Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Introduction

According to the Alternative Medicine Foundation (AMF); in the United States there are approximately 125 million American citizens that suffer from some kind of chronic illness. Chronic illness can be defined as a long-term condition or illness, where this is no known cure; examples are arthritis, high blood pressure or hypertension, back pain, allergies, digestive problems, and depression. (AMF, 2000) Oftentimes, conventional medicine, that which is performed by medical doctors; cannot help people suffering from chronic conditions(www.pcintegrativemedicine.org). These individuals frequently turn to alternative or complementary medicine for assist; even if it is only relief for their pain or symptoms.

Alternative medicine is determined as “practices employed in place of conventional medical treatments. Alternative medicine is a bit controversial since in often can take the place of conventional treatment; for example, a cancer patient declines to undergo radiation or chemotherapy and instead opts for nutritional supplements, specialized diet, and/or bioelectromagnetic treatment, to cure his or her cancer.

Alternative medicine

Alternative medicine is not widely popular with most normal or conventional medical doctors. Most alternative treatments and methods have not been researched in clinical trials and so conventional medical physicians and researchers tend not to believe the alternative treatments to be credible, in fact, some believe many are dangerous. However, people who are ill, depressed, or in pain, are desperate to get well and often will not accept the inability of conventional medicine to cure his or her symptoms or illness, as the final word. They turn to alternative treatments because they offer another approach to illness and the human body (www.atkins.com). There are a great deal of unknowns about the mind-body connections and equally as many mysteries surrounding cures and treatments. Many alternative methods come from the East and are centuries old, they are natural and holistic, meaning ...