THE LIGHT BEACON AND BLOG
May 2010
NEWS
I had an interesting time away in Auckland. I did one course on healing, but decided not to complete the second course, as it did not gel with me. I told my friends that I’d failed the course, as that hasn’t happened often in my past! But the experience has helped me clarify what I am interested and where I am going – the same as before!
I have been interviewed by a sociology student for an assignment. I found it very useful to talk about my past and my formative experiences. I hope that I will gain permission to send it out with a later issue of The Beacon, and put it up somewhere on my website.
Meanwhile, the colder weather is here, and people are stocking up on their Cold and Flu Kits.
ISBELL MEDICAL PRACTICE LTD
As I’ve said before, I have a background both as a specialist and a general practitioner, and I keep up with Continuing Professional Development for the College of Physicians, and Maintenance of Professional Standards for the College of GPs. Well, I read journals and go to education meetings anyway, but I log them for both Colleges.
The reason I am mentioning this is to say that I have a solid background in medicine, and although I also offer alternative methods of treatment, the medical part of my practice is the foundation of the practice. So even if you choose alternative ways of treatment I still make sure that the medical aspects have been covered, and give you medical advice.
Alternative Options
Homeopathy is one of my fields of endeavour. I enjoy using it, and am pleased with the results.
When I go through the Consent Form with new patients, I say that one of the benefits of using homeopathy is that it can often help with conditions that “fall between the cracks” of conventional medicine.
Conversely one of the risks of using homeopathy would be if people relied on that instead of having conventional medicine when they need it.
There is a lot about homeopathy on my website at www.isbellmedicalpractice.com, and a number of useful links with information about the evidence basis for homeopathy.
There is also a lot of information that isn’t on the website, so talk to me if you would like to know more. I really enjoy using Flower Essences in my practice. I see them as being able to help with emotional issues and stress, as well as helping with the body/mind connection. I have noticed that people who use Flower Essences as well as Homeopathy seem to get better faster, as if they are more able to respond to the stimulus of the Homeopathic remedy.
I have been joking for over 20 years that they are very bad for business!
The Flower Essences that I use routinely are from Flower Essence Services, Star Essences, Himalayan Flower Enhancers, Mount Shasta Support Essences, and Glastonbury Holy Flower Essences.
Homeobotanicals are combinations of herbs, that are then potentised. They have some of the properties of herbs, and some of the properties of homeopathic remedies. They can be used in combination, but each one can be easily remembered, such as A for asthma, B for blood, C for coughs and colds, right down to J for “Jerms” (sore throats) and Z for sleeping. I have made up Cold and Flu Kits using Homeobotanicals. The naming of the Homeobotanicals has just changed, however, so talk to me if you are wanting a repeat bottle.
LIGHT HOUSE ILLUMINATION LTD
This is a company I use to offer my non medical projects, under the trademark of The Light House®. At this stage these activities mostly relate to Essences of The Light House®, Meditation courses by DaBen and Orin, healing and writing.
CHRISTCHURCH FLOWER ESSENCES
I had the inspiration to photograph flowers and make Flower Essences a long time ago, and these became the Christchurch Flower Essences. I wrote and published a handbook through Light House Publishing, gave some talks, sold a few kits, then got on with my day job.
There are 2 sets of stock bottles for practitioners, the Spring Flowers and the Summer Flowers, and a set of blended essences, which people can get individually, or as a set. One of these is called Relief Remedy, which can be used in much the same way as the Bach Flower Rescue Remedy.
A few years ago I found out about the Star Essences, and when I read Star’s book her experiences were very similar to the ones I had when making the Christchurch Flower Essences. I made up a Dose Record Sheet, and formatted some of her material for my own reference, and this ran naturally into a review of the Christchurch Flower Essences.
Now that we have computers it is much easier to deal with information, and with Fitz the graphic designer and web master we have designed new labels, packaging, and a website.
The Christchurch Flower Essences are now being used all over the world, which I am pleased about. When I first made them I had the American market in mind, as I thought many places could do with the park and garden “vibes” of Christchurch. I still think that they will come into their own and be very helpful with the energy changes in the next few years. I have a slide show presentation of these in the near the front door, and a display opposite the stairs, so please come and have a look.
BLOG
The Process of Medicine
I relish the tradition of medicine, and am fortunate to have had a very good undergraduate and postgraduate training.
I like the process of medicine, where you follow history, past history, interrogation, examination, diagnosis, and then go on to investigations and management.
I find this very logical, so that all aspects of a patient’s case can be covered.
I also appreciate the robust ethical basis of medicine.
Also with medicine there is an excellent system of adding to knowledge, with hypothesis, setting up trials, double blinding to rule out bias, collection of data, evaluation, and then conclusions.
For clinical trials, to guard against publication bias (only the positive trials being published), the major journals only publish trials that have first been registered in an international database.
Before publication, articles are sent out for Peer Review, where other experts in the same field look at the paper, the statistics, and the conclusions. When it is published, there is a statement as to whether the article was submitted or commissioned, and whether it was externally peer reviewed or not.
There is now a call for the raw data to be published also, so that the process of coming to conclusions can be followed by other people.
The author(s) also have to sign a Conflict of Interest Statement, saying that neither they or their families have any financial interest in the outcomes of the paper.
And of course evidence has to be given that Patient Consent has been given, unless the patient is anonymised or theoretical.
If the paper is an important one, there usually will be an editorial in the same issue of the journal, putting the findings into perspective.
But the publication of a single paper is not an end point: the findings will need to be taken in the context of the way the trial was set up. And often you need to wait for another group to replicate the findings, or to tease out which parts of the conclusions will stand the test of time and further trial.
This process is important, so that one person or one group can’t sway other people just because of their personal opinions, and the knowledge available can lead to a consensus of opinion (albeit one with nuances and provisos). So something that was thought to be true in the past can be updated and reconsidered as more information comes to hand.
Opinion pieces, analysis or reviews are not usually peer reviewed, however, and in that case you know that the opinions are those of the author.
In this way, the process of medicine (history, examination, etc) remains constant, but the information available continually being updated.