Alternative medicine/therapy adult courses dropped!
- Thread starter reubeness
- Start date
Tarannau - post three = no sarcasm, other posts lots of it. But that's OK we all get heated about some things.
I am opinionated about treatments that I know work because I have cleared up various problems with massage, use of herbs etc., I have had reflexology treatments that have cleared up sinus issues, acupuncture for psoriasis herbals that have eased irritable bowel symptoms. All of which I go to the GP with first to get an 'allopathic' diagnosis for.
GPs give out an array of 'drugs', most have side effects, some of those side effects are worse than the illness itself, GPs rarely seem to look for allergies, and three times my children have been prescribed the wrong drugs, once because the GP made an error while choosing the medicine from the drop down menu on the computer! My daughter at 4yrs was given steroids for supposed asthma when the 9 week long cough turned out to be an allergy to dairy products.
So not much faith in the accepted medicine made me search for alternatives.
Anyway, as I have already said, I am 50-odd, I've always used Adult Education to explore subjects that interest me, I assumed that AE was for all who wanted it and the subsidy, an encouragement for people to learn.
Since funding is being withdrawn on even core subjects seems like everybody is going to suffer - especially the ones who need it most.
I am opinionated about treatments that I know work because I have cleared up various problems with massage, use of herbs etc., I have had reflexology treatments that have cleared up sinus issues, acupuncture for psoriasis herbals that have eased irritable bowel symptoms. All of which I go to the GP with first to get an 'allopathic' diagnosis for.
GPs give out an array of 'drugs', most have side effects, some of those side effects are worse than the illness itself, GPs rarely seem to look for allergies, and three times my children have been prescribed the wrong drugs, once because the GP made an error while choosing the medicine from the drop down menu on the computer! My daughter at 4yrs was given steroids for supposed asthma when the 9 week long cough turned out to be an allergy to dairy products.
So not much faith in the accepted medicine made me search for alternatives.
Anyway, as I have already said, I am 50-odd, I've always used Adult Education to explore subjects that interest me, I assumed that AE was for all who wanted it and the subsidy, an encouragement for people to learn.
Since funding is being withdrawn on even core subjects seems like everybody is going to suffer - especially the ones who need it most.
kyser_soze
Hawking's Angry Eyebrow
So because you've got a shit GP that renders the whole of allopathic medcine worthless? Or does it rather mean you've got a shit GP who can't use a PC?
Miss shelf
I got the ITEC in massage and A&P at Clapham Centre about six years ago. Clapham Centre was offering an ITEC Reflexology in their prospectus 2008, it's been running for years. Only this year we were informed it was under review and then, ultimately that it was not available this year due to lack of funding and the college have no idea if it will return.
I got the ITEC in massage and A&P at Clapham Centre about six years ago. Clapham Centre was offering an ITEC Reflexology in their prospectus 2008, it's been running for years. Only this year we were informed it was under review and then, ultimately that it was not available this year due to lack of funding and the college have no idea if it will return.
ViolentPanda
Hardly getting over it.
I think that the major point of difference tends to be that seeing your GP is "production-line" medicine. The aim is to offer diagnosis and some form of treatment within a very short amount of time, and some GPs tend to rely on their assumptions about a patient ("patient is fat therefore patient is lazy", "patient is an anxious mum therefore is imagining symptoms" or similar) rather than on actually SEEING the problem.
With some "alternative" practitioners, it can be as much how they do a diagnosis, and the time they take to treat you as it is the efficacy of the treatment, and your "inner peace" can make all the difference to a treatment working.
IIRC some money has been "ring-fenced" for adult literacy and numeracy, but given the sheer volume of adverts, media mileage etc the govt has made out of it's adult literacy and numeracy programmes, you'd think they'd have been a lot more active in making sure local education authorities built on their existing capacity, rather than shrinking it.
fogbat
The Talibum
To be fair to the OP, they're at least consistent.
One shit GP: Evidence based medicine is worthless.
Good personal, subjective experience of woo: It REALLY works!
