clinical trials, watchful waiting, etc
Charles Wunderman
Hope everyone is ok and in good health. There have been a few recent developments on the medical front, all pointing toward the advantage of “watchful waiting” and by connection, non-surgical and alternative approaches to hernia treatment.
In Holland another “watchful waiting” clinical trial was completed in February 2008, similar in purpose and participant numbers to the pivotal clinical trial conducted in the USA/Canada by Dr Robert Fitzgibbons (from 1999 to 2004), report first published in January 2006 and seen continuously since:
http://www.facs.org/news/herniastudy.html
The mission statement from the recent Dutch trial (see link) contains the following very sobering quote: “Thus it may be that surgical treatment of a hernia is not a good option and a non-surgical observational approach should be the routine. Additionally, the percentage of patients with chronic pain after inguinal hernia repair is very high.”
http://www.narcis.info/research/RecordID/OND1317550/Language/en/;jsessionid=3nc9aklptu8h
Another Dutch hernia conference: The Dutch seem to be taking a particular interest in this issue. Perhaps the best progress on alternative treatments may come from Holland (?):
http://www.congresscare.com/congres_template.php?nieuwsID=1669
The British Hernia Society held a conference early this month in Glasgow about mesh surgery. The issue seems to be getting attention. Here's the link:
http://www.britishherniasociety.org/glasgow2008/
Here’s a really comprehensive recent hernia website from the USA. If you click on the link, it may not open. You might try copying & pasting it into your browser. I couldn’t get into it by using the link either. I then googled Hernia + Sages + 2008 and it came up, this time openable. You might want to try reading through it. Some of it might seem quite technical, but a lot of it is easy to understand. Basically it’s an admission by the med’s that the current methods of hernia repair, especially those involving mesh, are less-than-satisfactory:
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/582009
I can’t get into this recent article; I’m not in the medical field (hardly!) and am not registered. However it’s by Dr Robert Fitzgibbons in the USA who chaired the very important Watchful Waiting clinical trial (1999--2004). Maybe someone out there knows someone who could get the whole article and see what this top hernia expert is saying now. The abstract mentions using info from the days before surgery became routine. This article could be important as it may offer clues to alternative treatments that have either been forgotten or deliberately ignored:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18267166?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DiscoveryPanel.Pubmed_Discovery_RA&linkpos=1&log$=relatedarticles&logdbfrom=pubmed
See this recent Swedish study on long-term (chronic) pain afflicting hernia surgery patients:
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pmcentrez&artid=1602172
You’ll see a chart which shows, for example, 30-40% of patients aged in their 50’s suffering from long-term pain following hernia surgery. This figure basically echoes all the other reports & studies that routinely show at least 30%. According to this and several other reports, younger hernia surgery patients show even higher rates of continuing, long-term pain.
The HerniaBible website http://www.herniabible.com/ is continually being updated. The site’s hosts, in Hastings, England (40 miles east of Brighton where I’m located, and about 80 miles southeast of London) will be organising “training days” (workshops) in 2009 featuring all sorts of “hernia alternatives”.... herbal/homeopathic therapies, trusses, Pilates instructors, etc. Also (reportedly) medical people, for those seeking a second opinion after having been advised to undergo surgery. This is an excellent website, covering all sorts of info, from medical studies and reports to various alternative therapies. If anyone out there happens to live in this part of the world, they might want to attend the workshops. I certainly hope to be there.
Anyone interested in a herbal/homeopathic hernia massage formula should see this, by “Ask Emma” at the Guardian (UK) Newspaper. I’ve used this preparation for a while, on and off. Can’t really say if it’s having any effect as I’m also doing mild Pilates and taking Hawthornia:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2003/feb/01/weekend7.weekend4
Has anyone out there used the following:
- Hernease
- Hernotabs (a Greek formula) http://hernotab.com/2/?gclid=CIj2zPbBvZYCFRyB1Qodmiu2zA,
- Heratin (homeopathic)
- the Chinese formula "He Shou Wu"?
