The woman I babysit for recently decided to take her kids to a new age-y, alternative medicine type of doctor.  It all stems from the fact that one of her kids has been diagnosed with an autoimmune disease that is making him go bald.  I guess she’s having difficulties dealing with it.

Personally, I don’t think it’s that big a deal — after all, it’s cosmetic, and as a type 1 diabetic I can tell you that there are far worse things your immune system could kill than your hair follicles!

Unfortunately, this mom is practically starving her kids by taking them off of all dairy, gluten, and sugars (even fruit), thinking that maybe this will bring back her little boy’s hair.  Her excuse is that Western medicine doesn’t know what’s wrong with him, so maybe alternative medicine will.

Personally, I think Western medicine DOES know what’s wrong with him — she just doesn’t like the answer.  If I suddenly told her I was taking cinnamon instead of insulin, she’d tell me I was crazy — after all, my body can’t make insulin anymore, and no amount of diet changes are going to change that.  So why would diet changes bring back his hair?

That’s not to say that all alternative treatments are bad, though.  There is plenty of research supporting certain alternative treatments.  For example, studies have shown that magnetic therapy is quite effective in dealing with pain — medical magnets block pain transmissions to the brain, and therefore when used correctly, can be used for back pain relief, among other things.

Basically, what I think it comes down to is that whether it is Western medicine or alternative medicine, we ought to be looking at the research that supports it in order to determine how accurate or appropriate the treatment is!

Technorati Tags: alternative medicine, autoimmune disease, back pain relief, magnetic therapy, medical magnets, type 1 diabetic, Western medicine