Positive Health Online

I sometimes fantasise (as I know many of us do) about what it would be like to live in another era, say before electricity, the car, radio, television, or the telephone. In fact, to many centenarians alive today, the miracle of seeing something happening live on television around the world, or even picking up the telephone and speaking to someone on another continent, must seem as fantastic as flying through outer space appears to us.

Those of us middle aged or older remember time before the television; however, our children and grandchildren have grown up with TV from day one, and consider totally normal watching the Olympics or Manchester United football games anywhere in the world.

So it is with the internet, which is just at the start of one of the most significant technological revolutions ever. Although we are all tired of hearing the overworked cliché "The Information Superhighway", the changes which have already come about with the internet, and which are only a small portent of its full-blown transformation, have already made a huge difference to the way I work at Positive Health, as well as in my individual capacity as a researcher and practitioner within Complementary Medicine.

Thanks to the "miracle" of email, I can correspond with, send to and receive articles and graphic images almost instantly from authors anywhere in the world – Australia, USA, India, as well as the UK. This compares to perhaps a week or more by "snail mail".

In my role as Editor, as well as scientific author, I can log onto the internet to answer all manner of queries posed by readers: reactions and side effects of drugs; the formula and mechanism of a particular vitamin or herbal supplement; support groups and complementary approaches available to treat a particular health condition.

Last week the daughter of a practitioner I know took an overdose of paracetamol; I was able to access emergency information regarding treatment for this potentially fatal poisoning. (Her daughter has now fully recovered.)

Many people use the internet to obtain vital information; women from around the world with breast cancer use discussion forums for support and to keep up-to-date with the latest treatment approaches; women with infertility problems "chat" with other women from around the world to offer support while going through the roller coaster ride of IVF treatment.

Complementary practitioners can use the internet in a myriad of ways to enhance and deepen their knowledge of their field. Nutritionists and herbalists can search the internet for particular treatments for a given ailment, or for a specific nutrient or herb. Homoeopaths can use the internet to check the Materia Medica regarding a particular remedy, or to verify contraindications in a patient's prescribed drug regime. Bodyworkers can log onto sites providing detailed 3D anatomical images of the body – muscles, joints and nerves – in colour and rotatable to verify their diagnosis and corroborate their treatment regimes.

As internet technology advances, the speed and availability of audio, video and movie images will increase, enabling complementary practitioners to conference or consult with our professional colleagues regarding a particular patient's condition, or to discuss the advantages of one treatment regime over another.

Regarding healing and energy medicine disciplines, it is simply incredible to be able to access information to the most diverse disciplines, including healing, meditation, crystal healing, reiki, the energy of water; there is literally no therapy without an internet site.

Today, even surrounded as I am with hundreds of books on every subject imaginable in complementary medicine, it is often faster and more informative to search the internet than trawl through numerous books to find what I need to know.

Many practitioners I know are somewhat reluctant computer users; and reading Positive Health, we are all aware of the risks posed of spending too much time in front of a VDU screen, especially if our posture is not correct! The internet will never replace books and magazines, but it is a tremendous tool which I am certain will enhance all our lives within complementary medicine.

As a start to the new millennium, I invite all readers to log onto and visit our internet site – www.positivehealth.com – more than 1000 pages of articles, research updates, links, and listings. Enjoy the January 2000 issue, which features outstanding articles affecting all of our lives.