European Medical Journal Dr Vernon Coleman’s Health Letter

1 Vernon Coleman s Health Letter 1Dr Vernon Coleman s Health LetterDr Vernon Coleman MB ChB DScpractised medicine for ten years. Hehas written over 90 books whichhave been translated into 22 lan-guages. Dr Coleman is a Professorof Holistic Medical Sciences with theOpen International Medical JournalVol. 5 No. 1 August 2000 CONTENTSO rthodox and alternative medicine p1 More about vaccines p1010 reasons why you shouldn t trustyour doctor p1120 facts about the prostate gland p11 The things they say p12 Questions and AnswersLives for sale p13 Lost sense of smell p13 Vaccines and autism p14 Duplication of reserch p14 High fat diets p15 Pin hole spectacles p15 Emphysema p16 Mobile Telephones p16 & p19 Imperial Cancer Research Fund p16 Ritalin p17 Waste in the NHS p18 Update p20 Orthodox or Alternative?Which is Best?An independent and personal assessment and evaluation ofthe comparative effectiveness of alternative and orthodoxmedicine in the treatment of ten common is orthodox treatment best?

2 What can doctors offer ifyou want to avoid getting heart disease? Are the alternativeremedies for irritable bowel syndrome better or worsethan the orthodox treatments? If you re suffering fromanxiety is your doctor likely to offer more effective helpthan an alternative practitioner?These and questions like them are questionswhich really matter. For this month s VCHL I have taken ahard, critical look at the ways in which orthodox and alter-native practitioners claim to be able to prevent and treat ten of the commonest comparison of orthodox and alternative medicineis inevitably subjective to a certain extent. But I have basedmy conclusions on the available evidence and since I amnot influenced by any outside forces (politicians, corporateinterests or loyalty to any particular section of the healingcommunity) I have made the study as objective as I possi-bly make it easier to read the study I have given bothorthodox medicine and alternative medicine a general scoreat the end of each section.

3 I do realise that individual practi-tioners will score very differently within these two catego-ries; my scoring is intended to recognise the general valueof the help available from also added a score for self help since while I waswriting this piece it occurred to me that it is often possiblefor the informed individual to keep him/herself healthy (andto restore good Health ) far more effectively without profes-sional help than with and depressionPreventionYour doctor is unlikely to offer you any help in avoidinganxiety or depression. This is one of many areas of ortho-dox medicine where prevention is a concept which reallydoes not exist. Alternative practitioners are a little practitioners may offer stress counselling and relaxa-2 Dr Vernon Coleman s Health therapy (both of which would undoubtedlyhelp improve mental Health and reduce the likeli-hood of both anxiety and depression) and otherswill offer nutritional advice which may be ofvalue since there is no doubt that a poor diet can(largely through leading to a poor immune sys-tem) lead to an increased susceptibility to medicine : 0/10 Alternative medicine : 4/10 Self help: 7/10 TreatmentThe commonest orthodox treatment for bothanxiety and depression involves drug are the usual choice for anxietydespite the fact that they offer only superficial,temporary support and can produce seriousproblems of their own.

4 After the problemsassociated with tranquilliser use were acknowl-edged the pharmaceutical industry (and, there-fore, the Medical profession) concentrated theirefforts on marketing antidepressants. It is forthis reason that the alleged incidence of depres-sion is rising fairly dramatically. Anti depres-sants do seem to help some patients but, onceagain, there are numerous side effects some ofthem serious. For example, Prozac, commer-cially a hugely successful antidepressant drug isthought by some to be associated with severalserious problems including aggression andsuicidal thoughts. Psychotherapy is the secondmost popular treatment for anxiety or depressionbut because of the high cost it is not available tomost patients. This may not be too much of adisadvantage since there is some evidence tosuggest that support provided by friends andacquaintances may be more useful under thesecircumstances than professional support offeredby psychiatrists, psychologists or , perhaps, some doctors still recom-mend brain surgery for problems of this who undergo destructive brain surgerymay well behave differently (and may, therefore,be thought to have been cured of their anxietyor depression) but my personal view is that thistype of treatment is unacceptable.

5 Choppingpatients heads off would undoubtedly stop themfeeling anxious or depressed but this is not aremedy I would recommend. (Absurdity is astrange concept in the world of medicine . Thereare, as I have explained before and as I mentionbelow, many surgeons around these days whoremove women s breasts in order to stop themgetting breast cancer.)Alternative therapies for depression aremostly gentle, and seem relatively free of sideeffects, but they do seem to me to be probablyjust as effective (if not more so) than orthodoxremedies. The effectiveness of the herb s Wort in the treatment of depression hasbeen widely and well documented and otherforms of alternative medicine which may proveeffective include nutritional therapies (includingvitamin supplements), relaxation exercises, homoeopathy and ta i (usually recommending a lowintake of caffeine and alcohol and a decentintake of complex carbohydrates to stabiliseblood sugar levels), hypnotherapy, relaxationexercises, meditation, massage and homoeopa -thy are forms of alternative medicine which maybe useful in the treatment of medicine : 3/10 Alternative practitioners: 8/10 Self help: 8/10 ArthritisPreventionThere is no orthodox prevention programme forarthritis.

