Talking Cures
Pain is destructive to our longevity!
Clinical Studies
Clinical trials leading to Gold Standard, Scientifically Proven, Evidence Based Medicine is a big industry within science, medicine and the pharmaceutical industry. One could consider, much of it is only about gaining one’s Nobel Prize!
DNA and genetic and biological and even Psychological studies to determine the clinical cause of illness, subject (the numbers of people used in studies today is relatively few) hundreds and sometimes thousands of people to treatments/drugs under trial to determine the efficacy of a drug or the predisposition of a certain type of person to succumb to a particular disease, with blind, double blind and placebo studies and trials.
Despite the profound efforts of many dedicated scientists and research chemists, the world is ridden with a list of untreatable illnesses and illnesses that have no known cause, or cure. No person, it seems in a position of authority asks "Why is this."
It could be considered there is not a single illness in the world, Medical Science has a cure for, or knows the cause. Brilliant management, yes, cure, suspect.
Operations fall into a slightly different category, no person can surely criticise our brilliant surgeons. Or can they? many operations seem to offer a resolution however so many times the condition returns in a different part of the body, or as in the case of pain it goes from acute to chronic, hence the reason the pain clinics are so full, most of their work comes straight from the surgeons. Or is the requirement of an operation only an admission Gold Standard, Scientifically Proven Evidence Based medicine has failed.
All medical treatments treat a presenting symptom, is it not possible this has a cause as well and this is why there is no known cure; do not take my word for it go to the medical library - internet - type in any illness follow the links to medical literature, there before your eyes somewhere within the document in the researchers own words "The cause is not known, there is no known cure. Please contact me if you can find different information.
When discussing these issues with a patient under going my treatment for MS, the reply to my question “Why do treatments using Placebo pills show about the same efficacy and sometimes better results as the expensive drugs developed to combat disease.” There was no delay in answering the reply “The person suffering the disease always, because they are told, expect side effects. With placebo, there are no side effects." Confirming my belief in just how powerful a chemist our mind really is.
When researching to write this page I went on to the internet and looked for sites talking about studies of studies. Bandolier came up and it is very interesting reading, suggesting many times, clinical studies are often biased towards the company paying for the study, mostly drug companies.
My belief as illness/pain is unique as a fingerprint to the person suffering; therefore, any outcome to a trial cannot encompass a cure for all the people all the time.
If medicine treats a thousand people with say ME then the consideration from trials might be one drug or treatment modality, will or should effectively cure the symptoms.
The view of The Pain Therapist is if the same one thousand people are treated, then a different regime of treatment is required in each case, thereby bringing about an effective cure.
Are therefore, studies in the scheme of things a complete waste of time within the current knowledge base of our scientists?
When such time as science brings into the equation, the mind, its thought process as a reaction to trauma and subsequent chemical secretions that always damage the mind and its further thought process, attitude and body. Will we then have "Evident Based Medicine" as promised by our Scientists and Medical teams the world over?
Article © Copyright ; 30th July 2002, Amended 6th April 2009.
Peter E Smith. Pain Relief Therapist. CMH Chyp MSH. GHR
Talking Cures: Southend on Sea, Essex, England, UK.
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