Poll: does Complementary and Alternative Medicine work?

[Reincarnatedwolfgod]

i just finished project some what related to this topic so now i am curious other people think.
if you have no clue what it is then look here
http://nccam.nih.gov/health/whatiscam/
if you you want you can use acronym CAM when answering

for yoga, meditation, and deep-breathing don't seem cause any harm in fact they are probably help reducing stress to some extent.

as for messages and Spinal manipulation i never got one in my life so i can't say much about. i guess it help with something or it might be pure placebo effect.

for everything beyond the placebo effect; the results sounds questionable
my option of the placebo effect sounds useful for treating pain but other then that i don't think its that useful until they scientifically prove it does more then that.

if lack understanding well i was doing a project on how it role in the health care system and stuff like that to that not a project directly about it

 

[Daystar Clarion]

It's a load of bollocks to be honest, like you said, it's mostly a placebo effect.

You know what they call alternative medicine that actually works?

Spoiler

Medicine

 

[Anarchemitis]

There's a reason why Pharmaceutical companies spend tens and sometimes hundreds of millions of dollars to make medication that's designed to work.
Pharamceuticals a vast majority of the time aren't in it for the money, they're in it because they provide an essential component of modern medicine.

 

[SilentCom]

Alternative medicines can be risky because they aren't studied indepth or experimented to be considered "mainstream medicine". There may be some positive medicinal affects in some alternative medicine but the problem is that people don't know for sure. They're forced to take the word of a shaman or whatever that the herb they just swallowed will make them better. It might help them get better, but more than likely it's not what the patient is really needing and the effects unknown. Alternative medicine (not including physical stuff like yoga but rather herbal stuff) is usually an unnecessary gamble.

 

[Evidencebased]

Alternative medicines can be risky because they aren't studied indepth or experimented to be considered "mainstream medicine". There may be some positive medicinal affects in some alternative medicine but the problem is that people don't know for sure. They're forced to take the word of a shaman or whatever that the herb they just swallowed will make them better. It might help them get better, but more than likely it's not what the patient is really needing and the effects unknown. Alternative medicine (not including physical stuff like yoga but rather herbal stuff) is usually an unnecessary gamble.

This, basically. If you get sick you're welcome to just wander out to the woods and start eating whatever plants you find -- maybe you'll feel better! Or maybe you'll poison your dumb ass. And most likely it'll just be a waste of time (and, if you pay someone else for those random plants, money.)

One of the worst things about alternative medicine is the opportunity cost. It's terrible when a sick person is convinced to use (useless) alternative medicine instead of actual therapeutic treatments. I don't care if someone gets some acupuncture, as long as they aren't getting it instead of a vaccination or chemotherapy.