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Chinese traditional medicine or western medicine essay
Outstanding features of traditional Chinese medicine
Outstanding features of traditional Chinese medicine
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American Medicine vs. Traditional Chinese Medicine - Lajntxiag
Being Hmong-American, I grew up with aiding my illnesses and injuries with traditional Chinese medicine. The problem with traditional Chinese medicine is I am allergic to the natural herbs and ingredients. As a kid, I often had large blisters all over my body due to the herbs, but with the American vaccines, I was able to recover from the blisters. My past experiences lead me to question why herbs are even relevant to aid someone when vaccines and pills were clearly more effective. Although both American medicine and traditional Chinese medicine have the same purpose to aid someone, the distinct branches of social acceptance, accessible distribution, and effective application are significant.
In modern society, beliefs and values are very important to an individual. With American medicine, followers support their practices because it is based on science and undergoes the scientific method. Followers of American medicine feel safe knowing that factual research and strict experimentation must be first conducted for consumption of the drug to be safe in the human anatomy. This is why American medicine is
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Medicinal herbs have been a gesture to treat headaches, migraines, and occasional colds by American doctors. However, for Americans, it is more convenient to go to a drug store and buy cough syrup or headache relief pills. In eastern nations, many citizens are against the ideas of western nation healthcare, but that doesn’t mean that citizens of eastern nations don’t go to hospitals or get treated by American influenced doctors. When medicinal herbs show no sign of effective treatment, last resort is to go to a clinic and be examined. Although western healthcare is looked down upon, in a life threatening moment, it is clear to seek any sort of treatment to be
This book addresses one of the common characteristics, and challenges, of health care today: the need to achieve a working knowledge of as many cultures as possible in health care. The Hmong population of Merced, California addresses the collision between Western medicine and holistic healing traditions of the Hmong immigrants, which plays out a common dilemma in western medical centers: the need to integrate modern western medicinal remedies with aspects of cultural that are good for the well-being of the patient, and the belief of the patient’s ability to recuperate. What we see is a clash, or lack of integration in the example of the story thereof. Lia, a Hmong child with a rare form of epilepsy, must enter the western hospital instead of the Laotian forest. In the forest she would seek out herbs to remedy the problems that beset her, but in the west she is forced to enter the western medical hospital without access to those remedies, which provided not only physical but spiritual comfort to those members of the Hmong culture. The herbs that are supposed to fix her spirit in the forest are not available in the western hospital. The Merced County hospital system clashes with Hmong animist traditions.
Dr. John Abramson’s book Overdosed America debunks the myths about the excellence of American medicine. Abramson backs up this claim by closely examining research about medicine, closely examining the unpublished details submitted by drug manufacturers to the FDA, and discovering that the unpublished data does not coincide with the claims made about the safety and effectiveness of commonly used medicines. Abramsons purpose is to point out the flaws of the pharmaceutical industry in order to warn the readers about the credibility of the drugs they are buying. Given the critical yet technical language of the book, Abramson is writing to an audience that may include academic physicians as well as those who want to learn about the corruption of the pharmaceutical industry.
In Southeastern Asian cultures, coining is a common home remedy used to relieve colds, headaches, and pain. Coining involve using a coin with balm oil to rub repeatedly on skin causing bruising (Nguyen, 1985). In Western medicine, coining is not view as a health benefit, but as health care providers, it is important to interject different beliefs from patients in which we are caring for. According to my grandma, coining is an effective home treatment that has been passed on for many generations. My grandma explained that when someone has a cold, it means the body has caught the wind, thus, we use coining to help scrape the wind away. Parts of our cultural value include curing ourselves of illnesses naturally and not rely on Western medicine. However gradually, I remember my grandma having frequent doctor visits due to her recurrent illnesses. Although my grandma was compliance with going to the doctors, she was stubborn with taking her medications. It was not until after several visits that the doctor became very adamant that her symptoms would get worst if she continues to refuse her medications. The fear of her symptoms will get worst forced her to cooperate. Although my family’s main health belief was coining; however, they accepted Western medicine when coining wasn’t effective.
Mathews, Holly F. "Introduction: A Regional Approach and Multidisciplinary Persepctive." Herbal and Magical Medicine: Traditional Healing Today. Ed. James Kirkland, Holly F. Mathews, C. W. Sullivan, III, and Karen Baldwin. Durham: Duke UP, 1992. 1-13. Print.
Many people don’t believe in medicine at all. The most commonly used treatment is prayer. Ordinary people relied on methods their parents and grandparents used, such as lucky charms, magic spells and herbal cures. Some of the herbal remedies are quite useful. The monks who looked after sick travellers in the monasteries were very skilled in using herbs.
Today marriage is defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as the relationship between a husband and a wife or a similar relationship between people of the same sex. For the purposes of this paper, it will focus on marriage between a man and a woman and how marriage is differently defined between the American and Chinese cultures. This paper will discuss the cultural differences found between the American and Chinese culture with emphasis on age and mate-selection. The cultural differences between American and Chinese culture related to marriage practices shows that Americans value individualism and Chinese historically value collectivism.
