Alternative and Conventional Medicine Essay
Alternative and Conventional Medicine Essay
Alternative medicine refers to various branches of medical science that make use of natural healing. That is use of traditional method for curing diseases . Alternative medicine is nowadays known as complementary medicine. It includes a philosophy and practice that is inclusive of a variety of world cultures. Examples of alternative medicine are herbs, acupuncture, acupressure, aromatherapy, meditation, and homeopathy. On the other hand, conventional medicine refers to the traditional medicine which the majority are familiar with. Alternative and Conventional Medicine Essay.Examples of conventional medicine include surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy. It is associated with the local doctors, clinics, and pharmacies. There exists a lot of similarities and differences between the two modes mode of medicine as discussed below.
According to Barnes et al 2008, conventional medicine is the best when it comes to surgery, trauma care, and acute life-threatening illness while alternative medicine is based on proactive measures. This means that conventional medicine is mainly used to prevent further damage and to heal the affected organs to prolong life while alternative medicine focuses on how to fight and eradicate what a patient is already suffering from. Conventional medicine is effective when it comes to masking symptoms and providing immediate relief. On the other hand, alternative medicine does not only cure the symptoms of an illness but also the cause of that very sickness.
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When it comes to the cost of treatment, conventional medicine is relatively cheap since it is widely and its intensively covered by insurance. In case one suffers an illness whose treatment is through conventional medicine if that person has an insurance, then the cost of treatment will be covered by the insurance agency since conventional medicine is widely used in the western countries thus if the patient is to be transferred from the country of residence to another for treatment it is easier. When it comes to alternative medicine, the cost of treatment is expensive since the insurance agencies don’t recommend and do not cover this in their packages. This is because alternative medicine is not widely known neither widely spread since it is practised by the local doctors, clinics, and pharmacies(Eisenberg p. 1570).
According to Schwartz p.6, he said alternative medicine is the best option to opt for when it comes to chronic diseases rather than conventional medicine. This is because alternative medicine methods focus the entire body as a correlated system thus preventing further spread to the unaffected organs while conventional medicine methods treat the body in parts, not as a whole.Alternative and Conventional Medicine Essay. He further says conventional medicine methods are often penetrative and have severe side effects as compared to alternative medicine methods which are generally safe and have minimal side effects when used as instructed.
Alternative medicine methods require more self-knowledge and self-guidance since unknown and not familiar to many practitioners and the patients don’t have knowledge of it unlike conventional medicine methods which are taught by many medical institutions thus many doctors are widely equipped and have majored in this field. There are many doctors who are well equipped for treating different parts of the body, unlike alternative medicine method practitioners who entirely treat the whole body parts. This makes it fast and more quickly for a patient to notice the change and the effect of the conventional methods compared to alternative methods which take a long time to be effective since addressing the main cause is more involved than just relieving the signs seen.
In the conventional medicine approach, advanced and technological equipment are used to know the type of disease one is suffering from. However the healing also involves modern equipment but when it comes to the alternative method, the practitioner relies on the patient’s explanation, the symptoms and from their own experience and knowledge. The medicine used in the conventional method is for the specific illness but in the alternative method, the medicines used are often known to heal a wide range of sickness and deseases
There exists a number of similarities between alternative medicine and conventional medicine. According to Schwartz p.4, both of these modes of treatment are aimed at relieving pain in a patient. However how different this two can be, the end result is one; curing an illness. For instance, two people can suffer from the same disease. One may opt to go for alternative medicine method and the other one opt for conventional medicine method, but will be curing the same illness but using different methods. One may recover quickly and fast due to the effectiveness of the method used but at long last, both will have cured that same disease. Alternative and Conventional Medicine Essay.
When it comes to these two, both have medicine to be prescribed to the patients. Both have a certain way of issuing dosage and prescription to their patients. They follow the same method to recommend the medicine to be used and the right dosage. There have been instances where conventional medicine practitioners have sent and referred some of their patients to alternative medical practitioners if the conventional methods don’t prove effective and in some cases where some diseases which are believed to be inherited.
In order to bridge the gap between this two methods of treatment, integrative medicine was created. Integrated medicine was created to heal and focus on the patient’s health. This was to enhance even the relationship between the mind, body and even with the physicians. This helped in integrating the best and appropriate method to be used when healing a certain disease thus enabling doctors to know if it requires alternative or conventional medicine method for the well being of the patient. For instance, the conventional medicine method has proved to be very effective when it comes to cancer treatment since the therapies involved require the use of modern equipment .Despite the fact that is expensive
In conclusion, the two methods of treatment; alternative and conventional medicine methods are both effective when it comes to treatment of disease .The patient is the one to decide which way to one to use since both methods deliver the same effect, pain relief and cure. Alternative and Conventional Medicine Essay.
References
- Schwartz, Gary E. “Energy cardiology: A dynamical energy systems approach for integrating conventional and alternative medicine.” Advances in Mind-Body Medicine 12.4 (1996): 4-24.
- Barnes, Patricia M., Barbara Bloom, and Richard L. Nahin. “Complementary and alternative medicine use among adults and children; the United States, 2007.” (2008).
- Eisenberg, David M., et al. “Trends in alternative medicine use in the United States, 1990-1997: results of a follow-up national survey.” Jama 280.18 (1998): 1569-1575.
- Astin, John A. “Why patients use alternative medicine: results of a national study.” Jama 279.19 (1998): 1548-1553.
Today many people in the UK and US choose to be treated by methods that are not based on Western scientific methods, that is the science and practice of medicine which is standard in the West. These methods are known as ?Alternative medicine? or ?Complementary medicine? ,which include homeopathy, acupuncture, osteopathy, aromatherapy, chiropractic medicine, and reflexology among others. Chinese medicine is also increasingly popular.
However, since the early 1980s alternative medicine has become more and more popular, and although it is not officially accepted by the medical profession, some doctors do accept that such methods can be effective in treating some types of illnesses. Furthermore, conventional medicine has its limitations, since some illnesses are incurable and some others which are caused by psychological problems cannot be cured by its methods. In contrast, alternative medicine can be effective in many such circumstances and there is a general acceptance that its methods can be beneficial. Many people who have not found a solution to their problem in conventional medicine have resorted to alternative medicine and obtained effective results, as is the case with hypnotherapy which has helped many people in overcoming problems such as insomnia, stress-related disorders, a smoking habit, an allergy, aches and pains. In addition, people who are in favour of alternative medicine claim that it is good because it is natural. But not all the people who have tried alternative medicine felt enthusiastic about it from the very beginning. On the contrary, many of them mistrusted it and felt apprehensive or sceptic, and after their experience they changed their mind and were pleased with it as they noticed an improvement in their condition. In other cases, however, people who lacked motivation in undergoing such treatments and were unable to take them seriously found them ineffective and felt unconvinced or even resentful after their experience. Alternative and Conventional Medicine Essay. This shows that most probably motivation and trust on the part of people play an important role in the results of alternative medicine.
In conclusion, it can be said that there can be many potential benefits as well as drawbacks in alternative medicine, and that its effectiveness can depend heavily on people’s reliability and motivation with respect to it. Nevertheless it is not scientifically based and cannot be regarded as having as consistent results as is the case of conventional medicine. In spite of this fact, many people choose to be treated by alternative medicine. Alternative and Conventional Medicine Essay.
