Is alternative medicine safe?
Alternative medicine also referred to as CAM consists of a vast range of health care practices. These practices are a part of any medical system or product that is not considered standard care practices.
Alternative medicine is however, used in conjunction with standard (western) medicine. Alternative medicine includes acupuncture, ayurvedic medicine, dietary supplements, energy medicine, homeopathy and many more.
The World Health Organization has estimated 65 % – 80% in the worlds population (estimate 3 billion)
rely on depend on alternative medicine as their primary health care choice.
Is It Safe?
As any medications or forms of treatments there are always risks and side effects. Some of these can be very insignificant and some can be great. Some supplements do not interact well with prescription drugs. St. Johns Wart has been known to raise the effects of antidepressant drugs and have been known to conflict with cancer and HIV medications. Echinacea does not cause side effects. However, persons have experienced rashes, increased asthmatic symptoms. The most common symptom that had appeared in clinical trails was gastrointestinal.
Few side effects of these were anything of significance.
Just because it is called natural does not mean that it can not cause damage. There are times when improper distribution of herbs and therapeutic actions can give high risks. Such as unsterilized needs used in acupuncture could cause infections.
Other natural things in life can be just as dangerous. You can actually overdose on water and even die from it.
Just because there are a few bad troublesome effects due to the bad distributions does not mean that they are ineffective or harmful by themselves.
Documented Research On Alternative Medicine That Some Have Worked
Archives of Internal Medicine showed that acupuncture treatments have worked significantly greater that the traditional care in managing low back pain.
Research at the University Virginia School of Medicine revealed that 900 mg per dose of Echinacea. Showed compelling results for those volunteers that had become infected with the cold virus. Even the duration and severity of colds. Echinacea does seem to help the cold virus depart the human body faster. The time of the cold and the severity of the cold is a lot less than normal.
Overall Safety of Alternative Medicine
There is yes or no answer on the safety of alternative medicine. It comes down to which treatments are given and how they are give. Which herbs to take in what quantities.
Always make sure your physician is aware of any alternative medicines you may be taking or therapies you wish to take. Today alternative medicines and conventional medicines and treatments are being used together. Which gives us complimentary medicines. Most physicians do advice alternative medicine or therapies for their patients especially when conventional medications and therapies are not working effectively.
This is another question that does not have a simple answer. In this country, “safe” means a treatment method has been endorsed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Most of the treatments that are labeled as alternative medicine have not yet received this endorsement, and it’s possible they never will. In the “Chantilly Report” on alternative medicine, it states that “the current Federal mechanisms of regulating medical research do not favor the evaluation of many forms of alternative treatment. Because the costs of developing, evaluating, and marketing new drugs are so prohibitive, pharmaceutical companies are not likely to invest time and effort in therapies, such as nutritional or behavioral approaches, that cannot be patented and are therefore unlikely to offer the opportunity to recover their investment and provide a return to stockholders. This means that many alternative therapies are likely to be casualties of the formal research process.”37 This information indicates tha
