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Benefits of alternative medicine over conventional medicine
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FACT: Two in three people are affected by ulcers. The more shocking revelation is that almost all of these people do not experience any symptoms (Pearlstein). It is a silent killer. There are two known ways of curing ulcers. One is the traditional way, which is history based and a scientifically proven remedy for ulcers. The other is the industrial way, which is a controversial issue that is scientifically based and historically inefficient. Noni is a naturally occurring plant that is native to the Pacific islands. Noni has been attributed to cure a wide range of medical diseases but not everything is scientifically supported. Noni has a very intriguing chemical composition which makes it the center of studies for most biochemists in today’s world. Noni is much more efficient than Maalox, one of the industrially produced medicines, because it minimizes more lesions, has fewer side effects, and can be utilized for a long period of time.
Noni is a good lesion minimizer. Its high saponin content helps the stomach stabilize its acidity. Saponin is attributed to various medicinal properties of plants like their gastroprotective properties (Murakami et al.). Thus, Noni’s anti-ulcer abilities are mainly attributed to its saponin content. Some botanists also attribute it to xeronine, another chemical that naturally occurs in Noni (Heinicke). Its effects are still to be proven but it can also help explain Noni’s gastroprotective activity. Saponin and xeronine are very well treated by the body and their cumulative effects are very beneficial. It is also very organic to the human body and it does not produce dangerous substances that harm the body. Noni has a good chemical composition that makes it a better anti-ulcerant than other industr...
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Ross defines and differentiates between the terms healing and curing. She recognizes the fact that healing and curing are very intertwined and it can be hard to distinguish between the two terms. There are differences between the definitions in scholarly and general settings. She references an ethnographic study of healing versus curing conducted by anthropologists Andrew Strathern and Pamela Stewart in 1999 with native groups in New Guinea. The results of the study looked at how energy used by the different types of tribal healers to either cure or heal a patient. Eastern medicine focuses on how energy interacts with the healing process in connection within the mind. Whereas Western medicine is focused on the mind and the body separately. The practice is considered a holistic approach to finding cures. According to Ross (2013), healing is more a therapeutic process targeting the whole body and specific illness including emotional, mental, and social aspects in the treatment. The act of curing is a pragmatic approach that focuses on removing the problem all together. The life experiences of a person playing into how well certain treatments will heal or cure what is ailing them. These aspects can not be defined with textbook definitions. The interaction that the healing process has with energy is a variable in the success rate. Uncontrolled emotions can have a greater impact on the inside the body than a person can realize. The exploration of energy interaction within the body can be used for greater analysis of health care systems. (21-22). Are Western healthcare facilities purposely “curing” patients just so that they return are few years later? Is Western Medicine built upon a negative feedback loop? The terminolo...
Even with all today’s advances in medicine, 30% of adults and 12% of children use healthcare outside of the conventional or mainstream medicine. When non-mainstream medicine is used in place of conventional medicine it is known as alternative. When non-mainstream medicine is used with conventional medicine it is known as complementary. A combination of conventional and complementary is known as integrative medicine. Complementary and alternative medicine, also known as CAM, is the use of medical products and practices that are not part of standard medical care. It is most commonly used by people suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD. PTSD is a mental health condition triggered by an event. Symptoms usually include behavior
Many of the inequalities in the health of the Aboriginal people can be attributed to the
Henderson, L., Yue, Q. Y., Bergquist, C., Gerden, B., & Arlett, P. (2002). St John's wort (Hypericum perforatum): drug interactions and clinical outcomes. British journal of clinical pharmacology. 2002; 54(4):349-356.
Wolf, David. "Cirrhosis." Medscape reference. WebMd LLC, Sep 22 2011. Web. 4 Nov 2011. .
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.
Cancer is presently responsible for about 25% of all deaths in US and other developed countries. On a yearly basis, 0.5% of the population is diagnosed with cancer. It can be treated with chemotherapy, immunotherapy, targeted therapies etc., but all these have side effects and that is why botanical treatment turns useful.
