Ask HN: What is your personal experience with alternative medicine?

I say it's too hard for the average person to figure out the true impact of alternative medicines. The placebo effect won't let people evaluate the treatment with an impartial mind.

I've taken fish oil regularly for years yet I can't judge the impact of it on my health. I live with the idea of hope. Hope that it is helping but I will never know.

I believe that's the case with most alternative medicine since there are few independent studies that can be cited to determine the benefits.

You will always find individuals that will swear on the benefits but individual benefits don't translate to universal benefits. This is especially true now that you can find anyone that has an opinion on anything on the web. It's the confirmation bias on overdrive.

Yoga and massage are great for chronic anxiety and depression.

Actually taking seriously the "your feelings live in your body, let yourself go where you feel" stuff while doing yoga / massage can be really emotionally cathartic.

My ex decided she needed to take iodine while pregnant with my first kid. He was born with congenital hypothyroidism as a result.

She also make me goto the witch doctors of various kinds over the years, none of which helped me.

Regular medicine determined that I have a tumor on an adrenal gland, and after a year of testing I’m having the gland removed next month.

If alternative medicine actually worked beyond anecdotes it would just be called medicine.

Check out this.

Scott Forstall tells the story of the time Steve Jobs saved his life and Acupuncture

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDuQcaffoY8

I'm Chinese American and I've come across it twice. One time was when I was elementary school...my family started as non English speaking, no insurance (American dream I guess?). My mom was in great pain for a long time, something internal in her abdomen...I don't know what it was. One of my aunt's practiced acupuncture in China. She came over...stuck the needles and the pain went away that day. I don't know the details because I was young.

The other was me in college. I had bad acne. Even saw a doctor...got some cream. Didn't work. Took a family trip to China. My cousin says...why don't I try fire cupping. I've never heard of it...I searched online...what do I have to lose? Worse case I get marks on my body for a few days. So I do it at a local clinic. I did a few sessions...my face gets better, no acne.

Both experiences could just be coincidence. Who knows. I'm just stating what happened.

I suffer from psoriasis. Avoiding gluten made a significant difference in symptom reduction. I know that this isn't really "alternative", but many people do poke fun at people who avoid gluten.

Someone close to me died of cancer a few years ago. None of the many alternative treatments you can find online (some of them quite disgusting, but also the commonly mentioned ones... soursop, vitamin C, marijuana, etc) made any difference whatsoever. I assisted with some of them only because all medical avenues had already been exhausted (stage 4 pancreatic cancer) and she was grasping at straws and telling her there was no hope would have been cruel.

I'm not sure you'd call kava "alternative medicine" (most people use it as a recreational beverage rather than a medicine), but it's an anxiolytic drink that works wonderfully as a substitute for benzos and alcohol, without the addictive potential.

Someone close to me died of cancer a few years ago. None of the many alternative treatments you can find online (some of them quite disgusting, but also the commonly mentioned ones... soursop, vitamin C, marijuana, etc) made any difference whatsoever. I assisted with some of them only because all medical avenues had already been exhausted (stage 4 pancreatic cancer) and telling her there was no hope would have been cruel.

I'm not sure you'd call kava "alternative medicine" (most people use it as a recreational beverage rather than a medicine), but it's a traditional Pacific Islander drink that's a great substitute for benzos and alcohol, without the addictive potential. Works wonderfully for anxiety.

I suffered from chronic pain that was starting to seriously interfere with my life for a couple of years. I could find neither a cause nor non-invasive solution till I read The Mind-Body Prescription[0]. It quickly and completely fixed my problem.

I actually learned about the book here on HN: I'm usually a very skeptical person, but enough self-proclaimed skeptics (who were embarrassed to admit they even read it) claimed success with it that I decided to check it out.

I highly recommend reading it (with an open mind) if you're suffering from a chronic ailment that lacks an obvious physical cause. I used it for chronic pain, but the author claims success with just about any other type of "catch-all" diagnosis that doctors make when they're stumped, like IBD.

