Long-Term Trends in the Use of Complementary and Alternative Medical Therapies in the United States

Ronald C. Kessler, PhD; Roger B. Davis, ScD; David F. Foster, MD; Maria I. Van Rompay, BA; Ellen E. Walters, MS; Sonja A. Wilkey, BA; Ted J. Kaptchuk, OMD; and David M. Eisenberg, MD

Ann Intern Med. 2001;135:262-268.

Background: Although recent research has shown that many people in the United States use complementary and alternative medical (CAM) therapies, little is known about time trends in use.

Objective: To present data on time trends in CAM therapy use in the United States over the past half-century.

Design: Nationally representative telephone survey of 2055 respondents that obtained information on current use, lifetime use, and age at first use for 20 CAM therapies.

Setting: The 48 contiguous U.S. states.

Participants: Household residents 18 years of age and older.

Measurement: Retrospective self-reports of age at first use for each of 20 CAM therapies.

Results: Previously reported analyses of these data showed that more than one third of the U.S. population was currently using CAM therapy in the year of the interview (1997). Subsequent analyses of lifetime use and age at onset showed that 67.6% of respondents had used at least one CAM therapy in their lifetime. Lifetime use steadily increased with age across three age cohorts: Approximately 3 of every 10 respondents in the pre–baby boom cohort, 5 of 10 in the baby boom cohort, and 7 of 10 in the post–baby boom cohort reported using some type of CAM therapy by age 33 years. Of respondents who ever used a CAM therapy, nearly half continued to use many years later. A wide range of individual CAM therapies increased in use over time, and the growth was similar across all major sociodemographic sectors of the study sample.

Conclusions: Use of CAM therapies by a large proportion of the study sample is the result of a secular trend that began at least a half century ago. This trend suggests a continuing demand for CAM therapies that will affect health care delivery for the foreseeable future.

This article supports one aspect of a basic principle that I am trying to articulate on this web site. The majority of chronic diseases are caused by pathogens. They can be eliminated by electronic devices. Recurrence can be prevented by the right exercise, nutrition, and supplement program.

Mental ailments in children being linked to strep

By Carey Goldberg, Globe Staff, 6/28/2003

ENNEBUNKPORT, Maine — Sammy Jelin, math whiz and natural comedian, sailed through fifth grade, a school enthusiast eager for the bus each morning. By the start of sixth grade last fall, he could barely make it to school at all: In just weeks, his world had turned into a minefield of germ phobias, invisible walls, and constant tics — hallmarks of obsessive compulsive disorder and Tourette’s syndrome.

By this May, Sammy’s mother, Beth Jelin, was nearing her wits’ end. Then an acquaintance mentioned that her son had contracted similar mental ailments through a streptococcus infection. The idea sounded wild, especially because Sammy had never had strep throat. But a prompt blood test did turn up unusually high levels of strep, and Sammy went on antibiotics.

Once again, I salute the British Medical Journal for providing all articles online. This is a tremendous service to people worldwide.

The article below articulates a major problem very well. Some diseases are now “fabricated” by the medical industry and drugs are created and prescribed that you must be on for a lifetime to treat this fabricated disease. Some of these drugs cause side effects which can not only be deadly, but can make it impossible to get off the drug. Thus the holy grail is achieved. A self sustaining disease state is created that requires buying the drug for the rest of your life.

I find it difficult to talk about these issue with people. My wife, who is the daughter of several generations of devoted physicians, accuses me of paranoia (at best) or libel (at worst) for even mentioning it. Yet the leading medical journals all have articles that should be read by every personal who uses the healthcare system. Beware of your local drug dealer, even if they appear to be reputable professionals!

As a businessman, I understand “disease mongering” is just “business as usual.” In the computer industry, where I work, things are even more ferocious in the battle for market share. However, the fact that in the last two weeks the CEO’s of major health care companies underwent some of the same fate as the leaders of Enron and Worldcom should cause the average person to ask deeper questions than they might have asked in the past. Cooking the books in healthcare can mean cooking the patients as well.

Selling sickness: the pharmaceutical industry and disease mongering

Ray Moynihan, Iona Heath, David Henry

British Medical Journal 334:13:886-891, 13 Apr 2002

A lot of money can be made from healthy people who believe they are sick. Pharmaceutical companies sponsor diseases and promote them to prescribers and consumers. Ray Moynihan, Iona Heath, and David Henry give examples of “disease mongering” and suggest how to prevent the growth of this practice. There’s a lot of money to be made from telling healthy people they’re sick. Some forms of medicalising ordinary life may now be better described as disease mongering: widening the boundaries of treatable illness in order to expand markets for those who sell and deliver treatments. Pharmaceutical companies are actively involved in sponsoring the definition of diseases and promoting them to both prescribers and consumers. The social construction of illness is being replaced by the corporate construction of disease.

