Wil and List, Wil shared with me directly the results of using echinacea for cryptococcal meningitis. He noted my apparent discomfort with anecdotal evidence. Thanks for sharing Wil. That's an impressive story.
I don't have a problem with anecdotes and testimonials per se. With a mother who was actively interested in nutrition and supplements when I was still a teenager 25 years ago, and 20+ years with a wife who actively believes in herbs and homeopathics and has used them to great advantage on our family, including echichnacea, cloves, garlic, golden seal, camomile, and who knows how many other things, I reluctantly came to believe in herbs, homeopathics, nutritional supplements, etc. I feel very little risk in taking most of the commercial products because I feel that they are unlikely to be harmful. Too many people have taken them before and if there were a major adverse reaction I suspect that these remedies would have gotten lots of attention very quickly from the people who'd like to ban them. They don't need a very big excuse to work at limiting availability of these substances. So I feel that at worst they have no lasting negative impacts and at best they are beneficial. But I believe that these anecdotes and testimonies are just the beginning of the story. I think we need to really try to understand how and why things work. We need to do so for three reasons: First, some things are more beneficial than others and we need to be able to rank effectiveness. It's not enough to say that something is good for a given illness or hurt. We need to try to understand how good and we need to be able to compare it to something else that has been shown to be beneficial. We also need to know if there are things that make a given herb or remedy even more potent. We need to understand if there are points at which too much of a good thing has negative side effects. Second, we need to be sure that the treatment actually works. If I told you that mercury was good for reducing fevers and that extremely minute particles of the mercury pass through the glass when taking one's temperature and that the success of this treatment method can be proven by seeing how many people's temperatures eventually dropped after taking their temperatures several times a day with a mercury based thermometer, some idiot might figure that more is better and try taking mercury internally from a broken thermometer. [WARNING! THIS IS OBVIOUSLY POPPYCOCK! DON'T ANYONE FOLLOW THIS ADVICE. I'M JUST MAKING WHAT I HOPE IS AN OBVIOUSLY FALSE CLAIM TO MAKE A POINT.] Somebody else, who has a dangerously high fever, might not get the help they need because they rely on an incorrect statistical evidence. Third, I believe that it is too easy for certain things to be labelled as cure-alls. If we can't show in a controlled experiment that they work, and do it repeatedly with different subjects, then we may not be helping someone and may even be hurting them (one man's food may be another's poison - just think of allergies). I worry about some substances being treated like snake-oil (both in terms of losing credibility for a beneficial product and in terms of giving false hope or even doing damage). It is my desire to confirm with a high degree of confidence that Colloidal Silver actually eliminates bacteria which are harmful to humans (and/or animals) without doing damage to the human body. Based on anecdotal evidence I think that there is something here worth pursuing. I'm even taking CS myself to see what I can learn (so far it helps my bad breath). However, I find the claims to be so broad and in some cases contradictory that I am not willing to accept broad claims at face value. Furthermore, I don't believe it is too hard to test the claim that CS kills all bad bacteria. All I need is one known bad bacteria that I can recognize under a microscope. If CS doesn't kill it, I've just proven that CS is not a 100% sure killer of all bad bacteria. If it does, all I really know is that it kills that one, but it is a start and it supports the theory. Over time, I will need to test it time and time again against different bacteria. I'll need to test different concentrations of CS. There is a lifetime of work to be done. But if I try five different bacteria and it doesn't do much good on any of them, then my interest in it will probably die the death I wished upon the bacteria. Right now, my interest is in finding a way to run the test myself or have it done in a compentent manner that I trust. Some of you have been kind enough to provide me with some initial references. This will help me to figure out how to run my own tests to confirm them. For those who ask why I tend to trust pharmaceutical preparations, the answer is first of all, I don't. But, like with herbs and homeopathics, I feel that the downside risk has been mitigated by many tests and at least most of the possible side effects are known. They do have the benefit of rigorous study. Many substances don't get by the FDA because of the required testing. This is both good and bad, but it's hard to have your cake and eat it too. If I try a drug and it doesn't work or I'm uncomfortable with the side effects, I stop taking it. I do the same with herbs and homeopathics. Bob Wells
Signed by : Robert Wells Signed on : 06/30/98 15:11:22 Certifier : North American Users Certifier - Flat
