Complementary & Alternative Medicine Opinion of Former Surgeon General

Ran across an interesting interview with former Surgeon General Vice Admiral Richard H. Carmona, M.D. recently where he talked a little bit about complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). While admitting that some good comes from CAM, those parts that are scientifically proven and then accepted into mainstream medicine, he feels that billions of dollars are being wasted on dubious devices and products. He added that "But the fact that 50% of Americans are spending discretionary income on alternative medicine shows that the public is dissatisfied with the healthcare system."

I do agree with him on one major point: people don't know enough about their health. Dr. Carmona said "We're a health illiterate nation. Studies show that about one third of our population doesn't understand the connection between their lifestyle and their health outcomes...The real challenge for consumer-directed initiatives is to deliver health literate, culturally competent messages that resonate with diverse populations....Health literacy is the currency of success for everything we need to do to improve the health, safety, and security of our nation."

Hopefully UnBreak Your Health is one of the ways to improve the health of Americans!

It's About The Money

In America we're free to choose our careers based on our ambitions and abilities. When the financial rewards are controlled by third-party payments instead of consumers, the system can go terribly out of balance.

That's what is happening in medicine today. Shortages are being created in many specialties because they earn less than fields where more high-profit procedures can be done per day. For example, in the coming decade America will probably lose 140 of the remaining 400 neuro-opthamologists, specialists trained to detect and treat visual problems connected to the brain. In the last 4 years only 20 medical students have chosen this field.

This trend contributes to the relentless increase in medical costs as both patients and doctors are driven into more expensive, procedure-driven medical treatments. Just one more part of a broken medical system in our country.

Dallas Meeting

Interesting meeting at the Tower Club in Dallas last night, a presentation on "Health Care: The Situation, Politics and Solutions." The general feeling was there are tremendous pressures building for fundamental changes in our current system but doubts about the ability of Congress to get the job done. (After all, look at how well they're handling the Social Security crisis!)

There was some very good information presented and interesting questions from the audience. I didn't really expect the subject of complementary and alternative medicine to come up since the time was very limited but wanted to attend ... just in case. I did have an opportunity to talk with several people about CAM during the networking time.

People are always amazed to hear about some of the wonderful healing therapies available in complementary and alternative therapies and shocked that they've never heard of them before. As I explain, since these therapies take money away from mainstream medicine they shouldn't expect to hear about the competition.

A few more seeds for change have been planted.

NBC Series on Mind-Body Medicine

Have you caught the NBC News series this week on Mind-Body medicine? Monday's segment featured Duke Integrative Medicine where they talked about the benefits of health and wellness. The catch: trying to get insurance companies to realize it's better and cheaper to pay for wellness than it is disease management. Big task, but with hospitals realizing that it's better to capitalize on the rising consumer popularity of complementary and alternative medicine perhaps there's hope the insurance companies will "get it" eventually too.

Medications Dangerous for Elderly

We all know how the elderly are more frail and that means medications impact their diminished bodies more severely. Now there is news of an NIH study that confirms these observations. The Ginkgo Evaluation of Memory Study (GEMS) was presented to the American Geriatrics Society meeting last weekend.

"Older adults who take drugs designed to block the neurotransmitter acetylcholine – including common medications for incontinence, high blood pressure and allergies – are more likely to be dependent in one or more activities of daily living and to walk slower, according to new findings from researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine and colleagues."

Just one more example of the unintended consequences of prescription drugs.

Pay Me Now or Pay Me Later

Many people put off investing in their own health. We take better care of our cars than we do our most precious gift, our own body. We used to think we could put it off and simply pay up later.

That day is coming sooner than many people realize since many hospitals are now charging before they provide service. Uncompensated care cost the hospital industry $31.2 billion in 2006 up 44% from 2000. It's not only those without insurance or with little coverage, the increasing co-pays and deductables are pushing the bills to new heights. (Don't get me started on the price of gas and food!)

Best choice has always been to invest in your health TODAY otherwise you may discover the truth of "penny wise, pound foolish" later at the doorway to the hospital.

Modern Medicine vs. Old Wives' Tale

There is an old wives' tale that if a woman eats bananas she'll have a boy. Now British researchers have confirmed it. In addition it makes a difference if a woman eats breakfast. Women who ate one bowl daily were 87% more likely to have a boy than women who ate just one per week.

The study involved 700 women in the United Kingdom and is reported to be the first to show a link in humans between a woman's diet and the sex of her child.

Want to bet that the pharmaceutical industry comes up with a banana pill with a commercial on the evening news sometime soon?