Alberta Politics & Government Thread 3.0

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Doctorfever

Kinda unrelated to the thread (sorry) but why the hate for naturopaths and chiropractors?

I have never found any use for either (for myself), but a naturopath 100% has changed my kids life. He went from seeing a doctor, getting prescriptions that didn’t work, to seeing a specialist, more prescriptions that didn’t help either. From there it was 911 calls and hospital stays. No positive outcomes from any.

My wife asked around and we took the kid to see a naturopath. At that point we had nothing to lose. Fast forward 12 months and he is not using any medications, no pills, no sprays, nothing, and is doing great!

Now today, is a naturopath my first stop if something is wrong? No. But it absolutely changed one person’s life. It was an amazing transformation. I guess I just wonder why all the hate directed them?

Bad experience?

Chiropractors should be obvious.

Before her creeping uneasiness with naturopathic medicine finally drove her from practice, Britt Marie Hermes says she watched colleagues deliver advice that was bad, to dangerously incompetent.

She witnessed missed diagnoses of cancer. She watched naturopaths routinely advise against childhood vaccinations and treat aggressive illnesses with the same “immune boosting” herb Ezekiel Stephan was given while the Alberta toddler was dying from meningitis.

https://nationalpost.com/news/canada...lberta-toddler

There are enough warnings like this. I don't think I need to repeat all the info that is out there. In general I do know they can use natural products to achieve outcomes, as your anecdote shows. I guess my issue is you end up drinking a tea or whatever that has an active ingredient that you have limited control over dosage. So I'd rather have an isolated form of whatever it is in pill form for dosage control, along with knowing it has gone through a regulatory process.

Many meds we have come from natural discoveries, so I guess if they have these things that work, I'd rather time and money be spent on figuring out how they work, the risks involved(and how to minimize those) side effect profiles, drug interactions etc.

If I were to ever see a naturopath, the first question would be "at what point do you recognize issues beyond your skills and refer me to a medical professional?" You put your trust in them, and if they can't give you a comfortable answer to that question, run.

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by GGG

We probably should have politicians from both parties showing they are following health recommendations from our government. It should be more than just informing people a vaccine is available and how to get it.

If something is a public health benefit it should be promoted.

For example should we just tell people the consequences of smoking and leave it as their choice or should their be active campaigns to discourage smoking.

I already said that there should be active campaigns promoting that there is a new vaccine available and how and when people can get it. Health Canada, AHS and every other province can be plastering ads all over YouTube, TV, radio and public places telling people about it.

This is likely more useful than a report with an agenda who is looking to score a headline asking the Premier if they will get boosted.

[Faust]

Alberta’s Failed Oil and Gas Bailout:

https://pressprogress.ca/wp-content/...MCO-report.pdf


AIMCo CEO rejects fossil fuel divestment as investment strategy:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calga...ment-1.6590581

[Doctorfever]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Chiropractors should be obvious.


https://nationalpost.com/news/canada...lberta-toddler

There are enough warnings like this. I don't think I need to repeat all the info that is out there. In general I do know they can use natural products to achieve outcomes, as your anecdote shows. I guess my issue is you end up drinking a tea or whatever that has an active ingredient that you have limited control over dosage. So I'd rather have an isolated form of whatever it is in pill form for dosage control, along with knowing it has gone through a regulatory process.

Many meds we have come from natural discoveries, so I guess if they have these things that work, I'd rather time and money be spent on figuring out how they work, the risks involved(and how to minimize those) side effect profiles, drug interactions etc.

If I were to ever see a naturopath, the first question would be "at what point do you recognize issues beyond your skills and refer me to a medical professional?" You put your trust in them, and if they can't give you a comfortable answer to that question, run.

In my kids specific experience, the naturopath didn’t have him drinking any tea or anything. There was actually nothing at all that he was expected to take. It was all about what he shouldn’t be taking for certain periods of time.

I can understand being cautious about taking certain things, especially if you can’t properly control the dose.

