Antoaneta Sawyer, Ph.D.
Modern health care has expanded and changed remarkably recently. With the increasing data on multiple side effects and general depersonalization in the allopathic practices, CAM therapies are officially recognized by the Western and Eastern medical world. India is known as the first country that officially recognized ayurvedic medicine by governmental statements and for education and research (Pal, 2002). From a long term of a literature review it can be concluded that there are several well randomized and recognized surveys on the use of alternative medicine in the United States, the first of which was reported by Eisenberg (1990). The survey concludes that approximately one-third of American adults used unconventional medical treatments, and that the most frequent users were educated upper-income White Americans in the 25 to 49 year age group. Since 1990, other surveys have reported that the use of alternative medicine among Americans ranged from 30 to 73%. The largest of these includes (1997 survey sponsored by Landmark Health Care, a California HMO), found that 42% of the 1,500 adults surveyed had used alternative medicine in the previous 12 months and 74% of those used alternative approaches along with conventional medicine. The most recent national study reported that 40% of 1,035 adults surveyed had used alternative medicine in the previous year (Eisenberg, 1998).
The pharmaceutical industry is already ready to incorporate alternative substances purported to be beneficial. Nowadays more and more nutraceuticals are being studied and supported by numerous clinical trials. Some of their premium ingredients are already under approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Despite all efforts, FDA regulations are still designed for conventional drugs and they are not applicable for alternative medicine formulas and products. Unfortunately, some herbal products in today market have not been subjected to the drug approval process to demonstrate their safety and effectiveness and may contain mercury, lead, arsenic, corticosteroids and poisonous organic substances in harmful amounts. Eskinazi (1999) and Pal (2000) believe that the lack of clinical trials, what is a synonymous of unproven evidence, means that the likelihood of a successful outcome is often possible, despite predictions are not guaranteed. The authors consider, people must be aware of such risk, as they should also know in advance about the estimated cost for a complete course of treatment, including tests and medications, before starting any other selected CAM therapy. The authors are constantly encouraging patients who are taking conventional medication to disclose and discuss their intentions to use complementary therapies and to initiate treatment only under medical supervision may help reduce this risk, consider the authors.
At the 20th European Conference on Philosophy of Medicine and Health Care the biomedical model was characterized as materialistic, mechanistic, paternalistic, and overly regulated. The main statement was that allopathic practitioners view the body as an object to be repaired which results in a mind/body dualism and physical reductionism that overlooks important psychological and social causes of illness. In contract to holistic practice the allopathic model tends to divide the body into systems and compartments and measures functions by evaluating tissues and examining body fluids. Due to its' dualistic and materialistic philosophy allopathic medicine views disease as an invasion of the body by foreign organisms (bacteria, viruses, parasites, fungi or allergens) or as a proliferation or death of individual cells in case of cancer. The focus of Western medicine is therefore to provide a cure for a specific symptom or a group of symptoms that make up the ailment. The Western scientific method of allopathic medicine rigorously claims of its proper efficacy based on well documented and proved by repeated and independent clinical trials. Recognizing the today’s issue of holistic healing, allopathic biomedicine is starting to advocate changes in diet, environment and active lifestyle to promote health. although there is a great deal of knowledge regarding the body's complex interactions, abnormalities are often underdiagnosed and mistreated as individual entities apart from the patient (Pal, 2002). According to the author, the common characteristic of the holistic health system (vital force, life energy, spirituality and holism) seem completely different than of biomedicine.
