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Aromatherapy : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjdmZLnfEuE" target="_blank

I can't go into the science behind the all but what I can tell you is that when I had my breakdown a few years ago I found aromatherapy to be an amazing help. I had oils for the various different sates of mind that I'd go through an everyone of them would help lift me and make me feel better about myself. It might not have been much more than a way to relax me but I do know that burning a few oils could help in bringing me out of some dark places.

Also, when I was pregnant I suffered with sciatica. I visited to a chiropractor, he picked me up and dropped me, it sounded like a line of dominoes clicking all the way down my spine. After that the sciatica was gone and my back felt looser and more flexible than it ever has. He was brilliant and I felt great for whatever it was he did.

Lady of Mystery wrote:I can't go into the science behind the all but what I can tell you is that when I had my breakdown a few years ago I found aromatherapy to be an amazing help. I had oils for the various different sates of mind that I'd go through an everyone of them would help lift me and make me feel better about myself. It might not have been much more than a way to relax me but I do know that burning a few oils could help in bringing me out of some dark places.

Also, when I was pregnant I suffered with sciatica. I visited to a chiropractor, he picked me up and dropped me, it sounded like a line of dominoes clicking all the way down my spine. After that the sciatica was gone and my back felt looser and more flexible than it ever has. He was brilliant and I felt great for whatever it was he did.

Dropping a pregnant lady !
Wow. He sounds like he either very brave or he knew exactly what he was doing.

Aromatherapy has its place but is all too frequently over-hyped. Like color therapy it has some serious limitations while likewise having a subtle, short-term set of advantages.

Acupuncture/pressure are sciences that have been practiced for thousands of years with tremendous success in an amazingly large portion of the world (though there are variations found in each region). While there are numerous quacks who claim to do acupuncture/pressure who ruin the positive factors tied to it, the greater truth is that we have billions of people that have benefited from this form of medical treatment for hundreds of generations and even here in the Western world since the early 1970s. My own experiences with these methods are nothing short of miraculous, allowing me to avoid potentially dangerous surgery on my back; the results were quite amazing and put me back on my feet within a few short months vs. the two years and five surgery approach western medicine wanted to put me through. . . we'll ignore how much cash that would put into the medical establishment's pocket. . . and yes, I can show you X-Rays of what my back looked like before and after.

I'm the first one to admit that there's lots of Snake Oil at there. . . watch the late night commercial peddling this and that "cure" for erectile dysfunction. . . let alone the myriad of infomercials giving us improved memories, better test scores for our kids or ways for parents to "tame" their children. . . Snake Oil flows quite well in our modern world, saturating enumerable things including the auspices of "legit" medicine -- that world in which disease and ailments seem to get invented every six months or so, in order to boost Big Pharma profits. Not to my surprise at least, it is likewise the R&D of Big Pharma and the researchers on their payrolls (or via an affiliate) that we find so much negative reporting and "proof" against alternative health treatment. . . it's a lot like how big oil, coal & chemical poop on environmental science when it comes to the weather changes that are quite obvious -- they don't want to let go of their income flow on any level and so they will "prove" the real science as invalid. . . I fear, on many levels, that is what is going on when it comes to alternative care -- exaggeration more than anything and it comes from either side of said argument; the supporters go to an extreme when it comes to actual effectiveness, ability and related claims while the naysayers stand at the far right end of the pole, offering bloated points of view that would be detrimental to the other contentions. The overall result is a very confused consumer base that goes with its gut and what they find on their own via their own doctor, family & friends.

Yes, there have been people hurt by Chiropractors and those that didn't get fixed when using essential oil smells. . . usually because they didn't follow through on things that they, as the patient, are obliged to do; check the credentials and reputation of those treating them; work WITH a traditional care giver at the same time so that a proper and progressive therapy program is in place vs. total dependence on any one thing. . . usually with all alternative treatment systems, one will be encouraged to include at least two other forms of treatment with one being quite physical (Tai Chi, Yoga or Qi Gong type exercises) and most frequently, a diet change if but temporary (such as a cleansing type fast over a 30-day period). There is a "science" to what these healers promote but it is up to the patient to follow through with a program that is all inclusive. This is where such things fail; the patient gets lazy and "don't want to be fixed"

Believe it or not there are lots of people in the world that are dependent on their illness; they use it as a way to evoke support and special treatment (usually from family members). It's quite interesting how easy it is for anyone with a major health issue, to consciously face the idea of getting better and having to lend reprise at being a productive, functioning human being.

Just trying to shine light in a manner that balances things a tad.

Craig Browning wrote:Believe it or not there are lots of people in the world that are dependent on their illness; they use it as a way to evoke support and special treatment (usually from family members). It's quite interesting how easy it is for anyone with a major health issue, to consciously face the idea of getting better and having to lend reprise at being a productive, functioning human being.

