Health and Medicine Media

It’s called “alternative” or “complementary” to treatment that does not fit in the standard western medical practice. These include:

1) Traditional healing practices such as Ayurveda, Chinese acupuncture and practices of Native American Indians
2) Physical therapies such as chiropractic, massage and yoga
3) Homeopathy
4) Herbs or Flowers
5) Energy work such as polarity therapy or Reiki
6) Relaxation techniques including meditation and visualization

Many doctors do not agree with alternative therapies. They believe that they have done enough research on them and think that patients respond better to western medicine. Others prefer to use alternative therapies along with western medicine. They believe that alternative therapies can reduce stress, relieve side effects of antiviral or have other benefits.

What risks are they?
Alternative therapies can cause side effects. The words “natural” or “no-drug” not guaranteed to be free of risks. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA by its initials in English) does not approve dietary supplements or monitor its content or security.

Why are not more studies on alternative therapies?
Most studies are for a particular illness and are possible when each patient gets exactly the same treatment, which can not be true for alternative therapies.
Some alternative therapies treat the whole person, not a disease. They might restore harmony, balance, or the normal flow of energy. Acupuncturists, for example, use the pulse to determine if the energy of your body is balanced. Acupuncture is based on individual energy of each person and not for HIV, for example and may be beneficial although not designed specifically to combat the disease.

Standard treatment: very few alternative treatments are standardized. Different brands of herbs can have varying amounts of active ingredients. Acupuncture, chiropractic and other therapies are not standard, adjust to each patient. Research is very difficult when the treatments are not standardized.

Risk-free treatment: the FDA must confirm that a product is safe before finding out if it works. Even if a drug has been studied for years without any problems, the FDA requires scientific study to show that it is safe to use.

Costs of study: scientific studies are very expensive. Manufacturers of alternative treatments can not afford scientific studies. The government prefers to cover the costs of Western medicine studies because they appear to be more effective. Patents allow manufacturers to make large profits. On the other hand, most alternative treatments are not patentable.

Nevertheless, some alternative therapies have been carefully studied. Usually this type of research has been conducted outside the United States and perhaps not be considered by FDA. Fact sheets on each alternative therapy mention if studies have been done on them.

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