6 In the alternative medicine field thebest prevention programme is the one offered bynutritionists who recommend a vegetarian has been proved that rheumatoid arthritis isless common among vegetarians than amongmeat eaters but, sadly, very few doctors whoprovide advice to their patients on the subject ofarthritis consider this link worth mentioning.(This may be because they are not aware of ignorance is best explained by the fact thatmost doctors obtain their postgraduate educationcourtesy of the pharmaceutical industry whichis, not surprisingly perhaps, interested only inpromoting the idea that drug therapy is the onlysensible way of dealing with Health problemsand in advocating specific therapies within thatgenre.) Vernon Coleman s Health Letter 3 ScoreOrthodox medicine : 0/10 Alternative practitioners: 6/10 Self help: 6/10 TreatmentThe commonest orthodox treatment for arthritisinvolves drug therapy usually with nonsteroidal anti inflammatory drugs. The bestestablished (and possibly the most effective)drug for the treatment of arthritis is aspirin butthis drug is not widely used partly because it isout of patent (and therefore made very cheaplyby a large number of companies) and partlybecause it has acquired a bad reputation forcausing stomach problems.

7 Ironically, however,new (and invariably much more expensive)variations on this pharmacological theme usu-ally turn out to cause similar symptoms whenthey have been on the market for a few drug industry gets round this problem byproducing a constant stream of new products. Itis worth noting that soluble aspirin is much lesslikely to cause stomach problems than aspirin ofthe non soluble variety. Cynics will not besurprised to hear that it is not unheard of fordrug companies to test their new productsagainst non soluble aspirin (the type most likelyto cause stomach problems) when attempting toshow that their latest wonder drug is an im-provement on the traditional benchmark therapy can help relieve some of thepain and stiffness associated with arthritis butthat s about it. Astonishingly, most doctors arestill unaware of just how effective TENS ma-chines can be in eradicating the sort of painsuffered by patients with arthritis. Actually, itprobably isn t all that astonishing since drugcompanies around the world have, over theyears, worked pretty hard to make sure thatdoctors continue prescribing drugs (very profit-able for drug companies) and don t recommendTENS machines (no profit at all for drug compa-nies).

8 Surgery is the second most popular ortho-dox treatment for arthritis. The replacement ofarthritic joints has become big business andseems destined to become an even biggermoney-spinner in the are numerous alternative remediesfor arthritis but (unless you count the TENS machine as an alternative remedy) the best ofthem are probably no better than the remediesoffered by orthodox practitioners. Acupuncturemay help relieve the pain of arthritis but it won tcure it any more than drugs will. Other usefulalternative treatments for arthritis include nutri-tional ones (such as those advocated bynaturopaths). Cutting out meat and fat andincreasing the intake of fruit, vegetables andwholegrain cereals is likely to help. Hydro-therapy (regulated exercise in water) can helpwhen joints are swollen or painful and homoe-opathy may also prove medicine : 5/10 Alternative practitioners: 6/10 Self help: 7/10 AsthmaPreventionDoctors claim that there has been an explosionin the incidence of asthma in recent years.

9 Youmight, therefore, imagine that the medicalprofession would be looking for ways to preventasthma. You would be disappointed. It is usuallyclaimed that asthma is becoming commonerbecause of the pollutants in the air we m not entirely convinced by this all, our air has been polluted for a longtime. I rather suspect that what is happening isthat asthma is simply being diagnosed moreenthusiastically because doctors are beingpushed to prescribe anti-asthma drugs. If a childvisits a doctor with a wheeze the doctor willdiagnose asthma and start a treatment pro-gramme which may well last for life. This ispatently absurd but nonetheless doctors do perform skin tests in asearch for allergens which might be most don t best way to prevent asthma is, Ibelieve, to teach people how to relax. Muchasthma is stress-related and learning how torelax when under pressure is an excellent way toabort a potential asthma attack. Sadly, the ortho-dox Medical profession hardly ever bothers to dothis.

10 Some alternative practitioners is also important to remember that4 Dr Vernon Coleman s Health can be caused by house dust mites,dander (tiny pieces of animal hair, skin andfeathers), tobacco smoke, exhaust fumes andmould. Some food additives can also causeasthma. Good practitioners advise that the bestway to avoid these varieties of allergic asthma isto avoid the allergens. Regretfully, alternativepractitioners of various kinds are more likely tomake this type of recommendation than areorthodox medicine : 1/10 Alternative practitioners: 6/10 Self help: 6/10 TreatmentInhalers which contain drugs which dilate the airpassages (broncho-dilators) are the cornerstoneof orthodox treatment for asthma. Steroids arealso popular despite the possible side is no doubt that inhalers can be extremelyeffective and as a result many users becomevery dependent upon them (the dependence ispsychological rather than physical but nonethe-less the real for that). But are inhalers alwaysnecessary?