The Pros And Cons Of Complementary And Alternative Medicine

You are going on day three of vomiting fever chills and dizziness, what do you do? You call the Doctor, and then you have the option go to the doctor’s office. The traditional doctor in America has gone through 12 years of school at a minimum and has studied the human body inside out in Medical school. When you visit the Doctor you pay your co pay and his doctor will take your blood pressure, weight and maybe even some blood test. This Doctor then proceeds to give you a diagnosis and prescribes a treatment if needed. This is how we heal and are traditionally treated in the primary care world. This is all covered under the health insurance you pay a monthly premium for. This is western medicine in America. There are new ways of treating “sick” people slowly moving into mainstream. Although these treatments have existed for quite some time,

As defined by the Oxford dictionary Complementary Medicine is “Any of a range of medical therapies that fall beyond the scope of scientific medicine but may be used alongside it in the treatment of disease and ill health.” (Oxford dictionary) also termed CAM. These practices work together to advance mind and body health. An example of a complementary therapy is the use of aromatherapy to help lessen a patient 's discomfort following surgery. Aromatherapy entails the use of oils extracted from flowers, stems, leaves, roots, and fruits of various plants absorbed into the body through the skin or respiratory system to improve mental and bodily health (Goldbas). Alternative medical practices are generally not recognized by the medical community as standard or conventional medical approaches. An example of Alternative medicine having a patient change their diet and adding supplements to help combat a diabetes diagnosis, instead of prescribing insulin. These two treatments combined are broken down into five main categories of