Show me some data …

I have an open mind about medicine … meaning, I agree with the premise of the movie Patch Adams where Robin Williams character focuses on treating the patient and not just the illness.  Of course, with that sort of latitude on what heals, it is ripe for charlatans and con artists to rip people off who think they can be cured with idiotic approaches when they should just go the traditional route.

Let’s take Cancer for example, treatments can include:

Surgery, Radiation, Chemo, Nutrition, Exercise, Praying, Touch Healers, Magnets, Self-Hypnosis, Medical Massage (or just the good old-fashion hand job), Acupuncture, Shark Cartilage, and my favorite – Cannabis.

There’s also the possibly that the Think-System approach used in the movie The Music Man (think the Minuet in G – play the Minuet in G) might somehow eliminate tumors.

You know what they call Alternative medicine when it works? They call it ‘Medicine”.

There needs to be data on claims.  I don’t believe the evil empire called the medical field wants to keep everyone sick.  But what I have seen about the Alternative approach is a total lack of trust in the medical profession – which just doesn’t feel correct.  The medical field may be less concerned about the health of the patient and more about the disease, but that doesn’t lead me to think they have no heart or soul to their work.

Give me Dr. House being a douche bag while he figures out how to save me over a Dr. Phil guest spewing some bullshit about Rain Forest Berries.

But you don’t get many “do-overs” with cancer treatments.  There is a window to beat it and if the data suggests an 80% success rate with chemotherapy and you decline it for an approach that involves smoking pot while fucking around with some magnets, you might regret it.

Choose chemo and you might look and feel like hell for a while but you might live. 

Ironically sometimes the only way you look like you have cancer is when you’re being treated for it.