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The Real History of Medicine

Title for this installment: Empiricism versus Rationalism: The tension continues on the medical front lines, and will never end.

To continue to lay the foundation for That’s Good Medicine, lets talk about:

Why we baby boomers should know and understand medical history: The disadvantage of men not knowing the past is that they do not know the present. History is a hill or high point of vantage, from which alone men see…the age in which they are living. [G. K. Chesterton (1874 - 1936)]. We need to know the past to understand what’s really good medicine! The history of allopathic medicine (conventional, orthodox medicine) has been largely one of suppression both in its therapeutic approaches and politics. And some very important historical milestones are simply left out from most medical history timelines.

Empiricism’ versus ‘Rationalism’: critical foundational concepts for our listeners:

Empiricists - past and present - recognize that medicine is largely based on experience, not rigorous science. Most of our current therapies and therapeutic approaches are not based on scientific studies, nor do we know exactly how a lot of what we do even works, but we use it anyway. The empiricist says, “That’s okay, as long as it works, and it’s safe.”

Rationalist-minded practitioners on the other hand ‘rationalize’ that under all (or most) circumstances – even independent of experience - we should and must define the rationale for every therapeutic approach before we can offer it to our patients. This is neither practical nor possible.

The ongoing tension between empirically-minded practitioners and the rationalists is epitomized historically by the homeopaths versus the druggists, the druggers -  the conventional doctors of the day who have the AMA/rationalist mentality.

Bottom line: 1) Our system of health care, and all systems of health care, have evolved primarily from doctors’ experiences with their patients – real life experimentation figuratively speaking – not from scientific research studies on humans or other animals; 2) TGM listeners’ high point of vantage should allow them to see that the empiricist versus rationalist concept is really a spectrum (not black or white), with each healthcare practitioner poised, in his thinking, at some point between the two poles; 3) The history of medicine is characterized by a perpetual tension between the two ways of thinking, providing a yin-yang balance; 4) Key for the advancement of good medicine is for doctors to find the right spot on the spectrum between empiricism and rationalism, because too much of either is not good medicine.

Echoes from the Wilds of Good Medicine (listener feedback). Lisa from Louisiana wrote:

“I have listened to your first few episodes and I am very excited that you are doing this for us who are out there looking for ways to take our health into our own hands by searching for information. I must comment on one thing though: Your target audience. I understand that the majority of your listeners may be baby boomers but don’t forget about those of us out there who do not fit into that category. I, for instance, am 37 yrs old and have lived with Ulcerative Colitis [UC] for 13 years. Keep up the good work. I’m looking forward to you next show.”

Thanks Lisa. Please always know that we Baby Boomers (from the love generation) welcome you and all other X-Geners to TGM!

Integrative Medicine Approaches for Ulcerative Colitis: At Kevin’s insistence, in response to Lisa’s feedback, we mention a few integrative medicine approaches for UC, which we’ll cover in depth on future shows, and the new discovery that UC is caused from an immune deficiency - more specifically and importantly, it occurs from autoimmunity. It’s an auto-immune condition due to dysbiosis in the gut when white blood cells capture antigens of foreign microbes and activate the immune defenses. This emphasizes the critical importance of gastrointestinal health and the potential for probiotics for health and healing!

Good Medicine Word of the Week: Rationalism: the belief that under all or most circumstances we must use scientific studies to fully define the rationale for every therapeutic approach, before we can offer it to our patients. This is not rational for the advancement of good medicine!

Next week’s show: 2nd installment of History of Healing-History of Killing. Nitroglycerine is a really good medicine. Is our current use of it based on scientific studies? Which empiricists of the 1800s are responsible for our current use nitroglycerine? The homeopaths! We’ll also discuss: why contemporary doctors are positioning themselves more and more toward the pole of empiricism; the concept of health promotion versus disease control; and why the new model of health care that we’re currently dominated by – the FDA Approval-Based Health Care’ Model - is not good medicine.

Send TGM #4 to a friend: click here.

 

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Critiques and criticisms of the dis-ease management system.

Title for this week’s episode: It’s time to mainstream ‘integrative medicine’ - the premise show.

Learn the whos, whats, whens and whys of That’s Good Medicine:

Why: To teach science-based health and healing modalities – especially natural approaches - not just drugs and surgery. And to help listeners sort through the plethora of health information. Imparting health wisdom for making wiser choices.

Who: Dr. Douglass and host, Kevin Kilpatrick are introduced, as are medical social worker Kathy Jo King and audio engineer Chester Cruise. And who are in our target audience? Intelligent, open-minded baby boomers around the world (folks born between 1946 and 1964, currently between 44 and 62 years old).

What: Content will consist of ‘integrative medicine’ topics (previously called ‘alternative’ or ‘complementary-alternative’ medicine). Employing topic-specific installments (such as this ‘Dropping the Bomb’ series) we’ll look at the science behind subjects like nutrition, herbal medicine, energy medicine, stem cell therapy, body work, detoxification strategies, and lots more.

When and How Much: Weekly 15-20 minute shows.

Good Medicine Word of the Week: Integrative Medicine - integrating the best evidence-based therapies from all medical disciplines.

Next week’s show: On the second part of this 2-part Dropping the Bomb series, we’ll interview medical maverick and integrative medicine pioneer Dr. Jonathan Wright. Focus: the concept of how ‘modern man’ uses - almost exclusively - only synthetic, artificial medications in our system of disease care - drugs which are not only foreign to the body, but foreign to nature too. We’ll discuss why this has come about. Prior to the interview we’ll discuss the famous Tahoma Clinic FDA Raid of 1992 when Armed FDA agents smashed through the door of Dr. Wright’s clinic during clinic hours and confiscated patients’ records, the clinic’s computers and Dr. Wright’s medical/nutritional supplies. And what was Dr. Wright’s ‘crime’? He was administering intravenous vitamins to his patients.

Send TGM #1 to a friend: click here.