BTW: the doctor is an American psychiatrist with a long career, so it's not your usual alternative medical book. But I consider it "alternative medicine" in that it's based on similar principles as some other alternative medicines and the theory does not seem to have any sort of acceptance in the western medical community. (The author cites his evidence, and provides his explanation for why the medical community rejects that sort of evidence.)

[0] https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FA5SJS

My official diagnosis is atypical cystic fibrosis. I've spent 17+ years pursuing dietary and lifestyle changes and non drug treatments.

I cannot begin to tell you about it in a single comment on HN. I suspect anyone with significant experience with alternative stuff will be in the same boat.

Talking overly much about such here is also a good way to cut your own throat since the mantra here is "If it worked, it would be mainstream already."

About 10 years ago I had a severe back injury and even after it "healed" I would occasionally experience stabbing pains in my lower back. Two different doctors told me I needed surgery to fuse three of my discs.

I considered surgery to be my absolute last option. The alternative approaches I tried were

a) Acupuncture, which turned out to be a waste of time b) Yoga, which reduced and eventually eliminated the pain

It was not any particular style of yoga. I tried several, but starting with gentle stretching and twisting things started to feel better and about a year later I was pain-free.

I don't actively practice anymore, but still do some exercises once in a while. I never had the surgery and have not had any problems with my lower back in years.

I used the method of Dr. John Sarno to rid myself of chronic wrist pain/RSI.

I say "rid" instead of "cure" because Sarno's method claims that such pain is entirely psychogenic, and is thus addressed by psychological means rather than pills, surgery, or other physical interventions. The theory is that the pain is generated by the subconscious as a way of distracting the conscious mind from unpleasant thoughts/emotions. By recognizing this process and forcing yourself to deal with the unpleasantness, the subconscious gives up this "strategy" and the pain disappears.

The really interesting thing about this theory is that it predicts "the symptom imperative," which in practice means that soon after you begin challenging your primary symptom, your subconscious may shift to a new symptom. New symptoms understandably cause the conscious mind to become afraid, and thus distracted again.

That part is what really sold me on the theory. I was skeptical at first, but sure enough, as soon as I began attacking my wrist pain, I began having headaches and other inexplicable symptoms, each of which resolved quickly. The nice thing is that the method is more effective the more you believe in its efficacy, and so a virtuous cycle can develop.

My wrist pain was never severe, but it was bad enough to scare me away from typing with my right hand for the better part of a year. I also had a lot of numbness and tingling, and occasional acute pain in my middle (scrolling) finger joint. I attributed these symptoms to overuse, and in addition to not typing with that hand, I used wrist braces, elbow braces, ice packs, a new keyboard, etc. These tended to help for a few minutes to days before the symptoms returned.

Once I had been typing exclusively with my left hand for a while, I began experiencing symptoms in that hand as well. The prospect of not typing at all was very scary (which is exactly what my subconscious wanted). I finally went to a specialist, who performed a nerve conduction study and told me there was nothing physically wrong with me. If I had not know about Sarno's theory, this information would have been rather distressing. Instead, it came as a relief. I could now pursue Sarno's method without reservations. And within a week, my pain was 90% gone. After pushing through the symptom shifting, my pain was 99% gone within a month. Nowadays I have no wrist pain at all, and I can type as long as I want without regard for ergonomics. I consider myself very lucky and have since become something of a PPD/TMS maximalist. If you have chronic pain or another chronic condition, I urge you to read one of Sarno's books and evaluate the theory for yourself. Scientifically, I think it has more of a leg stand on than homeopathy, crystal healing, etc., but at the end of the day, all I can say is that it worked for me, and I hope it works for you too.

