Childhood Asthma; Why Take Risks With Alternative Medicine?

Question by Gary K: Childhood asthma; why take risks with alternative medicine?
“A new Canadian study suggests that a sizable minority of child asthma patients rely on alternative treatments like acupuncture and homeopathy, and are more likely to have poor outcomes as a result.”
http://news.nationalpost.com/2010/11/30/alternative-care-makes-for-worse-asthma-study-finds/

“Most of the children receiving these therapies were younger than six,” says Ducharme. “This is particularly troublesome, given that there is no evidence that these therapies are effective and preschool aged children suffer more asthma flare-ups requiring an emergency department visit than all other age groups. Our study may serve as a reminder to parents that alternative and complementary medicine has not been proven effective in asthma and that it may interfere with effective conventional therapy..”
http://www.nouvelles.umontreal.ca/udem-news/news/20101130-alternative-therapies-may-leave-asthmatics-gasping.html
@thenoseknows, you said “acupuncture and Homeopathy can cure asthma”. Prove it.
@Mr E, evidence to support your claim please.

Best answer:

Answer by Rhianna does Medicine Year 1
This is very concerning.

I have mild asthma myself, and as a health care worker, I am all too aware of the dangers of poorly controlled or untreated asthma.

The problem is, because asthma is so common, people often forget that it can be life threatening. No alt.med (much less homeopathy) has been demonstrated to have any affect on asthma, either during an attack, or to prevent them.

Asthma in children is even more risky, as the situation can change very suddenly. Bottom line: Medication used to manage asthma today is very effective, and it allows the vast majority of asthmatics can live an almost symptom free life. With the exception of oral corticosteroids (which only a very small percentage of asthmatics require long-term), drugs used to manage asthma have minimal side effects. There is no rational reason to use alt.med for asthma.

Poorly controlled asthma, is life threatening. Using alt.med to manage asthma in children, is nothing short of child abuse. Certainly where some herbals are concerned, there is a risk that some may even induce bronchospasm

Good post, Gary.

Edit: @ thenoseknows: The risk comes from using alt.med in place of conventional medicine.

Again, you claim that acupuncture and homeopathy can cure asthma, but you haven’t presented any evidence to support this assertion.

And you are correct, it is well known that many people use alt.med because they have health problems that cannot be resolved with conventional medicine, however this still does not mean that alt.med works. People will try absurd things when they are desperate; alt.med practitioners prey upon the desperate and gullible.

Answer by thenoseknows
Original Articles July/August 2010, Volume 17 Issue 4: 183-187

Use of complementary and alternative medicine in children with asthma
V Torres-Llenza, S Bhogal, M Davis, FM Ducharme
BACKGROUND: Because of the potential risk of interaction with, and underuse of, conventional medications, it is important to document the prevalence of the use of complementary and alternative medicines (CAMs) in asthmatic children.
OBJECTIVE: To ascertain the prevalence and type of CAMs, and to identify factors associated with their use.
METHODS: A cross-sectional survey of children who presented to the Asthma Centre of The Montreal Children’s Hospital (Montreal, Quebec) between 1999 and 2007 was conducted. At the initial consultation, parents completed a questionnaire inquiring, in part, about CAM use. Computerized health records provided information regarding patient characteristics and their condition.
RESULTS: The median age of the 2027 children surveyed was 6.1 years (interquartile range 3.3 to 10.5 years); 58% were male and 59% of children had persistent asthma. The prevalence of CAM use was 13% (95% CI 12% to 15%). Supplemental vitamins (24%), homeopathy (18%) and acupuncture (11%) were the most commonly reported CAMs. Multivariable logistic regression analysis confirmed the association of CAM use with age younger than six years (OR 1.86; 95% CI 1.20 to 2.96), Asian ethnicity (OR 1.89; 95% CI 1.01 to 3.52), episodic asthma (OR 1.88; 95% CI 1.08 to 3.28) and poor asthma control (OR 1.98; 95% CI 1.80 to 3.31).
CONCLUSION: The prevalence of reported CAM use among Quebec children with asthma remained modest (13%), with vitamins, homeopathy and acupuncture being the most popular modalities. CAM use was associated with preschool age, Asian ethnicity, episodic asthma and poor asthma control.

This is a very obvious attempt to discredit alternative medicine again without any foundation. The purpose of the study, as plainly stated, was to determine the percentage of use of non-conventional treatments. It says nothing about so-called “risks”.
Acupuncture and Homeopathy can cure asthma. Too bad you don’t “get it”.
Ive maintained all along that people who don’t know anything about holistic medicine should stop wasting everyone’s time on this site.
Like the recent nonsense about vitamin D supplementation, the media reports are based on who knows what. The average person who reads orthomolecular medicine info. on prevention and cure knows more than anyone who claims to be a “skeptic”.
Most people gravitate to alternative medicine because they’ve had poor/no/bad results with conventional medicine. Get over it.

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