Natural & Conventional Medicine - The Differences
Conventional medicine is based primarily on the concept
that diseases are caused by harmful organisms such as bacteria, viruses, or
rogue cells (eg cancer cells). Treatment aims to either kill these organisms
or to oppose the resulting symptoms with drugs.
Natural medicine considers the whole person, in the quest
to treat the underlying tendencies to ill health. The practitioner will
consider all the physical and mental symptoms being experienced, the
stresses that exist (personal, family, environmental, occupational, etc) and
how you react to them, together with diet, personal and family medical
history.
This story from Pulitzer Prize winner and microbiologist,
Rene Dubos, illustrates the different approaches:-
“In the crime-ridden frontier town, the hero, single
handed, blasts out the desperados who were running rampant through the
settlement. The story ends on a happy note, because it appears that peace
has been restored. But in reality the death of the villains does not solve
the fundamental problem, for the rotten social conditions which had opened
the town to the desperados will soon allow others to come in, unless
something is done to correct the primary source of the trouble. The hero
moves out of town, without doing anything to solve this far more complex
problem; in fact he has no weapon to deal with it and he is not even aware
of it’s existence.”
In Dubo’s story, the gang is not the problem, but a
symptom, an opportunist. To get rid of the problem in the long term, you
would have to change the conditions in the town. So it is with our bodies –
to assume you can truly cure a person by killing a bacteria or virus, is
like assuming that you can solve the problem of crime by killing a single
criminal.
Naturopathy &
Homoeopathy
Naturopathy
is an umbrella term for many natural therapies, which include herbal
medicine, homoeopathy, massage, nutrition and iridology. The philosophy of
naturopathy is based on stimulating the body’s own innate healing abilities
with natural remedies, providing an environment which supports recovery from
illness. To achieve this, medications used are either herbal or homoeopathic
preparations, together with diet and lifestyle changes. As the study of
homoeopathy is highly specialised, there is a tendency for practitioners to
concentrate either on Homoeopathy or Herbal medicine. As a result, under
current Australian conditions, a practitioner trained broadly in all areas
will be referred to as a Naturopath, whereas a practitioner trained solely
in Homoeopathy will be known as a Homoeopath and a practitioner trained
solely in herbal medicine will be known as a Herbalist.
Homeopathic
and herbal medicines are quite different. Herbal preparations are made from
plants, and are called tinctures or fluid extracts. They are usually dark in
colour and have a strong and sometimes bitter taste. Homeopathic medicines
come in the form of drops or small white pills, which have a slightly sweet
taste. The medicines have been diluted and potentised from the source
material, which means they are non-toxic and have no colour and minor taste.
Adverse Drug
Reactions
-
The
total number of adverse reactions to drugs in Australia in the 1999-2000
year (those resulting in hospital admission and those that did not) was
400,000 (Australian Journal of Pharmacy, 83, Sept 2002, 774)
-
The
report of adverse reactions from natural medicine to the Australian
Adverse Drug Reactions Advisory Committee (ADRAC) average 23 per year
(Australian Journal of Pharmacy, 83, June 2002, 516-7)
-
There
are 140,000 hospital admissions in Australia every year because of
misused pharmaceutical drugs (Australian Journal of Pharmacy, 83, Sept
2002, 774)
-
25% of
Australian hospital admissions are for iatrogenic (medically induced) or
drug related diseases (Current Therapeutics, July 2000, 76-79)
-
Every
year in Australia, 14,000 people die from medical errors in hospitals.
(These figures from 1995) ((The Australian, March 15, 1999, 17)
-
Only
10-20% of all standard medical procedures have been validated by
controlled clinical trials (Complementary Medicine, July/August 2002,
33-35)
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