Best technology - wildly variable 'medicine'.

It would be another thread to explore, but - the 3 Basic Means of cancer treatment here are surgery, radiation and poisoning (hoping.. that an alrady broken immune system + liver can recover somehow: if the cancer cells are poisoned a bit faster). Often neither 'works' - but by then the immune system is incapable of benefiting from less DRASTIC and less simplistically-targetted 'solutions'.

Those who survive chemo - never recover full functionality of the liver, nor complete restoration of the immune system. "5 year survival" is the norm for a 'successful cancer event' (for the stats). Restoration of "robust health!" is not even on the menu. Ask a few survivors..

There are other approaches to the big-C Question, and many of these require a change in attitude re the idea of the words "cure" and "treating of symptoms". Since this is a topic too close to 'All and Everything' I demor in trying for some simplistic summary.

In my experience of the system (including working with MDs in so-called 'research') I believe we generally provide treatments which vary greatly across the range of helping - ineffectual - hurting, believe it established that many of the 'procedures' are flawed and often performed carelessly.. on through downright stupidly. Allopathy is taken as a religion in the US. Most here are ignorant of there even being useful alternatives. In other rich countries - it is only one philosophical approach of many available, for the prevention of dis-ease and for maintaining 'wellness'.

We do a LOUSY job of maintaining wellness; it isn't even how US Drs. have thought of selves since the first.. though some new awareness is today slowly creeping into this dinosaur that is the AMA and its Bible, the PDR. We Love farm-chem because it's so instantly gratifying - at suppressing the symptoms of something (Else?) and we don't have to think or change any habits. Perfect! for Muricans.. no?

IMhO You don't get the 'Best', most appropriate attention to your dis-ease in the US unless you know pretty Much via your own research, and you won't get much-of-that-Much! by ploppping in the waiting room and then saying, "Doctor please fix it - don't bother me with the details." Caveat emptor was INVENTED re the sordid history of 'medicine'. ER shall still remain Popular of course - whatever the mortality figures actually are: John Wayne in a smock redux.

So much for the short-form,

Ashton
who has reliably eschewed AMA medicine since first achieving a form of sentience. (They do great stitches though, and sew arms back on Beautifully. Hit a truck? See one of the *good* US trauma wards == The Best Yet.)

We do a LOUSY job of maintaining wellness; it isn't even how US Drs. have thought of selves since the first.. though some new awareness is today slowly creeping into this dinosaur that is the AMA and its Bible, the PDR. We Love farm-chem because it's so instantly gratifying - at suppressing the symptoms of something (Else?) and we don't have to think or change any habits. Perfect! for Muricans.. no?

Everything we (as a nation) do is instant gratification and short-term thinking.

There's money in selling burgers.

There's money in selling cigarettes.

There's money in selling bypass surgery.

There's not much money to be made in selling a healthy life.

Cancer might not have been the best example above. I should have used a car wreck, instead.

Post #64,807 by Ashton 11/24/02 7:57:28 PM Reply	Best technology - wildly variable 'medicine'. It would be another thread to explore, but - the 3 Basic Means of cancer treatment here are surgery, radiation and poisoning (hoping.. that an alrady broken immune system + liver can recover somehow: if the cancer cells are poisoned a bit faster). Often neither 'works' - but by then the immune system is incapable of benefiting from less DRASTIC and less simplistically-targetted 'solutions'. Those who survive chemo - never recover full functionality of the liver, nor complete restoration of the immune system. "5 year survival" is the norm for a 'successful cancer event' (for the stats). Restoration of "robust health!" is not even on the menu. Ask a few survivors.. There are other approaches to the big-C Question, and many of these require a change in attitude re the idea of the words "cure" and "treating of symptoms". Since this is a topic too close to 'All and Everything' I demor in trying for some simplistic summary. In my experience of the system (including working with MDs in so-called 'research') I believe we generally provide treatments which vary greatly across the range of helping - ineffectual - hurting, believe it established that many of the 'procedures' are flawed and often performed carelessly.. on through downright stupidly. Allopathy is taken as a religion in the US. Most here are ignorant of there even being useful alternatives. In other rich countries - it is only one philosophical approach of many available, for the prevention of dis-ease and for maintaining 'wellness'. We do a LOUSY job of maintaining wellness; it isn't even how US Drs. have thought of selves since the first.. though some new awareness is today slowly creeping into this dinosaur that is the AMA and its Bible, the PDR. We Love farm-chem because it's so instantly gratifying - at suppressing the symptoms of something (Else?) and we don't have to think or change any habits. Perfect! for Muricans.. no? IMhO You don't get the 'Best', most appropriate attention to your dis-ease in the US unless you know pretty Much via your own research, and you won't get much-of-that-Much! by ploppping in the waiting room and then saying, "Doctor please fix it - don't bother me with the details." Caveat emptor was INVENTED re the sordid history of 'medicine'. ER shall still remain Popular of course - whatever the mortality figures actually are: John Wayne in a smock redux. So much for the short-form, Ashton who has reliably eschewed AMA medicine since first achieving a form of sentience. (They do great stitches though, and sew arms back on Beautifully. Hit a truck? See one of the good US trauma wards == The Best Yet.) Patience and tranquility of mind contribute more to cure our distempers as the whole art of medicine. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Post #64,813 by Brandioch 11/24/02 9:52:05 PM Reply	It's in our culture. We do a LOUSY job of maintaining wellness; it isn't even how US Drs. have thought of selves since the first.. though some new awareness is today slowly creeping into this dinosaur that is the AMA and its Bible, the PDR. We Love farm-chem because it's so instantly gratifying - at suppressing the symptoms of something (Else?) and we don't have to think or change any habits. Perfect! for Muricans.. no? Everything we (as a nation) do is instant gratification and short-term thinking. There's money in selling burgers. There's money in selling cigarettes. There's money in selling bypass surgery. There's not much money to be made in selling a healthy life. Cancer might not have been the best example above. I should have used a car wreck, instead.
Post #64,863 by ben_tilly 11/25/02 7:09:54 AM Reply	It is in our culture even more than that After you get beyond a fairly low per capita income, one of the biggest known factors on life expectancy is how little income disparity there is. The US, of course, has made a religion out of the value of allowing huge disparities to thrive... Random link from Google on this. [link\|http://depts.washington.edu/eqhlth/\|http://depts.washington.edu/eqhlth/] Cheers, Ben "Career politicians are inherently untrustworthy; if it spends its life buzzing around the outhouse, it\ufffds probably a fly." - [link\|http://www.nationalinterest.org/issues/58/Mead.html\|Walter Mead]

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