7 Top Medical Procedures Whose Risks Far Exceed Their Benefit

 

This is actually very useful and should be revisited every decade. We are already seriously skeptical of all these procedures just from the lousy PR that they earn. After all, just how do you get good PR for something that fails to cure or totally resolve? 

 

 

Knowing this they should all be put on a last resort list at least. It is still a surprise that a couple here really do not justify their support.  The worst however is chemotherapy which cannot be justified at all and is pure exploitation of patient desperation.  Anything else and a radically improved diet is really the patient's best choice if only to prepare him for any possible surgery.  All programs should start with vigorous strengthening of the immune system. 

 

 

I wonder just how much effect this type of reporting will have?

7 Top Medical Procedures Whose Risks Far Exceed Their Benefit

Dave Mihalovic, Prevent Disease

http://www.wakingtimes.com/2014/12/04/7-top-medical-procedures-whose-risks-far-exceed-benefit/

Some of the top medical procedures in the world involve either radiating, poisoning or surgical removal of human tissue. To medical professionals, the solution is to eliminate the problem in the fastest way possible, regardless of the short or long-term consequences. Think twice before you decide to commit to any of these procedures. There is always an alternative.

1) Hysterectomy

A hysterectomy is major operation to remove a woman’s uterus. Hysterectomies are the second most common form of surgery for women, with more than 600,000 performed annually in the United States. The use of a power tool that minces up tissue for removal — called a morcellator — can inadvertently spread undetected cancer. While the chance of that outcome was once thought to be quite low, the FDA now says the risk is as high.

If hysterectomy has been suggested to you as an option, you should carefully weigh the potential risks so that you are able to make a comfortable and informed decision about the dangers of the procedure. whether hysterectomy is right for you. The restoration and maintenance of physiologic (normal) function is, or should be, the ultimate goal of a hysterectomy, and this is often lacking after the procedure which can produce long-term side effects which are often debilitating.
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“Our profession is entrenched in terms of doing hysterectomies,” says Ernst Bartsich, MD, a gynecological surgeon at Weill-Cornell Medical Center in New York. “Im not proud of that. It may be an acceptable procedure, but it isnt necessary in so many cases.” In fact, he adds, of the 617,000 hysterectomies performed annually, “from 76 to 85 percent” may be unnecessary.

Go knife-free. Endometrial ablation, a nonsurgical procedure that targets the uterine lining, is another fix for persistent vaginal bleeding.

Focus on fibroids. Fibroids are a problem for 20 to 25 percent of women, but there are several specific routes to relief that arent nearly as drastic as hysterectomy. For instance, myomectomy,which removes just the fibroids and not the uterus, is becoming increasingly popular. And there are other less-invasive treatments out there, too.

2) Lap Band Surgery (Gastric Banding)

This is a surgical weight loss procedure that involves the placement of an adjustable belt around the upper portion of the stomach.

A study from 2011 that sought to determine the long term efficacy and safety of gastric banding for morbid obesity revealed shocking results. The study looked at 82 patients who had undergone gastric banding between 1994 and 1997:

• 40% of patients experienced serious complications following surgery

• An additional 22% had minor complications; and

• 60% needed subsequent surgery

• 1 in 6 opted to have gastric bypass

The high failure rate of Lap Band Surgery is most certainly detrimental in the long-term and continued widespread use as a restrictive weight loss operation will continue to deteriorate the health of those to who submit to this procedure.

The biggest danger of having a lap band procedure is the misconception that the band will do all the work of weight loss, and no effort on the part of the patient is necessary. In fact, one of the more common reasons for weight loss failure is the notion that a lifestyle change is not warranted. The band does force you to eat much less food, and in significantly smaller amounts. However, it is not a substitute for intelligence and common sense as to what to put into your mouth. People have been known to actually gain weight with a lap band, purely based on the types of foods eaten. The lap band is a tool in weight loss, not the answer. The only real answer to even the most problematic forms of morbid obesity and a great diet and physical activity. It’s a solution that has worked on humanity since we’ve been around.

3) CAT Scan

CT (computed tomography) scans are now a well established medical imaging procedure which both the government and the scientific community have confirmed increases cancer risk. CT scanners can bombard the human body with radiation levels more than 1000 times greater than a standard x-ray. They damage DNA and create mutations that spur cells to grow into tumors. For radiation protection purposes it is assumed that any dose above zero can increase the risk of radiation-induced cancer (i.e., that there is no threshold).

“For many patients an MRI is the better choice,” said Radiologist Isabella Montera. Unlike CT scans, which use X-rays, MRI scans use powerful magnetic fields and radio frequency pulses to produce detailed pictures of organs, soft tissues, bone and other internal body structures. Differences between normal and abnormal tissue is often clearer on an MRI image than a CT. There there is no radiation involved in an MRI scan. “It can be a noisy exam and takes typically a longer period of time than CTs,” said Montera.

4) Chemotherapy

This treatment–which can be given intravenously (through a vein), by mouth, through an injection (shot), or applied on the skin–destroys not only cancer cells but cells in general.

Chemotherapy is not particularly effective, nor does it decrease morbidity, mortality or diminish any specific cancer rates. In fact, it does the opposite. Chemotherapy boosts cancer growth and long-term mortality rates. Most chemotherapy patients either die or are plagued with illness within 10-15 years after treatment. It destroys their immune system, increases neuro-cognitive decline, disrupts endocrine functioning and causes organ and metabolic toxicities.

