Hands off my medicine!

First went the midwives, with homebirth being so unsafe we’ll make it illegal to ‘protect’ you. Now it would seem alternative medicine is underfire. Thia article, if you can read between the lines, clearly outlines the Big Brother attitude flaunted be our government. There is something missing from our system, and that is choice without reprocussion. Parents who chose alternate therapies for their children are labelled crack pots and can even be subject to scrutiny from DoCS.

If you chose to see a chiropractor or a naturopath instead of a GP, this choice may soon be taken away from you. But why? I’d say most parents aren’t stupid when it comes to dealing with their children’s health. How many mothers use a steamer with eucalyptus oil when their child has a cold? Or hops in the shower to breastfeed their child to let the steam unblock their nose? How many parents are now using amber necklaces to help with teething pain as an alternative to panadol?

And how many parents are wanting to free their homes from toxic chemicals commonly found in big name baby products like bath wash and nappy rash creams?

It isn’t just the fringe hippy sect, mainstream mothers and fathers are wanting to buy furniture of recycled wood, organic baby washes and to serve their baby organic whole foods. The research is clear, the chemicals in so many of the products we have had in our homes can have terrible consequences on our health.

So is it such a shock that parents would rather take a more natural approach to health care? That synthetic drugs filled with chemicals may no longer be looked at as the first line of defense? That course after course of anti-biotics may not be best for our children?

And whatever happened to rest and good nutrition for the common cold? When did people start bringing their germs out to public events to share with the rest of us. If you are sick, STAY HOME!

Most parents know when to draw the line, and I am certain that any sensible parent would know when to seek serious medical treatment for a serious condition. While I would use natural therapies for a cold, gastro, or a small ailment, I would take my daughter straight to the emergency room if she had a seizure or broke a bone, for example.

It’s a sad state of affairs when parents, intelligent free thinking adults, are being treated with such contempt by a government masquerading as our protectors, but whose interests do they really have at heart? Big pharma? Well-to-do doctors with big bucks? There has got to be a reason that they’re so afraid of the wellness industry.

If I chose to seek alternate therapies for my family it is my choice. If I want to give my money to a chiro or a naturopath then does it really matter? Since when has the Gillard government ever cared about whether or not the tax payer gets ripped off, how much money have they wasted on frivolous projects of late. The cost of everything is going up but all in hearing from Canberra is a load of buzz words and politicians talking about each other like teenagers engaging in a cat fight. Just once I would like to see a real answer from a politican, not a rant about the other party, not a load of buzz words, but a real answer to the actual question. But I’m going off topic.

It seems what the government wants is not for us to be at our optimum health but to conform to the same model of care as everyone else. And without question. But wouldn’t weekly alternate care free up the already choked system? Wouldn’t taking a baby with reflux or colic to a chiro potentially mean not exposing him to contagious illness? Whooping cough is about, I don’t want to take my young children to be exposed to those germs. Walk into any GP clinic, it’s chock-a-block and everyone is coughing, snuffling, sneezing, why would I want to take an otherwise well baby there?

It’s time for patients to stand up and be counted, we want choice, we want quality care, we want natural alternatives, we want to maintain our health not just treat conditions as they come up. We want clear warning about the side effects and risks. We want doctors to disclose their relationship with drug companies and whether or not they receive a commission for recommending a product. We want doctors who disclose their knowledge and to tell us when their knowledge is lacking by referring us to someone else.

We want products containing toxic ingredients to be investigated, no matter how big the company that produces it is, I’m looking at you Johnson’s and Johnson’s.

And we want our choices to remain intact. There should never be a threat of a parent having their child taken by protective services simply because they chose an alternate therapy. They may be the doctor, but I’m still the mother. And mother knows best.

Let’s not go the way of the EU – http://www.plantteacher.com/eu-ban-on-herbal-remedies/