<p>The miasma theory is how malaria got its name - bad air. Remember in the Little House books when Ma thought they got malaria from eating watermelon? She and the girls stop, but Pa keeps eating it. I love Pa!</p>
<p>Fwiw, I have absolutely no problem looking at non-“Western”/non-modern medicine. I do have an issue with products that claim to treat or cure things and are essentially water. </p>
<p>To each his/her own.</p>
<p>I have also read The Great Influenza. Excellent book. Fascinating. My father’s mother’s sister died in the epidemic. She a young woman, right in the age bracket most severely affected.</p>
<p>The scenes he describes in Philadelphia, in particular, are appalling. I have always found it curious that memories of that catastrophic event are not more well known.</p>
<p>Actually, anything that does not do any harm while making you drink more water is most likely beneficial. 
I’ll take my placebonium with a teaspoon of honey and a slice of lemon, please. :)</p>
<p>“Homeopaths claim the diluted molecules leave an “imprint” in the remedy, but there is no known mechanism for how this could occur”</p>
<p>Molecular imprint… What a load of voodoo. Right there!</p>
<p>As Mr B says, if you treat your flu symptoms, they will disappear in 7 days. Without the treatment, it will take a whole week. ;)</p>
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<p>There was a study a few years back that evaluated the effects of various placebos on asthma. (New England Journal of Medicine, July 14, 2011. I can’t get the link to work, but you can read the full text when you get there.) People taking the placebos felt better, but their lung function didn’t improve.</p>
<p>This could be dangerous. Thinking you’re doing better when you’re not could lead you to make unwise treatment decisions. For example, you might not realize that you need to see your doctor to have your medication adjusted.</p>
<p>A cautionary story about a young woman who got the flu after receiving bad advice regarding the flu shot.</p>
<p>[Woman</a> with flu battles for her life | Health - WCVB Home](<a href=“http://www.wcvb.com/health/Woman-with-flu-battles-for-her-life/-/9848730/24052104/-/mwyoqu/-/index.html]Woman”>http://www.wcvb.com/health/Woman-with-flu-battles-for-her-life/-/9848730/24052104/-/mwyoqu/-/index.html)</p>
<p>That’s such a sad story.</p>
<p>It’s awful, because the young couple specifically asked the doctor whether she should get the flu shot and he said he was wary of giving it to her. I bet that wariness has disappeared and he is hustling all of his other patients to the flu shot department.</p>
<p>Absolutely heartbreaking, EPTR. And completely avoidable if the doctor had simply known facts rather than “being wary”.</p>
<p>Seems that older recommendations were for pregnant women to wait until after three months to get the flu vaccine. The recommendation was changed four years ago for all pregnant women to get the flu shot vaccine (not the nasal spray vaccine, which is not recommended for pregnant women).</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.cdc.gov/flu/pdf/freeresources/pregnant/flushot_pregnant_factsheet.pdf[/url]”>http://www.cdc.gov/flu/pdf/freeresources/pregnant/flushot_pregnant_factsheet.pdf</a></p>
<p>As I said. Doctors should keep up with recommendations for routine things like flu shots!</p>
<p>I wonder how much other outdated medical advice is given by physicians who have not kept up to date.</p>
<p>Given recent experiences with talking to doctors about LARC, it’s quite terrifying how behind many doctors are.</p>
<p>After my ultra experienced orthopedic surgeon kept telling me I was too young for a knee replacement, realizing that younger Drs are likely more up to date on the newest materials & techniques gave me the courage to try a Dr who was my daughters age.</p>
<p>I was reminded of the ob/gyn who told my sister that she couldn’t be in labor because it was * too early*
That must be why they call it " premature labor"!
Ya think?
