From: Andrew Johnson
Date: 2011-02-17 23:47:29
I was just asked to send this round and I would like to thank the sender for speaking out in this way. It will hopefully give a few “mainstreamers” the odd “pause for thought”. Some thoughts, from a ‘Proper Doctor’! As a ‘proper doctor’ I am extremely concerned about these proposals by the MHRA. I find it quite bizarre that the agency that is supposed to regulate medicines licences in full knowledge several drugs which are known to harm patients, yet wish to essentially regulate homeopathy out of existence. I am not up to speed with the science behind homeopathy, but I do not know of any evidence that this treatment harms patients. Most doctors will automatically dismiss almost any ‘alternative treatments’ without even looking at them. It is due to the intense indoctrination that we all receive at medical school and beyond. We are only exposed to one paradigm about the human body – essentially we learn in minute detail the biochemistry, physiology, anatomy, and genetics etc. We then learn about pathology of various diseases. We are also intensely taught about pharmacology. It is a given that essentially the only answer to any pathology is either to cut it out, treat it with chemicals, or radiation. Even in psychiatry (my speciality), which you might think involves addressing the mind – we have become ‘mindless’ and only focus on the brain. We do learn about psychotherapy and yes some psychotherapy is available on the NHS, but not as much as required. Seriously I had a one hour lecture on nutrition during 5 years at medical school! This is completely insane – no one can argue that our diet effects our health – we literally become what we eat. So why do doctors learn in minute detail about the anatomy of the brachial plexus (something I have never needed to know in treating a patient) yet learn nothing about nutrition and diet? I am saddened by the lack of humanity in healthcare. We render people with illnesses as a disease. Doctors will seriously refer to patients by their disease. We do not treat people holistically – even those like me that try find it impossible with the amount of people I have to see in a clinic and the little amount of time I have to spend with them. I know that a homeopathic remedy called Bach Rescue Remedy is effective for anxiety, yet I am not able to prescribe it because it is not ‘licensed’. I also know and it has been shown in clinical trials that Lavender and Melissa aromatherapy oils are effective at calming patients with dementia. I have tried to get these administered to patients on my ward, yet I cannot prescribe them on the patients card, the pharmacy can’t obtain them, and the nurses can’t administer them. Yet I can with the stroke of a pen prescribe an antipsychotic that is NOT licensed for dementia, and has been shown to increase the risk of stroke, falls and death, and is not particularly effective either. I do not argue that there is no role for medications in medicine – this would clearly be daft. What I am against is the arrogant monopoly that the Petro-chemical-pharmaceutical industry wants to have over the health choices that people make. I also feel that there are alternative ways of exploring the nature of the body and the mind, and therefore certain illnesses, and it is only by allowing such alternatives will real leaps in medicine be made. Medicine, like most of science is stuck in a paradigm. Most of what we do does help people, and save lives, some of what we do does not. We need to open our minds, link up with other practitioners, and offer a truly holistic approach to work together to ‘cure’ disease. Cure is not a word we use much in medicine by the way – we tend to prefer ‘treat’ or ‘manage’. I have also been doing my own research into the history of allopathic medicine, and how we ‘won’ a longstanding debate about how to approach illness. Most doctors are not aware of the history of our profession. Most are too busy struggling to get through as many patients as they can – there is no time to stop and think. How much of this can be applied to every aspect of our lives? There is evidence of many effective treatments being ‘suppressed’ in the past, and Andrew has done an excellent presentation about this. I am sure that this happens now – can you imagine the effect that a cure for cancer or a cure for dementia would have on the pharmaceutical industry? Most people think that they would benefit, yet logic states otherwise. At present as most illnesses are ‘managed’ there is a continuous revenue stream. There are ‘small advances’ made allowing for newer drugs to be patented at higher cost but rarely despite trillions spent worldwide on research are big advances made. I know I am getting a bit conspiratorial here, but it really is just simple logic when you think about it. Why would a company put itself out of business by inventing something that would only need to be given once? Anyway, the bottom line is I support health freedom, and am not surprised by the way this change is being sneaked through, with hardly any coverage by the media. I am against this top down approach to regulating anything that doesn’t ‘comply’ with ‘accepted medicine’. People have a right to look at the evidence themselves, and decide for themselves. I have sent a letter to the MHRA – I encourage everyone to do the same. Dr. Paul Consultant Psychiatrist Are you interested in what’s really going on in the world, behind the facade? Then…www.checktheevidence… happened on 9/11?www.drjudywood.com/