Do we have to use the phrase "allopathic" medicine, btw? It was a word coined by that old nutball Hahnemann, as a derogatory comparison to his "homeopathic" medicine.
blossie33
trailer trash
This is true, City and Islington cut right back on a lot of courses a few years ago including the Tai Chi class I had been going to for nearly three years.
Fogbat
Read the post again, I always go to my GP for a diagnosis. I am not in fact slagging off the GP I have at the moment, he is very sympathetic and the practice I use in Stockwell offers alternative ways to treat conditions, ie on the NHS and in my surgery I have had osteopathy for a trapped nerve and back pain, I have also been offered acupuncture. One doctor at the practice has messed up with my children three times and all the doctors I have seen at this practice to treat my child's eczema have only ever offered cortisone cream when that is clearly a bad thing over a long period of time.
As I said I am in my fifties I have not had ONE doctor in all those years, so I am making decisions based on a number of GP's treating me, my family and my extended family over fifty years.
Read the post again, I always go to my GP for a diagnosis. I am not in fact slagging off the GP I have at the moment, he is very sympathetic and the practice I use in Stockwell offers alternative ways to treat conditions, ie on the NHS and in my surgery I have had osteopathy for a trapped nerve and back pain, I have also been offered acupuncture. One doctor at the practice has messed up with my children three times and all the doctors I have seen at this practice to treat my child's eczema have only ever offered cortisone cream when that is clearly a bad thing over a long period of time.
As I said I am in my fifties I have not had ONE doctor in all those years, so I am making decisions based on a number of GP's treating me, my family and my extended family over fifty years.
Government funding has gone out of adult education in general, and is now being focussed on young people not in education, employment or training ("NEET"). Typically it is targeting 16-18-year-olds, and sometimes from 14 or up to 19. While in itself this focus has some reasoning behind it, it's rather writing off everyone over 19 who'd like to get some extra skills. More of the "training" is being provided by poor quality agencies such as A4e, who treat staff terribly and often provide very little incentive (and sometimes little real opportunity) for the trainees to learn. Less is being provided by FE colleges, and in response to the cutbacks, staff have left or been laid off and there are fewer options for students.
I find alternative "medicine" very frustrating. Some techniques, some herbs used are effective, while the experience can be therapeutic and the practitioners are often very genuinely passionate about its benefits. Unfortunately, there's almost no effort to provide any real analysis into what actually works and what has a placebo effect. For example, I took a course in shiatsu massage, which I enjoyed and found some real benefits from. However, some techniques quite clearly relied entirely on a placebo effect but were described as vital due solely to various traditional theories.
I find alternative "medicine" very frustrating. Some techniques, some herbs used are effective, while the experience can be therapeutic and the practitioners are often very genuinely passionate about its benefits. Unfortunately, there's almost no effort to provide any real analysis into what actually works and what has a placebo effect. For example, I took a course in shiatsu massage, which I enjoyed and found some real benefits from. However, some techniques quite clearly relied entirely on a placebo effect but were described as vital due solely to various traditional theories.
bubblesmcgrath
Well-Known Member
I wonder if opinions on eastern and western medicine have moved on since 2008?
As someone who has been through the western medicinal mill I have found that maintenance of my good health and wellbeing is greatly helped by what are termed "alternative" therapies...complementary even.
However, I'm also very aware that in a health crisis such as a flare up of my autoimmune conditions, I will resort to the immediacy of an increase in my immunosuppressant medication.
I've really softened my views on health, healing and what's on offer. And as someone who meets medical consultants very often, I'm impressed that many of them are very positive about the world of alternative healing therapies as a way to a less stressful life. I have been and still am a patient of a liver specialist, a gastroenterologist, an immunologist, a rheumatologist, a neurologist, 2 surgeons, a skin specialist...you name it..
Every single one of them has spoken about stress relief as being crucial..and every single one of them has mentioned that it would be good to look at complementary therapies such as reflexology, accupuncture, yoga, tai chi.... The only one they advise great care with is herbal medicine and I've to check drug interactions if I'm thinking of trying herbs. I made a mistake last year thinking spirulina would be great for me. It interacted in some way with my immunosuppressants....well...what it really did was boost my immune system which counteracted the immunosuppressant meds. My fault for not checking it out fully. The spirulina was great...it just worked too well.
