Does Alternative Medicine Cost More Money Or Less For Fibromyalgia?

There are two schools of thought on this issue.  One says that adding insurance coverage for alternative medicine will cost more money because people will use both.  The other says that using alternative medicine saves money because people get less sick and take care of themselves more.  Can we have the drumroll please?  The cost less people win!  Washington state did an analysis of people who had coverage and the people who use alternative medicine cost the insurance companies about $400 dollars less.  Most interesting is that the really sick people cost insurers almost $1500 less per year.  Some of these people had  back pain, fibromyalgia or menopausal symptoms. 

In terms of Fibromyalgia, I went looking for the alternatives for Fibromyalgia on WebMD.  The person writing about Fibromyalgia is an M.D. who happens to have Fibromyalgia.  He's written thirteen books on Fibromyalgia.  He also happens to be "a physician speaker for pharmaceutical companies that make medications used to treat fibromyalgia."  I sense a vague conflict of interest when discussing alternative treatments as primary. Not surprisingly, he doesn't mention dietary change, GABA, DHEA, probiotics, or a range of other likely treatments.  Instead he focuses on a number of antidepressant herbs that are basically milder versions of the antidepressant pharmaceuticals being used.   

In focusing on the antidepressant aspect of treatment, our expert is playing to the "all in your head" phenomenon I see more and more often in chronic diseases.  But the reality is that a range of other factors affect Fibromyalgia patients, including a blunted adrenal response.  A number of different studies support this connection (one is below).  So rather than saying it's all in your head, we should be looking at the rest of the body.  Maybe this is why alternative medicine saves people money.  We look toward the big picture rather than just managing the symptoms. 

J Rehabil Med. 2010 Sep;42(8):765-72.


Evidence of reduced sympatho-adrenal and hypothalamic-pituitary activity during static muscular work in patients with fibromyalgia.

Kadetoff D, Kosek E.

SourceOsher Center For Integrative Medicine, Stockholm Brain Institute, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden.
Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To assess activation of the sympathetic nervous system and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis during static exercise in patients with fibromyalgia.
PATIENTS AND METHODS: Sixteen patients with fibromyalgia and 16 healthy controls performed a static knee extension until exhaustion. Plasma catecholamines, adrenocorticotropic hormone and cortisol, as well as blood pressure and heart rate, were assessed before, during and following contraction. Plasma C reactive protein was analysed at baseline.
RESULTS: Blood pressure and heart rate increased during contraction (p < 0.001) and decreased following contraction (p < 0.001) in both groups alike. Compared with baseline, plasma catecholamines increased during contraction in both groups (p < 0.001), but patients with fibromyalgia had lower levels of plasma adrenaline (p < 0.04) and noradrenaline (p < 0.08) at all times. Adrenocorticotropic hormone increased at exhaustion in controls (p < 0.001), but not in patients with fibromyalgia, who also had lower adrenocorticotropic hormone at exhaustion (p < 0.02) compared with controls. There were no group differences, or changes over time in plasma cortisol. High sensitivity C reactive protein was higher in patients with fibromyalgia compared with controls (p < 0.02).

Ernst Reporting On Colic Alternatives.

Since I can link to Amazon easily from Blogger, I thought I would provide a link to Ernst's book.  He's not an objective observer of alternative medicine, he's one of the outspoken skeptics.  So his reporting on studies involving alternative medicine should not be taken as definitive.  Here's my other report on colic, and my webpage showing his review, a previous review by the same journal, and the evidence in support of alternative medicine. 

Naturopathic Medicine: An Admirably Specific Tool.

Modern medicine is often done at the expense of individual.  You may get your own dosage of a medication, but that medication must meet with a very wide audience before it is truly profitable.  The so called "orphan diseases" rarely have researched medications specifically for them because they don't represent enough of a market. 

In the same way that a hammer can be used to open a bottle of wine, modern medicine can be used for any purpose.  But if one wishes to preserve the shape and texture of the human individual involved, Naturopathic medicine provides a far more elegant method of intervention. 

Just as a corkscrew winds its way deeper into the layers of an illness, drawing out the illness bit by bit to its core, so also does Naturopathic medicine wind itself to the heart of the issue and withdraw the entire issue in one go.  It is slower going, and the impatient patient who wishes instant results sees the explosive power of the pharmaceutical drug and is intoxicated.  But after a few years of opening up their illnesses with a hammer, few patients remain as enamored with the side effects of the methods used.  At that point they search out the slower, more specific route to health.  See http://www.naturopathic.org/ for your local licensed N.D.

Allergies: The Time to Start Treating Is Now

From Allergies Update, at Maloney Medical (all abstracts available there):

Deep winter is the perfect time to start treating for allergies in the spring.  We have a range of different plans that will down regulate the histamine response, but don't wait to start sneezing.  That's like waiting for a flat tire before you go out and get a spare. 

Currently the standard program to desensitize patients involves injections. But the state of the art is now drops under the tongue. “Sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) has been proved to be effective in allergic rhinitis and asthma…New sensitizations appeared in 34.8% of controls and in 3.1% of SLIT patients.  ” But, you ask, is it as effective as the injections? “The mean peak expiratory flow result (how much air you can exhale) was significantly higher in the active group than in the control group after 10 years.

But can I go off my inhaler? Unfortunately, we don’t know, because: “when mild-moderate asthmatic children are optimally controlled by pharmacologic treatment and HDM (human dust mite) avoidance, SLIT does not provide additional benefit, despite a significant reduction in allergic response to HDM. Under such conditions, only a complete, but ethically unfeasible, discontinuation of inhaled corticosteroid would have demonstrated a possible benefit of SLIT.”  It could be dangerous to remove the inhalers, so we’ll keep people on them for life. Of course, the long term effects of steroids…

Has Homeopathy Ever Been Given a Fair Shake?

It seems as if homeopathy is, in the minds of some, a recent phenomena that somehow can be squashed by constantly providing misinformation.  Despite numerous attempts through the centuries, homeopathy is thriving.  Even as critics "squat" on alternative medicine definitions on Wikipedia, the growth of alternative medicine continues.  And poor old beaten up homeopathy may finally have an answer as to why it works. 

Internal Medicine: What's Really Happening

Among the things I love about Harrison's is the addressing of basic medical philosophy.  Here is a quote from the introduction to oncology (Cancer Treatment).  "The dictum primum non nocere is not the guiding principle of cancer therapy.  When cure of cancer is possible, cancer treatments may be undertaken despite the certainty of severe and perhaps life threatening toxicities.  Every cancer treatment has the potential to cause harm...the guiding principle of cancer treatment should be primum succerrere, "first hasten to help." (p.514)

Yes!  The conflict I see played out in patients is a confusion between harm and treatment.  Never have I heard an oncologist explain both the nature and the practical side effects of their treatments better.  It would be wonderful to have this philosophy clarified, not because it's wrong, but because it would make it easier for patients to make quick decisions about their care.  Yes, there will be side effects, but we need to
work fast.  For those of you who don't know Harrison's is a standard medical text, interesting only to medical geeks like myself.

Mercola's Journey

If you look at Mercola's journey, he has moved from conventional to unconventional medicine for the sake of his patients.  Mercola's discussion of his journey.  So many doctors haven't taken the time to examine not just how they practice, but the overall picture of how to truly get their patients well.