hara11: I tend to use the great majority of complimentary/alternative medicine and I also feel that traditional western medicine has its place. Much of complimentary/alternative medicine is subtle and builds up the individual over time. What I like about many forms of comp/alt health is that they really are aimed at getting to the underlying cause of the presenting imbalance or dis-ease. Many of these forms of healing address the person in their many components such as physical, emotional, mental and spiritiual as well. All of us are a combination of these so all levels must be improved in order for a complete health to be present. To heal in this way is very, very empowering for the individual. Sometimes I believe there are methods of medicine currently in use that mask or delay the real healing.
One great example of this about myself is that during the last year two people moved out of my house. After they did, a longstanding hand injury I'd been having trouble healing up seemed to spontaneously heal. I am a musician and I was starting to think that I'd need to retire as I could not use my hand to play my violin at all. It was going on a couple years of this. I had utilized Western and complimentary methods of medicine to no avail. I did not realize the connection between the injury and the relationships until this happened. It was a good reminder to me to focus on placing myself in nuturing relationships instead of trying to hang in there endlessly trying to force things not in my control to work. Definitely this was about my emotionl, mental and physical state all combined.
Sometimes a person does need a diagnoostic tool or an emergency intervention which are two of the many good uses for Western medicine,in my opinion. I think there is a great fear about forms of medicine that cannot be proven scientifically. Still, many forms of our current medicines/methods are also still being proven, even if they are currently in use and FDA approved. I think it is important for each person to honor the forms they feel most drawn to. . . and maybe stay open to explore the possibility that many types of medicine are possible and effective.
Hara, I agree with much of your post. I'll say, though, that FDA approval doesn't mean much anymore when it comes to drugs because many are being approved with very little or no testing these days, and the side effects are only discovered in use. When it comes to treating cancer, the two most ineffective methods are the only two that are FDA approved, chemo and radiation. Nutrition therapy and herbal supplements, along with other "alternative" approaches depending on the type and location of the cancer, are much more effective. It's actually been proven in over 100 studies that chemo kills more than 40% of cancer patients. I do believe that in diagnosing a disease, and in treating acute injuries and conditions until a patient can stabilize, allopathic (traditional western) medicine has its place...for everything else, natural (alternative) medicine is better.
