Posts tagged ‘Alternative Medicine’

I received a question today on a post I wrote called Alternatives.

“I’m studying alternative medicine for sociology at school and was wondering why people chose to use alternative medicine when modern medicine is available.  Even people with cancer, chose to use alternative therapy instead of rely in doctors. I am just very unsure why.”

There are a lot of reasons why people use alternatives.

Some don’t trust drug companies. They believe that these outfits are only in it for the money.  They point to examples where the companies have suggested long term use of medicines ostensibly to prevent possible problems.  For example, taking one aspirin a day can prevent heart attacks.  Even some doctors are calling this a myth.  If it is, then some companies are making a profit on this.

Still others worry about drug testing. Up until the 1970s it took about 20 years of testing before a drug was approved for use.   Today tests are completed within a year and then if there are no immediate problems it is released to the public.  Have you ever noticed how your doctor’s office hands out free samples?  This is a way of testing it in the field.  Have you noticed how a lot of drug ads list side affects that, in some cases, outweigh the benefits?  Some drugs have been taken out of circulation when it was discovered that they can cause death.

Some people don’t trust doctors. Are these doctors getting kickbacks from the drug companies to push certain drugs?  It seems like everyone is on at least one drug nowadays.   They see other doctors as being close minded.  There has been a lot of study on omega 3 fatty acids and how they can help the body. Some doctors actually consider the results of eating fish or taking omega 3 supplements to be more of a placebo rather than a benefit.

People look at their country’s healthcare ranking. According to the World Health Organization the United States ranks 37.  To give you an idea where we are on the list, Cuba is 39, Morocco is 29.

They listen to prominent doctors. When a particular harmful drug was removed from the market a few years ago the then surgeon general was asked if drugs actually cure illness.  His answer was that they only address symptoms.  When asked if these drugs are safe he responded that drugs will kill you.

Why do these same people trust alternatives? The same surgeon general was asked if alternative medicines are safe.  He said that the worst they could do would be to give you diarrhea.

Do alternatives work? Modern medicine is fairly young, perhaps 50 years old.  A lot of the “natural medicines” have been around for thousands of years. Some work, some don’t.   Evidence is strictly anecdotal; there haven’t been many formal studies done.  If someone is going to go in this direction they should do a lot of their own research.  Some of this stuff is just “snake oil”.  You can end up spending thousands of dollars for something that doesn’t work well or at all.

I believe in using both alternative and mainstream medicine. One prominent MD, Medical School Teacher, and author, Andrew Weil believes in Integrative Medicine which combines mainstream medical treatments with alternative treatments for which there is some scientific evidence of safety and effectiveness.

Both mainstream and alternative medicines have some very beneficial parts to them.  Just as people should research alternative practices before utilizing them they should also study mainstream methods before discounting them.

My wife just got back from the doctor.  This wasn’t her medical doctor; it was her doctor of alternative medicine.  Now there are many people who are going to read this and shake their heads, “why would we waste our time and money going to one of those?”  I get that all the time.

My answer to them is “why do you go to medical doctors?”.  A lot of people look at alternative medicine as snake oil, but I would like them to tell me what they get from their regular doctor that is better?  Why is it that a doctor will tell me they can find nothing wrong with me but I can tell that there really is.  Every day you read about people going to a dozen different doctors before finding out what is ailing them.

Now I’m not here to diss doctors; I have a primary care physician and I see him regularly, so does my wife.  We have found that there are some “alternatives” that can help when doctors can’t.  For example, my wife has had pain in her arm.  She has been to a number of doctors that have been telling her that she has bursitis.  Even though they have been treating it there have been no results.  She finally talked to our alternative doctor and he determined that even though the pain was coming from her arm, the actual source was in her neck.  He has given her several laser treatments and already her arm is much better.

I can hear the naysayers now, “that is just a placebo effect.”  Perhaps they are right.  But is this a problem?  Doctors weren’t solving the issue and it was costing us money.  Our alternative practioner took care of it and we paid a lot less for his treatment.

A lot of our medicines and medical procedures attack our symptoms; they don’t actually cure the original problem.  I just started using a cpap machine.  This helps me breathe properly at night so that I don’t snore, I don’t stop breathing, and I get better sleep.  Is this going to cure me?  Heck no, originally it was designed to be a temporary stopgap until a cure was found.  As time went on nothing was found so people are just using the machines long term because it helps breathing; it doesn’t solve the problem.

What does an alternative practioner recommend.  Perhaps some supplements but most assuredly he will tell you to exercise at least moderately and on a daily basis.  She will also probably tell you to start eating healthier.  Most often people that aren’t sleeping properly are fatter than they should be.  In my case for years I believed that I was slim; why even now I take a size 33 pant.  But when the doctors were testing me and measured my actual waist size, it is actually a 39; I tend to wear my pants lower.  To find out what your waist size should be take your height in inches and divide by 2.  You should be less than this.  I am 70 inches tall which means my waist should be less than 35 inches…not 39.

I have a choice here.  I can use the machine for the rest of my life or work with my practioner and get myself healthy enough so I won’t need it.

I won’t give up my practioner just because there are people that don’t believe in it.  I actually had one man shake his head, tell me not to waste my money, stick with medical doctors even if it means that I won’t get better.  He claimed to have done a lot of research and found that he is  right, I am wrong.  It turns out that his research came from reading books by people who don’t believe in alternative practices.  How about reading some objective books on the subject?

Anyway, I’m a lot like Doctor Andrew Weil M.D. who is a teacher in a medical school.  He believes that people should use both medical doctors and alternative practioners.  Look at both sides, find out what works best for you.  Don’t just ignore one way of doing things because you’ve heard it doesn’t work.

And yes there are snake oil salesmen practicing what they call alternative medicine but there are also dishonest medical doctors.  You have to do your research either way but remember there are also very good doctors.  And there are also very good alternative practioners; don’t ignore them.