Each form of medicine has its advantages and disadvantages one should not be dismissive of other forms treatments just based on popular opinions also One should not put all their faith on alternative forms of medicine too and be aware of when there are proven treatments or hype created by dubious practitioners or marketed online. Sometimes the treatments may not work as each medical problem uses body's own healing powers to support those treatments. I have three recent experiences to share 1. 3 years back my father who was 67 then suffered from severe pain in lower back due to which he could not stand or walk after 10 min.on investigation it was found out the pain was due to one the spinal discs in back was pushing against the nerves and would need to be operated upon this was the opinion of multiple doctors and as per them it was a routine procedure. But we had heard of lot of horror stories with regards of spine surgeries. So my father refused,him being a diabetic and a heart patient he said better be in pain than being in bed for rest of his life. Well he was recommended a acupuncture doctor by friends and he decided to try him out. After 3-5 month his condition improved and now he can go for morning walks every day for 2-3 kms. 2. I met my neighbors who I had seen after an year on enquiry the lady who is 82 years told me she had suffered severe spine related issue with one of her discs leaking fluids and was bedridden. The consulting doctors told her surgery in her case was very risky due her age and other health problems and gave her medication for pain management when her situation did not improve he himself suggested the family to try our Ayurveda based treatment which includes massages and natural medication at one of the good hospitals south india. She was treated as inpatient for three month and later physical therapy at home. Now she is no longer bed ridden and does light household work like cooking and walk slowly. 3. I suffer from chronic kidney stone problem recently I had 6-8 mm stone which I was not able to pass and was suffering sharp pains doctor suggested simple surgery. Instead I followed standard homeopathic medication quite common in India along with natural remedy and I passed the stone 2-3 days later.

I have ended up with quite a bit of experience with alternative medicine, some of which I didn't even know about until a couple of years ago.

In Ukraine as a kid. The "not sure if these do anything but they didn't hurt" part:

1: My mom would regularly draw "iodine nets" on my skin when I was sick. I can't remember exactly what they were meant to do, something about sucking out whatever toxin was making me sick.

2: When I was young in Ukraine I got very very sick. I only remember bits and pieces - most memorable is it hurting to move and getting shots in my hand every day. I was in hospital and getting worse, and the doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong. According to my mom they were injecting me with some kind of weird hormone based treatment, and when it did not seem to be helping she became worried about what it would do to me in the long term, so she took me out of the hospital against the wishes of doctors - she said the doctor was yelling after her that I was going to die if she took me out as she was leaving. She took me to an alternative medicine provider of some sort, who gave me shots and those little round pills you kind of see some alternative medicine providers use. I don't know which of those things worked, but I did end up getting better somehow.

3: This isn't really alternative medicine but more of a placebo effect. After the above ordeal my temperature would just not go down. I felt fine, but whenever they checked my temperature I would have a massive fever. My mom was checking my temp multiple times a day for weeks with zero change. My doctor suggested that my mom stop checking my temperature for two weeks. After two weeks, we checked again and my temperature was back to normal. It was decided that I was so used to being sick and having a fever that the process of checking my temperature would actually make me produce a real life fever.

4: This one is about my sister. She was born with some kind of..bad kidney problems or something of the sort. She had to take multiple trips to the emergency room, frequently. I don't know exactly what these attacks involved but it was bad. As a last resort my mom took her to a healer of some sort who gave her a special stone and did some kind of hand-healy thing. She apparently did not have an attack again. From memory I also got one of these stones, but a different one, but can't remember where it is now.

Ukraine, the "this was definitely a scam" part:

1. My mom took me to a lady who had me hold two metal rods connected with some kind of wire thing to a machine, and she would make different words show up on screen and then say if I was sensitive/allergic to those things or not. She guessed my strawberry allergy, but that's probably because my mom mentioned it. She also said I had "rakovie palochki", which freaked my mom out because it translates to "cancer sticks", but the lady said that was normal. I think she was a total scammer and apparently she disappeared a few years later...