Orthodox medicine (biomedicine) is founded in part on materialism in a contrast to the vital force explanation in holistic practice. Materialism, in this context, refers to the theory that 'physical matter is a fundamental reality. Pal believes that while biomedicine does not officially reject religion or spirituality, it does not routinely incorporate these aspects into diagnosis and treatment and it denies any evidence of the spirit. The mind is considered or viewed as byproduct of the brain (Pal, 2002). As Pal concludes in his article, biologically-based therapies are divided into four subcategories: (a) herbalism (phytotherapy)- plant-derived preparations that are used for therapeutic and prevention purpose (e.g., ginkgo biloba, garlic, ginseng, turmeric, aloe vera, and echinacea); (b) special diet therapies (e.g., vegetarian, high fibre, Pritikin, Ornish, Mediterranean, Atkinson, Zone, Hershberg, natural hygiene diets); (c) orthomolecular medicine (products used as nutritional, and (d) food supplements that are not covered in other categories. The above therapies may be used in combination for preventative or therapeutic purpose (e.g., ascorbic acid, carotenes, folic acid, vitamin A, riboflavin, lysine, iron, probiotics, biotin) and (d) pharmacological, biological and instrumental interventions (e.g., enzyme therapy, cell therapy, EDTA, induced remission therapy, iridology, apitherapy). At the same moment manipulative and body-based systems are divided into three subcategories: (a) chiropractic medicine; (b) massage and body work (e.g., osteopathic manipulative therapy, kinesiology, reflexology, Alexander technique, Rolfing, Chinese tuina massage and acupressure), and (c) unconventional physical therapies (e.g., hydro therapy, colonics, diathermy, light and color therapy, heat and electrotherapy). Biofield medicine involves systems that utilize subtle energy fields in and around the body for medical purpose, viz. therapeutic touch, reiki and external qi- gong. Bioelectromagnetics refers to the unconventional use of electromagnetic fields for medical purposes (Pal, 2002).
Allopathic medicine competes with alternative (holistic) medicine from the position of experimentally and clinically proven “in vivo” and “in vitro” experimental trials. According to Durant (1998), “Most of the alternative therapies are nothing but an attractive nuisance” (p. 2). Despite its technological success, modern allopathic western biomedicine has features that can discourage any patient. Many of the diseases, especially the chronic ones, like cancer, autoimmune disease and other are not cured. Antibiotics are losing the war with bacterial infections. The existing treatments can impose serious adverse reactions causing “iatrogenic” mortality that stays either covered or undetermined. Actually, people are witnessing that most pharmaceuticals can be toxic under specific circumstances and there is always a risk that one or multiple side effects (adverse reactions) will present a future hazard in patients with different health issues. The modern health care is quite expensive, generalized and impersonal.
CAM systems involve complete systems of theory, philosophy and practice that have been developed outside the Western biomedical allopathic approach: (a) Biologically based CAM approaches: special diets, high doses of vitamins and minerals, and extracts of animal or botanical products; (b) Manipulative and body-based CAM approaches: massage, osteopathic and chiropractic manipulation, and cranial-sacral therapies, and (c) Mind-body approaches: diverse forms of meditation, various uses of biofeedback, and hypnosis.
They are divided into several subcategories:
(a) Acupuncture and Oriental medicine;
(b) Traditional indigenous systems (e.g., ayurvedic medicine, Siddha, Unani-tibbi, native American medicine, Kampo medicine, traditional African medicine);
(c) Alternative (unconventional) Western systems (e.g., homeopathy, psionic medicine, orthomolecular and functional medicine, environmental medicine);
(d) Naturopathy;
(e) Other CAM systems, popular in India (e.g., Ayurveda being the most popular) (Pal, 2002).
As seen from the research complementary practitioners do not need a diagnosis in the conventional meaning to initiate holistic healing. There are many authors that believe CAM methods and approaches are most effective in patients without organic pathology. They offer more than physical and mental health care. In the opinion of some allopathic medical doctors, alternative medicine comprises a medical system that also dispenses a heavy dose of unconventional wisdom and religion. One study claims that prayer may be an effective adjunct to standard medical care (Harris et al., 1999). However, the general use of a prayer as another modality of treatment is not itself a “prima facie” argument in favor of the efficacy of other scientific therapies (Galton, 1872).
Despite considered empiric, due to experimental lack of proof, CAM therapies appeal to many people because the holistic practitioners are positively oriented to helping their clients recover from a disease. On times they spend hours of their time consulting and educating people, without being even paid. At the same time CAM allows patients to make their own health choices, empowering them on the path of prevention and general heath. As holistic formulas are believed to be inherently healthier and safer than the pharmaceutical drugs, alternative health care is provided in a "holistic" fashion, in a broader medical, social, and even emotional contexts of illness which is all taken into consideration while designing the holistic plan (White House Commission on CAM policy, 2001).
