Comments on: Use of herbals associated with lower quality of life in asthma patients http://skeptvet.com/Blog/2010/02/use-of-herbals-associated-with-lower-quality-of-life-in-asthma-patients/ A Vet Takes a Science-Based Look at Complementary and Alternative Medicine Tue, 07 Feb 2012 21:31:55 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Does the Truth Matter? « The SkeptVet Blog http://skeptvet.com/Blog/2010/02/use-of-herbals-associated-with-lower-quality-of-life-in-asthma-patients/comment-page-1/#comment-463 Does the Truth Matter? « The SkeptVet Blog Sun, 07 Mar 2010 19:08:10 +0000 http://skeptvet.com/Blog/?p=341#comment-463 [...] of scientific medicine, people suffer and sometimes die unnecessarily. We see this happen in the asthma patients who have poorer compliance with drug therapy, and poorer quality of life scores, then they [...] [...] of scientific medicine, people suffer and sometimes die unnecessarily. We see this happen in the asthma patients who have poorer compliance with drug therapy, and poorer quality of life scores, then they [...]

]]> By: The SkeptVet Blog http://skeptvet.com/Blog/2010/02/use-of-herbals-associated-with-lower-quality-of-life-in-asthma-patients/comment-page-1/#comment-420 The SkeptVet Blog Tue, 09 Feb 2010 21:16:37 +0000 http://skeptvet.com/Blog/?p=341#comment-420 [...] The SkeptVet Blog A Vet Takes a Science-Based Look at Complementary and Alternative Medicine « Use of herbals associated with lower quality of life in asthma patients [...] [...] The SkeptVet Blog A Vet Takes a Science-Based Look at Complementary and Alternative Medicine « Use of herbals associated with lower quality of life in asthma patients [...]

]]> By: skeptvet http://skeptvet.com/Blog/2010/02/use-of-herbals-associated-with-lower-quality-of-life-in-asthma-patients/comment-page-1/#comment-417 skeptvet Mon, 08 Feb 2010 04:56:33 +0000 http://skeptvet.com/Blog/?p=341#comment-417 Yes, it's all well and good to point to subjective measures that improve as part of placebo effect in humans and claim that even when it isn't really doing anything physiologically at least CAM offers some sort of perceived relief. But even that dubious benefit isn't available to veterinary patients. And as this study illustrates, even in humans such methods can easily do more harm than good. And the self-righteousness of true believers is sometimes truly astounding. That they would feel justified in berating others for using scientific medicine would be unbelievable if I hadn't seen it so many times. Yes, it’s all well and good to point to subjective measures that improve as part of placebo effect in humans and claim that even when it isn’t really doing anything physiologically at least CAM offers some sort of perceived relief. But even that dubious benefit isn’t available to veterinary patients. And as this study illustrates, even in humans such methods can easily do more harm than good.

And the self-righteousness of true believers is sometimes truly astounding. That they would feel justified in berating others for using scientific medicine would be unbelievable if I hadn’t seen it so many times.

]]> By: Ceridwen http://skeptvet.com/Blog/2010/02/use-of-herbals-associated-with-lower-quality-of-life-in-asthma-patients/comment-page-1/#comment-416 Ceridwen Mon, 08 Feb 2010 04:05:05 +0000 http://skeptvet.com/Blog/?p=341#comment-416 I share Bartimaeus' concern. When I owned a severely asthmatic cat I was constantly berated by other pet owners for refusing to use herbal and homeopathic treatments instead of the "evil" steroids he needed to survive (and I was spending no small amount of money to use inhaled medication so as to avoid the major side effects of steroids, not that it mattered to these people). I always hate to think about all the crazy, unhelpful, and potentially dangerous stuff these people are subjecting their own animals to. I share Bartimaeus’ concern. When I owned a severely asthmatic cat I was constantly berated by other pet owners for refusing to use herbal and homeopathic treatments instead of the “evil” steroids he needed to survive (and I was spending no small amount of money to use inhaled medication so as to avoid the major side effects of steroids, not that it mattered to these people). I always hate to think about all the crazy, unhelpful, and potentially dangerous stuff these people are subjecting their own animals to.

]]> By: Bartimaeus http://skeptvet.com/Blog/2010/02/use-of-herbals-associated-with-lower-quality-of-life-in-asthma-patients/comment-page-1/#comment-415 Bartimaeus Mon, 08 Feb 2010 02:24:16 +0000 http://skeptvet.com/Blog/?p=341#comment-415 This is the type of thing that particularly concerns me when CAM is used in pets. Combine the human ability for self-delusion and the pet's inability to complain and the potential for unnecessary suffering on the animal's part goes up. It's bad enough when people do this to themselves, but even worse when they do it to a pet or even a child. This is the type of thing that particularly concerns me when CAM is used in pets. Combine the human ability for self-delusion and the pet’s inability to complain and the potential for unnecessary suffering on the animal’s part goes up. It’s bad enough when people do this to themselves, but even worse when they do it to a pet or even a child.

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