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Sweden, my cat:

1. My kitten was extremely sick for a month. The vets had given up and said there was nothing more they could do. They let me take him home for his last night, I had an appointment booked to put him to sleep the next day at home - I didn't want him to die in the hospital. As a last resort I took him to a "holistic veterinarian" who performed acupuncture and gave various drops and such. I don't know if the acupuncture helped, but the next day my cat miraculously peed on his own for the first time in a month at home (his blockage was at the root of this problem, without peeing he would die and no amount of medicine or trying to manually express him had worked). I wouldn't credit the entire recovery to acupuncture, but as a last resort treatment I am glad I tried it.

2. At the same time as the above, on the train back from the holistic vet home, I happened to sit next to a lady who started askin...

A few points of my own experience:

1. A practitioner gave me black seed oil to cure non-allergic rhinitis. Safe to say, it made things worse.

2. All the "alternative medicine" experts I know spend time criticizing the medical profession and malpractice more than peddling their own remedies. Similarly most experts in this area that I have met lack proper education in chemistry, biology, bio-chemistry etc. Even the qualified doctors I have met who practice "alternative medicine" were academically B players who lack knowledge about basic sciences but somehow made it through the system. I would like someone to corroborate me on this.

3. I have met a lot of people who claim their pain (back, joint etc) went away after cupping, acupuncture and the more modern varieties that use electric voltage. There seems to be enough anecdotal evidence for a serious scientific investigation in this area. The existing "theory" that practitioners give for its efficacy including "restoring energy balance in body via critical points" is obviously a pile of crap.

4. A lot of herbal supplements are nowadays labeled "homeopathic", even though the traditional "homeopathy" is based on a dilution principle which is hilariously in-effective. I am guessing that some of those herbal supplements tucked in the homeopathy shops might actually do cure a few minor ailments and that has accidentally given homeopathy a lease of life in the 21st century. Even though the authentic homeopathy drugs which employ dilution are practically useless.

I studied Chinese medicine, did an internship on a local clinic with very low cost. We got mostly old people coming. Some points below:

1. Generalising acupuncture treatments is the same as saying ALL programmers are equal - there is a huge spectrum on the quality. Some people do protocols - same treatment for same disease, other people are much more inclined to do a personal treatment. There are also lots of different ways to do an acupuncture treatment. As for research, please check " Atlas Of Acupuncture" from Claudia Focks, it's full of references of studies about Chinese Medicine, with both good and bad results as well as criticism of study design.

2. On the clinic, it worked very well for chronic pain (eg: back pain) and for diseases that have some degree of unknown (due to psychosomatic disorder or alike). We had some patients that got "fixed" in a couple of sessions, others would just need a consultation every two weeks or so to maintain their health, and so on.

3. Acupuncture also works very well in tandem with Western medicine (eg: reduce side effects of some medicine/treatment), but where it really shines is for some diseases where Western medicine can't work that well - although this is easier if you're an accomplished practitioner - we had great results with fibromyalgia for example.

As an example, I started to develop back pain due to carrying my kid all day, I went to a Chinese herbal doctor who recommended me some herbs - I took them once and it went away for weeks. Eventually it came back because I still carry the kid though.

My teacher also have done countless diagnostics in which he correctly diagnosed some issues with his patients who were later confirmed with a Western medicine (under a different disease name).

I had these weird skin rashes on my neck which just wouldn't go away. It became a problem since it made self conscious to the point that I decided to skip regular activities like swimming, etc out of fear of embarrassment.

Anyway homeopathy is still a big thing here so when nothing else worked I decided to give it a try based on a very high recommendation from my parents.

Lo and behold that thing was gone within a week. I would have never dreamt it because homeopathy makes no sense with the medicine being diluted to hell and I'm guessing maybe the sugar pills acted as a placebo but not sure why the other regular medicine didn't have the same effect.

Also I had pain in my knees and 1 month of regular prayam took it away (was suggested Arthroscopy because MRI showed a tear in my medial miniscus or something. Pranayam fixed it and it was 10 years ago and I didn't even have the surgery too). Did take medicine for reducing uric acid though so not sure if that did the trick.

Well that's my personal experience. I guess my experience has been good with alt medicine.