The major use for herbal medicines is for the promotion of health and for therapy for chronic conditions, instead of being used for life-threatening conditions; except in the event of say advanced cancer or new infectious diseases when conventional medicine practices no longer are working an individual may use traditional remedies. While traditional medicines are often mistaken that because they are natural that they are safe, non-toxic, which is not always the case. In cases when an individual is taking herbs with prescription drugs, over-the-counter medications, or other herbs that may cause some adverse side affects. As a flourishing commercial enterprise, it doesn’t matter why an individual uses traditional medicines, it provides important health care services for individuals that have access physically or finantually to allopathic
Comparison of American and Chinese Cultures Cultural differences are apparent from one group of people to another. Culture is based on many things that are passed on from one generation to the next. Most of the time, people take for granted their language, beliefs, and values. When it comes to the cultural differences of people, there is no right or wrong. People should be aware of others culture and respect the differences that exist between them.
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and Western Medicine (WM) differ from each other in many ways. TCM favors a holistic approach, views the universe and body philosophically and develops inductive tools and methods to guide restoring the total balance of the body. In Chinese medicine, the correct balance between Yin and Yang make up the vital energy, Qi, an essential life-sustaining substance of which all things are made. Some Traditional remedies include herbal medicines, acupuncture, massage and moxibustion, an herbal heat therapy. Western medicine is closely linked to the scientific method and emphasizes biochemical processes causes disease, its treatment and health. This form of treatment views all medical phenomena as cause-effect sequences and relies on drugs, radiation and surgery to alleviate symptoms and cure diseases. As you see, the two types of medicine are completely challenged differently depending on the doctor, the diagnosis, and the treatment options. All of these are completely different when compared with each other.
Traditional Chinese Medicine: An Introduction [NCCAM Backgrounder]. (n.d.).National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine [NCCAM] - nccam.nih.gov Home Page. Retrieved December 11, 2011, from http://nccam.nih.gov/health/whatiscam/chinesemed.htm
Every year, approximately 230, 000 to 400. 00 deaths are caused by iatrogenic deaths ( in other words, these are deaths caused by wrong medical treatments). Two of the prominent yet some what contrasting types of medicine are, Ayurveda, the Indian traditional medicine, and Modern (aka western) medicine. Both of these have their own processes and methods of healing, which over the years have created their own followers. While Ayurveda addresses the root causes of the disease through identifying the imbalances in the elements, called “Doshas”, it also emphasizes on a spiritual lifestyle which for most people in today's world is a sea change. On the other hand, western medicine addresses the symptoms and provides instant albeit temporary relief for suffering. Needless to say there are more followers of the western medicine due to its immediate impact on subsiding the pain. Out of lack of awareness to the significance of traditional medicine, especially Ayurveda, many doctors and researchers are against the use of Ayurvedic and traditional medicines, which limits the potential of curing certain ailments of patients without additional side effects.
When you are sick you take medicine, but there are many remedies for the same problems. The use of herbal remedies traces back to the Chinese in the use of Traditional Chinese Medicine, as well by a compiled book in China written back more than 2,000 years ago (Wachtel-Galor & Benzie, 2011). Modern medicine has roots that are more recent in the development and production of synthesize drugs (Wachtel-Galor & Benzie, 2011). The old generations took herbal remedies to improve their health, but now as time and people, progressed modern medicine comes on top. Herbal and modern medicines have good and bad points, but one has qualities that are more effective.
Over the centuries, ancients made use of several treatment methods. Two of them are modern medicine and traditional medicine. Alternative medicine is older than modern one. That effective therapy has used for many centuries on the patience when modern medicine has not occurred in the world. Because it has improved in China, it can be called Traditional Chinese Medicine. In contrast, modern medicine has been in used since 1900’s. In this system, drugs’ testes are done in safety laboratories with care and nicety, and their side effects are located before they are given to the patient. However, sometimes the side effects are not blocked so, people have to take another pill to get better. It makes people to take more chemicals into their bodies. Further, modern medicine has splendid efficacy on the fatal diseases. Even, alternative medicine which people’s ancestors utilized stayed in the background when modern medicine has just found, it works at the present time efficaciously. ****** Therefore, using alternative medicine is more helpful to get better than modern medicine because there are fewer drugs, side effects; there is placebo effect and holistic therapy.
Over the centuries, several treatment methods have been utilized by humans for remedy diseases when they caught. Two of them are modern medicine and traditional medicine. Traditional medicine, which is also called alternative treatment, is older than modern medicine. This effective treatment had been used for many centuries before modern medicine was found. On the contrary, modern medicine has been used since the 1900’s (Lyons). In this system, drugs’ tests are carefully done in the safe laboratories, and their side effects are identified before they are given to the patient. Moreover, the effects of the pills are written on the leaflets which are found in the drug packages to warn the patients for these effects. However, sometimes the side effects are not blocked, so people have to take another pill to get better. It makes people take more chemicals into their bodies. Even traditional medicine, give its place to the modern medicine when its beginning times, it is used efficaciously like modern medicine at the present time. In course of time, people will gain reliance on traditional medicine again, since alternative medicine is more efficient and powerful in order to get better and soothe the diseases than modern medicine. In fact, in traditional medicine, there are fewer drugs, side effects, holistic therapy that people can be availed.
On the other hand, the World Health Organization (WHO) defines traditional medicine as: The sum total of the knowledge, skills, and practices based on the theories, beliefs, and experiences indigenous to different cultures, whether explicit or not, used in the maintenance of health as well as in the prevention, diagnosis, improvement or treatment of physical and mental illness. (Zhang, 2000, p. 1) Traditional medicine is very different from modern medicine, and without disputing the benefits to modern medicine, it is essential to recognize the positive impact traditional medicine has upon people worldwide. A large aspect of traditional medicine is the usage of medicinal plants, which are the focus of this report.