what is our stance on holistic medicine?

[Zazzy]

I generally think this is total bunk.

However: when my old dog was getting REALLY old and arthritic, my vet was doing a study on acupuncture in old dogs, so she acupunctured (is this a verb?) our dog for free for several months once a week for the study.

It helped, and I'm pretty sure it wasn't a placebo effect with the dog. So I'm a little more open-minded than I used to be about it.

[festive1]

̶m̶e̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶m̶y̶ ̶g̶i̶r̶l̶f̶r̶i̶e̶n̶d̶

̶m̶e̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶m̶y̶ ̶f̶r̶i̶e̶n̶d̶s̶

me and some guys on yahoo chat were talking about holistic medicine, and I didn't know what to say about it, do we think its good?

I'm generally of the mind "Do no harm." I love my chiropractor. Sure it's kinda woo, but it's a 45 minute massage covered by my insurance, it doesn't cause any harm, relieves stress, and helps me in general. I think holistic medicine, in conjunction with modern medicine can be a beautiful thing. Not one above the other, with the caveat of common sense... i.e. If you've got a bacterial infection, for fuck's sake, take the antibiotics.
Holistic means "the whole"... the whole person (nursing is based on holistic treatment), one can take all kinds of meds, but if you don't change your diet, you're still going to have cholesterol problems. It's about the balance between what a person does and what modern medicine can do, not an all or nothing game. That being said... some things are total woo and should be discarded because they can do actual harm. Others won't do harm, and can be beneficial. It's a case by case basis.


And there is no "we."