The Kid taking "Lorenzo's Oil" didn't have "Cancer," but an odd "Dystrophy" ...

May 27, 2012 -- 10:11PM, solfeggio wrote:

...The moral of this story is, of course, that alternative treatments sometimes do work, and that nobody should just give up just because the doctors offer no hope.

Doctors, real doctors, do offer hope and cures. If an "alternative" treatment worked they would not hesitate for a second to use it. New cures come along and now a cancer that would have meant certain death a few years ago are now being cured. Not ONE of those new cures has come from the "alternative" camp.

Alternative - or natural - medicine is the study of nutritional and environmental factors and their interactions with human physiology and biochemistry...

No, it's just a bunch of people selling books and concoctions. They go by anecdotes, not research. It is a multi billion dollar industry that makes huge profits with little investment and no real research.

For example, many people have found the traditional Chinese medical technique called acupuncture very useful in treating many different conditions.  And people who have tried homeopathic medicine have claimed that it can cure migraines.

Both those work purely on the placebo effect. Homeopathic cannot work without violating the laws of physics since there is nothing there to have any effect. I suggest a book; The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark, by Carl Sagan. This is the best book on the topic.

Oh, for Pete's sakes, I'm not talking about snake-oil salesmen or quacks.  I'm just trying to make the point that when traditional medicine doesn't work, and there is no hope, why not try something different?

And I am well aware that the Lorenzo's oil story did not involve a child with cancer.  I was just using it as an example of what one parent could do when the doctors failed him.  It wasn't just a fluke, either, because the treatment has found its way into mainstream medicine.

Anecdotal evidence is not always reliable, of course, but nevertheless we use it all the time.  We might ask a friend about her experience with a hairdresser we want to try, or check the movie reviews to see if we want to see a film.  We might go to a doctor recommended by several family members as being good, or not go to a dentist that someone told us was unprofessional.

Of course, in mainstream medicine, doctors distrust anecdotal evidence.

But, I don't know why we're even on this topic, as I never claimed that anecdotal evidence was reliable or even useful.

Yes ... OF  COURSE  some desperate People sometimes do desperate Things ... So what ... ???

May 27, 2012 -- 11:53PM, solfeggio wrote:

Oh, for Pete's sakes, I'm not talking about snake-oil salesmen or quacks.  I'm just trying to make the point that when traditional medicine doesn't work, and there is no hope, why not try something different?

And I am well aware that the Lorenzo's oil story did not involve a child with cancer.  I was just using it as an example of what one parent could do when the doctors failed him.  It wasn't just a fluke, either, because the treatment has found its way into mainstream medicine.

Anecdotal evidence is not always reliable, of course, but nevertheless we use it all the time.  We might ask a friend about her experience with a hairdresser we want to try, or check the movie reviews to see if we want to see a film.  We might go to a doctor recommended by several family members as being good, or not go to a dentist that someone told us was unprofessional.

Of course, in mainstream medicine, doctors distrust anecdotal evidence.

But, I don't know why we're even on this topic, as I never claimed that anecdotal evidence was reliable or even useful.

 

May 28, 2012 -- 2:11PM, Stardove wrote:

On the other hand Dave I have lost two uncles to lung cancer.

I lost my mother to cancer. Her mother died of cancer the day I was born.

...Probably everyone at the forum has lost people they loved to cancer, because in many cases it is a killer even with traditional medical treatments.

Cancer can be deadly. No one is saying anything different. Doctors are doing the best they can. Cancer is not just one disease but many different kinds with many different causes.

There is no one cure, no panacea, for all cancers like many "alternative" people are trying to claim. If someone has cancer and they want to die then those "alternative" cures are the way to go. If you want to live then the best option is to use medicine that's backed up by evidence not anecdotes.