I'm off to something new again today

I will leave shortly for Banff and the Healing Touch Level 4 course. This should be interesting and I am really looking forward to it. Think about it: 30 healers in one room - the energy will be fantastic. My postings will probably be spotty until next week, but c'est la vie.  ⊕

A mesage on boundaries

The Real Live Preacher shares with us some humbling thoughts about boundaries: "Permission to speak freely? Sorry, I have to ask that. The thing is, when Real Live Preacher writes something everyone expects it to be so damn wonderful that when I want to 'just write something' I feel like I have to give warning."

Now, that's only the start. He continues with a discussion that ranges into dealing with someting as prosaic email. But it is really about boundaries. I think he makes a good point. You have to go meet the Real Live Preacher, now, and read for yourself. You'll be glad you made the acquaintance.  ⊕

mercola.com: Acupuncture 'Beats Headache Pain'

Dr. Mercola posted this today: "Experts say acupuncture is an effective treatment for chronic headaches and should be more widely available after UK researchers found that patients who were given acupuncture had fewer days of headaches than those who were not. They also saw their doctor less often and were not as reliant on painkillers. Patients receiving acupuncture experienced 22 fewer days of headache per year, used 15 percent less medication, made 25 percent fewer visits to their doctor and were absent from work through sickness 15 percent less than the control group."  ⊕

Le Magazine, March 2004 - As We See It: Death By Medicine

"Natural medicine is under siege:, as pharmaceutical company lobbyists urge lawmakers to deprive Americans of the benefits of dietary supplements. Drug-company front groups have launched slanderous media campaigns to discredit the value of healthy lifestyles. The FDA continues to interfere with those who offer natural products that compete with prescription drugs.

These attacks against natural medicine obscure a lethal problem that until now was buried in thousands of pages of scientific text. In response to these baseless challenges to natural medicine, the Nutrition Institute of America commissioned an independent review of the quality of 'government-approved' medicine. The startling findings from this meticulous study indicate that conventional medicine is 'the leading cause of death' in the United States ."

Read this and it will change the way you think of the medical system forever. So, OK, the study is focused on USA. Being the biggest economy in the world, what goes on in USA has a powerful effect on the rest of us.  ⊕

Real Live Preacher, Real Live Humility

Real Live Preacher gives us a lesson in Real Live Humility today: "Like Isaac, did you wonder where this strange voice came from? Was this not the boy you held and wrestled and played catch with, marveling at his strong arm and growing muscles?

The body was that of Esau, but it was the voice of Jacob you heard. Jacob, smooth and slick. Jacob with his own plans and hidden agendas. Jacob, desperately needing to be blessed but knowing nothing of blessings.

Like Isaac, you trusted the body and ignored the voice. You drew me close, son to father, and you blessed me with the sacred words of our tradition and way.

What we both remember is that I came home from college, my head addled with a shiny new education and my heart bursting with a young man's passion for Christ. I came into the modest home where I was nurtured and before the father who raised me and said some young and foolish things. God forgive me, I said that I could never live like you lived, with a nice house and all the comforts of home.

'Following Christ means leaving all this behind', I said. 'This is fine for you and mom, I guess, but I can't live like this.'"

The Real Live Preacher has a way with words and wisdom to put in them.

You need to read the rest of the story, follow the link.  ⊕

DB's Medical Rants: Checking home BP - a better prognostic test

From the blog DB's Medical Rants we glean this: "Home blood pressure (BP) measurement has better prognostic accuracy than office-based measurement, according to the results of a cohort study published in the March 17 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association."

I believe this is true based on personal experience. Bloodpressure can go up due to tension from being in a doctor's office, fear of the outcome or whatever. This is sometimes called "white coat syndrome".

Doctors commonly find that patients show elevated BP in a doctor's office, but lower readings outside it. Sometimes this is proven out by having a patient wear a 24 hour, automated BP measuring device.

My wife wore one once in Mexico and it was fascinating to see the readings thoughout the day and the night. This pattern told a different story than the single measures at the doctor's office (whice were elevated).

Moral of the tale: If you have BP issues, get a BP measuring device and take your own readings.  ⊕

Only 6% of drug advertising material is supported by evidence

From Germany comes this interesting little tidbit: "A new study of the advertising material and marketing brochures sent out by drug companies to GPs in Germany has shown that about 94% of the information in them has no basis in scientific evidence.

