RE: Alternative medicines : when good things can lead to charlatanism (part I)
This is the start of a great conversation. I agree wholeheartedly that the information available is massive and it's very hard to slice and dice and make some kind of sense of it. Trying to discern what will help versus hurt in regards to your health and well being is of the utmost importance. That said, I think the most important place to come back to over and over again is that you are the decider for your body (and your children). All the information that you take in from the internet, doctor or other health practitioners need to be taken in the form of advisement and not a direct order. And second opinions when you have doubts are the best way to help you make a sound decision. Of course, the quality of your sources is fundamental. With information globally available it's sad to see that a lot of decisions are still dependent on locally accepted practices, religion, family, etc. This again points back to you as the decider.
I partly agree with you. I do think each of us should be the only one to decide for his or her health (or the one of their children), but we must not forget that a big part of health/disease is related to the beliefs of each of us (anthropology tell us a few about this...). Culture, family, society, environment and many other things can challenge the recovery of a person. Therefore, if there is only one person who decide, how can we know we make the good choice ? Of course, it's important to be the decider, but I think it is really important to talk about our choice to other people, even if they have different views. Sometimes, it is the only way to be really sure we make the good choice...