[jessaustin]

...which matches my experience.

Don't ever tell a patient to disregard personal experience. Someone who has suffered a chronic condition, and learned enough about it and her body to find an effective non-pharmacological treatment for it, knows more than a room full of physicians about how that condition is best treated in her body. Besides, don't we know by now that most studies (especially non-replicated ones on unpopular subjects) are worthless?

Source: personal experience.

[melq]

> Someone who has suffered a chronic condition, and learned enough about it and her body to find an effective non-pharmacological treatment for it, knows more than a room full of physicians about how that condition is best treated in her body.

I'm sorry but this is terrible advice, and is precisely how people like Steve Jobs die for no reason.

[jessaustin]

Don't apologize to me, just don't be rude to patients. Finding some half-assed study that might apply is no excuse. Do you really consider whatever treatment Jobs got to have been "effective"?

[melq]

>just don't be rude to patients

I wasn't.

> Finding some half-assed study that might apply is no excuse.

You're clearly not worth arguing with if you can't even be bothered to read the things you're commenting on. The only thing half-assed here are your arguments.

[jessaustin]

Some other part of the plant might cause nausea and vomiting? Looks pretty half-assed to me. As if there's no way to harvest one part of a plant separately from the rest of the plant. As if the patient wouldn't notice nausea and vomiting. As if these aren't very common side effects for any number of pharmaceuticals. As if a physician wouldn't be qualified to weigh such side effects against the benefits of the treatment. As if a patient wouldn't be qualified to weigh such side effects against the benefits of the treatment.

But sure, tell a patient to find a new doctor, when you know absolutely nothing about the situation. If I seem somewhat inflexible on this issue, it's because I (and friends of mine) have been pressured to avoid nonpharmaceutical treatments that experience has shown to be effective. On this topic I am not indifferent.