Anyways, thanks for your response, and I do agree that you should ask some difficult questions if you see a naturopath. Seeing the results first hand of our personal experience, I would totally recommend someone with similar issues see a naturopath, but I also understand that maybe we lucked into finding a good one, and that there is probably some others that aren’t great.

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Chiropractors should be obvious.


https://nationalpost.com/news/canada...lberta-toddler

There are enough warnings like this. I don't think I need to repeat all the info that is out there. In general I do know they can use natural products to achieve outcomes, as your anecdote shows. I guess my issue is you end up drinking a tea or whatever that has an active ingredient that you have limited control over dosage. So I'd rather have an isolated form of whatever it is in pill form for dosage control, along with knowing it has gone through a regulatory process.

Many meds we have come from natural discoveries, so I guess if they have these things that work, I'd rather time and money be spent on figuring out how they work, the risks involved(and how to minimize those) side effect profiles, drug interactions etc.

If I were to ever see a naturopath, the first question would be "at what point do you recognize issues beyond your skills and refer me to a medical professional?" You put your trust in them, and if they can't give you a comfortable answer to that question, run.

There are good practitioners in every industry and they all have their issues and black marks with how they potentially diagnose and treat patients. The last 15 years should have made it painfully clear to society of the dangers that do exist and can snowball if our medical professionals are not careful.

In 2016, the CDC issued strongly-worded guidelines, urging doctors to avoid opioids or to minimize their use whenever possible. Roughly half the states have implemented some form of regulation designed to curtail prescribing.

But scientists, government officials and front-line medical workers interviewed by NPR say those efforts have fallen dangerously short.

A CDC study released in May found many physicians regularly ignore federal guidelines, prescribing large quantities of powerful opioid medications even when better treatment options are available.

"It's possible some clinicians just simply aren't aware of existing evidence-based recommendations," said Christina Mikosz, one of the CDC's lead researchers studying opioid prescribing.

"The other possibility is that they are aware and they just choose not to follow them."

"The number of adults that received any opioid prescription during the year was quite high," said lead researcher Laura Burke, an ER doctor who teaches at Harvard Medical School.

Burke said the impact of overprescribing is still painfully visible in the emergency rooms where she works.

"Many many shifts, probably most, I see the devastating consequences of addiction and overdose and all the complications associated with opioid use disorder," she told NPR.

American dentists also prescribing opioids at dangerous levels

Studies show doctors aren't the only medical professionals overprescribing. Data released this year by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh showed as many as half of opioids given out by American dentists are unnecessary and inappropriate.

Often, powerful pain pills were prescribed following oral procedures associated with mild pain that experts say could be treated with Tylenol or an ice pack.

"We found that over time, overprescribing of opioids by dentists actually increased," said Katie Suda, lead researcher on the project. She noted that up to 10% of medical opioids distributed in the U.S. each year are now prescribed by dentists.

One particular red flag turned up in her study: Dentists regularly give high-power opioid pills such as oxycodone to younger patients who are most vulnerable.

"Dentists are the primary prescribers of opioids to adolescents and young adults, who are at high risk for opioid misuse," Suda said.

[stazzy33]

Originally Posted by Yoho

https://twitter.com/user/status/1707364389098283208

So much for losing the best and brightest.

That article says nothing about who is coming or leaving. For all we know it's tens of thousands of Yohos coming to the province and it IS the best and brightest who are leaving because of dear leader.

[Monahammer]

Originally Posted by Yoho

https://twitter.com/user/status/1707364389098283208

So much for losing the best and brightest.

1 + 1 = window level analysis here.

[Ozy_Flame]

If I had to guess, a good chunk of it is people under the age of 35 who are simply trying to find homes, whether they are the "best and brightest" or not. They just want a ####ing roof over their head.

Has nothing to do with Conservative politics either, in case anyone was thinking how great Smith conservatism has been. In fact this might very well be bad news for traditional politics in the province (and has been evident this past Spring).

