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.