Whereas some aspects of medicalisation are the subject of ongoing debate, the mechanics of corporate backed disease mongering, and its impact on public consciousness, medical practice, human health, and national budgets, have attracted limited critical scrutiny. Within many disease categories informal alliances have emerged, comprising drug company staff, doctors, and consumer groups. Ostensibly engaged in raising public awareness about underdiagnosed and undertreated problems, these alliances tend to promote a view of their particular condition as widespread, serious, and treatable. Because these “disease awareness” campaigns are commonly linked to companies’ marketing strategies, they operate to expand markets for new pharmaceutical products. Alternative approaches—emphasising the self limiting or relatively benign natural history of a problem, or the importance of personal coping strategies—are played down or ignored. As the late medical writer Lynn Payer observed, disease mongers “gnaw away at our self­confidence.”

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Sars patients ‘suffer brain damage’ from steroid cocktail

By Adam Luck in Hong Kong

(Filed: 01/06/2003)

Psychiatrists believe that up to 50 per cent of surviving Sars patients may have early signs of possibly irreversible brain and nerve damage after steroids were used experimentally to combat the potentially fatal virus.

Recovering Sars patients in Hong Kong have suffered from hallucinations, manic behaviour, rapid mood swings and memory loss after being treated with large doses of steroids.

Many are doctors and nurses who have found their concentration and short-term memory impaired since returning to work. Sars specialists say that it is too early to tell whether the problems are permanent.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

I checked two asymptomatic individuals who had exposure to SARS coronavirus. They both had residual virus in the brain and spinal cord confirming that the virus attacks the nervous system. Plate zapping for specific organ systems using SARS frequencies posted previously will clear it out and relieve lingering symptomology.

In a 5/11 posting I described exposure to the SARS virus from a coughing passenger in front of me on an airline flight from Atlanta to San Antonio. My testing indicated the virus was all over the front of my shirt, my face, and eye glasses. Simply washing of the hands, face, and eye glasses with soap removed it. The shirt I saved in a sealed plastic container in my suitcase. A week later the virus was still virilent in my bag.

Using the 33566hz frequency, I disinfected the shirt before removing it from the sealed container, then threw it into the washing machine. This experiment indicates that the virus is persistent for long periods of time on clothing.

On a further note, the virus infected my upper respiratory tract and was initially located primarily there. I began to feel chest pain in my lower lungs before I eliminated it. The Scientist commented on this in an article yesterday. I was unable to check specifically on the blood while traveling to see if it worked its way down through the lungs or passed through the bloodstream into the lower lung.

SARS unanswered questions

New York meeting explores remaining mysteries and clues about the new virus

By Catherine Zandonella, 19 May 2003, The Scientist

Scientists are still unsure how the virus gets deep into the lungs, where it causes alveolar damage that can be fatal. Most cold and flu viruses lodge in the upper respiratory tract, including the nose, sinuses, and throat. The SARS virus may lodge there and then work its way down, or it may diffuse into the bloodstream and reemerge in the lungs. If the latter is true, then blood levels of virus, or titer, could be very important in charting the course of the disease.

Trial Lawyers Now Take Aim at Drug Makers

By Alex Berenson, New York Times, Sunday, 18 May 2003

Enriched and emboldened after successful fights against asbestos and tobacco companies, some of the nation’s top plaintiffs’ lawyers have trained their sights on drug makers, claiming that many giant pharmaceutical companies have hidden the dangers of medicines the lawyers say have harmed thousands of people.

In some cases the drugs at issue have already been pulled off the market, like Rezulin, a diabetes treatment from Pfizer that the Food and Drug Administration has linked to liver damage and is the target of almost 9,000 suits. Other suits name some of the industry’s current best sellers, including Paxil, an antidepressant that plaintiffs contend is addictive — a claim denied by the drug’s maker, GlaxoSmithKline.

In some instances, teams of plaintiffs’ lawyers are spending several million dollars preparing cases for trial, in the hopes of winning billions of dollars in settlements and jury verdicts from the drug companies, which have some of the deepest pockets among American corporations.

Today I flew from Boston to San Antonio for a healthcare conference. I got lucky and was upgraded to first class. On the Atlanta to San Antonio leg, a guy in front of me had a cough. I noticed it but was not too worried about it because it was not a constant dry hacking cough. By the time I picked up my bag, I had chest pain that I recognized from a previous corona virus infection.

My FSCAN was in my luggage, so I got to the hotel as quickly as possible to do a DIRP scan to see if I could get a nice chart of the virus. My Cameron Aurameter was telling me it was definitely 33566 (coronavirus) and 255616 (metapneumovirus). By the time the shuttle was approaching downtown San Antonio, the chest pain was gone indicating I had some immunity to this virus from a previous infection.

