Unexpected Development! - Book Review: The Truth about Alternative Medicine - Post 4 of 4

As way of sparking dialogue and positive partnership, I emailed Simon Singh & Edzard Ernst, M.D, authors of Trick or Treatment: The Undeniable Truth About Alternative Medicine, and offered them free healing sessions!  

I admit that when I sent the emails I fully expected to be ignored! After all, they go to great lengths in their book to prove false everything I know to be true!  Imagine my surprise when I found an email from Dr. Ernst saying that he might be interested!  (Perhaps I underestimated the good doctor!)  Tune in on Sunday for more information on this challenge and if, when and how it will go forward!

Book Review

(for Posts 1, Posts 2, and Posts 3 of the book review click here!)

.....Moreover, In Trick or Treatment, Singh & Ernst seem to suggest that because the scientific method cannot be used to prove the validity of alternative healing, no one should use alternative healing.  

To this I respond that the scientific method is designed to detect, measure, quantify and describe the physical world and is less useful in understanding the non-physical aspects of human existence. For instance:

• The scientific method cannot prove the existence of love.  Taking Singh & Ernst’s line of reasoning to its logical end, this would mean that I should refrain from falling in love, caring for my children or helping family members - activities based on love.  (Importantly, these are activities which also improve health, quality of life and prospects for longevity).   

• The scientific method cannot be used to prove the existence of willpower.  Does this mean, according to Singh & Ernst, that I should stop working to make life better?  Should I eat cinnamon rolls and maple bars all day long, forgetting the green veggies altogether?  Should I smoke cigarettes instead of go to yoga class?  Should I stop setting goals and working to achieve them?  

• The scientific method cannot prove the existence of the intellect, which, like love, willpower and chi, exists, but, is also abstract.  Do Singh & Ernst believe that college students should refuse to pay tuition on the grounds that the intellect nurtured by higher education does not, according to science, exist? Should Singh & Ernst themselves abandon their lucrative careers because science cannot prove that the minds they use every day in their work are real?  Does this mean that I am under a mandate to stop using logic to solve life challenges? 

The obvious answer to all three of these scenarios is, "Of course not!  If I waited for the scientific method to prove everything, my life – and health - would grind to a halt!"

In their defense, I don’t think that Singh & Ernst want to rid the world of life, love, logic, higher education or sound nutrition with their central assumption that, “if science can’t prove it, it is not real and cannot be trusted.”  However, taken to its logical end, this is where the argument in Trick or Treatment leads.  This is because there is so much of life that the scientific method cannot detect and therefore cannot prove.  

The idea that we should stop using our minds, stop being motivated by love and take no action in life until science can prove to its own satisfaction the existence of love, willpower and intellectual (as well as how love, willpower and intellect can be safely used by humans) seems preposterous.  More preposterous in my view than the idea that love can heal, the central theory behind why spiritual healing and energy work is effective.

In short, the fact that the scientific method, as Singh & Ernst put it, can find "no evidence for the existence of Chi,” (pp 83), in no way implies that Chi - like love, like willpower, like intellect - does not exist and cannot positively influence life and health.  What it does imply is that the scientific method is unable to discover Chi, just as it is unable to discover love, willpower and intellect.

There is no doubt about it.  Medical science has made astounding advances – many of which are breathtaking and ingenious.  It has saved and improved countless lives worldwide.  It also has limits, including:

·         high cost of medical research and care delivery;

·         limited focus on preventative medicine which stands to lower (by promoting early diagnosis and healthy habits) long-term suffering and economic loss;

·         risk of malpractice and misdiagnosis;

·         lack of quality care for the poor, uninsured and those living in rural or war-torn areas;

·         heavy reliance on prescription medications that may not resolve problems and may cause side effects or interact with other drugs;

·         biases that impact research and care including prejudices about, or lack of awareness of, the unique health concerns of women, seniors, racial and ethnic minorities, gays and lesbians, those in an awakening process and other spiritual minorities;

·         research whose scope is driven by profitability and not necessarily human need;

·         procedures that are unnecessarily invasive;

·         the responsibility for healing lies primarily with the doctor, limiting agency in the patient;

·         the inability of the modern scientific method to predict that which cannot be quantified, including the healing impact of love. 

These limitations may not seem to Singh & Ernst compelling reasons for the average person to seek accessible, empowering, flexible and preventative forms of health care.  However, these concerns are paramount to individuals faced with limited access to insurance, the high cost of medical care and a model of aging that assumes increasing rates of disease and healthcare costs as life progresses.

