12-12-2010, 09:20 AM
ADHD? That really does appear to be mostly an American affliction...
MMM I totally agree with you that there are some good herbal remedies and I stated that here in Japan there is actually some reasonable regulation of the industry. The problem is there are so many alternative medicines out there how does anyone really know which ones are effective or not? Are you going to sleep next some crystals because of their claimed miraculous healing powers? Maybe sit inside and pyramid? Or maybe some magnets under your mattress. I mean there's bound to be a few infomercials out there with people claiming how their lives have been totally changed by such things.
The main problem I have with many alternative treatments is that they have not gone through any of the normal rigorous clinical trials to prove their efficacy or possible side effects. Sure most are pretty benign (because they actually do nothing at all) but the prices some people pay for these things are not so benign. And some like accupunture have been shown to have virtually no other effect other than what you would expect from a placebo in a clinical trial for most of the ailments it can supposedly assist with.
I know there's been some pretty dodgy western medicines released and undoubtedly some unscrupulous practices at times (with a lot of money involved it's not surprising) but at least there regulation and oversight of the industry. There is little of either for many of the alternatives treatments out there.
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