Jonathan Hearsey

I AM aware that my blog has lost some of it’s ‘edge’ recently - for this I truly apologise.

I DID promise an update but I’m still not comfortable explaining the full details for my poor post quality.

I am holding back for a good reason but, rest assured, I’ve NOT gone soft. I still believe that there is a great deal of CAM nonsense out there and, with the current financial crisis, I’ve noticed far more CAM claims and precious little supporting evidence for these claims. I also understand that more and more CAM therapists are approaching the NHS for funding.

I’ll be up to speed in a matter of weeks - of that I’m certain.

JH

JH

In the interest of maintaining a sharing marriage I have, indeed, re-infected my wife with her nasty germs.

Any sense of success has been marred by the fact that I have been forced to see all of her patients today and, as a result, have not been able to prepare for my first ever interview tomorrow.

Get well soon, darling.

JH

Pacman and Apple, can Barack Obama get any cooler?

JH

Great bit of code by Andy Lewis - funny for practitioners and useful for patients too.

It tests names and websites for lighthearted quackness - and it beats anything on the health-net at the moment.

‘Come and ‘ave a go if yer fink yer quack enough’.

JH

I’m seriously cosidering giving this back to my wife - would that make it ‘man-woman flu’?

JH

Today is the day. Bastard Saturday.

Outside, it’s perfect - Sun, blue sky and fresh air. I want to be walking by the sea (less than 200 metres from where I’m currently sitting.)

Alas - I have man-flu.

The worst kind of man-flu too as it was inherrited from my wife (whom, as a woman, couldn’t suffer half as much). Not only this - I’m only really stricken at night - rigors, spasms, headache. I am seemingly unaffected during the day so work and normal activities are annoyingly permitted.

In addition to the man-flu, the kids are being horrible and our dear old cat, Marley is dreadfully ill. Whilst drinking Champagne in the early hours of this morning in the conservatory of the Grand Hotel in Brighton (post Steve Coogan and pre man-flu rigors) my sister-in-law dropped my iPhone…..twice - so it now sports two scratches. In the light of the rest of today, I reckon I’ll get over this though.

‘Bastard Saturday’ it is then but I’m in good company it seems.

JH

Holism
noun
- the theory that parts of a whole are in intimate interconnection, such that they cannot exist independently of the whole, or cannot be understood without reference to the whole, which is thus regarded as greater than the sum of its parts. Holism is often applied to mental states, language, and ecology.
- the treating of the whole person, taking into account mental and social factors, rather than just the physical symptoms of a disease.

I’ve been having lots of contact with PCT bods recently and the topic of holism reared it’s [ugly] head. [So, why ugly?].

It seems that the term ‘holism’ - for a long time a weapon used to bash medics with - is a major sticking point in the use of CAMs on the NHS (we’ll ignore the ridiculous claims, the lack of evidence and the suggestions of alternatives to medicine!). I get the impression that medics are totally offended at the suggestion of them being atomistic - and if CAMs put on their reasonable head for a moment you can see why.

This quote sums it up…

Holistic medicine is in fact a world away from homeopathy, although the two are often confused predominantly by homeopaths trying to validate their branch of “medicine”. Much of what is taught in medical school is in fact, holistic, and so it should be. The importance of mentality, or spirituality in medicine should not be used to excuse homeopathy. Mentality and spirituality have important physiological groundings, for example depressed people are statistically more likely to suffer from prolonged illness and disease. A positive attitude can go a long way towards feeling better and getting better.
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That phrase springs to mind - something about walking a mile in another man’s shoes.
Maybe it’s time that CAMs look within their own professions and then look at what modern medicine is offering?

Just a thought, like…

JH

Doubting your education is a dangerous game. As a medic or scientist, it is actively encouraged but in Complementary and Alternative Medicine, one quickly gets accused of dancing to a ‘Colquhoun tune’. Outspoken osteopaths or chiropractors in the UK run the risk of censorship by their governing bodies so we tread on particularly thin ice.

My views are well ‘blogged’ here – it’s easy to see which side of the line I’m standing (and equally easy to see that I’m in a state of professional crisis).
But, for this post (and this post alone) I refer you to five chiropractors that are talking sense.

Ladies and gentlemen – I leave you in the capable hands of Murphy et al.

How can chiropractic become a respected mainstream profession?

JH