Although most CAM therapies are experimental, there are remarkable cures and an increase in survival rate of 5 years or more in cancer, AIDS, asthma, arthritis, diabetes, multiple sclerosis and many other degenerative diseases. CAM therapies may be used in holistic palliative care and acute and chronic degenerative diseases as well as in advanced stage of the disease development, despite being considered an interdisciplinary approach As Ananthaswamy reports, from its early experiences of care for the dying, “palliative care took for granted the necessity of placing patient’s values and lifestyle habits at the core of any design and delivery of quality care at the end of life and if the patient desired complementary therapies, and as long as such treatments provided additional support and did not endanger the patient, they were considered acceptable” (Ananthaswamy, 2004; p 12).
Non-pharmacologic interventions of complementary medicine can “employ mind-body interventions that must be designed to reduce pain, concomitant mood disturbance and increase quality of life” (Cheah & Chionh, 2006, p. 120). In the case of metabolic syndrome as a typical lifestyle-related disease diet, behavior therapy and active lifestyle changes may prevent the syndrome or support the healing process. The holistic system is dealing with integrated approach for prevention and management of disease in general or the common determinants of this disease. It is divided into three subcategories: (a) clinical prevention practices (e.g., electro dermal diagnosis, medical intuition, panchakarma, chirography); (b) lifestyle therapies, and (c) health promotion.
As seen from the review, little information has been published in the literature on the combined use of holistic (complementary) and allopathic (conventional) treatment. It is in author’s belief that some serious adverse interactions may be also expected, in case not future research is done.
Finally, the idea of an integrated approach opens the door for accurate holistic and allopathic management strategies in the prevention and healing of chronic degenerative diseases. Thus, the combination between medicines in face of the integrative (functional) paradigm is maybe representing the medicine of the future in general. In conclusion, it becomes clear from the theoretical model used in the study that any ‘quick fix’ treatment, fad diet or "cookbook" approach, whether with vitamins, foods or herbs is an absolutely absurd. Any success achieved with a ‘quick fix’ approach will be temporary and will only be a result of chance, not well calculated scientific predictability, and it will not work in the long run.
If you would like to learn more on the above topic, to request an on line or by phone alternative consultation, or a newly written article that can suit your business purposes, please call: (715) 392-7591; (218) 213-6167; or (218) 213-7087
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. The material in this newsletter is provided for informational purposes only. Thus our intentions are not to diagnose, cure, mitigate, treat or prevent any disease. If you use the information in this newsletter without the approval of your health professional, the authors of this letter do not assume any responsibility. Copyright @ 2009, Natural Health-Wellness LLC. All rights reserved.
The pharmaceutical industry is already ready to incorporate alternative substances purported to be beneficial. Nowadays more and more nutraceuticals are being studied and supported by numerous clinical trials. Some of their premium ingredients are already under approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Despite all efforts, FDA regulations are still designed for conventional drugs and they are not applicable for alternative medicine formulas and products. Unfortunately, some herbal products in today market have not been subjected to the drug approval process to demonstrate their safety and effectiveness and may contain mercury, lead, arsenic, corticosteroids and poisonous organic substances in harmful amounts. Eskinazi (1999) and Pal (2000) believe that the lack of clinical trials, what is a synonymous of unproven evidence, means that the likelihood of a successful outcome is often possible, despite predictions are not guaranteed. The authors consider, people must be aware of such risk, as they should also know in advance about the estimated cost for a complete course of treatment, including tests and medications, before starting any other selected CAM therapy. The authors are constantly encouraging patients who are taking conventional medication to disclose and discuss their intentions to use complementary therapies and to initiate treatment only under medical supervision may help reduce this risk, consider the authors.
