Web page potpourri: links, links, links! A column devoted to informative alternative health resources on the internet

Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients,  Feb-March, 2005  by Marjorie Roswell

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This column focuses on great web pages whose key content is their links to other sites. For those who maintain websites, I also include a few resources for managing links. Note that links pages may also be called portals, hotlists, or jumpstations.

Diseases, Disorders and Related Topics

http://micf.mic.ki.se/Diseases/

http://www.mic.ki.se/Diseases/Alphalist.html

This is a superb collection of links from the Karolinska Institut, a medical university in Stockholm. You may use the site's search engine, or browse through the list of general topics. (Scroll halfway down the page for the topic list.) Alphalist.html is a more detailed listing by disease. Each topic also offers helpful links to searches on other key medical web pages. This site is a treasure.

Hardin Meta Directory

http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/hardin/md/

http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/hardin/md/sitemap.html

http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/hardin/md/az/az.html

http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/hardin/md/pictures.html

An apt slogan notes, "We list the best sites that list the sites." Like the site above, the home page features a search engine and a browseable set of subjects, which are also expanded to further detail in an alphabetical listing (az.html). This directory also devotes considerable attention to websites with pictures, on subjects ranging from AIDS to warts. (Scroll down to see the site links--the links displayed at the top are not site links, but rather related subject headings.) On the Hardin Library Home Page (http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/hardin/) this comprehensive Meta Directory is referred to simply as "Hardin MD." It's a modest name for a rich, wonderful site.

Internet Resources: Alternative Medicine Resources

http://www.pitt.edu/~cbw/internet.html

This is one of the best links pages for alternative medicine on the web. I profiled the database portion of this great University of Pittsburgh-based site in my second column (January 2003). The classification scheme used by the site was developed during a workshop at the Office of Alternative Medicine, and includes areas such as specific diseases, herbal medicine, government resources, manual healing, and integrative programs at allopathic institutions. Don't miss this site.

Holistic Healing Web Page

http://www.holisticmed.com/

http://www.holisticmed.com/#www

http://www.holisticmed.com/www/www.html

http://www.holisticmed.com/aspartame/

Topics on this site range from acupressure and Ayurvedic medicine, to Qi gong and yoga. You could get to the #www link topics section simply by scrolling down on the home page. (A pound sign in a URL indicates a bookmarked spot on the page.) The "www.html" URL is a single page with more than 3500 categorized links. Note that holisticmed.com also has some original content--I've found the aspartame section to be particularly interesting. This site has apparently not been edited much in the past few years, but it still proves helpful.

Two Very Useful Search Tips

Google "link":

Example: To find other sites that link to www.holisticmed.com, enter "link:www.holisticmed.com" (without the quotes) into Google.com.

Google "site":

Example: To find all the pages on www.holisticmed.com that mention the word "stevia," enter "site:http://www.holisticmed.com stevia" (without the quotes) into Google.com. Be careful to leave the final "/" off of the URL. For instance, "site:http://www.holisticmed.com" will work, but "site:http://www.holisticmed.com/" will not.

Whale

http://whale.to/

http://whale.to/vaccines/

http://whale.to/w/sites1.html

http://whale.to/additions.html

This doesn't quite fit the definition of a standard links site, since most of the content (more than 17,000 pages!) is directly on the site itself, but it's so content-rich that it seems worth including here. The author notes that "Whale" is "a tribute to our larger brained mammals." His site is alternative to the core, exposing medical hoaxes and conspiracies, and featuring pithy quotes and articles on a wide variety of subjects. I featured the excellent vaccine section of this site several years ago (February/March 2003). Consider using the Google search method described above, instead of the site's own search box.

National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine--Links

http://nccam.nih.gov/health/links/

Notable links on this page include the report by the White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy, and two documents on traditional and alternative medicine from the World Health Organization.

Health Resources: The Best of the Internet

http://pierce.state.nh.us/internet/health.asp

This is a short list of links from the New Hampshire State Library, featuring some of the major medical and pharmaceutical sites on the web. (Not much alternative content.)

An Index of Herbal and Alternative Health Sites

http://www.rain-tree.com/links2.htm

Short, sweet, and pretty.