On getting to the hotel room, a DIRP scan did not show good resonance. However my Cameron Auromater showed that treating at the frequencies above was effective and I had definite physical symptoms indicating the virus was present and treatment was working.

I had plenty of time to test for the bandwidth of the corona virus. For this infection it was 11HZ meaning treatment was necessary from 33555 to 33577. Treating an increments of 1 HZ caused all symptoms to disappear but the Aurameter indicated the virus was persistent.

Testing indicated the virus was on my face, my glasses, and the front of my shirt, just what you would expect from where I was sitting. I’m leaving my shirt out to see how long the virus will persist undisturbed on clothing.

The bandwidth of the metapneumovirus is 1HZ and that was knocked out by a few minutes of treatment with the FSCAN. The corona virus persisted (although all symptoms were gone) so repeated treatment is necessary. In this instance, Oscillicoccinum stopped replication of the remaining virus after treating for 10 minutes with the FSCAN. My immune system and further frequency treatment will be needed to deal with the remaining virus.

Oscillicoccinum tests positive for treating the corona virus in the early phases. You should not be without this homeopathic remedy which is available in any healthfood store. This in combination with Transfer Factor Plus to pump up your immune system may save your life. Many people have asked me how to get Transfer Factor and the best way is to call Dale Fawcett in Seattle at (360) 598-6585 and tell him I sent you. Everyone has access to these remedies, even if they do not have an FSCAN, and I believe they are sufficient to easily deal with a light SARS infection that you might pick up on an airplane, as long as you treat yourself at first signs of infection.

This experience confirms several things for me:

1. The corona virus can be transmitted through the air without the assistance of a parasite to carry it. Previous infections in multiple people were associated with a microscopic parasite.

2. The metapneumovirus has been with it in every case now, but is easily knocked out in a few minutes with the FSCAN. The coronavirus is the real culprit and treatment must be repeated for an extended period of time.

3. The corona virus has a rather wide bandwidth which is typical of a persistent infection which is difficult to treat and resistant to drugs. Oscillicoccinum combined with extended frequency treatment is the best way to treat this disease.

4. Be prepared. This disease is definitely coming to your neighborhood. It is already widely dispersed. The good news is that many people do not get seriously ill. The bad news is that they go undiagnosed and infect others.

Bruce Ames was one of the leading researchers in carcinogenesis 23 years ago when I completed by Ph.D. thesis on carcinogenesis at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. So people take note when he says something, Recently, he has cofounded a company selling Juvenon, a combination of acetyl carnitine and lipoic acid. Those of us with some knowledge in the area listen to what Bruce says. I’ve tested Juvenon and my system needs it regularly.

The Metabolic Tune-Up: Metabolic Harmony and Disease Prevention

Supplement: 11th International Symposium on Trace Elements in Man and Animals

J. Nutr. 133:1544S-1548S, May 2003

Bruce N. Ames E-mail: [email protected]

An optimum intake of micronutrients and metabolites, which varies with age and genetic constitution, would tune up metabolism and give a marked increase in health, particularly for the poor and elderly, at little cost. 1) DNA damage. Inadequate intake of folic acid causes millions of uracils to be incorporated into the DNA of each cell with associated chromosome breaks, essentially producing a radiation mimic. Deficiencies of the metabolically connected vitamins B-6 and B-12, which are also widespread, also cause uracil incorporation and chromosome breaks. Inadequate iron intake (2 billion women in the world; 25% of U.S. menstruating women) causes oxidants to leak from mitochondria and damages mitochondria and mitochondrial DNA. Inadequate zinc intake (10% in the U.S.) causes oxidation and DNA damage in human cells. 2) The Km concept. Approximately 50 different human genetic diseases that are due to a poorer binding affinity (Km) of the mutant enzyme for its coenzyme can be remedied by feeding high-dose B vitamins, which raise levels of the corresponding coenzyme. Many polymorphisms also result in a lowered affinity of enzyme for coenzyme. 3) Mitochondrial oxidative decay with age. This decay, which is a major contributor to aging, can be ameliorated by feeding old rats the normal mitochondrial metabolites acetyl carnitine and lipoic acid at high levels. They restore the Km for acetyl carnitine transferase and the velocity of the reaction as well as mitochondrial function; reduce levels of oxidants, neuron RNA oxidation and mutagenic aldehydes; and increase old-rat ambulatory activity and cognition.

I have not detected any significant pollen lately in Somerville, MA, probably due to recent rains. This morning, on my daily run, I picked up what I believe to be a tree pollen with frequency 498573. This frequency will clear out any symptoms. Delisos Northeast Allergy Mix is also very helpful. By evening two new frequencies were prevalent – 497787 465822.