Conventional medicine likes to be in control! It dominates the NHS, it dominates our thinking about ill-health, its causes and treatments. Despite 'patient choice' being a key policy of all British political parties, and the government espousing the idea of 'no decision about me without me' in its 2010 White Paper on health, doctors continue to be arrogant enough to think they always know best!
There have been several cases in recent years when patients have wanted treatment but were thwarted by the NHS. And it would appear that there is another on its way. This is the story, as I understand it.
A six-year-old boy, Alfie Dingley has a "rare and aggressive" form of epilepsy which causes multiple seizures. Apparently Alfie can have up to 30 fits daily, and in one single year suffered 3,000 seizures, and 48 hospital visits. The parents took their son to Holland where a cannabis-based treatment dramatically improved the situation. Whilst there Alfie went 24 days without an attack, and it has been estimate that with the treatment Alfie would only have about 20 seizures a year.
However, the parent's request for this treatment has been denied in the UK by the Home Office because cannabis remains illegal here.
Instead, the NHS offers Steroid injections, for which he has to go into hospital after each attack. As the mother says, correctly, these drugs can cause organ failure, especially with the amount Alfie has to take.
I notice that Alfie's mother says that Alfie's cannabis dose, made from the whole cannabis plant, was "very small" and that he was taking this in just three drops of the oil. This sounds like homeopathy, or something very similar. It uses two homeopathic principles.
This situation is forcing the parents to raise money to take Alfie abroad to receive the treatment. This is a denial of human rights, the right to treat ourselves (and our children) in the way we think correct, and not according to the dictates of conventional medicine. And in order to get the treatment of their considered and informed choice, it is putting the family to unnecessary inconvenience and expense.
Yet this is typical of conventional medicine, which in choosing treatment for patients discounts 'patients outcome' almost entirely, and operates solely on the basis of the proof provided by 'medical science'. So steroids, dangerous as they are known to be, are okay because they have been tested by pharmaceutical companies. And Cannabis cannot be prescribed because of its addictive qualities, and because it has not been tested and approved by conventional medicine, and the pharmaceutical industry, who will not profit from its use.
This is not an isolated situation. In the USA it is becoming a serious issue. The Dr Mercola website published an article today which stated that the "Minnesota Governor Dayton Refuses to Legalize Medical Marijuana, Despite Parents’ Pleas". This article states that medical marijuana has been extensively studied, with positive results.
“To date, more than 15,000 modern peer-reviewed scientific articles on the chemistry and pharmacology of cannabis and cannabinoids have been published, as well as more than 2,000 articles on the body’s natural endocannabinoids. In recent years, more placebo-controlled human trials have also been conducted."
This Health Impact News article, "Medical Cannabis: the real reason the government wants to keep it banned" looks behind the scenes to the vested interests that do not want to allow patients access to the treatment. It's the usual stuff, covered so often in this blog! Vested interests, and governments cozying up to those vested interests, and a conventional medical profession prepared to use dangerous drugs rather than safer treatments - so long as they can make profits for the pharmaceutical industry.
Alfie's parents will not been told about homeopathy for the same reasons. It is a medical therapy that is readily available throughout the UK, but rarely offered to patients by the NHS who prefer patients to take dangerous drugs (even when they do no work) rather than look for alternative treatment. They prefer to force parents to go overseas for treatment rather than to offer simple, safer and more effective treatments in this country.
So my advice to Alfie's parents? Or indeed anyone else who is sick, and prescribed dangerous and ineffective treatment. Seek out a qualified homeopath in your local area (findahomeopath.co.uk) and see whether alternative medicine can offer treatment that is safer and more effective than conventional medicine.
Postscript
I have just heard another account of the situation, and have noticed that Alfie's condition has been described as "rare and aggressive". Whenever I hear that I immediately wonder if the illness has been caused by conventional medicine itself. It is well known that epilepsy is caused by a number of conventional drugs and vaccines, including pharmaceutical drugs like Amphetamines, Anti-depressants, Anti-psychotics, Antibiotics, Painkillers, and many others.
I also heard that this 'rare and aggressive' condition did not start until Alfie was 8 months old. One of the biggest side effects of childhood vaccines are seizures, and this is the time when children have already received the DPT vaccine, and many have recently received the MMR vaccine. I do wonder if conventional medicine is not only reluctant to treat him, but are reluctant to examine whether vaccines, or some other pharmaceutical drug, is the cause.
