Too many people wear Blinkers when it comes to Health. Blinkers are defined as screens that prevent a horse from seeing sideways. Applied to the human animal I think of them as imaginary screens erected to give a very narrow view of something - health options in this case. They effectively close off the list of choices to just one or perhaps two.

I can well understand that conventional health gives a vast array of drugs, surgery and other treatments. And doctors are taught how to use them to help the sick. But, like all treatments, they are nowhere near being universally effective. Neither are they free from side effects and other potentially harmful actions.

Despite this being the case, many doctors believe there is little or no alternative to this approach. And this is where the blinkers come in. They've put these imaginary items on so they simply do not recognise there being any other way. Convention is the one and only!

And they are not alone in their single track approach to health and healing. It affects a range of health professional in much the same way. These individuals are unable and unwilling to accept that there could be something else that could benefit their patients. They will argue that their view is the only sensible and successful way of doing things. They dismiss each and every vestage of evidence of some other way doing what their way has failed to do. They move heaven and earth to dismiss the alternative approach.

However, it must be clear to most right-thinking people that the blinkered view is mistaken, whichever profession or individual discusses it. We have by no means reached the peak of our understanding of how the body works, how it may go wrong, and how it could be righted. Conventional medicine has made giant leaps forward over the past century, but it still has many gaping holes in it.

Similarly, complementary medicine has hundreds of years of trial and error to base its current successes upon. It has answers where convention does not. It can cure, when convention can only patch up. It retains choice when convention has exhausted it. Yet, complementary and alternative medicine has less than 100% success.

My point, dear reader, is that there is no reason for restricting your choices unnecessarily. Don't be tempted to put on your blinkers. Not ever! As they say in other circles, think out of the box. Don't be hemmed in because your health professional reckons he has the only answer. It's unlikely he has. And so it's up to you to discuss the options with your chosen professional.

If not, you have to look outside your own box and get a handle on what other approaches might be open to you. There must be something you could try. Some other professional you could ask. And ther's a good argument for doing some basic research while you are in good health. Before your are struck down.

That is why I've started trying to get to the bottom of some of the many alternative therapies. It's why I've researched the alternatives to drug treatments for cholesterol, stomach acid and so on. It's why I've written about how acupuncture can do so many things to help in a whole range of conditions. It's what I do - try to show you that a one-track approach is so limited. And why ther are usually a list of options you might try to get you back to the very best of health. Never give up!

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