At the 20th European Conference on Philosophy of Medicine and Health Care the biomedical model was characterized as materialistic, mechanistic, paternalistic, and overly regulated. The main statement was that allopathic practitioners view the body as an object to be repaired which results in a mind/body dualism and physical reductionism that overlooks important psychological and social causes of illness. In contract to holistic practice the allopathic model tends to divide the body into systems and compartments and measures functions by evaluating tissues and examining body fluids. Due to its' dualistic and materialistic philosophy allopathic medicine views disease as an invasion of the body by foreign organisms (bacteria, viruses, parasites, fungi or allergens) or as a proliferation or death of individual cells in case of cancer. The focus of Western medicine is therefore to provide a cure for a specific symptom or a group of symptoms that make up the ailment. The Western scientific method of allopathic medicine rigorously claims of its proper efficacy based on well documented and proved by repeated and independent clinical trials. Recognizing the today’s issue of holistic healing, allopathic biomedicine is starting to advocate changes in diet, environment and active lifestyle to promote health. although there is a great deal of knowledge regarding the body's complex interactions, abnormalities are often underdiagnosed and mistreated as individual entities apart from the patient (Pal, 2002). According to the author, the common characteristic of the holistic health system (vital force, life energy, spirituality and holism) seem completely different than of biomedicine.
Orthodox medicine (biomedicine) is founded in part on materialism in a contrast to the vital force explanation in holistic practice. Materialism, in this context, refers to the theory that 'physical matter is a fundamental reality. Pal believes that while biomedicine does not officially reject religion or spirituality, it does not routinely incorporate these aspects into diagnosis and treatment and it denies any evidence of the spirit. The mind is considered or viewed as byproduct of the brain (Pal, 2002). As Pal concludes in his article, biologically-based therapies are divided into four subcategories: (a) herbalism (phytotherapy)- plant-derived preparations that are used for therapeutic and prevention purpose (e.g., ginkgo biloba, garlic, ginseng, turmeric, aloe vera, and echinacea); (b) special diet therapies (e.g., vegetarian, high fibre, Pritikin, Ornish, Mediterranean, Atkinson, Zone, Hershberg, natural hygiene diets); (c) orthomolecular medicine (products used as nutritional, and (d) food supplements that are not covered in other categories. The above therapies may be used in combination for preventative or therapeutic purpose (e.g., ascorbic acid, carotenes, folic acid, vitamin A, riboflavin, lysine, iron, probiotics, biotin) and (d) pharmacological, biological and instrumental interventions (e.g., enzyme therapy, cell therapy, EDTA, induced remission therapy, iridology, apitherapy). At the same moment manipulative and body-based systems are divided into three subcategories: (a) chiropractic medicine; (b) massage and body work (e.g., osteopathic manipulative therapy, kinesiology, reflexology, Alexander technique, Rolfing, Chinese tuina massage and acupressure), and (c) unconventional physical therapies (e.g., hydro therapy, colonics, diathermy, light and color therapy, heat and electrotherapy). Biofield medicine involves systems that utilize subtle energy fields in and around the body for medical purpose, viz. therapeutic touch, reiki and external qi- gong. Bioelectromagnetics refers to the unconventional use of electromagnetic fields for medical purposes (Pal, 2002).
Allopathic medicine competes with alternative (holistic) medicine from the position of experimentally and clinically proven “in vivo” and “in vitro” experimental trials. According to Durant (1998), “Most of the alternative therapies are nothing but an attractive nuisance” (p. 2). Despite its technological success, modern allopathic western biomedicine has features that can discourage any patient. Many of the diseases, especially the chronic ones, like cancer, autoimmune disease and other are not cured. Antibiotics are losing the war with bacterial infections. The existing treatments can impose serious adverse reactions causing “iatrogenic” mortality that stays either covered or undetermined. Actually, people are witnessing that most pharmaceuticals can be toxic under specific circumstances and there is always a risk that one or multiple side effects (adverse reactions) will present a future hazard in patients with different health issues. The modern health care is quite expensive, generalized and impersonal.
CAM systems involve complete systems of theory, philosophy and practice that have been developed outside the Western biomedical allopathic approach: (a) Biologically based CAM approaches: special diets, high doses of vitamins and minerals, and extracts of animal or botanical products; (b) Manipulative and body-based CAM approaches: massage, osteopathic and chiropractic manipulation, and cranial-sacral therapies, and (c) Mind-body approaches: diverse forms of meditation, various uses of biofeedback, and hypnosis.