Today people are becoming more aware of the advantages of using natural health products. Apart from it being a cost-efficient solution to maintain and attain healthier body, the products made from herbal and natural ingredients offer a myriad of benefits compared to those made from chemical and artificial ingredients. The followi...
Modern medicine has eradicated diseases such as smallpox, polio, and malaria in many parts of the world, preventing many deaths. Yet, with many emerging alternative practices, the American society is slowly becoming more reliant on alternative medicines with little scientific evidence. However, one alternative practice, homeopathy, is slowly becoming accepted by many physicians. Now that homeopathy is sanctioned by the Federal Drug Administration (FDA), many physicians and scientists believe that this practice is as effective as allopathic medicine. Even with the acceptance by the FDA, there are still low amounts of prescription medicine based on homeopathy and many homeopathic remedies are not used in hospitals. This creates a question: If many physicians suggest the use of homeopathic medicines, does that actually mean it works; can they be equivalently compared to allopathic medicines? Although homeopathic medicines are considered as alternative medicines, approval by the Federal Drug Administration allows homeopathic medicine to be used in equivalence to over-the-counter allopathic medicine.
Herbal remedies’ qualities are widespread availability, lower cost, effective for chronic conditions. Herbal remedies are the use of plants or plant extract to treat a person’ overall health. Herbal treatments are prominent for developing countries for instance, “in Africa up to 90% and in India 70% of the population depend on traditional medicine to help meet their health care needs” (Wachtel-Galor & Benzie, 2011), due to their low cost and availability. Herbal remedies have gained attention in the past decades, and expanding their uses due to the increased interest of natural therapies (Wachtel-Galor & Benzie, 2011). Herbs used on the remedies grow in the wild throughout the world, therefore making it easy to
Traditional herbal medicine comes from many different areas of the world (Indian, Chinese, African, Western, Native American herbs, Ayurvedic and other indigenous medicines) and in most all of them they are still b...
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.
Ayurveda is the general name given to the collective practices of ancient Indian medicine and is made up of many different components such as lifestyle changes, iridology, massage therapy, aromatherapy and importantly, the application of medicinal plants and herbs. As an ancient science, until recently not much research has been conducted on the efficacy of such treatments and practices. This has been due to both the lack of availability of concrete resources and debate on the validity of translations of first sources. Of all the herbs, the use of three of the traditional plant-based treatments- namely Neem (Azardirachta indica), Sage (various Salvia species) and Turmeric (Curcuma longa) - will be discussed due to reported high efficiency rates and frequent usage. These plants are reported to be highly useful in the field of Ayurveda and are not only the most frequently listed of all the herbs but also the most frequently researched. Although many cases have been documented to prove the usefulness of these herbs, there have been many cases that discourage the practice of Ayurveda by providing an argument against the safety and reliability of these herbs. Many of these claims now have recently been verified or shown to be false through proper scientific study. The use of neem and turmeric in particular has become highly controversial due to the concepts of biopiracy and biopatents and a brief introduction of that topic will be given with specific examples. Issues of safety and the general lack of scientific study will also be discussed. Negative effects of Ayurveda and Ayurvedic remedies that have been discovered through research are presented. Other benefits of using Ayurvedic plant-remedies such as cost effectiveness will also be analyzed.
Frequently a person believes that herbal medicine is more naturally safe and soothing than drugs. Nevertheless, there’s no reasonable defense about this. Though many consumers trusted herbal medicine much more than the synthetic medicine because it’s safe and effective, but like anything else, it has its own limitations too. There are several hostile issues related to herbal medicine that has been quite alarming. Notwithstanding, majority of the most popular herbs are at least nearly safe.
Traditional Medicine: A Modern Context. Modern medicine is finally starting to accommodate traditional medicine, though traditional medicine is still overlooked or regarded as a primitive form of treatment, providing nothing but placebo effects. According to the American National Cancer Institute, modern medicine is: A system in which medical doctors and other healthcare professionals (such as nurses, pharmacists, and therapists) treat symptoms and diseases using drugs, radiation, or surgery. NCI, para. -. 1)