As you may already have heard, Here's Health, the longest lived magazine in the UK about Complementary Medicine, ceased publication; the November 2004 issue was the last. This information was conveyed to its readers via a cover letter stating that fewer people had been buying the magazine and the publishers (EMAP) had no choice but to close it.

This is a sad event indeed, for whatever one might have thought personally about Here's Health, for several decades it has been an important source of information about complementary medicine.

As the saying goes, Knowledge is Power. Consider the often-flawed and biased television programmes about natural approaches to healthcare. The recent BBC Watchdog programmes about Plaskett and Gerson are cases in point. Additionally, there are frequent statements throughout the print and broadcast media by so-called medical experts that there is no evidence that alternative or complementary treatment approaches can be effective. Hence, every authoritative and reliable source of natural approaches for medical conditions is to be valued.

I have never been someone who values suffering, or who considers that my illnesses or pains are a valuable enrichment to my life. Perhaps when I look back, I may realize that a particular experience with sickness led me to a therapy or product which alleviated my symptoms and made me feel better. However, I, along with much of humanity when afflicted with an illnesses, injury or pain, generally wants it to go away, the sooner the better.

This is where books, magazines, newspapers and word-of-mouth can be lifesavers in our quest to heal ourselves, our loved ones and family. It can be devastating to listen to a pronouncement that "there is nothing that can be done… you just have to live with it". Much of the time, this is not true. It may be that the particular doctor or practitioner doesn't have a solution to your condition; however, chances are there well may be approaches that he or she has never heard of, let alone trained in, which may resolve your pain or illness.

The Case Study in this month's issue Tribute to Mrs Ann Warren Davis (see page 40) illustrates this point precisely. Mrs Joanne Masters, following a massive haemorrhage and suffering a hysterectomy, went in one fell swoop from being a fit and active woman to a decrepit physical, mental and emotionally exhausted specimen with a young baby to look after. After five years on antidepressants prescribed by her GP, she turned to herbalist Mrs Davis. Following a thorough herbal and dietary detoxification regime over a six-month period, Mrs Masters was able to be weaned off anti-depressants and take up a college counselling course.

I don't suppose that Mrs Master's GP would have given this herbal regimen a ringing endorsement; however here was a life transformed that enabled this woman to regain her health and vitality.

Perhaps more dramatic is the Homeopathic Casebook discussed in Dr Neil Slade's Vaccination Damage and Homeopathy (see page 18). Eight year old Savita developed a high fever the day following vaccination with the meningitis C vaccine. Fits started as soon as the fever subsided; during the consultation with Dr Slade (some 60-90 minutes) Savita had five fits. After she had taken the first homeopathic tablet, the fits ceased completely. Dr Slade thoroughly discusses the many complex aspects regarding vaccination damage and homeopathy in a column which I heartily recommend to readers.

Other important features in this issue include Environmental and Nutritional Approaches to Candida and Irritable Bowel Syndrome (see page 28), How to Reverse Hair Loss (see page 32), Kinesiology and its Application (see page 42) and The Bowen Technique for Pain Relief (see page 46).

Books reviewed in this issue (see pages 56-66) include three titles discussing the many clinical benefits of Water and Salt, a new book by Prof Jane Plant about Prostate Cancer and a book and CDs designed to support pregnant women wishing to adopt gentle and effective methods to pregnancy, labour giving birth and post natal care.

Given the multi-fractured information age we inhabit, we can never know everything there is to know, even in the field of health. Hence the vital importance of continually keeping up with and renewing our own knowledge base, through colleagues, courses, books, journals and, of course, magazines such as this one.

These are all precious resources. It is too late to value them once they cease publication.