The study, carried out by the Institute for Evidence-Based Medicine, a private independent research institute in Cologne, evaluated 175 brochures containing information on 520 drugs, which were either sent by post or handed out to 43 GPs since last June. The study was published in this month's issue of the drugs bulletin Arznei Telegramm (2004;35:21-3; www.di-em.de/data/at_2004_35_21.pdf).

About 15% of the brochures did not contain any citations, while the citations listed in another 22% could not be found. In the remaining 63% the information was mostly correctly connected with the relevant research articles but did not reflect their results. Only 6% of the brochures contained statements that were scientifically supported by identifiable literature.

The evaluation was done by two specially trained and independently acting reviewers. In cases of doubt a third reviewer was involved."

The results are quite shocking and clearly point to a massive abuse of public trust. If the publishers of this material have the science behind them, why fudge, distort, suppress and lie?

So how does this stack up against the criticism that CAM (complementary and alternative medicine) is insubstantiated and cannot muster credible research for its claims? Do we detect a double standard? Did you say yes? Good on you, mate.  ⊕

A little poison, a big help?

The Baltimore Sun ran this story called A little poison, a big help?: "Can a low dose of poison be a good thing?

The answer is clear when it comes to aspirin: Take a couple and cure a headache. Take a bottle and risk ending up dead.

But government regulators long have presumed that isn't true when it comes to carcinogens such as certain pesticides. If they're harmful to people in large doses, they reason, they can't be beneficial in small ones.

Now, a re-emerging but still marginal theory posits that regulators are wrong, calling into question the models the government uses to predict how much of a toxin is bad for you and - potentially - the regulations themselves."

The theory referred to is called hormesis, a theory suggestign that low doses of toxins can prove beneficial is gaining wider attention.

This is effectively the premise behind homeopathy. If hormesis becomes accepted by Consensus Science, them the door is also wide open for homeopathy.

I am reminded of a quotation from Paracelsus: "The poison is the dose".

We'll follow this I'm sure for some time to come.  ⊕

THE WORLD QUESTION CENTER 2004

THE WORLD QUESTION CENTER 2004 is run by the Edge.org and always has a lot of fascinating material. They have an annual event in the form of a question posed to prominent thinkers.

This year the question was "What's Your Law". As of right now, there were 164 submitted answers from very well respected scientists, philosophers and so on. Worth a read if for nothing else just to get exposed to what is going on in the minds of other bright people.  ⊕

IUSB offers a minor in complementary health

Indiana University South Bend offers a minor in complementary health at the School of Nursing. From the program desctiption we learn this: "While lay and professional discourse surrounding complementary therapies abounds, consumers are seeking out and using these therapies. Therefore, it is critical that all interested students, particularly future health care providers, be given the academic opportunity to learn about and explore complementary therapies and the issues surrounding their use. Students achieving a minor in complementary health will gain a thorough understanding of a number of complementary therapies. This understanding involves exploring the foundational belief systems of these therapies and the cultures from which they are derived. Students will critically examine complementary therapies in light of the disease processes for which they are prescribed as well as explore the inherent political, economic, and ethical issues surrounding these therapies."

This is possibly the first such program in North America; either way I commend IUSB for this initiative.   ⊕

Harmonizing - a Quality of Pure Consciousness

"I saw five of you with a can of beer on a summer night
and I listened to the five of you harmonizing six ways to sing,
'Way Down Yonder in the Cornfield.'
I went away asking where I come from."
Cornhuskers
Carl Sandburg (1878-1967)

When I found this quotation it just broke me up. It's out of a larger verse, of course, and the whole thing is hilarious. I got started down this road because I was thinking about harmonizing. It's one of the Qualities of Pure Consciousness, but I wasn't prepared for a six part harmony...

Still, that's not such a far out idea when you think about it. Who knows how many parts there are to the harmony of your soul? We know we can express at least six of them in song. Not bad.

Harmonizing, or being in harmony, alludes to the balance and integration achieved in a state of pure consciousness. Being at one with the all is truly to be harmonious.

I will hold this in my mind for a bit while I look for signs of harmonization. Will things be lining up, be diverging, or what? Probably a little of both, but I will take encouragement from what positive signs I get.

It's a nice little project.   ⊕