Chapter 16 Consumerism

1
Chapter 16Consumerism

• Selecting Health Care Products and Services

2
Responsible Consumerism

• Choices and challenges
• Multitude and choices
• People take a little truth and formulate a
  too-good- to-be- true product
• Attracting Consumer's Dollar
• Ads are designed to make you feel bad about
  yourself

3
Ads

• Will have friends, fun and a completely different
  lifestyle
• Use beautiful people / unrealistic connections
• Sports cars, perfumes, drinking beer and smoking

4
Reality and Medicine

• Spontaneous Remission (if you treat a cold it
  will last a week if you leave it alone it will
  last 7 days)
• Problem will just disappear without intervention
• Colds, flu, some back pain, etc.

5
Its A Miracle!

• Others like multiple sclerosis and cancer can
  alternate between severe symptoms and sudden
  remission
• These factors can be exploited - their cure is
  the reason for the cure!
• Really no effect at all but it can be attributed
  to the miracle treatment

6
I Believe

• Placebo Effect
• Faith Healing - if you believe that it will work
  it will. to a certain degree
• Sugar pills
• 10 are highly susceptible to the power of
  suggestion
• 90 to a varying degree

7
Dont Be A Victim

• Victimised by aggressive marketing
• Can generate millions of dollars in revenue
• Dangerous because they may replace important
  medical treatments

8
Accepting Responsibility for Your Health Care

• Learning how and when to enter the Health Care
  System

9
When Should You Get Help?

• When the injury or
• condition is
• unfamiliar
• serious
• persistent
• unpleasant
• painful
• involves blood
• acute pain

10
Health

• Self-help or Self-Care
• Primary Prevention
• Individual is Responsible for their health
• Determine their health status and the changes
  that may occur

• When to seek help?
• 5 of people with active chronic disease get
  professional help
• 95 treat themselves

11
Assessing Health Professionals

• Choose someone based on
• Education, licence or board certification
• Affiliation with an accredited medical facility
  or institution
• Canadian Council on Health Facilities
  Accreditation - check all medical personal before
  hiring

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Assessing Health Professionals

• Choose someone based on
• give a clear indication to how long the treatment
  will last
• have you return without any information - no end
  in sight
• Do their diagnosis, treatments, and general
  statements appear to be consistent with
  established scientific theory or practice

13
Assessing Health Professionals

• Choose someone based on
• Do they listen? Respect you as an individual?
  Let you ask questions?
• Write your questions ahead of time, do not accept
  a defensive or hostile response - IT IS YOUR
  RIGHT

14
CHIROPRACTIC TREATMENT

• Practised for over 100 years
• Practice restricted by medical community
• Relationship has improved last 10 years
• Provincial Health and Insurance cover some
  procedures
• Basis - life-giving energy passes through the
  spine via nervous system
• A spine that is misaligned interferes with this
  life energy force

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CHIROPRACTIC TREATMENT

• Effective for lower back pain, neck pain, and
  headaches
• Effective in reducing some forms of chronic pain
  (non-drug induced)
• Should be checked out as well
• Reputation / references

16
Acupuncture

• 2000 years old
• Insert fine needles at points on the skin
• 14 major pathways of energy
• Points are associated with specific organs or
  body functions
• Restores the flow of equilibrium in the body
• Effective for treating
• Chronic Pain
• Temp. Blocking of acute pain

17
Acupuncture

• Addictions
• Asthma
• Infections
• Arthritis
• Smoking
• Needles must be discarded
• Ask the question!

18
Herbalists and Homeopathy

• Medicinal qualities of plants and herbs
• Homeopaths use minerals and chemicals
• Dilute potent natural agents
• Cause disease symptoms in the healthy
• But will cure the symptoms in the unhealthy

19
Herbalists and Homeopathy

• Caution - these types of treatment can be
  dangerous
• Plants can be poisonous and/or toxic
• Drug store natural remedies?

20
Naturopathy

• Illness from violations of nature's principles
• Treatments from substances found in water,
  magnets, gravity, heat, crystals and minerals,
  herbs and the sun
• Call themselves Doctors, although many are not
  MDs but are NDs
• Check credentials carefully