Archive for October, 2009

Holistic Medicine As Compared With Other Medical Practices

-->
By Robert Thatcher

Holistic medicine is health care that comprises all the aspects of one’ s personality to obtain the optimum state of wellness. It encompasses the process of looking into the wholeness of the person including nutritional, physical, environmental, spiritual, lifestyle and social values. Holistic medicine includes virtually all treatments and diagnosis known to achieve balance in personality. It upholds the responsibility of educating one’s self to attain the ideal over-all health and well being.

Holistic medicine and Alternative Medicine

(more…)

Stress Relief Provided by Herbal Medicine


By Grace Palce

Chances are, you may not know about the use of herbal medicine to provide stress relief.

We certainly can’t blame if you don’t. Herbal medicine, after all, is still trying to gain its former popularity and so many people are still in doubt of its efficacy and prefer to use prescription medicine instead. But you see, if you take the time to check historical texts, the use of herbal medicine can date back as far as 5,000 years ago! The efficacy of herbal medicine, therefore, should not be in doubt anymore since it’s supported by five millennia worth of proof.

Before we give you an example of herbal medicine that can provide stress relief, however, we shall give you a little bit of dos and don’ts on the subject of herbal medicine to ensure safety and proper use.

(more…)

Cancer and Alternative Medicine: An Overview


By Melissa Buhmeyer

Alternative medicine is the use of means, in addition to, or instead of conventional, to treat disease or pain. There is lots of controversy surrounding alternative medicine, especially in the cancer arena, because most of it is unproven, as far as the medical world is concerned. To be proven, a treatment must have undergone peer-reviewed, controlled studies. However, if you know where to look, you can find plenty of research to support the efficacy of many alternative therapies.

Every day, more and more of us are becoming fed up with conventional medicine’s way of doing things; I mean, let’s face it … Western medicine’s focus is managing a disease once it occurs. Many alternative methods can be used as preventive instead of management. Once I started thinking about it, I knew there just had to be a better way. That’s when my alternative journey began.

(more…)

The Definition of Alternative Medicine


By Ken Snow

Have you ever suffered from a horrible headache when you thought the best remedy might be for someone to bash you over the head, or to pull your hair out? Then you might have some experience with alternative medicine!

In all seriousness, alternative medicine is not about hurting yourself, but involves investigating other potential methods to treat an ailment besides synthetic drugs. A good purpose for alternative medicine is to avoid developing a dependence on drugs of any type, which can supersede any medicinal or curing effects they might have. Searching for different ways of dealing with your physical or emotional issues or conditions can end up being better for you in the long run.

(more…)

Arthritis Relief and Your Diet


By Priya Shah

Arthritis affects more than 40 million Americans and is referred to as the most common chronic disease in people over 40.

Doctors believe there are over 100 different forms of arthritis, all sharing one main characteristic: they all cause joint inflammation.

What can you do to relieve the symptoms of arthritis? A lot.

(more…)

The Link Between Antibiotics and Allergies


By Judy Phillips

Most of us in the alternative medicine arena know that allergy medicine is a huge business, with an immense array of non-prescription over-the-counter products to address nearly any complaint. Bear in mind, however, that they are not appropriate for all patients. In addition to their side-effects such as sedation or nerve reaction, allergy and sinus medications could be incompatible with certain prescription treatments and the chronic health conditions they treat, including high blood pressure, asthma, glaucoma, prostate problems, anxiety, and attention deficit disorder. Even in the best case scenario, allergy medicines could generate detrimental side effects that limit their use on a regular basis.

A recent study from the University of Michigan Medical School might have unearthed a clue. Now it turns out that the rise of another phenomenon—the use of antibiotics—may hold the answer. The University researchers found that antibiotics seem to prime the immune system to over-react to substances it could just as well ignore.

(more…)

The Origins of Alternative Medicine


By Ken Snow

The origins of alternative medicine, also known as holistic medicine, can be traced back thousands of years to the very roots of medicine. Many millennia ago, physicians or healers would assess the sick person’s emotional condition in addition to their physical symptoms before beginning treatment. The roots of alternative medicine deal with the symptoms of the “whole” person, not merely the physical signs of illness. This is radically different from traditional medicine today.

In medicine today, people demand to be cured immediately, and the demand for medicines and treatments that do so is very high. Most physicians today are trained to assess physical symptoms and base treatments on that, without much consideration of the person’s emotional or intellectual state.

(more…)

How Alternative Medicine Fits in Today’s Society


By Ken Snow

Think you don’t know what alternative medicine is? It’s more common than you think, and now has a firm place in the world today. Certain therapies not formerly thought of as legitimate medical treatments are now being used on a more frequent basis to treat a variety of ailments, quite often with endorsement from the medical community. Some of the more common types of alternative medicine treatments include:

• Massage therapy

(more…)