I'm taking dandelion root tea since my recent flare up as it is good for liver function, and I'm practicing sound therapy for relaxation. My regular consultant is amazed at the speed of my recovery from the last autoimmune flare up. I'm 7 weeks on from the massive flare and I am way ahead in terms of recovery. My meds were reduced last week and blood pressure has been coming down.
All I can say is that I have found benefits in complementary medicine....that doesn't mean that I can stop taking immuran...my little toxic companion...but it does mean that I can ease some of the side effects and it has led to a reduction in my dosages. Stress in my case leads to flares. I'll do anything to control as much stress as possible and the best way for me to do that has been through sound healing therapy, tai chi, and herbal teas.
I can only give a personal view. But for me in my situation, I have found relief from stress and pain through complementary alternatives. That doesn't mean it will work for someone else with a similar health issue. All it means is that it I have found myself less stressed and my healing and revovery time has improved.
As someone who has been through the western medicinal mill I have found that maintenance of my good health and wellbeing is greatly helped by what are termed "alternative" therapies...complementary even.
However, I'm also very aware that in a health crisis such as a flare up of my autoimmune conditions, I will resort to the immediacy of an increase in my immunosuppressant medication.
I've really softened my views on health, healing and what's on offer. And as someone who meets medical consultants very often, I'm impressed that many of them are very positive about the world of alternative healing therapies as a way to a less stressful life. I have been and still am a patient of a liver specialist, a gastroenterologist, an immunologist, a rheumatologist, a neurologist, 2 surgeons, a skin specialist...you name it..
Every single one of them has spoken about stress relief as being crucial..and every single one of them has mentioned that it would be good to look at complementary therapies such as reflexology, accupuncture, yoga, tai chi.... The only one they advise great care with is herbal medicine and I've to check drug interactions if I'm thinking of trying herbs. I made a mistake last year thinking spirulina would be great for me. It interacted in some way with my immunosuppressants....well...what it really did was boost my immune system which counteracted the immunosuppressant meds. My fault for not checking it out fully. The spirulina was great...it just worked too well.
I'm taking dandelion root tea since my recent flare up as it is good for liver function, and I'm practicing sound therapy for relaxation. My regular consultant is amazed at the speed of my recovery from the last autoimmune flare up. I'm 7 weeks on from the massive flare and I am way ahead in terms of recovery. My meds were reduced last week and blood pressure has been coming down.
All I can say is that I have found benefits in complementary medicine....that doesn't mean that I can stop taking immuran...my little toxic companion...but it does mean that I can ease some of the side effects and it has led to a reduction in my dosages. Stress in my case leads to flares. I'll do anything to control as much stress as possible and the best way for me to do that has been through sound healing therapy, tai chi, and herbal teas.
I can only give a personal view. But for me in my situation, I have found relief from stress and pain through complementary alternatives. That doesn't mean it will work for someone else with a similar health issue. All it means is that it I have found myself less stressed and my healing and revovery time has improved.
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Reno
The In Kraut
Reflexology is based on an absurd theory of how the human body functions and there has been enough medical research into it to conclude that there is no scientific proof that it works. Like any massage it is pleasant enough and if you really believe in it, there may be some sort of placebo effect.
Being told to have an open mind to it, is no different to being told to having an open mind to a deity with a long beard having created the earth in seven days. We don't need faith based medicine, we need medicine based in science. I'm am 100% opposed of any public money going into alternative medicine and healing practices. At best, putting your faith in alternative medicine and healing is a harmless if ineffectual diversion, at its worst it can kill people.
Being told to have an open mind to it, is no different to being told to having an open mind to a deity with a long beard having created the earth in seven days. We don't need faith based medicine, we need medicine based in science. I'm am 100% opposed of any public money going into alternative medicine and healing practices. At best, putting your faith in alternative medicine and healing is a harmless if ineffectual diversion, at its worst it can kill people.
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dylanredefined
Not a house elf a tiger
If it works and is proven to work it stops being alternative medicine.
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