Reviews for Edema (Quamut)

The average rating for Edema (Quamut) based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2018-02-17 00:00:00 John Frank This was a great read exploring the hidden uncertainties of medicine. Its arguments are framed in two sets: the individual vs the collective, and the way we interact with medicine. Many people take medicine as a lofty field, unknowable to the masses below, but this book revealed a thoughtful look at just how tremulous medicine's iron pillars of knowledge are. Between explorations of the surprising success of bogus doctors, to the ambiguous disorders of fibromyalgia and Gulf War Syndrome, to the wild reasons for tonsillectomies, to the astounding work of AIDS advocates in reaching a level of knowledge that allowed them to converse on even footing with doctors and positively influence the ongoing search for an HIV cure - this book shows that in reality, doctors don't know everything and encourages us to pursue an understanding of science for ourselves - to a degree! For the individual may want to skip a vaccine because of fears of side effects, but the collective whole (and those down the familial line of the individual) will suffer from their choice, even if they have a (slim) leg of fears to stand on. The placebo effect actually has positive effects on some individuals, but when the time comes to conduct studies of life-saving diseases, and we NEED to do randomized controlled trials that involves not treating patients so as to gain a knowledge of what works and what doesn't, we must agonize that we are potentially sacrificing the few for the good of the whole. Along these lines, a surprisingly persuasive line of reasoning is not to dismiss alternative medicine such as acupuncture and herbal remedies; after all, if it doesn't actually harm people and it may help some (including those that modern medicine may be struggling to treat), then why not let them eat large doses of Vitamin C? Caution is of course necessary - the authors encourage individuals to learn about medicine, but only to a degree that they can make informed decisions when need be. One of the authors chose to not get the recommended whooping cough vaccine because of a potential side effect, choosing instead a foreign variety - which was later adapted by the US as the default. While they turned out to be making the correct informed decision, they caution against those who decry the MMR vaccine as causing autism, based as this argument is on one mother's fears and a single subsequent paper that only looked at a handful of patients - while the author agreed that parents should still be taking the vaccine. Instead, that websites stoke the fears and claims to be superior to those with years of medical experience is a sad extension of their rightful call to interact with medicine on more than just a passive level. A compelling, interesting read!

Review # 2 was written on 2012-12-30 00:00:00 Grant Marshall Straight-forwardly extends the theoretical framework of Golem: What Everyone Should Know about Science and The Golem at Large: What You Should Know about Technology to medicine. The draw out the tension between medicine as science and medicine as succour, short-term and long-term considerations, and "population average testing" and "specific individual causes" to help study the issues. The various chapters deal with how The Placebo Effect complicates medicine, how difficult it can be to spot bogus doctors, tonsil treatments, alternative medicine, contested diseases, AIDS activism (reprinted from Golem at Large), and vaccine controversies. The most interesting aspects of this volume is how the authors disagree (slightly, somewhat) on the question of vaccinations. The case studies are not quite as flashy as the ones in the previous books, and overall (As they admit) they move to be "more on the side of science in this book," making it somewhat less interesting a read, compared to the previous volumes.