Disregarding the little boys bully fights and back to
the subject.
Alternative Medicine: Why so popular?
by Hans R. Larsen, MSc ChE
In 1997 Americans made 627 million visits to practitioners
of alternative medicine and spent $27 billion of their own
money to pay for alternative therapies. In contrast,
Americans made only 386 million visits to their family
doctor. It is estimated, by none other than the Harvard
Medical School, that one out of every two persons in the
United States between the ages of 35 and 49 years used at
least one alternative therapy in 1997. That is a growth of
47.3 per cent since 1990. This is spectacular by any means
and of great concern to conventional (allopathic) medicine
especially since the people using alternative medicine are
primarily well-educated, affluent baby boomers(1). The
trend to alternative medicine is repeated throughout
Western society. In Australia 57 percent of the population
now use some form of alternative medicine, in Germany 46
percent do, and in France 49 percent do. The growth of some
types of alternative medicine is indeed astounding. Between
1991 and 1997 the use of herbal medicines in the United
States grew by 380 per cent and the use of vitamin therapy
by 130 per cent. These are impressive numbers by anyone's
standard(1-3).
What it is and isn't So why do people increasingly prefer
alternative to conventional medicine? The reasons are pretty
simple - it is safe and it works! While there is little
doubt that allopathic medicine works well in the case of
trauma and emergency (you don't call your herbalist if you
get hit by a car), it is much less effective when it comes
to prevention, chronic disease, and in addressing the
mental, emotional, and spiritual needs of an individual.
These are precisely the areas where alternative medicine
excels. To most of the world's population, over 80 per cent
to be precise, alternative medicine is not "alternative" at
all, but rather the basis of the health care system. To Western-
trained physicians alternative medicine is "something not
taught in medical schools" and something that allopathic
doctors don't do and, one could add, generally know nothing
about. Alternative medicine actually encompasses a very
large array of different systems and therapies ranging from
ayurvedic medicine to vitamin therapy.
Ayurvedic medicine has been practiced in India for the past
five thousand years and has recently undergone a renaissance
in the West due, in no small measure, to the work and
lectures of Dr. Deepak Chopra, MD. Ayurvedic medicine is a
very comprehensive system that places equal emphasis on
body, mind, and spirit and uses a highly personalized
approach to return an individual to a state where he or she
is again in harmony with their environment. Ayurvedic
medicine uses diet, exercise, yoga, meditation, massage,
herbs, and medication and, despite its long lineage, is as
applicable today as it was 5000 years ago. For example, the
seeds of the Mucuna pruriens plant have long been used to
treat Parkinson's disease in India; it is now receiving
attention in conventional circles as it is more effective
than l-dopa and has fewer side effects(4).
Traditional Chinese medicine has been practiced for over
3000 years and over one quarter of the world's population
now uses one or more of its component therapies. TCM
combines the use of medicinal herbs, acupuncture, and the
use of therapeutic exercises such as Qi Gong. It has proven
to be effective in the treatment of many chronic diseases
including cancer, allergies, heart disease and AIDS. As does
Ayurvedic medicine, TCM also focuses on the individual and
looks for and corrects the underlying causes of imbalance
and patterns of disharmony.
Homeopathy was developed in the early 1800s by the German
physician Samuel Hahnemann. It is a low-cost, non-toxic
health care system now used by hundreds of millions of
people around the world. It is particularly popular in South
America and the British Royal Family has had a homeopathic
physician for the last four generations. Homeopathy is an
excellent first-aid system and is also superb in the
treatment of minor ailments such as earaches, the common
cold, and flu. Homeopathy is again based on the treatment of
the individual and when used by a knowledgeable practitioner
can also be very effective in the cure of conditions such as
hay fever, digestive problems, rheumatoid arthritis, and
respiratory infections.
Chiropracty primarily involves the adjustment of spine and
joints to alleviate pain and improve general health. It was
practiced by the early Egyptians and was developed into its
present form by the American Daniel David Palmer in 1895. It
is now the most common form of alternative medicine in the
United States. Chiropractors not only manipulate spine and
joints, but also advise their patients on lifestyle and diet
matters. They believe that humans possess an innate healing
potential and that all disease can be overcome by properly
activating this potential.
Naturopathic medicine also strongly believes in the body's
inherent ability to heal itself. Naturopathy emphasizes the
need for seeking and treating the causes of a disease rather
than simply suppressing its symptoms. Naturopaths use
dietary modifications, herbal medicines, homeopathy,
acupuncture, hydrotherapy, massage, and lifestyle counseling
to achieve healing.
Vitamin therapy or orthomolecular medicine uses vitamins,
minerals, and amino acids to return a diseased body to
wellness in the belief that the average diet today is
often woefully inadequate in providing needed nutrients
and that the need for specific nutrients is highly
individual. Conditions as varied as hypertension,
depression, cancer, and schizophrenia can all benefit
enormously from vitamin therapy.
Biofeedback, body work, massage therapy, reflexology,
hydrotherapy, aromatherapy, and various other forms of
energy medicine round out the vast spectrum of alternative
medicine modalities.