They are divided into several subcategories:
(a) Acupuncture and Oriental medicine;
(b) Traditional indigenous systems (e.g., ayurvedic medicine, Siddha, Unani-tibbi, native American medicine, Kampo medicine, traditional African medicine);
(c) Alternative (unconventional) Western systems (e.g., homeopathy, psionic medicine, orthomolecular and functional medicine, environmental medicine);
(d) Naturopathy;
(e) Other CAM systems, popular in India (e.g., Ayurveda being the most popular) (Pal, 2002).
As seen from the research complementary practitioners do not need a diagnosis in the conventional meaning to initiate holistic healing. There are many authors that believe CAM methods and approaches are most effective in patients without organic pathology. They offer more than physical and mental health care. In the opinion of some allopathic medical doctors, alternative medicine comprises a medical system that also dispenses a heavy dose of unconventional wisdom and religion. One study claims that prayer may be an effective adjunct to standard medical care (Harris et al., 1999). However, the general use of a prayer as another modality of treatment is not itself a “prima facie” argument in favor of the efficacy of other scientific therapies (Galton, 1872).
Despite considered empiric, due to experimental lack of proof, CAM therapies appeal to many people because the holistic practitioners are positively oriented to helping their clients recover from a disease. On times they spend hours of their time consulting and educating people, without being even paid. At the same time CAM allows patients to make their own health choices, empowering them on the path of prevention and general heath. As holistic formulas are believed to be inherently healthier and safer than the pharmaceutical drugs, alternative health care is provided in a "holistic" fashion, in a broader medical, social, and even emotional contexts of illness which is all taken into consideration while designing the holistic plan (White House Commission on CAM policy, 2001).
Although most CAM therapies are experimental, there are remarkable cures and an increase in survival rate of 5 years or more in cancer, AIDS, asthma, arthritis, diabetes, multiple sclerosis and many other degenerative diseases. CAM therapies may be used in holistic palliative care and acute and chronic degenerative diseases as well as in advanced stage of the disease development, despite being considered an interdisciplinary approach As Ananthaswamy reports, from its early experiences of care for the dying, “palliative care took for granted the necessity of placing patient’s values and lifestyle habits at the core of any design and delivery of quality care at the end of life and if the patient desired complementary therapies, and as long as such treatments provided additional support and did not endanger the patient, they were considered acceptable” (Ananthaswamy, 2004; p 12).
Non-pharmacologic interventions of complementary medicine can “employ mind-body interventions that must be designed to reduce pain, concomitant mood disturbance and increase quality of life” (Cheah & Chionh, 2006, p. 120). In the case of metabolic syndrome as a typical lifestyle-related disease diet, behavior therapy and active lifestyle changes may prevent the syndrome or support the healing process. The holistic system is dealing with integrated approach for prevention and management of disease in general or the common determinants of this disease. It is divided into three subcategories: (a) clinical prevention practices (e.g., electro dermal diagnosis, medical intuition, panchakarma, chirography); (b) lifestyle therapies, and (c) health promotion.
As seen from the review, little information has been published in the literature on the combined use of holistic (complementary) and allopathic (conventional) treatment. It is in author’s belief that some serious adverse interactions may be also expected, in case not future research is done.
Finally, the idea of an integrated approach opens the door for accurate holistic and allopathic management strategies in the prevention and healing of chronic degenerative diseases. Thus, the combination between medicines in face of the integrative (functional) paradigm is maybe representing the medicine of the future in general. In conclusion, it becomes clear from the theoretical model used in the study that any ‘quick fix’ treatment, fad diet or "cookbook" approach, whether with vitamins, foods or herbs is an absolutely absurd. Any success achieved with a ‘quick fix’ approach will be temporary and will only be a result of chance, not well calculated scientific predictability, and it will not work in the long run.
If you would like to learn more on the above topic, to request an on line or by phone alternative consultation, or a newly written article that can suit your business purposes, please call: (715) 392-7591; (218) 213-6167; or (218) 213-7087
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. The material in this newsletter is provided for informational purposes only. Thus our intentions are not to diagnose, cure, mitigate, treat or prevent any disease. If you use the information in this newsletter without the approval of your health professional, the authors of this letter do not assume any responsibility. Copyright @ 2009, Natural Health-Wellness LLC. All rights reserved.
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