You may have seen this, on holistic approaches to hernia:
http://www.holisticharmony.com/archives/health/hs_42.asp
I saw a post on “eHealth” today where the writer, a nutritionist, explained that for his hernia he used (quote) “Equisituum Tea and about 5 grams of Vitamin C a day, and a calc-flor tissue salt tablet once a day. (Equisituum Tea is a herbal source of silicon). Silicon and Vitamin C are the two most indicated nutritional remedies for connective tissue weakness (I'm a nutrition therapist).....” He goes on to recommend CoQ10 (coenzyme Q10), which has turned up in various other posts.
I’ve also seen something called “Horsetail” recommended in one or two posts. Anyone out there know about Equisituum Tea, Q10 or Horsetail?
That’s about it for now. With the risks and complications associated with hernia surgery becoming much better publicised (hence all the clinical trials, reports, conferences, etc, in the medical community) maybe we’ll start seeing a great deal more attention paid to alternative therapies. It’s crucial to let the “medical establishment” know that people with hernias are AWARE of all this.
Good health and PEACE to everyone out there.
With very warmest wishes....
Charles
be...@falconblanco.com
> There have been a few recent developments on the medical front, all
> pointing toward the advantage of ³watchful waiting² and by
> connection, non-surgical and alternative approaches to hernia
> treatment.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Do you really believe that the so well and firm established
medical system will change? That would mean that there happens a shift
from the money based attitude towards a world view that goes beyond
all that? Hernia surgery is a billion $? business, the same as the big
business with chemical medication. Do you seriously think that a few
ants nibbling on the feet of the pharma elephant will make this giant
move into another direction?
The medical system has during centuries built up the position of
an untouchable authority, making people dependent and putting them in
bondage.
There is no one to blame. The medical system is a manifestation,
the same as other forms, of the step of evolution presenting the still
very limited consciousness. Also the doctors can't be blamed, they do
as good as they can and with their best intention in their limited
personal condition, coming all from being educated within the
established system.
Alternative treatments don't change the attitude of the patient or
getting them out of their dependency. There is no alternative
information given about what disease really is and seldom there is a
question about the root cause. Mainly the symptoms are treated and not
seen in connection with other levels of the individual human system.
There is little hope that this will change during the next
generations. So any discussion of sick people about the development of
the medical system is pretty useless and wasting ones energy, that
better should be used to directly taking care of oneself. Like talking
about the various methods of surgery, if one really want to avoid
surgery, knowing that from there no other way is offered.
That now from a few doctors 'watchful waiting' is suggested is not
a real change as long there is no suggestion given about all
possibilities to help ones healing and that of course should include
all levels of ones being and not just the physical body.
The first step in ones healing would be to take self
responsibility and that would mean to step out of dependency. That of
course can't be supported by the one who makes his living from the
dependency of sick people to him. So it is a pretty hopeless situation
and only a very few people will be able to do their self healing.
I repeat: "Alternative approaches to hernia treatment" offered
from the medical system will stay on the limited level of treating
symptoms and not include the 'whole being' even though it might be
called 'holistic'.
If in our healing process we don't question our existence in all
parts, then this 'healing' will not be real and not be part of our
'growing process'.
There should be come up the question what disease really is and
probably this must be answered out of ones own realization and not
from an authority, the same as other essential questions...
The more practical question, how one can come to the possible
position to question oneself and finding answers not depending on
professionals, can be answered, but also this question first must be
ask.
BeiYin
BeiYin
http://falconblanco.com/health/hernia.htm
Charles
I hope you are keeping well and are enjoying a good, bright, peaceful
morning.
Yes...I agree with all your comments about the medical establishment.
However I think we're all to blame, to a certain extent, for allowing
ourselves to have become so dependent upon them, often looking to them
for a quick-fix instead of dealing with underlying issues. My hope is
that a growing awareness of the dangers and serious limitations of the
current approach to hernia might cause a shift in direction in the
approach to this condition.
