>
> Carl Remick wrote:
> >
> > The overall point is true that excessive testing leads
> > to a valetudinarianism, false positives, true-but-meaningless
> > positives (as with diagnosis of prostate cancer in older
> > patients who will probably die of other causes), needless
> > surgeries, and other individually debilitating and socially
> > wasteful consequences.
>
> Judging from my experience, this has the makings of an extremely
> dangerous situation where due to over-testing and pointless fright,
> we give up on western meds alltogether. I have actually reached a
> point where I'm relegating western medicine to emergencies only
> and depending on acupuncture/herbs, diet, and exercise for my
> basic good health. My last three run-ins with western meds were
> absolutely disastrous to my health and seriously retarded/threatened
> healing.
Me lucky ducky! Being broke, I've gone to a doctor once in the last fifteen years, and not even once to a dentist. (And that one doctor's visit, for a bottle of penicillin against the Lyme's disease I got off ticks in a cow field, was 100% paid for by Workman's Comp.) At this rate I ought to live to be a hundred.
Iatrogenic malaise, tell me about it. I think the shrinks have got to be the worst. Once a couple decades back I went to a hi-priced headshrinker on account of chronic depression, and she prescribed fistfulls of Valium, it's a wonder I live to tell the tale. Later on I went to another shrink (come to think of it, that makes twice in the last 15 years) and that one prescribed Risperdal. ( http://www.adequacy.org/public/stories/2001.7.16.144159.286.html#7 )
On a different topic:
Carrol Cox wrote:
>
> Doug Henwood wrote:
>
> > "Don't vote for Nader. I know him. He's an asshole."
>
> Which certainly makes him a clear lesser evil in this campaign. An
> asshole any day in preference to two would-be mass murderers. (Bush is
> only a would-be so far, being far behind Kennedy, Johnson, Clinton or
> Carter.)
Carrol, do you suggest that I should vote for Nader instead of Kerry? I live in Florida.
Yours WDK - WKiernan at ij.net