Health/Natural: Alternative Vs. Modern Medicine

Usually in this space we speak positively of alternative approaches to health and healing. In the past we’ve told you about using techniques like herbalism, homeopathic medicine, therapeutic massage and meditation to heal diseases and to maintain good health. All of these procedures work if used properly, with appropriate guidance. Sometimes, however, alternative medical procedures must be used in conjunction with modern medicine, especially in the case of life threatening illness.

Modern medical techniques can be very invasive, and very scary to someone who’s being faced with the prospect of major surgery, chemotherapy or radiation treatments. Little wonder, then, that some people who’re faced with such seek the help of acupuncturists, meditation guides and herbalists. But such natural techniques are gentle, and take much time to have their desired effect on the body - time that you don’t necessarily have with, say, a fast moving cancer. Responsible alternative practitioners will tell you this, but unfortunately there are a few alternative practitioners who are not responsible.

Several years back a close friend called me on the telephone for moral support before going to see her doctor about a breast lump she’d found while conducting a self-examination. Her doctor had assured her that it was probably only a cyst, but recommended that she come-in for a biopsy to make sure that it wasn’t cancer. That was the last I heard of her for nearly a year. When I did hear from her again, her story was horrifying, and one that should make all of us sit up and take notice.

The lump on her breast had been cancerous and her doctor had recommended immediate treatment. Understandably, she had been fearful about receiving chemo, radiation and the like, and sought out the help of an Ayurvedic practitioner and others. All of the people who attempted to help her explained that her cancer couldn’t be treated solely by alternative methods, that if she wanted to recover she would probably have to undergo the chemo and surgery that her doctors were recommending.

Then she met a Native American shaman, who happened to have a serious drinking problem. He played into her fears and told her that she didn’t need to undergo the painful and invasive procedures of modern medicine, that she could be healed by his “medicine ways.” He convinced her to quit her job, giving-up her health insurance in the process, and then took her as his bride in a non-legal Native American ceremony. Soon after that, the two of them took off for the Mexican border to try an experimental drug that’s not available in the United States. There she was told that her disease was too far advanced to be treated even by their unorthodox methods and it was recommended that she receive treatment from her doctors back in the North Carolina.

When she finally came to her senses and returned to Virginia to live with her mother, now without insurance and with her life savings depleted, she was told that she had waited too long. Her cancer was now inoperable. For the last several years she’s been undergoing extensive chemotherapy, with little real success.

If you find the idea of a young woman with a serious condition like breast cancer turning her back on her doctor’s advice to embrace an alcoholic, self-professed shaman appalling, you should remember that she was guided by fear and an unrealistic belief in the powers of natural medicine. It’s unfortunate that her case is not that unusual. Every day people forego potentially life saving procedures, hoping to wish their diseases away through meditation and drinking herbal teas. Although most alternative healers are trustworthy and ethical to the extreme, there are plenty of unethical practitioners, like her shaman “husband,” who will be more than happy to help you spend your money until the disease takes its toll.

Homeopathy, herbalism, meditation - they all work and can be used to cure many medical conditions. However, sometimes a disease process has gone so far that drastic measures are called-for. Even then, alternative approaches should be used to diminish the harmful side-effects of invasive techniques like chemo, radiation and surgery.

So what is one to do when the doctors are saying that drastic measures are necessary and an alternative practitioner is saying that the problem can be easily be treated with natural means? Suzy Cooper, a Winston-Salem based homeopath, says to use a method that’s tried but true.

“Get a second opinion right away,” she says, “whether its a doctor suggesting surgery or an alternative practitioner. The more people you can get together working collectively the better off you are.”

She says that just because there are alternatives doesn’t mean that we should completely turn our backs on “modern” medicine. “The challenge for us is to integrate the best of all worlds together into a new complimentary healing form. It’s easy to become negative or obsessed with any one thing. But we need to keep an open mind and be conscious to the most gentle yet effective methods of healing, whether they be traditional modern medicine or something else. The essence is always to find the practitioner or doctor that you feel is right for you.”

Scott Hall, a local chiropractor and Ayurvedic practitioner, agrees. “Western medicine is very good for acute care, as well as for testing and evaluation. Often they are treating the mechanics of the disease and not the cause, but oftentimes the mechanism needs to be controlled first. If the problem is too far gone, if its quite a stretch for even modern techniques like chemo and radiation, then most of the alternative remedies, which are less intense in the body’s physiology, are less helpful.”

If invasive techniques are necessary, he says that natural medicine should be incorporated into the process. “Even while extreme measures are being used, the rest of the body’s functions need to be supported, which should include some alternative supportive therapy.”

This holistic approach to healing, using alternative methods even when undergoing the likes of surgery, is almost universally embraced by the alternative community. Gay Roberts, who practices Reiki (a hands-on healing technique), is herself a survivor of breast cancer who underwent surgery for her condition. “My advice would be to see your doctor or surgeon, then to back that up with complementary medicine like nutrition, supplements, energy work and whatever will clear out the psychological issues. There’s some kind of major life change that needs to take place whenever there is a life threatening situation.”

Again, alternative medical techniques do work, and can often cure diseases more completely and with fewer side effects than Western medicine. But sometimes drastic measures, no matter how unpleasant, are necessary. If that’s the case, don’t do like my friend and wait until its too late.

©Copyright AlternativeApproaches.com