How is it different? So what sets alternative medicine apart
from allopathic medicine?
Conventional medicine is preferred in the treatment of
trauma and emergencies while alternative medicine excels in
the treatment of chronic disease, although homeopathy can
also be very effective as a first-aid.
Conventional medicine focuses on the relief of symptoms and
rarely places emphasis on prevention or the treatment of the
cause of a disorder. All alternative systems, on the other
hand, strive to find and treat the cause of a disorder and
frown on covering up the symptoms. Alternative therapies are
also much more focused on prevention.
Conventional medicine is organ specific, hence
ophthalmologists, cardiologists, nephrologists,
neurologists, etc. Alternative medicine, without exception,
considers each person as a unique individual and uses a
holistic approach in treatment.
Conventional medicine believes in aggressive intervention to
treat disease. It revels in terms such as "magic bullet" and
"war" ("the war on cancer"😉, and prefers quick fixes (as do
many patients). Alternative medicine believes in gentle, long-
term support to enable the body's own innate powers to do
the healing.
Conventional medicine's main "arsenal" consists of surgery,
chemotherapy, radiation, and powerful pharmaceutical drugs.
Alternative medicine uses time-tested, natural remedies and
gentle, hands-on treatments.
Conventional medicine practitioners are guided in their
treatment by strict rules set out by the Colleges of
Physicians and Surgeons. This often leads to a "one size
fits all" approach. Practitioners of alternative medicine,
on the other hand, treat each patient as an individual and
do what, in their opinion, is best rather than what is
specified in a "rule book".
Conventional medicine sees the body as a mechanical system
(the heart is a pump and the kidneys are a filter) and
believes most disorders can be traced to chemical imbalances
and therefore are best treated with powerful chemicals
(drugs). Alternative medicine systems, almost without
exception, accept that the body is suffused by a network of
channels (meridians) that carry a subtle form of life
energy. Imbalances or blockages of this energy are what lead
to disease and clearing of the blockages and strengthening
of the energy is the ultimate goal of alternative medicine.
Conventional medicine prefers patients to be passive and
accept their treatment without too many questions.
Alternative medicine, in contrast, prefers and indeed, in
many cases, requires the patient to take a highly active
part in both prevention and treatment.
Both conventional and alternative medicine ascribe to the
principle "Do no harm". However, while alternative medicine
is essentially achieving this goal, conventional medicine
seems to have almost totally lost sight of it. Hospitals are
now the third largest killer in Australia and over one
million people are seriously injured in American hospitals
every year. Blood infections acquired in American hospitals
cause 62,000 fatalities every year and bypass surgery
results in 25,000 strokes a year. Two million patients
experience adverse drug reactions in hospitals in the United
States every year; of these, over 100,000 die making hospital-
induced adverse drug reactions the fourth leading cause of
death after heart disease, cancer, and stroke(5-11).
The practice of conventional medicine is intimately tied in
with the whole medico-pharmaceutical-industrial complex
whose first priority is to make a profit. Although most
conventional physicians have "healing the patient" as their
first priority, they find it increasingly difficult to do so
while operating within the system with its pharmaceutical
salesmen, its rule books, its fear of malpractice suits, its
endless paperwork to satisfy bureaucrats and insurance
companies, and its time pressures. Most alternative medicine
practitioners have no such constraints and pressures and can
give the patient their undivided attention.
Conventional medicine generally resists the use of natural
remedies long after their efficacy has been scientifically
proven (Germany is an exception to this). Most alternative
medicine practitioners eagerly embrace new remedies and, in
many cases, can point to years of safe use. Ginkgo biloba is
now the most prescribed drug in Germany and has been found
effective in the prevention and treatment of Alzheimer's
disease(12). Also in Germany the herb saw palmetto is now
prescribed in 90 per cent of all cases of enlarged prostate;
in the United States 300,000 prostate operations are
performed each year to solve this problem. More profitable
for sure, but dangerous and unpleasant for the patient(13).
The major source of funds for medical research is
pharmaceutical companies who, not surprisingly, are very
reluctant to support investigations into lifestyle
modifications, vitamins, and other unpatentable products.
Nevertheless, a growing number of medical researchers are
focusing their attention on natural supplements and remedies
and are publishing their work in mainstream journals. The
benefits of antioxidants have now been thoroughly documented
by researchers at the Harvard Medical School and similar
prestigious institutions. Folic acid, a simple B vitamin,
has also been extensively studied in university laboratories
and has been found to be effective in preventing or
ameliorating heart attacks, strokes, angina, intermittent
claudication, atherosclerosis, kidney disease, colon cancer,
hearing loss, and Alzheimer's disease(14-18). Although
alternative practitioners and a small group of conventional
physicians do embrace the use of natural therapies and
products the vast majority of "establishment" physicians are
still dragging their heels and even denigrating and
ridiculing alternative medicine. This fact, perhaps more
than anything else, is what is driving the rapid and massive
switch from conventional to alternative medicine.
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