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Originally Posted by Alex Stroup
Ok, but again, how do you decide, lacking any real evidence one way or the other, which alternative methods are simply too wacky to consider and which are worth spending money on despite no real evidence one way or the other. Because no matter who whacked out a proposed treatment, I will be able to find you a person in a position of apparent authority who endorses it (just as I can find you PhD geologists who believ the earth is only 6,000 years old).
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Well geeze, you can always find a wacked out person to endorse anything. I don't think that condemns alternative medicine any more than it condemns geology.
I think a great deal of common sense applies, as with anything else. Who do I trust? Well, Bastyr manages to have a whole little University that affiliates with reputable conventional medical and nursing schools, so that would be a start. Bastyr's website links to
this recent article describing a current UW/Bastyr study on providing care to the dying. Sounds to me like an example of working on that "real evidence". Maybe it's because I worked in a health care school for so long, but I saw lots of "real" studies that involved alternative therapies. Whether light therapy calmed elderly demented patients. (If I recall correctly, it didn't.) Various ways to treat and manage fibromyalgia. I think my former boss lady is involved with some CAM research being done in Korea that might actually involve acupuncture. (Maybe with Seoul National University? I can't remember.)
I think you proceed the same way you proceed when checking out any specialist. Are they affiliated with reputable institutions? What does their CV look like? Are they currently involved in research? Same questions I asked myself when I checked out the bio of the specialist recommended for my brother's conventional treatment.