Is there anybody else here who thinks Dr Frank needs to get over his fear of Alternative Medicine/ Therapies?

Question

If he objects so much to them why does he continue to answer questions in this section by trying to put off those who are genuinely seeking help or guidance. There are some things conventional medicine can't help with and that is why we are here?! Personally I think Dr Frank needs EFT or Hypnotherapy to help with his irrational thoughts and fears of Alternative therapies. What you think guys?

It amuses me how Dr Frank refers to Alternative medicine/ therapies as 'voodoo mumbo jumbo'. For those who don't know alot about it, I would just like to clarify that we do not stand over our patients chanting or performing bizarre rituals on them in any way. We are merely treating them in respect of their lifestyle, physical, emotional and psychological well being.. And like GP's, we too must have a high degree of knowlege on conventional/ homeopathic medicines and anatomy and physiology.

Answer 1

dr frank says he is a gp for more years than he cares to remember..this means he obviously cant conform to any change to the medical profession..he is afraid that maybe someday people will go to alternative and complementary therapists before they go down the conventional medicine route..and i agree that he keeps putting these therapies down every chance he gets and its getting quite boring at this stage..i am a nurse and complementary therapist so i have seen both sides of it..and both are welcome in my opinion..you cant knock something untill u have tried it..

Answer 2

Nope! I'm a firm supporter of herbs in medicine. Probably the active ingredients are similar to what you use because it works. I'm guessing they were menthol/peppermint, wintergreen with salicylic acid, or have capsicum in it. If you check the pharmaceuticals of a hundred years ago, you'll find they had many herbs in the book for diseases. But, new things came along along with treatments and cures for diseases that before were then incurable. Unfortunately, the trend was to rid the pharmaceuticals of all herbal remedies, thus, loosing a great deal of history and potential cures were lost for a time or all time. Today, the West is rediscovering these cures and the benefits of Chinese medicine cures. There's a difference between aromatherapy and mainstream medicine. A good doctor well versed in homoeopathy chooses which is best for the patient, traditional herbs or modern medicines. A well versed patient checks out if alternative methods are available for a cure, if the Rx medicine isn't working. Or, sometimes seeks to combine it with the regular Rx medicine. We can't ignore the past. The more research that is done in these areas, the more we find that these ancient herbs and cures contain some very modernistic drugs.

Answer 3

I don't want to get into an argument for the sake of it, but I can tell you, believers and sceptics, that I lived with chronic depression for over ten years. I saw a variety of doctors and the general prognosis was that my depression was drug resistent and that I would probably take efexor for the rest of my life just to help me deal with the symptoms.
Yes they helped and I would never discourage anyone who needs that help initially from seeing a doctor and taking prescribed meds.
However, I also knew that while the symptoms were being helped the cause was not even beig looked at. It was as though, medicine had found a drug that 'sort of' helped and that was as much as science could do. I was coping but I wasn't happy, I knew that.
Last year a friend introduced me to a Bach Flower therapist. I knew what the flower remedies were I had just never got further than reading about them.
I had several consultations with the therapist and tried an array of different remedies. I began to feel confident enough to reduce the efexor, (slowly)
I am now down to 37.5 efexor every other day, and the only reason I keep that small amount going is because I find the brain zaps from complete withdrawal very difficult to cope with.
However for the most part, my alleged drug resistant depression has now gone. I am drug free for the first time in over ten years and whilst I know I have a way to go yet, I am in control of my feelings and thoughts, not the efexor.
Conventional and alternative medicine can work hand in hand, both are useful and have benefits. However it is the conventional side of it that seems to have the most difficulties accepting another way. Science has to have anything proven by calculation, if they cannot see a scientific theroy behind something then they dismiss it. I would say that is more dangerous than allowing a person the freedom to look at alternatives and use the benefits of nature without resorting to childish name calling and 'mumbo jumbo' type comments.

Answer 4

It's an unfair coin.
Alternative Medicine gets a bad wrap every know and then. If someone doesn't fallow what they are suppost to be doing they end up in trouble, and we all pay.(eg. kava kava)
If the medical field makes a mistake, it's "sorry charlie, but here we go again"
You can only treat a person in whole and not just one aliment. You hope that person is telling you truth when they have a problem.
Unlike surgery, which has it's place.Once you cut, you scare. Alternative medicine can help though looking for another answer to the problems at hand. Where do you think modern medicine got all it's chemicals and or treatments from?
I read a lot on health, and was educated in the sciences, and have been in and out of the doctors offices more then I can even remember.
Thanks for letting me vent.

Answer 5

Dr Frank admits himself that he was a GP 'for more years than he can remember'.
This leads me to make a few assumptions (probably totally unfair and wrong of me!):
- He is no longer a GP otherwise he wouldn't have time to answer so many questions
- He did his medical training many many years ago when alternative medicine wasn't established
- Since the then only professional development he has received is reps from medical companies who go into surgeries trying to persuade doctors to dish out their medicines
- Even that stopped a few years ago

So he's an old dinonsaur with a lot of set views on alternative medicine which are probably based on one study he did at medical school in 1925. We should forgive his ignorance.

Answer 6

Not all GPs have a hang up about complementary therapies. Some use / advise things like Accupucture and Hypnotherapy.

If you look at the possible side effects listed on some drugs they are far worse than the illness.

Answer 7

Dr Frank is a charlatan, just like all GP's. They never give you a straight answer. If they cant cure it, it doesn't exist. If they dont like it, it doesn't make them money. There is no real non-biased scientific evidence to support conventional medicine over complimentary medicine. The answer Dr Frank is in the name. Here is a clue; complimentary! Have they not been using Hypnotherepy in Psychiatric Units (sorry - 'controlled environments') for many years. As one famous alcoholic said "I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy". Case closed.

Answer 8

I believe that Herbal Medicine works, as well as other Alternative medicine/therapies

I feel sorry for Dr Frank, he is only trying to help and doesn't deserve to be judged/taunted by people.

Just think, when he is ill with something and is shoving conventional medicines down himself, we can be satisfied to know that if we were to be struck by the same misfortune of illness, that we are open-minded enough to try Alternative Medicine/therapies and may actually be cured/helped by them, whereas his scepticism may be his downfall.

Answer 9

Pardon me for being sceptical but does anyone have evidence of the said doctor's medical qualifications.

Perhaps it's just someone who enjoys being a bit of a stirrer, like the anti microwave and anti vegetarian brigades.

I'm glad there are doctors, young and old, who don't have hangups with some, if not all, complementary or alternative therapies.

Personally I would rather be treated as a whole human being than a statistic.

Answer 10

We are all entitled to our personal opinions and when we put a question up on Y/A we must expect to receive opinions of all varieties, including ones that don't match our own. If you look on my questions you'll see that Dr Frank answered a question similar to this giving his reasons for his views. I am open minded about alternative treatment and will always try it first before seeing a Doctor, but let's face it Doctors are essential and save many lives. How many of us would be writing these questions and answers if it wasn't for the likes of Dr Frank and many more like him. Let's respect the views of all Doctors both conventional and alternative.

Answer 11

I have never had any luck with GPs, always fobbing me off with no real advice, I end up walking away feeling worse. However I found a GP who practiced homeopathy too and his advice was so helpful and the homeopathy actually worked for my chronic daily headaches, a real achievement. Anything alternative is worth a go, it doesn't hurt, doesn't cost very much and it does sometimes work... for some people.