While I would recommend Trick or Treatment:  The Undeniable Truth about Alternative Medicine for anyone interested in exploring the culture of science and its limitations, I would not recommend it for those needing information on how to access the benefits of alternative medicine. 

(for more, see next post)

Book Review: The Truth about Alternative Medicine - Post 3 of 4

Today, I sent an email to the authors of Trick or Treatment: The Undeniable Facts About Alternative Medicine, the book that is the subject of this book review.  In this email I directed them to this book review and made them an offer of 12 free healing sessions to be used within one year if they are willing to embark in good faith of a journey of personal healing.  I anxiously await the response of Edzard Ernst, M.D. and Simon Singh to this offer!

(for Post 1, click here)

(for Post 2, click here)

Through a series of unlikely coincidences, and unwittingly at first, I tried alternative health care.  Desperate for relief I learned to meditate at a local Buddhist mediation center.  This helped me understand how thought patterns contribute to pain.  Across the street from my doctor’s office was a store selling traditional African art.  I developed a curiosity about the store. One day, after a troubling doctor’s visit, I went into the store.  Because, I was an atheist with no religious or spiritual education, I did not understand what it meant that the owner was a traditional spiritual healer or that many of the objects for sale in her store could be used for healing purposes.  

As I developed a friendship with this woman my symptoms improved dramatically.  My symptoms improved even though I did not ask the woman to do any healing work on me.  Although I did not see how it was possible, I intuitively understood that my new friend and my improved health were connected.  Overtime it became apparent that during our early conversations she had been using her traditional methods on me. The fact that I was not aware that she was healing me - and more than this, that I was an atheist and a fervent disbeliever in alternative health care  - means that I could not have received a placebo effect from her work.  I credit this woman with helping to restore my health and for opening me to a world of new possibilities.

These early experiences with meditation and spiritual healing prompted me to try other alternative modalities, like castor oil packs, astrology, yoga and Reiki.  This, combined with my own intensive training, has, ten years later, left me free of the disease that plague me for so long and for which no real cure could be seen. As a result, for myself, I know that alternative remedies work.  

What Singh & Ernst do not do in their book is create a compelling explanation for why people – including me - heal with alternative methods.  They explain why science predicts that people will not heal, but they do not explain why, outside the double blind studies - in real life - these predictions do not always hold up. 

As demonstrated by my story, the placebo effect is not a one-size fits all theory.  For these reasons I do not feel that is necessary to wait for science to prove something before taking advantage of the benefits.  However, just as with conventional medicine, users of alternative benefit from (1) education themselves about any existing health conditions, (2) taking charge of their own health,  (3) learning about various, (4) learning about the practitioners with whom they work. 

Moreover, in making the claim that they are more capable than anyone in getting at the truth of alternative therapies, Singh & Ernst suggest that they do not believe in the intelligence of the public or of practitioners who may have drawn different conclusions.  They are also resistant to developing a positive partnership between conventional and alternative medicine, a partnership that could bring a higher, more satisfying level of care.

What’s Love Got to Do with It?

Importantly, the scientific method is not the only method for finding truth.  Likewise, the scientific method cannot prove the existence of the driving force of much of human activity. Yet, absent scientific proof, humanity goes on.  

For instance, the scientific method cannot be used to prove the existence love, willpower or intellect.  Nonetheless, we believe in love, willpower and intellect because we experience the realities of love, willpower, and intellect within ourselves and others.  This personal experience is what makes us comfortable basing major life decisions – for instance who to marry, what to eat and how to overcome life challenges – on our belief in the existence of love, willpower and intellect - even though the scientific method is useless at proving their existence.

Singh & Ernst's central assumption, “If science cannot prove it, it cannot be real and cannot be trusted” does not help us to learn much about alternative healing methods other than that they are a bit mysterious and that science does not understand them.  This assumption, when compared with the experience of people getting relief from alternative medicine, shows that the scientific method is not a universally reliable method for discerning truth.

(for more see next post )

Book Review: The Truth about Alternative Medicine - Post 2 of 4

For previous post, click here.

In Trick or Treatment: The Undeniable Truth About Alternative Medicine, (2008), Singh & Ernst, examine a broad array of healing modalities –from acupuncture to spiritual healing -and determine that in each case that there no scientific basis for claiming a healing benefit for nearly all alternative healing modalities.  