If a “magic bullet” were used FIRST by orthodox medicine, meaning the cut/burn/slash/poison treatments were avoided, a 90% true cure rate would be easy to achieve. But the fact is that the leaders in the medical community have absolutely no interest in finding a “magic bullet.” A “magic bullet” would cost the drug companies hundreds of billions of dollars, and patients would have less hospitalization and less doctor visits, etc.

5) Colonoscopy

Colonoscopies use a viewing tube that enables an examiner (usually a gastroenterologist) to evaluate the appearance of the inside of the colon (large bowel).

Physicians detect abnormal growths called polyps which are considered abnormal growth of tissue projecting from mucous membrane or smooth muscle. They remove them on the spot. The problem is, most physicians think that if benign polyps are not removed from the large intestine, the can become malignant. This of course is not always the case. In fact, some polyps can exist in the digestive tract for decades without a problem. Removing polyps causes small perforations which can become infected and cause many other problems such as irregularities or blood in bowel movements, abdominal pain or sudden weight loss.

If your Doctor finds polyps, guess what? He or she will be calling you back in for a repeat colonoscopy in as few as three years. You may even be asked to have a third colonoscopy before the 10-year mark. If you are questioning whether these repeat colonoscopies are always necessary, you’re onto something. A new study from Norway shows that requiring a repeat colonoscopy before the 10-year mark in everyone whose initial colonoscopy detects a polyp doesn’t make sense.

Most colon polyps are adenomas, and the vast majority–about 90%–are completely harmless. But because it’s usually not possible to tell which adenomas will become cancerous, doctors pluck out any that they find during a colonoscopy.

Avoiding the need for a colonoscopy is quite simple:

1. Strive to eat several of fruits and vegetables per day, half of which must be raw.
2. Avoid processed foods, such as white breads, refined sugars, pastas, packaged chips, frozen dinners, etc. The less processed foods and refined sugars that you ingest, the better your intestines will be.
3. Practice portion control. Don’t eat an amount of food larger than two of your own fists. Also, don’t eat during the two hours before you go to sleep; this can affect the proper digestion of food.
4. Drink more water. Water is crucial for optimum intestinal health: it keeps feces from drying up and allows them to move fluidly along the intestinal tract. Intestinal disorders which require colonoscopies like irritable bowel syndrome can be caused from toxins building up over time.
5. Take a probiotic supplement twice a day with meals. Common probiotic strains are: Lactobacillus acidophilus, L casei, L GG, and Bifidobacteria. Probiotics are essentially healthy bacteria that can help prevent or fight certain diseases, assist the immune system and help in the proper digestion of food.
6. Engage is physical activity daily.

6) Pap Smear

During this procedure, cells from a woman’s cervix are collected and spread onto a microscope slide and then examined for supposedly pre-malignant or malignant changes.

The problem is that most doctors are performing unnecessary Pap smears, ignoring guidelines issued by major medical organizations and adding to health care costs.

Many women have been led to believe that cervical cancer is very common and that any woman is at risk for the disease for many years. However, many women have not been not informed on the true causes of cervical cancer. The truth is cervical cancer is very rare. HPV infections often clear without leading to the disease. Many women were encouraged to have yearly pap smears regardless of their risk factors.

A publication in the Annals of Medicine has exposed the fraudulent nature of Human papillomavirusvaccines such as Gardasil and Cervarix. Key messages the researchers report include a lack of evidence for any HPV vaccines in preventing cervical cancer and lack of evaluation of health risks.

Cervical cancer is not a major health issue for women under good gynecological care. HPV does not cause cervical cancer, it is the persistant infection, not the virus, that determines the risk. 93% of women initially infected with a particular strain of HPV will not show the same strain four menstrual cycles later. Three published papers on HPV prevalence in the U.S., indicated that types 62, 84 and 52 are the most prevalent. None of these are targeted in either approved HPV vaccine, and type 52 is an accepted high-risk “carcinogenic” strain of HPV.

7) Cortisone Injections and Corticosteroids

Used to treat localized inflammation (local injections) or widespread inflammation (systemic injections).

Any time you have any kind of injection, you are at risk of complications. In fact, they do create risks, not the least of which is the risk of infection. Steroid injections into tissues always (let’s repeat that–ALWAYS) thin out the tissues into which they are injected. That is why doctors will typically tell you that you can only get 1 or 2 steroid injections in the same area.

If you do a steroid injection into a ligament, it increases the risk of rupture. If you inject them into the skin, you almost always will get a little pock mark. These are potent anti-inflammatory and tissue destroying injections. Yes, they decrease inflammation and improve comfort, but only temporarily and at what cost?

Prednisone is a synthetic corticosteroid used widely for numerous acute and chronic inflammatory conditions. Its basic effect is to suppress the immune system’s natural inflammatory response. Prednisone is associated with serious side effects in the long term such as cataracts, high blood pressure, atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), fluid retention, osteoporosis, fractures, infections, adrenal disease, and numerous metabolic disorders.

There are many important nutrients that can be supplemented in high doses to reduce inflammation safely. The most important of these are vitamin D and omega-3 fatty acids (EPA and DHA). The use of omega-6 has to be reduced in order for omega-3 to have maximum benefit.

High dose vitamin C and the amino acid L-lysine can help prevent the rapid atherosclerosis caused by Prednisone, so supplementation of both should be considered at levels of 3000 mg. each or more, daily, in any Prednisone weaning-off program.

Correcting nutrient deficiencies, either through dietary changes or supplements, is important because this allows the body to heal tissues and organs damaged by inflammation. In order to determine what these might be, you will need the help of a natural health care professional.