Resolved Question

Alternative medicine?

From what I have observed, individuals who believe in alternative medicine (nautrotherapy, acupunture, etc) prefer a holisitc approach and actually think their work has more value than Western medicine...

It may be just the people I have met and I only want the views of others; this Q is not designed to be a huge debate about which treatment is superior...

Is complementary medicine a big money making scheme (eg, colon cleansing...) or does it really have any value?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker

It does kind of sound like you already know the answer you want to hear, but to me, the most ideal doctor is one that is knowledgeable about both drugs AND supplements/herbs. Everyone ingests herbs whether they know about it or not... fruits and vegetables by the definition on Dictionary.com that says "[2] such a plant when valued for its medicinal properties, flavor, scent, or the like."

The biggest thing with Alternative Medicine is that yes, there are skeptics... but there are also fraudsters that hide in vague descriptions. Kevin Trudeau is one of the worst ones in my opinion because he acts like he's trying to help and is being held back by "the man", but he is solely a con artist. He is one of the worst because some people think he's really trying to help and some think he's the normal (eg. all Alt Med people are scammers).

The fact of the matter is that supplements and herbs give the body nutrition it's otherwise lacking so it's ideal for preventative medicine, but isn't as effective as recovery medicine. Drugs on the other hand force a specific reaction that the body wouldn't normally have (which is why they also have some really bad side effects) so they can save your life if they are used in emergency situations... or used temporarily when someone is too far past preventing a problem.
I see it similar to maintaining a car... supplements are like maintenance (regular oil changes, rotating tired, etc.) while drugs and surgery are like major repairs/replacements (repairing valves, replacing the engine when it burns out from old oil, etc).

Yes, both have their place (especially in cases of accidents), but neither should be exclusive of the other. If I'm in an accident and am laying in the ER, I would rather have a drug to start my heart than supplements to nourish the heart. If I'm in good health, I'd gladly take the supplement to nourish the heart so it doesn't get to the point where I would need surgery down the line.
I hope this helps for what you're looking for!


[edit]: FWIW, I agree with some of what Tony said. Yes, the U.S. uses more prescribed drugs than any other country and there are a lot more people out to make money both on the drug side and the supplement side... but that doesn't mean that all of them are like that either. There are pharmaceutical companies that have gotten in big trouble for putting harmful drugs on the market (which were pulled shortly thereafter) so they could make a quick buck and there are fraudsters that use buzz words from natural items (Acai and Resveratrol are some of the current ones) to make a quick buck. Both give their industries a bad name and it's a shame when they are used as examples of the industry... but unfortunately, it happens.

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Other Answers (3)

• They don't use 'alternative medicine' in hospitals.
  
  You don't see 'alternative medicine' ambulances.
  
  Alt med practioners exist on the fringes of society where they are able to make a living from those who are either poorly educated or/and extremely desperate (such as the fatally ill). This pitiful situation allows these ill people to be easily preyed upon by scammers.
  
  Cancer survival rates give you a good idea of how advanced medical technology saves lives: The US, Japan and France are the top 3 countries in the world for cancer survival.
  
  Take a look at the bottom countries for longevity and you'll see that they all have very poor health care and education systems. No surprise that this is where voodoo, witchcraft and alt meds flourish!

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• Complementary medicine is the number one cause for death in the united states as of 2004!!!!!! thats crazy so with that said alternative medicine cant do as much harm and does have benefits...and colon cleansing does work but make sure your in bathroom with one of those industrial toilets cause you wont be able to flush 10lbs of shi* in your own!!!!!
• Holistic healing has been used for well over 6000 years and forms the basis of traditional Chinese medicine - treating the entire body instead of using patented drugs and treatments which only manage symptoms.
  
  Today, over 80% of the people in the world still look to herbal medicine for healing and most people outside the western world practice some form of holistic and/or herbal healing.
  
  By contrast, in the United States we spend far more per capita on drugs than any other country - and yet we continue to fall further behind other countries in terms of longevity and child mortality (the two most prominent indicators of overall quality of health). As of 2004, we had fallen to 42nd in terms of life expectancy and fared little better in ters of infant mortality too.
  
  Despite what some would have you believe, the increases we have seen in life expectancy are primarily due to increased hygeine and reductions in child mortality. Over 150 years ago, once a person reached 21, the life expectancy was similar to what it is today.
  
  No one ever becomes ill or dies due to a deficiency in patented medicines - and patented medicines by an large only address the symptoms of illness instead of the underlying causes. And they do so at quite a price, since 95% of them have side effects and those side effects often lead to other health conditions requiring still more drugs with still more side effects in a never ending cycle of managed illness.
  
  Would you rather end up being 65 years old and taking 15 or more prescribed and over the counter drugs which work primarily by making the body function unnaturally, or would you rather live a healthy lifestyle, eat a healthy diet, and make sure you get optimum amounts of all the many, many vital nutrients that make for a strong immune system and healthy body and enjoy healthy and robust life well into your 60's, 70's and even 80's? You are much more likely to do that with a holistic approach than an unnatural medicated one.
  
  And yes, like all things, there are money making schemes to be found in natural and holistic medicine. On the other hand, some would say that mainstream medicine itself is largely a money making scheme.
  
  Just remember, the science of today is often proven to be the quackery of tomorrow and science has never become God. Neither have God and Nature ever become quacks.
  
  EDIT: I am with Oldtimekid2 - when it comes to broken parts, other serious physical trauma trauma, and emergency care, I too would usually go for allopathic care. Fixing broken parts is what they do best, along with diagnostics. It is when they treat the body as a collection of parts for illness and disease and take out their prescription pads to treat symptoms often caused by natural deficiencies that the trouble begins.
  
  Notes to mainstream naysayer Dave: You don't find herbal medicines in hospitals or ambulances because they are only permitted to use patented FDA approved drugs - and you cannot patent nature. The countries with the top 10 best longevity rates are marked by better nutrition and sanitation and at least four of them (Macau, Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan) make extensive use of herbal medicines.
  
  The countries at the bottom ten list for longevity are marked by extreme poverty, high infant mortality, poor sanitation and lack of clean drinking water - none of which have a thing to do with herbal medicine.
  
  And about those top three cancer survival rate countries, the US and France are also among the top ten countries in incidence of cancer. Japan on the other hand, makes much more use of herbal and alternative cancer treatments and has both a low incidence of cancer and a high survival rate. In the US, the state with the highest overall cancer survival rate is Hawaii, which has a large native and Asian population and is noted for use of native herbs and several alternative cancer treatment centers.

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