For instance, after detailing the at least 5,000 year history of acupuncture they conclude that the “traditional principles of acupuncture are deeply flawed as there is no evidence to suggest the existence of chi or meridians.” (pp. 83).   

Inherent in this assertion is the suggestion that numerous alternative healing modalities are flawed since systems for working with chi – the force or energy animating life – forms the basis of many alternative modalities, including acupuncture, reiki, shamanism, cranial sacral therapy, and reflexology, to name a few.  As with all the other alternative healing modalities examined in their book, Singh & Ernst determine that the only beneficial effect from acupuncture is a placebo effect – the relief that comes from a belief on the part of a patient that they are receiving a healing benefit, even where no real benefit is present.  (pp. 87-88).

In the introduction to their book Singh & Ernst criticize Chinese medicine for viewing the body as a metaphor of nature.  In an attempt to undermine a belief in energy meridians they state, “Similarly, it seems likely that the belief in twelve meridians emerged as a parallel to the twelve great rivers of China.  In short, the human body was interpreted as a microcosm of the universe, as opposed to understanding it in terms of its own reality,” (pp 52).  Sighn & Ernst are so categorical in their findings that there is “nothing” to alternative healing, it is almost as if they believe that anyone from other cultures or systems of thought do not possess the intelligence necessary to develop effective systems of healing.  

In reading this book I was forced to ask, “Do these authors really believe that people have been giving and receiving acupuncture for at least 5000 years because it fools them into thinking they feel better? Do they really believe that there is no power in the metaphor of the body as nature?  Do they really not see that there is more out there and that there is more than one valid way to view reality?  Do they really believe that we are that dumb?” 

The reasoning used by Singh & Ernst is unpersuasive.  Their central tenet appears to be, “If science cannot prove it, it cannot be real and cannot be trusted.”  Unfortunately for Singh & Ernst, the scientific method is unable to discover exactly why so many worldwide use alternative healing.

A Piece of Personal History

As a member of the public, a student of the scientific method and an alternative health care practitioner, I have drawn different conclusions about alternative medicine than Singh & Ernst.  That I think differently does not mean that I am ignorant and cannot tell the difference between when I am merely being comforted and when my health and quality of life is being improved.

I believe in alternative healing because it restored my health.  While practicing law I became ill in a way that defied precise diagnosis.  Painful and debilitating symptoms - including fibroids, endometriosis, joint pain, digestive disorders, extreme fatigue, extreme physical pain, depression, post-traumatic stress, TMJ, and terrifying nightmares – lasted in the acute phase 3-5 years and had a significant impact on my family and quality of life.  

Up to and during this illness I eschewed all things spiritual. I also held an unyielding conviction that alternative medicine was frivolous and could not offer what I needed.  Accordingly, I worked with several conventional practitioners including counselors and reproductive specialists.  In each case drugs were prescribed.  Through the course of the illness I had prescriptions for Zoloft, Xanax, Belladonna, Prozac, Darvocet and Vioxx, to name a few.  

These medications provided temporary relief and symptoms often returned with renewed ferocity. I had surgery for fibroids due to hemorrhaging and pain.  Within 3 days of the surgery the pain moved from my reproductive organs to my bowels and I was once again in excruciating pain.  Likewise, I was told by my doctor that within five years I would need a hysterectomy.  From my direct personal experience, it appeared that the more drugs I took and the more invasive procedures I consented to, the sicker I became.  Importantly, it also seemed that my doctors held no meaningful hope for my recovery.  Over time I began filling prescriptions but not always taking them.  I began researching herbal alternative and making changes in my diet.

(for more, see next post)

Book Review: Trick or Treatment - (Post 1 of 4)

Before review Trick or Treatment: The Undeniable Truth about Alternative Medicine by Singh & Ernst, I will admit that, because of my personal and professional history with disease and alternative medicine, this book provoked strong feelings.  I do not agree with these authors.  I feel that they reject partnership between alternative and conventional medicine.  From where I sit, their approach over-simplifies of the problems of disease, suffering, money and quality of life confronting humanity.

Nonetheless, in the spirit of partnership and joint discovery, I would like to extend an offer to both Edzard Ernst and Simon Singh.  The offer is this: I will give 12 free spiritual healing sessions each to each author to be used over the course of a year.  These alternative methods have had a deep and positive impact on many.  I feel confident that these same benefits can be extended to these authors, if they are willing.

So, Simon and Edzard, are you game, for 12 sessions each, to enter your own personal laboratory of spiritual healing? Let me know.

Review

In Trick or Treatment: The Undeniable Facts about Alternative Medicine, (2008), authors Simon Singh and Edzard Ernst, MD use the scientific method to assess whether alternative healing methods are valid.  They claim to be the two people most likely to be able to understand the truth about alternative medicine.   

In this review, I take a look at these claims, including whether the scientific method can access the truths behind many alternative healing modalities.

An Ongoing Controversy:  What’s at Stake?

In Trick or Treatment, Singh & Ernst dive unapologetically into the on-going controversy between science and alternative medicine.  This controversy can be summarized as follows:

·         Many experience symptom relief, improved quality of life and healing through alternative medicine. 

·         Many forms of alternative medicine, like acupuncture, Ayurvedic medicine and shamanism are historically well-established in their cultures of origin.  They comprise unique systems of medicine and thought in their own right – systems that have supported human health and survival, in some cases for millennia.

·         According to Singh & Ernst, globally, alternative medicine forms “the fastest-growing area of medical spending.” (pp. 2).

Throw into the mix that science is so far unable to figure out how these modalities work, and you get what we have here:  a lot of fighting and a limited focus on learning how conventional and alternative medicine can partner in the best interests of all.

On the surface the debate is fueled by a desire on both sides to relieve pain and suffering and provide the best possible care.  As more people take advantage of alternative health care, diverting funds to this corner of the market, the debate intensifies.  

Beneath mundane concerns about money and who’s smarter, lies another driving concern – questions about “truth,” how we know when we’ve found it and if anyone has the right to determine for us how to care for our minds, bodies, emotions and spirit.  

Singh & Ernst also express a desire to protect an unaware public.  For instance, in a one page review of all spiritual healing techniques they state that “the concept of healing ‘energy’ is utterly implausible.” (pp 327).  They also imply that no real healing can be accomplished through energy medicine when they say that, scientifically, “at best it may offer comfort and at worst it can result in charlatans taking money from patients with serious conditions who require urgent conventional medicine.”  (pp. 327).

In this review I focus on the analysis of acupuncture in Chapter 2 of the book in part because so many in the US and around the world trust and have gotten results from acupuncture.  Therefore, fewer individuals will be outsiders in this conversation and can use their real life experiences in drawing their own conclusions.

The Truth According to Singh and Edzard

Simon Singh is an author and scientific journalist.  Edzard Ernst, M.D., is a medical doctor whose credentials include being “the world’s first professor of alternative medicine,” who has practiced “some alternative therapies.”  (pp. 3). In writing Trick or Treatment their mission was to “reveal the truth the about potions, lotions, pills, needles, pummelling and energizing that lie beyond the realms of conventional medicine….” (pp. 3). 

(for more see next post)

Messages From Angels - Don't Hang Up: Leaving a Message at the Cell Phone Store (continued)

Messages from Angels

Then the next part of sales clerk’s message came through.  “It is important for you to understand, this technology is not the wave of the future. People would starve to death in a system like this,” I said. 

Light flashed in the young employee’s eyes. “You can say that again!” she said.

Finally, she talked another employee (who was assisting a customer on the phone) into helping us.  In the pauses in his conversation he gave instructions in charades on how to use the cash register. 

As he did this, the last part of her message came through:  My voice, gestures and eye contact became more intense. “Listen to me! This is your angels talking through me! This is important! Remember what I said! There is a better life waiting for you but you have to do it. Pick a good school. Go to some interviews. Let yourself get excited.” Again, my voice choked and my eyes grew moist.  For some reason it was very important that this woman be persuaded to follow her dreams and pursue an education. 

“I’ve been thinking about it a lot and I’ve been lagging on it,” she said. 

The Angels had more to say:  “Now’s the time,” I said, conveying the angelic words and sentiments, “You can make it happen. It doesn’t matter if there are people criticizing you or not supporting you. Do it anyway! This is for you to do.”

This last part about criticism and support had come through several times since I had been in the store and I knew the message would be incomplete if I did not find a way to say it to her. When I said the word “support” her face registered something like triumph or knowing.  Perhaps this part of the message spoke to her concerns; perhaps it was the one piece of information she needed to move forward. 

She handed me my receipt. “Thank you for the advice … I mean the message,” she said. 

“You’re welcome,” I said, “Don’t forget what I said. This is serious.”

I walked outside and joined my sister by the tree.  “We were in and out in record time,” I said. “About 20 minutes, wouldn’t you say?”

“Why did she help you?” my sister asked. 

This was a good question. I pondered it. It was the young woman’s willingness to take me out of turn that led to our quiet conspiracy in the corner of the store that created the opportunity for our dialogue. It was also symbolic of the employee’s willingness to step out of line and, in her own small way, choose not to be controlled by a system that did not work for her.

I could just as well ask another series of questions: Why did I travel to see my family at Christmas? Why the charger, my phone’s lifeline, and not some other part of the phone? Why that particular store on a sunny day? Why this young woman with a larger purpose?

“Probably because I had a message for her,” I answered.  My sister nodded. We walked off and started another conspiracy, one to find coffee, hot chocolate and pizza.

_________________

A week later, my sister and were back on Lakeshore.  My sister pointed inside the cell phone store and said, “Hey, isn’t that your friend?” 

On a whim, I went inside the store.  The young employee I had delivered the  message to was busy helping another customer.  “Excuse me,” I said and touched her on the back.

She turned and looked at me with a big smile.

“I’m sorry to interrupt,” I said, “I just wanted to check on how your plans for school were going?”

Her smile got even bigger and she said, “I’m going in to sign up for classes tomorrow!  Thank you so, so much.”

“That’s great!  I’m so glad to hear that!  What are you taking?”

“That’s what we are going to decide!”

I noticed out of the corner of my eye that the customer I had interrupted was beginning to fidget uncomfortably.  His breathing became a little louder.  I turned to go before he became too irritated.  On my way out, I blew the young employee a kiss.  “Think big!” I said, holding my arms out wide on either side of my head. 

“Thanks!” she said, still smiling.

When I left the store I was grinning from ear to ear.

Messages From Angels - Don't Hang Up: Leaving a Message at the Cell Phone Store (continued)

Messages from Angels

Once again I was surprised at my own behavior.  I knew that the tears were the Angels way of communicating how important it was for the young woman to take the message to heart; the tears also let her know that she is important and loved.  Even so, for a brief moment, I wondered if this sudden display of emotion might make an already unusual conversation even more so.  At the same time, I sensed that the tears were part of the message and that the emotional intensity spoke to something inside of the young woman; for this reason she would not be offended.

She tilted her head to one side. “Thank you,” she said and then gently interrupted me by holding up a finger, “One second.”  She dashed away to help an impatient customer.  The tips of her long brown hair hung for an instant in the air before trailing after her rushing body.

Although a new charger had been located and successfully tested, there was still the obstacle of paying for it.  Also, the young woman had not received all of her message.  There was more that she needed to hear.

While she helped the other customer, I went outside to consult with my sister who still stood patiently by the tree.  Her hands were still stuffed in her coat pockets.

“Do you know where there is a cash machine?” I asked, “The employee doesn’t want the other customers to see her ringing me up. Maybe if I had cash it’d be easier for her and we’d get out of here faster.”

“Yeah,” my sister said, “We can get some cash.”

I went back in the store to tell the employee that I was going to get her cash.  To my surprise she held out her hand.  Emboldened now, she asked for my debit card.

 “We’re going to do it now,” she said definitively, taking my card and walking off toward a cash register with my card.  

Before we could finish the transaction she had to activate a gadget that would prompt the cash register to give me permission to pay. The gadget malfunctioned. 

“Should I just swipe my card?” I asked hopefully. 

“Well, that won’t do any good until this machine,” she said, pointing to the defunct gadget, “talks to the cash register and tells it that you can,”

I began to feel impatient and a little desperate. Part of me wanted to act out my irritation but I did not. Rebellion would not speed things up. Emotional connection is lost on heartless machines. I stifled my feelings also because I knew that I was here with this woman for a reason.  I was co-conspirator with the angels in getting her this message; I was a conduit between these angelic beings and this young employee. It was important to honor what I was being called upon to do.  I also admired her ability to keep her cool.

The employee and I brainstormed about how to get the cash register working.  The angry voices of neglected customers punctuated our conversation.  The next part of the message for her came through.

I gave a small laugh. “You are imprisoned by technology! Literally!”

“You can say that again!” she murmured, smiling softly, still fiddling with the gadget.

She excused herself and ran off to get a replacement gadget only to have trouble with the new one. Calmly, she set it down on the counter. “That’s okay,” she said, “We’ll just do it without your personal information.” 

I remembered that she had been trying to input my phone number into the gadget in order to get the cash register to work. I wondered why the company had felt that the gadget, like the electronic clipboard, was necessary, especially with so few customers in the store. 

(for more, see next post)