Russel Narvasa 10/04/19

Kyra Ordoña

Throughout the centuries alternative medicine has been effective in curing many
diseases and to also aid the healing process of the body. This form of medicine was used
by many societies and cultures and has been advertised as one of the most effective
medicine groups. This continued until the early 1900’s when doctors started to use other
forms of medicine such as antibiotics and vaccinations. This caused a lot of criticism with
alternative medicine practitioners. People began to question the effectiveness of alternative
medicine. Although this form of medicine has been used for centuries to cure ailments many
people today still question the effectiveness and wonder if this form of medicine is to be
considered a medicine or not and also to decide if it should even be practiced at a
professional level. These accusations should have no hold over the Alternative Medicine
community since Alternative medicine has shown improvements in the health of people
over the centuries. Alternative medicine describes any practice that aims to achieve the
healing effects of medicine, but which lacks biological plausibility and is untested or
untestable. Alternative medicine may include special diets, megadose vitamins, herbal
preparations, special teas, and magnet therapy. Alternative medicine can be beneficial to
a person's overall well-being, as the approach focuses on healing the mind, body and
spirit. Treatment methods can help a person to relax, reduce stress, relieve symptoms of
depression, and release deeply repressed emotions, many people say complementary
therapy lets them take a more active role in their treatment and recovery. Some
complementary therapies can help with specific symptoms or side effects, but we don't
know much about how they might interact with conventional treatments like cancer drugs
or radiotherapy.
Russel Narvasa 10/04/19
Kyra Ordoña
Many different areas make up the practice of complementary and alternative medicine
(CAM). In addition, many parts of one field may overlap with the parts of another field.
For example, acupuncture is also used in conventional medicine. In the U.S., CAM is
used by about 38% of adults and 12% of children. Examples of CAM include:

 Traditional alternative medicine. This field includes the more mainstream and
accepted forms of therapy, such as acupuncture, homeopathy, and Oriental
practices. These therapies have been practiced for centuries worldwide.
Traditional alternative medicine may include:
o Acupuncture
o Ayurveda
o Homeopathy
o Naturopathy
o Chinese or Oriental medicine
 Body. Touch has been used in medicine since the early days of medical care.
Healing by touch is based on the idea that illness or injury in one area of the
body can affect all parts of the body. If, with manual manipulation, the other parts
can be brought back to optimum health, the body can fully focus on healing at the
site of injury or illness. