysticism. If it works for you, great, but a nice jog around the neighborhood ...will cost me less and very probably accomplish the same thing. "

I have practiced T'ai Chi Ch'uan for about 12 years. The program is based through a non-profit organization and all of the teachers, myself included, are volunteers. While it is not free for students, it also is not expensive compared to many other fitness programs. We are guided by an internationally renowned Taiwanese teacher of our style of T'ai Chi, who lives in San Francisco.

While I am sure many types of exercise can be beneficial, I think that T'ai Chi offers unique benefits because a good program provides specific, intensive training in releasing tension throughout the body in order to apply the "relax" principal while moving from one challenging posture to another. (The postures are often more challenging than they look because of requirements to place most or all of the body weight on one leg.) This is a healthful process that does not necessarily occur when you take a walk or go for a swim. Within a few months of starting T'ai Chi, my chronic tension headaches disappeared, and I had been doing a lot of other exercise prior to that.

All this being said, it is a challenge to research the effects of T'ai Chi according to traditional Western methods, becasue there are many styles of T'ai Chi and any individual style may or may not be taught consistently from one school to another.

As a physician interested in science-based medicine, I truly dislike the entire concept of "alternative" medicine. It's more a marketing term than an informative one. There's medicine whose efficacy and safety have been validated by science and well-designed clinical trials; there's medicine that has not; and there is medicine for which the evidence doesn't exist or is conflicting. The whole "alternative" thing is a false dichotomy designed to allow unscientific medicine into the realm of traditional medicine, and your series shows that it appears to be working. Worse, perfectly acceptable areas of "conventional" medicine (nutrition, the use of diet to promote health, etc.) have been coopted by the "complementary and alternative medicine" (CAM) as somehow "alternative" when they are not. You can argue that perhaps "conventional" medicine didn't pay enough attention to these areas, but lumping them in with pseudoscience like homeopathy or spiritualism like reiki makes them look like pseudoscience too.

When subjected to serious, well-designed scientific research, the vast majority of so-called "CAM" medicine only appear to work because of the placebo effect, as was so well documented by R. Barker Bausell's recent book "Snake Oil Science: The Truth About Complementary and Alternative Medicine." Can you tell me what CAM treatments, if any, work better than placebo and how do we know?

Also, you may wish to refer to:

Tai Chi is truly a multi-dimensional art. Modern scientific studies have shown Tai Chi (taiji) to improve balance, immune system, and relaxation, lower blood pressure, help with Parkinsons symptions, diabetes, arthritis, and many other problems. However, it is also an excellent lifetime health exercise, a martial arts practice, an "active" meditative discipline that helps focus body and mind, and is in addition, a window into Chinese culture and philosophy. Some farmers in the UK even claim that it increases the milk production of their cows! For more information and links to research you can visit our website at www.taijiquanjournal.com.

Barbara Davis, MA
Editor, Taijiquan Journal

"That is an astute observation. Many things like massage therapy or simply spending more time listening to a person who feels ill can clearly be helpful. A lot of the so called dichotomy between traditional and mainstream approaches has to do with just paying more attention to the patient as a human being -- and all too often physicians don't have the time"

And that's exactly what appears to be going on with a lot of this:

Mr. Bazell: I'm looking forward to more information. I can tell you that the ancient egyptians can't be left out of the equation,so far as some of the origins of medical practice. Since many of therapies in use in "alternative medicine may have originated there, some research ought to given consideration to this in conjuction with what has been discussed. On the walls of the tomb of King Seti the first, there are inscriptions that outline meditation,yoga postures and other componets of mind-body or healthful living .You can this information at www.egyptianyoga.com

I have long been interested in the mind body connection and read as much as I can on the subject. I will be interested in your writing about studies or if something is really helpful other than generically. I guess I wonder if it can make a huge difference or if it's mainly adjutant, but not curative. Like yoga, which I do, is certainly good for muscle control and balance, but am not sure it actually benefits disease control (as I get older.)

I know you can't give out medical advice but new studies or articles are always of interest to me. Thank you.