:: ::

You don’t have to go to your local theater to see the latest horror movie. Just pay a visit to your local hospital and watch the conduct of the physicians visiting patients.

With an undercover camera, the Canadian television show Marketplace on CBC revealed the gory details of physicians attending highly infectious patients without washing their hands and even found that “doctors often walk past the sanitizers even while going from patient to patient.”

According to the article, “Dr. Michael Gardam — the infection control expert at the University Health Network in Toronto — says doctors are the least likely to wash their hands.”

Go to CBC’s Marketplace to see the ‘horror’ video if you can handle it.

Kids get better training at your local fast food joint. This from a profession (Conventional Medicine), that claims to be the caretakers of our health and much better than Alternative Medicine.

An article about the United States experience titled 15-Second Procedure Saves Lives (and you already know how to do it) noted that fully half of the deaths of the up to 90,000 patients who die each year as a result of their infections could be prevented by proper hand hygiene. The article further states: “A small container of alcohol-based handrub carried in a pocket or a wall-mounted dispenser in an easily accessible location could mean the difference between life and death for a patient” (bold added).

The CBC investigation shows that obviously getting physicians to use them is ‘easier said than done’.

This common sense issue isn’t new to medicine. In the 19th century, that is the 1800’s (for goodness sakes), Hungarian doctor Ignaz Semmelweis discovered that a contagious disease was being transmitted to hospital patients because medical personnel didn’t wash their hands. They went straight from doing autopsies to mothers giving birth. Tens of thousands died as a result; this is similar to today’s statistics. It took decades before medicine incorporated his findings to wash their hands after autopsies and the deaths slowed.

Now I know the medical establishment is excruciatingly slow in adopting novel concepts; but don’t you think it’s about time (a couple of hundred years later), that they adopted this simple common sense “15 second procedure” to prevent these “staggering” amount of deaths?

If it’s difficult to adopt this simple procedure now we know why it is difficult for the Medical Establishment to accept other life-saving concepts and procedures of prevention used by Alternative Medicine.

This should be required viewing on YouTube.

Herbal/Natural Remedies for colds are under attack again as being ineffective. These reports are dated Feb. 9th 2007. But as usual in this post we dig up the facts to help you through your day especially if your day includes a cold.

Here are the headlines and the quotes.

Science: Little proof that herbal cold remedies work. Carla K. Johnson, The Associated Press, Tuscaloosa News,

“Herbal remedies have been used to treat illness and promote health for thousands of years - and that’s enough evidence for some people during cold and flu season.

But what is the scientific evidence for alternative cold and flu remedies, such as echinacea, ginseng and zinc? Dr. Ronald Turner, a cold virus expert at the University of Virginia School of Medicine in Charlottesville, says the evidence is weak. But Turner doesn’t try to discourage people from spending their money on remedies they think make them feel better, as long as there are no harmful side effects.” (bold added)

Cold remedies - do they work? By Chris Swingle, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, Enquirer.com

“Most lack proof from large-scale, scientific studies. The label’s typical fine print: The claims have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. The product “is not intended to diagnose, cure or prevent any disease.” (bold added)

So, there you have it, the definitive statement for Herbal/Natural Remedies for colds:

“Most lack proof from large-scale, scientific studies”, well do the studies already. Or “the evidence is weak” So don’t head down to your local pharmacy or health food store to relieve your miserable symptoms.

“One of the things that permits people to believe in unproven therapies is that it really doesn’t matter what you take because you’re going to get better anyway,” Turner said. Johnson reports.

Easy for Dr. Turner to say! Who wants to live with the symptoms of a cold if you don’t have to!

So what’s a person to do?

Interestingly this is one time that the Medical Establishment has been as even handed with Herbal/Natural Remedies as it has been with Drug Cough and Cold Remedies.

Ron Eccles and his colleagues at the Common Cold Centre (CCC), a clinical research organisation based at the University of Cardiff, U.K. pointed out: “While OTC cough medicines are effective, they’re probably not much more effective than a very good placebo.” Chemistry World, November 2003, Royal Society of Chemists.

According to the Mayo Clinic’s site – “Now scientists have put chicken soup to the test, discovering that it does seem to help relieve cold and flu symptoms…” More than placebo, and more than most over the counter pharmaceutical remedies, I might add.

Rather than debate the pros and cons of Herbal/Natural Remedies I’d just like to mention a couple of ways that are even a better approach.

Herbal/Natural Remedies work best as a prevention from colds because if you tend to ‘catch a lot of colds’ you need them to build up your immune system.

However, the best I’ve seen for prevention and treatment for colds/flues are homeopathic remedies.

Despite the (I’ll bite my tongue) skeptics (who only accept the ‘Big Pharma - Medical Establishment’ brand of so-called ‘Scientific Medicine’ and totally dismiss other healing arts even if there are ‘Scientific Studies’ that prove they work); there are studies that show a Homeopathic remedy works for the treatment of colds.

The Cochrane Library, is the Medical Scientific Communities ‘Gold Standard’ for Evidenced-Based Health Care’ because they only accept the best studies. Here’s their comments on the Homeopathic remedy Cold-Eeze. -

“Zinc gluconate glycine lozenges are safe and well tolerated by a geriatric population and are suitable for prophylactic or therapeutic use to reduce the duration or severity of the common cold.”

So, there take that you naysayers! If and when I have a cold my first choice is a Homeopathic remedy.

“However, taking homoeopathic Oscillococcinum once you have influenza might shorten the illness, but more research is needed.”

Rite Care Pharmacies website lists 4 ‘RANDOMIZED PLACEBO CONTROLLED STUDIES WITH Oscillococcinum THAT SHOW IT WORKS’.

The jury is still out for prevention of the flu with this and other similar products. But as far as I’m concerned they work. Influenzinum works well, but for my money though, Muccococinum is an even better treatment and preventative for the flu.

Despite the negative reviews of Alternative Medicine - Herbal/Natural Remedies for the common cold, if you know where to look you can find ‘alternatives’ to these with other proven Alternative Medicines – Homeopathic Remedies.