A good portion of our time is spent attending to our health, staying healthy, getting healthy, or fighting illness. This is not a "doctors" page, it is about where to find accepted medical information and where and how to look for alternatives. Also information about vitamins and minerals.

Medical

A hundred years ago medical knowledge was for a few select people who studied medicine, and if they didn't know how to treat an illness or got it wrong, oh well. It's a whole new world, thanks to the Internet. The Internet may not make people doctors, but at least people are no longer totally in the dark about their health, both in staying healthy and understanding illnesses.

When a doctors says "you have a serious illness" there is a good chance that the patient knows little or nothing about that illness. In the past the patient was pretty much in the dark in understanding what was actually happening with their bodies. The doctor, with a waiting room full of patients, might give the patient a fifteen minute summary of their illness and send the patient on their way, a jumble of confusion and frustration. With the Internet information boom, that is no longer the case, with a couple of hours on the Internet, a patient can learn about their illness and what possible treatments there are available and with persistent research the patient my discover some alternative treatments. Alternative treatments are not a substitute for good medical treatment, but no matter how good a doctor is, there is really just to much information in the world today for anyone to know it all.

WebMD - Major online source for medical information and treatments.

What are the best hospitals in your town.
Here is a map with links to different cities.

Doctor Reviews for Around the Country

DrScore.com
InsiderPages.com
Judy'sBook
RateMDs.com
Vitals.com
Yahoo! Local
Yelp.com

Alternatives

There are numerous reasons that people seek alternatives to standard medical treatments. Most often people are probably just looking to supplement the medical treatments they are receiving, feeling that if they can add something to their treatment that does not distract from that treatment, why not? Their sentiment might be that a steak is good, but a baked potato makes the meal better.

With the high cost of medical treatment, there is a huge portion of people in our country without the money or the means to access expensive medical treatments. These people would be foolish to not seek out whatever help they can get from other people's help and experience. If someone writes in a blog that drinking a glass of water with each meal helped with their pain, well, probably not, but if trying it is in no way dangerous, why not try. More interesting, literally, why not try, who would not try something simple to reduce pain that has no side effects and is not dangerous? Not danger is the key, almost anything in excess is probably dangerous, including excessive vitamins and too much water.

Scientific American - Strange but True: Drinking Too Much Water Can Kill
LiveStrong - What Happens If You Take Too Many Vitamins?

As with anything, before trying an alternative medical treatment, check it out, ask your doctor, read other articles, and in your browser, ask the reverse question, "any problems with this treatment". Remember this, most alternatives are from free information that people are sharing via the Internet or from reasonably priced vitamins and supplements. I would question expensive treatments. For supplement treatments, find out the ingredients (browser search "supplement" ingredients), then go to a regular online vitamin web site and see what the fair price is for a supplement with that ingredient. The higher priced supplement may have a better combination of ingredients, that's fine, but two-hundred dollars for a ten dollar supplement is just silly.

Alzheimer's Disease
CBN News - Alzheimer's Disease - Coconut Oil As A Treatment -Video

Arthritis
About.com - James Coburn "Cured" Of Rheumatoid Arthritis?
Yahoo! Health - Osteoarthritis - Build Stronger Bones with Tai Chi

Back Pain
Yahoo! Health - Alternative Medicine Repair Kit Health Video (Second Part)

Garlic
LiveStrong.com - How Much Garlic Equals an Antibiotic?
Medical Herbalism - Garlic Antibiotic and Immune Properties
Blog-Inside Out - Garlic

Crohn's Disease
Coconut Cookies Eased Crohn's Symptoms
Crohn's Disease Forum
Folk Remedy for Crohn's - Coconut Macaroons
LivingStrong.com - Coconut Oil For Crohn's Disease

Eyesight

Yahoo! Health - 4 Ways to Improve Your Eyesight

High Blood Pressure
iHealth - Supplements for high blood pressure

Migraine Headaches
Yahoo! Health - Alternative Medicine Repair Kit Health Video

Nutritional - Vitamins and Supplements

There are no end of articles about what vitamins our bodies need, and where and how to get the vitamins and minerals we need to maintain good health. On the other hand there is no end of different opinions of what that answer actually is, and which vitamins might be of significant benefit to special conditions or illnesses. Well, not being a scientist, I certainly am not going to tackle that answer, but only suggest reading health related articles or subscribing to online or home delivered nutrition magazines, after all, it is your life. In most major cities there are numerous health stores, but if you live in a rural area, that may not be the case. If you have the Internet, there a plenty of online health stores and most have very reasonable prices. If you have a family member who does not have the Internet, that's okay, may of the online stores have catalogs that they will mail out and then accept telephone orders.

Prevention Magazine - 5 Strange Ways Chocolate Keeps You Healthy

DoctorOz.com - 10 Anti-Aging Herbs and Spices by Dr. Joseph Mercola
Thyme to fight bacteria. Sage to fight inflammation. Antioxidant properties of Oregano. Allspice aids digestion. Cinnamon and Cloves to relieve arthritis pain. Turmeric to fight cancer and Alzheimer’s disease. And more.