There have been several cases in recent years when patients have wanted treatment but were thwarted by the NHS. And it would appear that there is another on its way. This is the story, as I understand it.
A six-year-old boy, Alfie Dingley has a "rare and aggressive" form of epilepsy which causes multiple seizures. Apparently Alfie can have up to 30 fits daily, and in one single year suffered 3,000 seizures, and 48 hospital visits. The parents took their son to Holland where a cannabis-based treatment dramatically improved the situation. Whilst there Alfie went 24 days without an attack, and it has been estimate that with the treatment Alfie would only have about 20 seizures a year.
However, the parent's request for this treatment has been denied in the UK by the Home Office because cannabis remains illegal here.
Instead, the NHS offers Steroid injections, for which he has to go into hospital after each attack. As the mother says, correctly, these drugs can cause organ failure, especially with the amount Alfie has to take.
- Clearly, the Steroid treatment does not work to treat the condition.
- Clearly, the Cannabis treatment does work in Alfie's case.
- But to conventional medicine these simple observations appear to make little difference!
I notice that Alfie's mother says that Alfie's cannabis dose, made from the whole cannabis plant, was "very small" and that he was taking this in just three drops of the oil. This sounds like homeopathy, or something very similar. It uses two homeopathic principles.
- Using a substance that in its normal form can cause the condition - that is, treating like with like.
- Using the substance in small, attenuated doses.
What it not doing, which homeopaths would do, is to dilute and succuss until there was nothing of the of the original substance left!
This situation is forcing the parents to raise money to take Alfie abroad to receive the treatment. This is a denial of human rights, the right to treat ourselves (and our children) in the way we think correct, and not according to the dictates of conventional medicine. And in order to get the treatment of their considered and informed choice, it is putting the family to unnecessary inconvenience and expense.
Yet this is typical of conventional medicine, which in choosing treatment for patients discounts 'patients outcome' almost entirely, and operates solely on the basis of the proof provided by 'medical science'. So steroids, dangerous as they are known to be, are okay because they have been tested by pharmaceutical companies. And Cannabis cannot be prescribed because of its addictive qualities, and because it has not been tested and approved by conventional medicine, and the pharmaceutical industry, who will not profit from its use.
This is not an isolated situation. In the USA it is becoming a serious issue. The Dr Mercola website published an article today which stated that the "Minnesota Governor Dayton Refuses to Legalize Medical Marijuana, Despite Parents’ Pleas". This article states that medical marijuana has been extensively studied, with positive results.
“To date, more than 15,000 modern peer-reviewed scientific articles on the chemistry and pharmacology of cannabis and cannabinoids have been published, as well as more than 2,000 articles on the body’s natural endocannabinoids. In recent years, more placebo-controlled human trials have also been conducted."
This Health Impact News article, "Medical Cannabis: the real reason the government wants to keep it banned" looks behind the scenes to the vested interests that do not want to allow patients access to the treatment. It's the usual stuff, covered so often in this blog! Vested interests, and governments cozying up to those vested interests, and a conventional medical profession prepared to use dangerous drugs rather than safer treatments - so long as they can make profits for the pharmaceutical industry.
Alfie's parents will not been told about homeopathy for the same reasons. It is a medical therapy that is readily available throughout the UK, but rarely offered to patients by the NHS who prefer patients to take dangerous drugs (even when they do no work) rather than look for alternative treatment. They prefer to force parents to go overseas for treatment rather than to offer simple, safer and more effective treatments in this country.
So my advice to Alfie's parents? Or indeed anyone else who is sick, and prescribed dangerous and ineffective treatment. Seek out a qualified homeopath in your local area (findahomeopath.co.uk) and see whether alternative medicine can offer treatment that is safer and more effective than conventional medicine.
Postscript
I have just heard another account of the situation, and have noticed that Alfie's condition has been described as "rare and aggressive". Whenever I hear that I immediately wonder if the illness has been caused by conventional medicine itself. It is well known that epilepsy is caused by a number of conventional drugs and vaccines, including pharmaceutical drugs like Amphetamines, Anti-depressants, Anti-psychotics, Antibiotics, Painkillers, and many others.
I also heard that this 'rare and aggressive' condition did not start until Alfie was 8 months old. One of the biggest side effects of childhood vaccines are seizures, and this is the time when children have already received the DPT vaccine, and many have recently received the MMR vaccine. I do wonder if conventional medicine is not only reluctant to treat him, but are reluctant to examine whether vaccines, or some other pharmaceutical drug, is the cause.
