[TalnSG]

My feelings on this vary with the particular drug, herb, technique, practitioner and patient. They all have merits and serious negative aspects that a person needs to be well informed of before using.

I had a wonderful and very effective accupuncturist for may years. After he moved, I found a few that were not so good. Can we say "shlock"? Now I have another that is well educated and we shall see how well his technique is with time.

Herbal medicine has many benefits, especially when administered by herbalist with years of apprenticship and centuries of study to refer to. But in the U.S. the primary purveyors are a step below even the pharmaceutical companies with their multi-level marketing and money-crazed salespeople that only know the buzz words about what they are selling. I seriously prefer my herbal management of hot flashes, but I would have to be a moron to believe the added BS many of the herb distributors put out about the herbs I take. Additionally, many of them are not well managed for quality and consistency of their product.

On the other hand I am not going to play "let's see how this does" with my cardiac drugs. A mistake could be fatal, so I will stick to my well tested drugs.

As for ADHD, it is nothing new (except a more precise identification), it is not limited tot he U.S., it IS a real medical problem, it IS helped by correctly administered drugs. It is also a seriously abussed diagnosis by lazy and/or greedy practitioners and the drugs for it are far to over dosed to far too many people without adequate follow up. I know this well because I have two close relatives, both of whom were diagnosed with ADHD - but only one of whom actually is. The other was a victim of a parent more concerned with having an easily controlled child, than a healthy, active one.