Defining Alternative Medicine

Alternative medicine is quickly gaining ground as an alternative to the conventional medicine that is prescribed in the doctor’s office and many reasons can be attributed to this among them the need to remain chemical –free. In theory, alternative medicine can be said to be any medicine that is not within western medicine’s scientific framework. Medicines that have been proven to be scientifically effective and that have theories that explain their effectiveness they are no longer seen as alternative medicine. Some countries on the other hand have medical associations that are tasked with dealing with every aspect of medicine and in this countries, traditional medicine is any medicine that these bodies have not accepted as being scientifically valid. In some of these countries massage is classified as alternative medicine as well.

To some people, alternative medicine is just herbs. Well herbs are indeed traditional medicine but they are not the only ones available today. Herbal medicines have been with us for a long time and presently take different forms such as supplements, liquids among others. Herbal medicines treat most diseases that are treatable by conventional medicines and treat more that conventional medicine cannot treat as well. While herbal medicine has been proven to work in many instances, quite a number of people have been affected by them as their herbalists never gave them the correct dosage or never warned them of fillers or side effects. These three areas should be looked into by a trained herbalist before one decides to take on herbal medicines.

Oriental medicine is another kind of alternative medicine and also presents the only one of its kind that can truly be compared to western medication as a good and complete medicine system. This kind of medicine includes herbal therapy, massage, qi gong and acupuncture among others. Traditional medicine from China is a form of oriental medicine and it is the only of its kind that be found in countries such as the USA. In most Asian countries oriental medicine is seen as conventional while the western kind is seen as alternative. Massage presents another way through which the body can be healed without the use of conventional medicines. It involves the use of tools or hands to manipulate the tendons and muscles and is mainly used to ease pains and aches as well as to relieve stress. Massage is effective when it comes to conditions such as fibromyalgia, carpal tunnel syndrome and eating disorders. Moreover, it can treat most muscular injuries to avoid the building up of scars as well as restrict motion range. There are different types of massage treatments and they include Deep Tissue, Shiatsu, Swedish Massage, Thai Massage, Chair Massage, Medical Massage, Lomi Lomi, Hot stone among others. It is advisable that one goes to a specialist despite the form of alternative medicine they choose.

Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Simply known as CAM by most Americans, the complementary and alternative medicine is a difficult to define concept, which is no doubt a subject of discussion in healthcare circles. The American government defines CAM as "a group of diverse medical and healthcare systems, practices, and products that are generally considered part of conventional medicine." Notably however, CAM has two categories of medicine: complementary medicine, and alternative medicine. The distinction between these two categories is that the former can be used along conventional treatment, while the latter is used as a substitute to conventional treatment. Generally, conventional treatment refers to medicines or practices used by trained and qualified health professionals.

Treatment methods that rely on complementary and alternative methods usually use natural products such as herbs, mind and body healing techniques and manipulative body-based practices. It is however worth noting that most of the CAM practices do not guarantee healing and neither have researchers or scientists independently verified the benefits of such treatments. Regardless of this 'gaps’ in CAM practices, it is notable that at least 38 percent adult Americans use different forms of the complementary or alternative medicine.

The use of natural products is of special significance in the practice of complementary and alternative medicine. Specifically, CAM practitioners use 'natural products’ such as herbs, and microorganisms such as bacteria to improve human health. In a 2007 survey conducted by National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), it was found out a significant number of American adults  used 'natural products’, with or without knowing that they were a form of CAM. Among the most used complementary medicine/dietary supplement was Omega 3, with 37.4 American adults reportedly using it.

Apart from natural products, complementary and alternative medicine features mind-body techniques meant to enhance the interaction of the person’s behavior, body, mind, and brain. Such techniques include meditation, acupuncture, qi gong, tai chi, hypnotherapy, and yoga among others. Most of the mind-body techniques practiced in the contemporary was adopted from Asian countries. Tai chi and qi gong for instance have their origins in China, while yoga has been traced back to India.

Another common form of complementary and alternative medicine involves manipulative body-based practices. Therapies that fall within this category include massage therapy and spinal manipulation. Of the two, massage therapy is more common and involves pressing, rubbing, and manipulating muscle and soft tissues in a person’s body. Although massage can be used to enhance a person’s general well-being, people with known health conditions can still use it to relieve pain, address depression or anxiety, rehabilitate injuries, and increase relaxation. Spinal manipulation is more specific to people ailing from back pains. Due to the sensitive nature of the spine, only qualified personnel should practice any form of spinal manipulation.

Although less common, traditional healers are also classified as givers of complementary and alternative medicine. Such 'healers’ use indigenous beliefs and theories ostensibly to restore health and well-being to their clients. 

A New Alternative Cancer Treatment Successfully Fights Fire with Fire

There's something strange happening in the world of cancer treatment these days. The American Cancer Society is beginning to find that there are fewer people dying of cancer each year than the year before. Cancer related death rates are falling at 2% a year. When women are diagnosed with breast cancer, they actually live so long after it that when they die, it's through old age and not cancer. A great deal of credit for these figures can go to how the government and nonprofits have done spectacular work spreading word about what needs to be done to prevent cancer - like giving up smoking. But a great deal of attention is now focused on how the success can in large part be attributed to an alternative cancer treatment that has come up recently.

The reason cancer is so hard to battle is that it is an evolutionary process that brings it about. Cancer is a kind of accelerated evolutionary process. When cancer happens, it is in fact the effect of a cell of the body suddenly deciding to just evolve on its own, trying all kinds of new mutant genetic combinations. The cell rapidly multiplies, trying out all kinds of new stuff, going over in a few months, what it would take thousands of years for natural selection and evolution to achieve. When you try to fix the problem with a drug, it doesn't kill all of your cancer cells. You have all kinds of cells with varying genetic makeup. Some of them will be resistant to the drug and some of them won't. What happens when you start out on a new drug is, it kills off all the mutant cells that are unable to resist the drug. You usually feel better and believe the drug is working. The cells that have the genetic makeup to resist the drug take a few days to regroup and come back with a vengeance. This is why the best that cancer drugs often do is to allow patients to live a bit longer. They just buy you a little time.

The new alternative cancer treatment that scientists are trying out now tries to harness the natural selection process that cancer uses so as to be able to fight it on an equal footing. The immune system is the only part of the body that uses natural selection with the kind of rapidness that cancer uses. The immune system is designed to respond to microbes attacking the body by quickly designing new antibodies one after the other. Scientists are trying out alternative cancer treatment that uses the immune system against cancer. It's called immunotherapy.

They call immunotherapy cancer treatment a kind of cancer vaccine. The doctor takes a sampling of your immune cells and trains them, much like you would train a dog to go after a particular scent, to attack your cancer cells. He then puts those trained in cells back into your body. And then he says "Go get 'em, boy!". They multiply and successfully wipe the cancer out. At least that's what happens in theory. In practice, it doesn't work that well. But it's a promising new hope for the future.