Health Diseases Treatments

In a short answer, no. In a long answer, yes. Here are now the details of this seemingly contradictory predicament when answering the question, “Is alternative medicine effective?”

By Itself, No

If all you want to rely on to get well and stay well is alternative medicines and therapies, save your time and your money. It is no magic pill. It requires you to make decisions and change habits of a lifetime. You can’t just rub a crystal of sniff aromatherapy oil or go to a hypnotist and let them cure you. Sorry, mate, it doesn’t work like that. So, for someone who wants someone else to all the work of getting healthy and staying that way, then the answer for “Is alternative medicine effective?” For you, it’s no.

With more and more people becoming interested in obtaining medical care through alternative sources, it is important to find qualified practitioners of alternative medicine. The American Institute of Alternative Medicine is a school dedicated to training interested parties in the art of alternative medicine.

The American Institute Of Alternative Medicine: Choices In Programs

The American Institute of Alternative Medicine was formally known as the The Massage Away Therapy Inc. school. The original school was founded in 1990 in Ohio. When the interest grew from just massage to other forms of alternative medicine, the school reorganized to begin to offer a selection of alternative therapies to learn about.

Alternative medicine continues to increase in popularity for patients. Many people see the benefits of using alternative medicine in conjunction with the more traditional medicine. Alternative medicine can consists of something as simple as using aromatherapy to the more complex homeopathic form that integrates using a technique to promote the persons own body to respond to what is making them ill, by introducing the component into the system and having the patients own immune system recover.

It’s a great night here in Metaphorical Mind Wrestling arena, where we have the Grand Champeen Really Heavy, Man bout tonight! Yes, ladies and gentlemen, tonight is the long anticipated grudge match of Alternative Medicine Verses Conventional Medicine!

They’ve been yelling at each other for years, and now they are going to get down and dirty to prove once again might makes right.

In The Sterilized Scrubs

In this corner, we have Conventional Medicine, which is actually a heck of a lot younger than Alternative Medicine. He is the bodacious caduceus corner with the sterilized green shorts and scrubs. He is the favorite to win this bout of Alternative Medicine verses Conventional Medicine. He has a huge proven and documented training team. He also has had spectacular knock outs against polio, malaria and smallpox. His style is to find the symptom that hurts and completely dominate it. His attack is totally on the physical body of his opponent.

People from the developed world who spend time in emerging countries or in lands of ancient civilizations, often encounter alternative medicine doctors with surprisingly pleasing results. A first consultation may occur when accompanying a friend or a colleague to a local dispensary, or even during a casual or a social conversation. Awareness of such professional services also spreads in these countries through media reports and by advertisements for some of the products they are known to use. Surveys show that general interest levels in traditional systems of medicine are on the rise everywhere.

The cost of health care has steadily risen over the past decade. Without medical, dental and prescription drug insurance, many people simply can’t pay for necessary treatment. Holistic alternative medicine could help defray many medical costs because of its focus on preventing illness; it is much less expensive to prevent an illness or injury than it is to treat one.

The Canadian Holistic Medicine Association describes holistic alternative medicine as a system of health care which fosters a cooperative relationship among all those involved, leading to an optimal attainment of the physical, emotional, social and spiritual aspects of health. Rather than seeing a patient just as “the kidney failure in room 602,” holistic alternative medicine the entire personal spectrum of every person including environment, nutrition, and lifestyle.

Modern Medicine is only a little more than 100 years old. Before that, doctors were trained by apprenticeship, dating back to pre-recorded history. Today, we look at traditional medicine as that taught in medical schools. Non-traditional medicine includes practices as acupuncture; massage therapy, and herbal medicine. Herbal medicine has been practiced for centuries but is not being recognized and licensed.

Alternative medicine physician’s herb’s is a practice of medicine that is the oldest form of medical treatment known though out the world. The uses of different plants have been handed down through centuries. In fact, many of the prescription drugs today are made from plant extracts. Today, many of the common healing herbs are purified and packaged by health food stores.

Let us ride the spaceship of our imagination into a parallel world. Everything is exactly the same as this world, except that for the city of Chicago. In this alternative Chicago, medicine choices are far more varied and accessible than in many other American cities and towns. If a patient wanted to see a doctor, he or she could see a doctor. And if that same patient wanted to see a hypnotist or a acupuncturist, he or she had many to choose from. Let us zoom in and take a closer look at this alternative Chicago, medicine and their practitioners.

You grew up with being taken to a modern doctor. Your parents grew up going to modern doctors. Your grandparents most likely grew up going to modern doctors. But now there is a resurgence of interest in medicines such as herbs, essential oils, pressure points and acupuncture. You wonder if these are any better for you in your circumstance. What are the advantages of alternative medicine?

Holistic Detective Agency

The late, great Douglas Adams wrote about a detective who used a different but effective method for solving crimes. He ran a “holistic detective agency”, looking at all areas of life, the universe and everything in order to find clues. In a way, you and your alternative medicine practitioner are also holistic detectives. You do not look just at the physical causes of your illness. You are to look at your emotional, social and spiritual causes. You also have to take a look at your whole diet, your whole exercise routine (or lack thereof) and your whole ways of handling stress. This look at the entire person is one of the best advantages of alternative medicine.

Don’t let the titles in the bookstore or online fool you. There is no one Alternative Medicine Encyclopedia that is universal. Unlike a Encyclopedia Britannica, which can report on mostly undisputed facts and figures, an alternative medicine does not contain enough universal elements for there to be a definitive alternative medicine encyclopedia.

The Book Of Shadows

In ancient times, village healers, shamans and witches wrote their own alternative medicine encyclopedias. They were called grimoires, Books of Shadows or botanicals. Some of the oldest written works in the world contain information on alternative medicine. For example, ancient Indian texts contain the Ayurveda system of alternative therapy.