You're correct when you say that this is not merely about alternative
treatments, but more crucially about an alternative attitude, an
alternative mindset. However one must begin somewhere, and I feel the
beginning is the questioning of the long-established way; in this
case, mandating surgery without even considering other paths.
Until very recently there has been virtually no questioning. I
personally don't believe we're going to see a seismic change in
direction. However if an unsatisfactory, risky, dangerous course is
questioned, other paths may emerge. That's why these clinical trials
are, to me, important. Although these trials are being conducted by
the medical establishment, for me they represent an admission that
something is seriously wrong, and they are hopefully planting at least
the seeds of questioning, of looking for new paths.
They are, if nothing else, helping to start raising consciousness.
It's because people trust doctors blindly that it's important for
people to see that the great medical marvel isn't infallible, that
it's made up of very human beings rather than gods, that it makes
serious mistakes, and that it must be questioned.
Personally I don't think the solution to hernia as a condition rather
than a muscle tear will come from the established medical community.
However if their methods become questioned, at least there's a chance
that other approaches will be explored, developed and made known to
people who have this condition. The admission by Authority that
'watchful waiting' might actually be a better idea than pushing people
into surgery is only one extremely tiny step in what may be a very,
very long process in encouraging people to seek and choose
alternatives. To look for real healing rather than an instant cure ---
or a quick fix that's very likely to break again.
I wouldn't look to the medical people to offer alternatives. However
as their methods become seen as less-than-satisfactory or even
hurtful, people may start seeking, researching and developing
alternatives on their own. There is currently a growing interest in
alternatives to conventional medical treatments, and of course these
are not being offered from the medical system. This is a positive
direction, and one which, hopefully, may gather steam in the coming
years.
At the moment, you're sadly correct.....this path is currently being
travelled by a very small number of people. But with growing access to
the internet and being able to communicate with other people who share
a similar condition, exchange ideas, therapies, etc, I'm hoping this
tiny pioneer movement will grow.
I would never have found you, BeiYin, without the internet. I would
never have seen the alternative ideas I'm seeing. I probably would've
relied on what the so-called experts (the doctors) told me, even if
intuitively I didn't feel it was right. I never would've even known
how risky hernia surgery was, because I would've had no access to that
kind of information. I was absolutely shocked by what I found. I only
found it because I looked, because I was able to look.
You are correct when you say the medical system treats symptoms and
not causes, without even considering the patient as a whole being.
Rather like fixing car parts without considering the car as a whole
machine. This is because people demand easy, quick answers, not real
solutions. Easier and quicker to fix one part than to consider the
entire car. Our obsession with speed is largely to blame for this. One
of the greatest curses of this era is the lack of time; free, quality
time to think, consider, ponder, and then make decisions. Everyone is
in a mad rush, so it's no wonder we're offered, and accept, so-called
'solutions' that cater to this mania for speed.
My hope is that as conventional approaches become questioned, other
approaches that consider the whole being will come into light. This
will be a very, very slow process, and I personally don't expect to
see any major change in my lifetime. However I believe the seeds have
been planted. For the medical community to even ADMIT that their
process and direction might be faulty, and to hold clinical trials
proving their error, is a start, albeit it a tiny one.
My view is that as people start to question authority, they may,
hopefully, begin to look elsewhere --- inward, outward, to other
people, perhaps to long-forgotten or ignored ideas that may have once
served quite well. It's getting people to look, that's the issue. To
ask questions, to stop believing blindly in Authority, Technology and
Speed. The current world economic meltdown may serve to change the
culture, to slow things down, maybe at least getting people to start
thinking and questioning again, instead of turning to some gadget or
expert to spoon-feed instant answers to them. I'm only hoping for a
start, that's all. I don't expect anything more, certainly not any
miracles.
Peace.....and the best of good health to you....always.
Charles