31 July 2010

Alcohol, arthritis and 100 years of medicine

I shall never cease being amazed by discoveries made in the modern MMM (Mass Media Medicine). And the latest one that undoubtedly brought its author a significant quantity of glory and other laurels, didn't fail to astonish:

Drinking alcohol can not only ease the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis it appears to reduce disease severity too, research suggests.
Of course, no aficionado of good old O'Henry could forget the story Makes the Whole World Kin. Essentially the story is about a cat burglar who, being surprised by the owner of the house, discovers that the owner, as the thief himself, suffers from rheumatic pains. The outcome is that, after a lively discussion of various (but useless) remedies*, the burglar invites the owner for an outing - to partake of the only true remedy:
I'll tell you what! We're up against it. I only find one thing that eases her up. Hey? Little old sanitary, ameliorating, lest-we-forget Booze.
Yeah, well, it took our good doctors only a hundred years** of scientific effort to come to same conclusion. I guess that many distillers with sufficient years on record in the industry can sue the medical science (how does one go about it, I wonder?) for loss of profit during all these years.

Oh well: your health, ladies and gentlemen!


(*) Snake oil is also mentioned, by the way. No offense to the folks bound by Hypocritic Hippocratic Oath intended.

(**) Let's be charitable here: Makes the Whole World Kin was written in 1911, so there is still one year for other doctors to come up with a study that will refute this discovery. As it goes in the medical circles.

7 comments:

Lord MUCK! LOL! said...

I woulded advise looking at 100 year old cocks! Especially of a Sunday morning! LOL!
Ladies! and Gentlemen? may the LORD! be with you this Sunday LOL!

Dick Stanley said...

Any fellow who not only reads but can quote O'Henry deserves our admiration. As for the booze, well, of course. O'Henry was tweaking the noses of the Temperance Movement of his times. Whose enduring believers probably kept medical science quiet all these years.

Incognito said...

ha!  that's because they're too drunk to feel any pain.  They have also said that smoking stops flare-ups of Ulcerative Colitis.  So you get cihhrosis of the liver or lung cancer in addition to your other ailments.    I have both R.A. and UC but I don't intend to start drinking or smoking.  I actually have had them both under control with herbs, in the past. 

SnoopyTheGoon said...

I think, Incognito, that in any endeavor there always will be sceptics who refuse to believe even hudreds of years of scientific experiment. As a R.A. sufferer myself, I am a living proof of efficacy of that remedy. Gezundheit!

SnoopyTheGoon said...

He! This explanation sounds on target!

David All said...

Too much booze is barely enough.
Thanks Snoopy, I will pass this on to my Dad. My Mom is always trying to get him to quit drinking beer. As my Dad will be 82 next month, he does not see the need to quit! 

SnoopyTheGoon said...

Till 120, David, and may his beer be always tasty.