Nice article in today's Wall Street Journal about the health effects of stress. It's sad that mainstream medicine has taken so long to figure it out, but I guess better late than never. Unfortunately there are still too many doctors out there that think "in your head" is synonymous with "psychosomatic" and make believe.
I particularly liked the information on the "gut brain" as they called it. The digestive tract is loaded with its own little nervous system that is incredibly tuned in to our thoughts and emotions. That's why you get butterflies there when you're nervous. Even greater or prolonged anxiety can trigger heartburn, indigestion and irritable-bowel syndrome, in which the normal movement of the colon gets out of rhythm, traps painful gas and alternates between diarrhea and constipation. Been there, done that, it wasn't any fun.
The article didn't really cover the hundreds of different CAM therapies that have been proven to help with stress and the damaging effects on our health. At least it's a start.
Showing posts with label Wall Street Journal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wall Street Journal. Show all posts
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Friday, January 2, 2009
Wall Street Journal Draws Battle Lines
The war between complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) and mainstream medicine and its ally the pharmaceutical industry has taken a new turn against the people in America. On December 25th the Wall Street Journal gave a gift of support to the forces of business and the status quo with a one-sided article by an author hawking a book claiming that all CAM is a scam. I won't even dignify the article by using its name because it is such a biased article it should have been on the op-ed page.
To give you an idea of how ridiculous this piece was it called Dr. Andrew Weil and Dr. Deepak Chopra "veteran hucksters" and basically called them stupid and charlatans because they promote health without prescription drugs. The author also denigrated the NCCAM for being a waste of taxpayer money. The author's qualifications are far less accomplished to say the least.
The reason for this article and the timing is easy to understand. With the incoming administration there are going to be major changes to America's health care system and early indications are that the current gravy train of profits is going to come to a screeching halt. We can't forget that the Wall Street Journal is all about business. It's unfortunate that the paper has chosen to promote profits over the health of its subscribers. They prefer to see healthy stock prices than healthy people. This lack of common decency and morality is the Achilles Heel of capitalism.
I am here to say the Emperor has no clothes and that in the war between money and health the people of this country are increasingly turning towards common sense and away from a drug-dominated health care system that places itself on a pedestal of profit. People are waking up to the facts that have been hidden for too long and recognizing the current health care system for what it really is, a very profitable sick-care system.
I can only applaud the efforts of Tom Daschle and the incoming administration to put the health of Americans above the profit margins of the drug companies and medical institutions. I hope they continue to have the courage to ignore the army of lobbyists who are deathly afraid for their jobs.
To give you an idea of how ridiculous this piece was it called Dr. Andrew Weil and Dr. Deepak Chopra "veteran hucksters" and basically called them stupid and charlatans because they promote health without prescription drugs. The author also denigrated the NCCAM for being a waste of taxpayer money. The author's qualifications are far less accomplished to say the least.
The reason for this article and the timing is easy to understand. With the incoming administration there are going to be major changes to America's health care system and early indications are that the current gravy train of profits is going to come to a screeching halt. We can't forget that the Wall Street Journal is all about business. It's unfortunate that the paper has chosen to promote profits over the health of its subscribers. They prefer to see healthy stock prices than healthy people. This lack of common decency and morality is the Achilles Heel of capitalism.
I am here to say the Emperor has no clothes and that in the war between money and health the people of this country are increasingly turning towards common sense and away from a drug-dominated health care system that places itself on a pedestal of profit. People are waking up to the facts that have been hidden for too long and recognizing the current health care system for what it really is, a very profitable sick-care system.
I can only applaud the efforts of Tom Daschle and the incoming administration to put the health of Americans above the profit margins of the drug companies and medical institutions. I hope they continue to have the courage to ignore the army of lobbyists who are deathly afraid for their jobs.
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