The Good And Bad Of Alternative Versus Conventional Medicine

By Richard Ealom

In the present United States, if you want care or therapy for a sickness or disease you still have one of two choices to pursue and that is conventional or alternative therapy. The primary important factor to weigh is to recognize the differences between the 2.

Conventional medicine has some pros and cons. It offers the best medicine in surgeries or trauma care but in the treatment of immune associated conditions it relies deeply on prescribing drugs and recommending invasive medical measures. Conventional tends to target treating symptoms, not the fundamental causes (repeat drug sales). It treats the human body in parts, not as a totality. The shaped thinking of conventional medical physicians is based upon using "rescue medicine," not finding therapy and avoidance alternatives for illnesses and disease and incorporated in all of this, Medical schools are set up by organ specific departments that don't share any kind of association with one another.

On the other hand, alternative medicine is not only avoidance-based but also approaches medical therapy by focusing mainly on hands-on measures, fundamentally it treats the condition, not the symptoms. In doing so, its goal is to target the totality body which is really more price effective.

The rising number of persons turning to alternative therapies is rapidly growing and is becoming more and more the chosen form of medical treatment among Americans. This is a good thing considering where health care in the U.S. could be heading. If healthcare becomes nationalized we will all have a value placed on us as to where we stand in the line.

Did you know that one out of every three Americans uses some kind of alternative medicine? Between 1990 and 1997 there was almost a 50 percent increase in trips to alternative practitioners. Who needs a drug that treats a symptom that not only comes with a list of possible side effects that you do not want any part of, but there is a good possibility you can't take the drug because your on some other prescribed drug(s) that are not compatible.

persons are starting to pick alternative therapies as a type of treatment, and you may be asking yourself the big question, "Why don't more conventional doctors recommend alternative medicine?"

Owing to pharmaceutical associations, with all the currency that is involved there is no looking back. Don't be shocked about this because the driving force behind the ongoing growth of conventional medicine has been the pharmaceutical industry, embraced by both physicians and pharmacists, who calculate their worth through treating disease by prescribing medications.

Schools of medicine are hugely funded by pharmaceutical companies so this industry has a tremendously vested interest in the marketing of their medicines. A company that is the top producer of prescription drugs offers scholarships and grants to medical schools so these 2 entities are connected at the hip.

Ever observe how many drug commercials consumers are exposed to? The mass media is about making capital just like the pharmaceutical industy and those ads must be making profit for the media and visa-versa. Over the past few years mass media advertising for drugs have exploded. Multi-billions are spent on advertisements for prescription drugs and consumers do listen and make inquiries with their physician on particular drugs they saw or heard in an ad.

As you might guess, funding conventional medicine towers over the funding allotted alternative medicine to the tune of $12 billion to the National Institutes of Health to only about $5.5 million to the Office of Alternative Medicine to examine claims of various therapies.

The consequences for the nearly blatant disdain of alternative medicine research results in preventing relevant research projects, it has negative effects on the research infrastructure and it does not draw the highly-skilled scientists to enter the field for a number of reasons, ironically 1 being the complaint that alternative medicine lacks the scientific research to support their practices.

Conventional has come a long way and people still come to the U.S. due to the medical technology which is second to none, but it has it's flaws and it does not discount that it is profit driven by big pharma and its influence. People are becoming more and more aware of this so we see a growth in the public turning to alternative methods for therapy.

Don't look for the drug industry controlled mainstream medical industry to show much empathy any time soon. There is too much money involved. In view of the state of affairs on health care in America with the present administration, now more than ever it is up to us to be hands-on in taking care of ourselves and check out what is available alternatively in the areas of prevention and treatment of sickness and disease. - 30540

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