<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>> I originally posted my appreciation of "alternative medicine" based on an account of my son's bout with schizophrenia and my severe gut problems that were resolved the help of "alternative" practicioners after conventional medicine failed to help either of us. I recieved a variety of responses, but most were supportive. I'll quote a excerpts below: ------------ I agree with every word you say, and back it up with my own experience...and what countless others must be experiencing. I was having terrible depressions, uncontrollable weeping, inability to think a thought, and all of the other gut probs. Conventional doctors either told me to go home and drink ginger tea (for my gutaches), take Paxil (for my emotional upheaval), or go to a shrink and talk about my relationship to my father (for my depression). Instinctively, I knew in my inner self that this was all hogwash, and quit the conventional route. Happily, I found an acupuncturist (also an MD, very open minded, kind, a great listener), Dr. Martin Rossman, who is my personal hero--he suggested one day that gluten might be my problem. I immediately started to feel half human again after going GF, and went back to conventional medicine for my tests, righteously indignant, and insistant that they do my bidding. I got all of the tests I wanted, and had confirmation within a couple of months of my first serious symptoms. I also found a Guided Imagery person, who really helped me gain insights and more control over my own health. It sounds very airy fairy, but it was so useful to do this work. I have come out the other end with a renewed respect for complementary medicine modalities--if you find the right people to help it is worth the cost to step outside of the insurance-covered services, and just get the job done. I am so grateful that I was able to afford to go this route--so many back off because insurance won't cover. -Chris ----------------- I agree with you that alternative medicine should be considered and can be helpful, but I think people should also be warned that there are quacks out there, too. I have a friend who was absolutely taken to the bank by a quack alternative nutritionist. And some of the stuff he took nearly killed him, too. Just as in conventional medicine, you have to do your homework. richard [ You are so right. We all have to shop very carefully. I believe the most important element of my healing is my self education. I thoroughly check out every little thing before I try anything. I have to read about a particular treatment from multiple sources before I'll try it. And, anything I try must be time honored, trusted, tried & true. What's interesting is that so much of what's considered "alternative" now used to be mainstream medicine that has since been replaced by prescription drugs. For example the ketogenic diet for pediatric siezures used to be the standard, until the advent of anti seizure meds. Coffee enemas was standard for liver disease until 1977 (Merck Manual). Adrenal extract was standard for Addison's disease. Stomach acid supplementation for hypochlorhydria. Thyroid hormone extract for hypothyroid. All these used to be MAINLINE, but were brushed aside by the glitter of "modern pharmacology" with synthetic drugs and newer fancier surgical interventions in the 60s. These were old trusted, tried & true therapies that really worked with little or no side effects! So.... now days "alternative" doctors are really just bright & clever doctors who reject the harsher side of modern pharmacology in favor of safer, more "natural" but often non FDA approved treatments & therapies that have withstood the test of time. What's so quacky about that?] ----------------- As Gluten is a toxin to our bodies, the chemical imbalances that result from malabsorption have seemed to cause electrical activity in our brains to be heightened. I don't yet know the details but I think that misfirings take place and circuits in the brain become incapable of processing sensory inputs properly. Therefore behavioral aberrations result of which we are not aware. All of this is because our body is not receiving adequate nutrients. (An interesting book by Dr. Neppe of Seattle is called 'Cry the Beloved Mind'. I got an electronic copy yesterday and will read it with entusiasm. Dr. Neppe, the author, is both an MD, Phd and Pharmacologist who specializes in studies of the Central Nervous System -- specifically the brain.) www.brainvoyage.com is the website where you can get Dr. Neppe's book. Richard --------------- I completely agree with you about the value of alternative medicine. It has given me most of any help I have received from the medical field. I have a mystery disease, and because my then-doctor couldn't figure it out, she recommended that I take an anti-depressant and see a psychiatrist. Right, like I am deficient in little pink pills and talk-talk. Jane ---------------- I know I've written before regarding my husband and myself being Dr. Wright's patients since '82, but I had to write again in response to your note today. Only with Dr. Wright have both of us found help for our multiple problems (both gluten intolerant and osteoporosis and then each of us have unique additional problems). It has taken someone with a medical background, but working alternatively to give us help. Other alternative practitioners were not able to figure out or alleviate our problems. It's taken a lot of time/effort but I shudder to think of where we'd be if we hadn't gone alternative given the severe issues we deal with. Thanks for your note. Too many in this country are willing to settle for a drug to mask the underlying condition. Gloria ---------------- I just want to thank you for this email and to tell you that I couldn't agree more. It has been a nightmare for me to be diagnosed at age 60 by Dr. Fine and to finally know what is at least partly wrong with my son, who is bipolar and gluten sensitive, in addition to whatever else. Our medical system is a scam and it is a wonder that anybody gets much help in so many areas. Dr. Fine is a real hero in my book and should be given the Nobel prize for medicine. He seems to have it right and seems to know more than anybody else about this business. I was reading Adele Davis in the early sixties and admire the rest of the people you mentioned tremendously but I can't say that about any from the conventional medicine side. They seem to be trying only to heal their bank accounts. --Arline [Dr. Fine is actually a published "mainstream" gastroenterologist who got frustrated with the "system." He departed with the mainstream when he decided to share his research with the public via the internet and his lab, EnteroLab, without first submitting to the long and ardous "peer review" process. He is still respected by many of his conventional peers that know him personally.] --------------- ________________________________________________________________ The best thing to hit the internet in years - Juno SpeedBand! Surf the web up to FIVE TIMES FASTER! Only $14.95/ month - visit www.juno.com to sign up today! * Visit the Celiac Web Page at www.enabling.org/ia/celiac/index.html *