:rolleyes:</p>
<p>Wow. We’ve known since 2009 that pregnant women are at more risk for H1N1 strains. ECMO is indeed a long shot, and brutal. And amazingly expensive (not that that’s a consideration, probably, but it requires an astounding degree of resources and personnel.) Grrrr.</p>
<p>Sadly, I have found it beneficial to do my own research about new lung meds that become available because my well-meaning lung specialist doesn’t know the finer points about some of the newer meds. For example, he asked me if I wanted to try one of them because it is for people who get frequent flare ups of their condition. I said, yes, that is one of the criteria, but it is really for people who have a different underlying chronic condition than I do. He was surprised, because his cursory reading of the literature didn’t reveal this, but I have been attending the conferences and spoken with the researchers who have consistently stated that the med is for those who have the OTHER underlying condition, not mine.</p>
<p>It is hard to keep up with all the meds out there, especially as the ads and materials don’t always make it clear which meds are best for which conditions and which types of patients.</p>
<p>It can be good to have younger docs, but three of my best docs are my age or older. The one who made the mistake is in his early 40s.</p>
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<p>Younger physicians may be more up to date, but those of the same gender and your age and older may have more personal experience with typical health questions people your age may encounter. There are pluses and minuses either way…</p>
<p>Marian, </p>
<p>I cannot tell you how many times I have gone to the doctor for multiple ailments and given a wrong diagnosis with regards to my lungs. One time, I was on vacation, and told I had croup. I did not have croup. </p>
<p>Many, many times, I have been told my lungs are clear while my chest is literally in multiple spasms. Many, many times docs say - just take your inhaler and if it does not improve, come back in a week. By that time, I am in full blown bronchial pneumonia and they are always surprised. Them I get the antibiotics and steroids, and a cough that lasts months. This is not how to deal with asthma. </p>
<p>I had to push my doc after Christmas for a steroid and steroid inhaler. Having been to this rodeo more than once, I know when things are taking a turn. They love dispensing rescue inhalers, but hate handing out steroids. I am no fan of side effects, but over last twenty years, they are the only thing that pulls me out of the crisis. </p>
<p>I have given up trusting the safe, conservative wait and see attitude of nearly every doc I have seen for this disorder for the last twenty years. </p>
<p>Simply taking the rescue inhaler is never enough. I am fortunate that after 20 years, this last doc gave me a multiple month prescription for the steroid inhaler to fill as needed for this problem. </p>
<p>It is not about ignoring advice or not talking to my doctors. It is about surviving without damaged lungs. If I just listened to every doctor who said it was bronchitis or croup or whatever, I doubt I would be posting here. Too many years went by before an asthma diagnosis with too many respiratory infections that never seemed to be cured by antibiotics alone. </p>
<p>One of the ways that my asthma turns into something worse is viral and bacterial infections. Even with the flu shot, you might catch a strain that isn’t fully covered. Talking that remedy that may be nothing more than sugar pills HAS helped me feel better. Whether all in the mind or for some other reason. </p>
<p>As Romani says, “to each his/her own”. I think she is crazy for not locking her doors, she thinks I am crazy for this remedy. ;)</p>
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<p>Recently a pregnant nurse made our local news because she went to the media complaining that she was fired by her hospital for refusing to get the flu shot. She said she refused because “it’s obviously not safe for pregnant women”(false and shows a willful ignorance about pregnant women’s particular vulnerability to the flu). She stated that the benefits of the shot outweigh the risk, which is in stark contrast to the truth as pregnant women can become much more ill if they get the flu than women who are not pregnant. She went on to rage about the hospital and said society is in a sad place when an employer can “force you” to get a flu shot (also patently false as no hospital has ever “forced” and employee to get a flu shot, simply made it a condition of employment).</p>
<p>This is someone who should be better educated and has gone on to misinform others.</p>
<p>Ha anyone here read Atul Gowande’s book “Better”? One of the major segments is about treatment of cystic fibrosis.</p>
<p>In general, it pertains to the discussion here of doctors’ efforts to improve standards of care and also the profession’s resistance to new or aggressive standards. (And the medical establishment in general.)</p>