I could say something similar to you- that you believe biological viruses exist because you're prone to believe authority figures who tell you they exist.
Correct. If I go to a doctor because of some pain I have and he diagnosis the issue and says "This looks like tendonitis". I'm probably going to believe him because, yes, he is an expert.
I think that issues of inflammation,
which is what "itis" means when added to the end of a body part, are generally straightforward. The problem comes when it comes to so called infectious diseases. Now, I'd like to make something clear, which I think played a role in my being able to consider the possibility that biological viruses didn't actualy exist. Since I was young, my mother had some respect forms of medicine that weren't part of the allopathic method, and, I believe, a slight distrust of the allopathic system. You may not have heard of the term, so I'll quote Wikipedia on it:
**
Allopathic medicine, or
allopathy, from
Ancient Greek ἄλλος (
állos), meaning "other", and
πάθος (
páthos), meaning "pain", is an archaic and derogatory label originally used by 19th-century
homeopaths to describe
heroic medicine, the precursor of
modern evidence-based medicine. There are regional variations in usage of the term. In the United States, the term is sometimes used to contrast with
osteopathic medicine, especially in the field of medical education. In India, the term is used to distinguish conventional modern medicine from
Siddha medicine,
Ayurveda,
homeopathy,
Unani and other alternative and traditional medicine traditions, especially when comparing treatments and drugs.
**
As children, I and my eldest sister still got vaccines, at least initially, so we were still part of the allopathic system, but my mother said that she found that I really didn't do well with vaccines. To this day, I don't like needles, even just to draw blood, and I suspect that this is where my aversion to this came from. At the age of 11, I was diagnosed with typhoid by a team of doctors. I was only in the hospital for a few days, but I was doing pretty badly. I left the hospital in a wheelchair and it took me months to recuperate- I think getting to the bathroom was as much as I could do in terms of walking initially. I wish I knew then what I know now, namely that though typhoid is a bacteria, and thus something I believe in, someone who is healthy has little to fear from it:
**
In the early 1900s, there was a Canadian doctor who experimented with millions of the so-called deadly pathogenic bacteria of diphtheria, typhoid, pneumonia, meningitis, and tuberculosis. Anywhere from 50,000 to several millions of these bacteria were contained within the cultures that were ultimately swallowed by the volunteers. However, not a single one of them ever came down with disease over the course of the five years of experimentation.
**
Source:
Shot down in a blaze of glory.
mikestone.substack.com
In any case, my mother and I definitely became more interested in alternative forms of medicine as the years went by. I ended up reading 3 books from Jonn Matsen. Here's the description of how he came to get into alternative medicine, from the back cover of his first book, Eating Alive:
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Dr. Jonn Matsen developed poor circulation in his fingers during his late teens that could have led to amputation. He began exploring health and healing. Dr. Matsen became a Chartered Herbalist in 1976. Later, in 1983, he graduated from the John Bastyr College of Naturopathic Medicine in Seattle, Washington. Since then he has operated the North Shore Naturopathic Clinic in North Vancouver, British Columbia.
**
Source:
Eating Alive: Prevention Thru Good Digestion [Matsen, Jonn, Dewey, Nelson] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Eating Alive: Prevention Thru Good Digestion
www.amazon.com
What I really liked about Jonn Matsen's books is that he didn't discount a lot of the research being done in the medical field. Rather, he complimented it with effective healing techniques that stretch back thousands of years.
He also exposed me to the metaphorical witch hunts that were done in the name of allopathic medicine. I even copied part of what he wrote on this to my computer because I thought it was quite good. I'll quote from it now, starting from page 142 of his first book, Eating Alive:
**
The depletion of health in many children can be readily reversed, asshown in the letters from patients. The expensive of naturopathic medicine is not high. Few of my patients pay over a few hundreddollars for their care at my clinic. Not only did they receive relief of chronic disease that was considered incurable, but they alsoreceived a lifelong understanding, as they now know what caused their health problems and what to do to prevent these from returning. Education, not expensive technology, is the key to health.
This is not to say there is no place for high-tech medicine. There is not a diagnostic device, drug or surgical technique that doesn't have a time and a place to be used to someone's advantage. Remember that itis the results of disease that are being dealt with, not the causes.
