Traditional remedy vs modern treatment

Ah, nothing like drinking half a bottle of cayenne pepper hot sauce to cure a sore throat, and return a lost voice. ^^

I think a mixture of both is good, as one is more "cozy" and the other is more for "zomg this is serious"

Legalize marijuana.

Ah.

Marijuana does have an active ingredient.
Is it a traditional medicine though?

Originally Posted by DrazharLn

By traditional remedy what do you mean?

I take it to mean "natural" medicine. Not something made in a factory. Plants instead of pills.

Originally Posted by DrazharLn

Most traditional remedies are not clinically proven

Clinically proven? Science ain't got nothin' on nature.

Originally Posted by Mor)L(unE

The Healing skills of an average Medieval doctor aren't much to write home about. Most didn't really knew what they were doing

Maybe the European doctors. I can assure you that medicine has been around a lot longer than recently, and has been working for longer than it has existed in human hands.

---

Basically I see it like this:
Nature has worked for millions of years. We've barely scratched the surface of a scratch on the surface of biology.

One major advancement that has made our population explode, is the discovery and treatment of viruses. I'm talking vaccines, not pills. Pills are basically a very poor (because of our lack of knowledge) substitute for the stuff you get from eating right. Nature has worked for millions of years. Cancer is nothing new. The cure to cancer is eating the right stuff so your body has what it needs to combat the cancerous cells.

But has nature worked healthily for millions of years? Creatures have been dying from cancer from the beginning of time, good diet helps, but if you stay out in the sun all day and go back home to sleep on your granite bed at night, you're going to get sick.

Some traditional medicine does work. Rubbing powdered polar bear feet on your sore head, however, will not cure your head ache.

My point is that a lot of traditional medicine is just lies. Some do have active ingredients, most of those dilute the substance so much that it has no effect, except as a placebo.

Yes, a doc-leaf will relieve the symptoms of a nettle sting, but I'm not using a poultice of endangered animal parts on a broken arm, for example.

Originally Posted by DrazharLn

But has nature worked healthily for millions of years?

If not, it dies and doesn't pass on its genes right?

Originally Posted by DrazharLn

Rubbing powdered polar bear feet on your sore head, however, will not cure your head ache.

I'd call that superstition before I call it medicine.

Originally Posted by Hakeem

If not, it dies and doesn't pass on its genes right?

Yeah, but the animal itself still dies sick. The fact that the gene pool may have been improved because of its death is probably little comfort.
However, the point is quality of life, not whether the creature dies as a result of the disease. Sickness can be overcome naturally, that's what our immune system is for. Refusing to take the best steps possible to reduce the time you are ill seems counter productive.
Whatever the medicine is, we agree that it is better than simply letting our immune systems battle the disease.

[to be continued tomorrow]

Originally Posted by Hakeem

I'd call that superstition before I call it medicine.

So would I, maybe that was a bad point on my part.