Sorry Craig, I can ignore the 'the big companies try and use science against us to make money' rubbish, but can you expand on what you mean here?

People want to be ill do they? Is that what you're saying? That they are, in some way, conning their family with their illness? To get sympathy or because they're lazy? Is that it? Because if that is what you're saying, my answer will almost certainly lock this thread.

Grimshaw wrote: Because if that is what you're saying, my answer will almost certainly lock this thread.

Can we keep this sensible? I've already got my finger hovering over the lock button on another thread as it is. Thanks

TonyB wrote:irritable bowel syndrome

Caveat: I know not all conditions are the same in terms of cause or acuteness.
Also, anecdote alert!

You might actually stand a chance of helping with this one. In some cases. Maybe.

I have a friend who had terrible IBS, to the point where he was on medication, could not eat meat and (horrors) was unable to drink alcohol.

This went on for years.

Then he gave up his stressful job in IT and started his own IT business. The day he quit the IBS went away.

I would *guess* that in his case some sort of counselling could potentially have helped at least relieve the symptoms, if not cured the disease.

T.

Ted wrote:Then he gave up his stressful job in IT and started his own IT business. The day he quit the IBS went away.

I wonder if this is how and why aromatherapy, reflexology, acupuncture, crystal healing etc. can help. So many heath conditions can be traced back to stress, things like migranes, muscle aches and pains, ulcers and all sorts. Perhaps its just down to the fact that these sorts of complimentary treatments help to relax the patient and relieve stress and it's that stress relief and relaxation that's the real help.

Lady of Mystery wrote:

Grimshaw wrote: Because if that is what you're saying, my answer will almost certainly lock this thread.

Can we keep this sensible? I've already got my finger hovering over the lock button on another thread as it is. Thanks

The desire to keep things sensible is what made me address the post in the first place.

Lady of Mystery wrote:

Ted wrote:Then he gave up his stressful job in IT and started his own IT business. The day he quit the IBS went away.

I wonder if this is how and why aromatherapy, reflexology, acupuncture, crystal healing etc. can help. So many heath conditions can be traced back to stress, things like migranes, muscle aches and pains, ulcers and all sorts. Perhaps its just down to the fact that these sorts of complimentary treatments help to relax the patient and relieve stress and it's that stress relief and relaxation that's the real help.

It could be. Also, having someone (the therapist, for example) showing some care has to be useful on a psychological level. Just being 'looked after', even if the treatment is what I would consider to be useless (e.g. homeopathy), has some human benefit. But, as Tony says, it ain't going to cure cancer - although it might improve the quality of life.

T.

Ted wrote:It could be. Also, having someone (the therapist, for example) showing some care has to be useful on a psychological level. Just being 'looked after', even if the treatment is what I would consider to be useless (e.g. homeopathy), has some human benefit. But, as Tony says, it ain't going to cure cancer - although it might improve the quality of life.

T.

Showing care is the very basis of Rogerian Psychotherapy. Also, I seem to recall a programme on TV a while back about Alternative Therapies, and the consensus was that unlike a regular visit to the doctors where you're allocated a 10 minute slot, many of the practitioners of homeopathy etc give their patients a much larger piece of their time, and try to genuinely understand the problem and how it might best be treated. This improves the state of mind of the patient almost immediately and as such they begin to feel better. I guess its just a comment on our strained NHS that doctors cannot give the same time to regular patients in clinics, otherwise there might be fewer people relying on alternative therapies and trusting in medical science.

Indeed. It's hard even to get an appointment and certainly once there I feel I need to make my point and get out ASAP. I also feel that it's one trip per complaint, so if I have another, smaller issue I should not waste anyone's time with it. Which is how small problems become big ones, I guess

Ted wrote:It could be. Also, having someone (the therapist, for example) showing some care has to be useful on a psychological level. Just being 'looked after', even if the treatment is what I would consider to be useless (e.g. homeopathy), has some human benefit. But, as Tony says, it ain't going to cure cancer - although it might improve the quality of life.

T.

Indeed. I know a GP who says that a lot of aches and pains mysteriously go away again simply because people have been to see him, including "normal at your age" middle age worries. The idea is that the concern has been reported, they've been examined and the stress of the unknown is lifted. Score one for bedside manner.

I think that's why, also, CAM tends to be most popular amongst sufferers of chronic conditions rather than other ailments. That sense that the ten minute slot with a doctor who can do little for you, versus 30-55 minutes with a CAM practitioner who can, in all likelihood, not do that much for you either. Chronic conditions also tend, symptomatically, towards stuff that is monitored through self-reporting, where the placebo effect is king.

That said, positive thinking has been shown not to effect treatment outcomes, and as has been said, a comfort blanket isn't going to cure anyone.