Since no doctor, type of practice or philosophy of healing can help every patient or every type of problem, it's important that there be a variety of approaches to the treatment of disease. A person who slips through the "safety net" of one mode of healing might still have hope that another practitioner with different experiences and insights might catch them and help them back to health.
(comic picture of a guy on a tightrope, with a naturopathic below him, a family doctor below him, and 2 guys with a stretcher below him)
Naturopathic medicine is time-proven. Its therapies are rooted in antiquity. Hippocrates stated "let food be your medicine, and medicine be your food". All cultures have used herbs, hot and cold, fasting and diet to maintain health over thousands of generations. Few of the drugs and surgical methods used in western medicine are over ahundred years old, yet during that period of time naturopathicmedicine was almost eliminated.
During the last 50 years, "miracle drugs" and surgical techniqueswere to rescue helpless humanity forever from the perils of disease.As Big Medicine took over the responsibility for health, the voicesthat spoke of obvious connections between lifestyle and disease weredrowned out by the thundering stampede to junk food and irresponsiblelifestyle. During the era of big fin cars, suburbia, ice cream withevery meal and a pill for every ill, a purge of "unscientific"medicine began in the political halls and courts of North America.The almost hysterical self-righteousness of the medical professionand its political clout overwhelmed lifestyle-oriented physicians.Rights to practice were withdrawn in state after state, untilnaturopathy was confined mainly to a few Pacific Northwest states anda few Canadian provinces.
[cartoon picture of a medical doctor setting a light to a bonfire thing withpeople labelled "midwives", "naturopaths","homeopaths" and "herbalists"]
Thatthe demise of alternative practictioners in the U.S. has beenhigh-handed is well-documented. The following is the initial decisionby the Administrative Law Judge, Ernest G. Barnes, Docket No. 9064,dated November 13, 1978:
"The Federal Court determined that the AMA has produced formidable impediment to competition in the delivery of health care services by physicians in this country. That barrier has served to deprive consumers of the free flow of information about the availability of health care services, to deter the offering of innovative forms ofhealth care delivery that could potentially pose a threat to the income of fee-for-services physicians in private practice. The costs to the public in terms of less expensive or even, perhaps, moreimproved forms of medical services are great."
In Canada, similar events took place. In his book "Canadian Medicine: A study in Limited Entry", Ronald Homowy summarizes:
"The following study's conclusions dispute the widely held belief that thevarious statutes and regulations raising the requirements for medical licensure were, in the first instance, enacted to protect the public from so-called incompetents. The historical data provide substantial evidence that the profession's motives in raising the standards ofentry in medical practice and in instituting policies that prohibited advertising or any sort of price competition were almost purely ones of economic interest.... It is foolish to suppose that their occupation exalts them above using the means at their disposal to act in their own private interests."
The depletion of health in many children can be readily reversed, asshown in the letters from patients. The expense of naturopathic medicine is not high. Few of my patients pay over a few hundred dollars for their care at my clinic [his sessions are like $20 for 15minutes- i had 2 when i went there. medicine cost a lot more then the sessions- maybe $150]
.. Not only did they receive relief of chronic disease that was considered incurable, but they also received a lifelong understanding, as they now know what caused their health problems and what to do to prevent these from returning. Education,not expensive technology, is the key to health.
[comic picture of a modern day michelangelo having completed a stone worksaying "education is the key to health"]
Thisis not to say there is no place for high-tech medicine. There is nota diagnostic device, drug or surgical technique that doesn't have atime and a place to be used to someone's advantage. Remember thoughthat it is the results of disease being dealt with, not the causes.
Sinceno doctor, type of practice or philosophy of healing can help everypatient or every type of problem, it's important that there be avariety of approaches to the treatment of disease. A person who slipsthrough the "safety net" of one mode of healing might stillhave hope that another practitioner with different experiences andinsights might catch them and help them back to health.
Naturopathictraining includes as much basic medical science as any health-careprofession. Research is an important part of the naturopathiccolleges. The quality of naturopathic education and a more openpolitical environment have resulted in the passing of new laws inrecent years in Washington, Oregon, Arizona and Alaska that haveexpanded the rights of naturopathic physicians to practice. Manyother states are also considering expanding or relicensing thistraditional approach to health care.
**
www.thefocalpoints.com
drsambailey.com