[MoneyGuy]

Someone just asked me if Premier Smith might ban government-paid COVID vaccines. I said no but I had to think about it.

[Ashartus]

Originally Posted by MoneyGuy

Someone just asked me if Premier Smith might ban government-paid COVID vaccines. I said no but I had to think about it.

She doesn't have to "ban" them, just not fund it. Could stop paying for flu shots for good measure, I still remember when you had to pay to get one.

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by Ashartus

She doesn't have to "ban" them, just not fund it. Could stop paying for flu shots for good measure, I still remember when you had to pay to get one.

Up until a year ago the people in Quebec had to pay out of pocket for the flu shot unless they were deemed to be high risk.

[MoneyGuy]

Just heard the premier and health minister answer the question whether they’ll get vaccinations. Haha, that’s how you say you’re not getting vaccinated without saying you’re not getting vaccinated.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

Up until a year ago the people in Quebec had to pay out of pocket for the flu shot unless they were deemed to be high risk.

Which, as far as fiscal healthcare policies go, ####ing dumb.

[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by Doctorfever

Kinda unrelated to the thread (sorry) but why the hate for naturopaths and chiropractors?



I have never found any use for either (for myself), but a naturopath 100% has changed my kids life. He went from seeing a doctor, getting prescriptions that didn’t work, to seeing a specialist, more prescriptions that didn’t help either. From there it was 911 calls and hospital stays. No positive outcomes from any.



My wife asked around and we took the kid to see a naturopath. At that point we had nothing to lose. Fast forward 12 months and he is not using any medications, no pills, no sprays, nothing, and is doing great!



Now today, is a naturopath my first stop if something is wrong? No. But it absolutely changed one person’s life. It was an amazing transformation. I guess I just wonder why all the hate directed them?



Bad experience?

Naturopaths don't learn medicine and shouldn't be allowed to prescribe medicine. It's not an opinion from personal experience but as a medical professional with years of seeing awful, terrible nonsense. Useless and occasionally dangerous prescriptions for conditions that do not exist

[Bill Bumface]

https://www.reddit.com/r/Albertapoli...ying_money_to/

So the government of Alberta is paying money to run radio ads to convince Nova Scotians that Ottawa is to blame for Scotia power’s failings

Can't wait to throw that extra CPP money at more #### like this!

[GordonBlue]

Originally Posted by Faust

Alberta’s Failed Oil and Gas Bailout:

https://pressprogress.ca/wp-content/...MCO-report.pdf


AIMCo CEO rejects fossil fuel divestment as investment strategy:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calga...ment-1.6590581

reading this article helps solidify my already firm conviction that the APP would be a horrible life ruining decision.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by MoneyGuy

Just heard the premier and health minister answer the question whether they’ll get vaccinations. Haha, that’s how you say you’re not getting vaccinated without saying you’re not getting vaccinated.

Honestly, this whole issue is going to be messy though. Let’s say that Covid comes back with a vengeance this fall, and the powers that be suggest a vaccination. I don’t even know which iteration of the vaccine we’re in here, but I think my mom has had 4/5? A significant number of us have had 2 or less. So I guess I just don’t know how a vaccine passport or anything like that would work. And without a stick, what kind of uptake are we actually looking at?

[CliffFletcher]

Covid boosters can be folded into the regular flu shots infrastructure and rollouts we already have. I expect uptake will be somewhat higher - so maybe 50 per cent vs the 40 per cent typical for flu shots. But no chance measures like passports are revived.

[MoneyGuy]

The uptake will be very low. People are tired of all of this and most will decline vaccinations. My wife and I will get vaccinated; thank you, science.

[Ozy_Flame]

Sigh.

You get the latest covid vaccines to handle different strains. Most people won't get it because they think they're good to go, so let's let the healthcare system handle it. Always a great bet.

Government has been extremely poor at communicating the necessity for getting boosters.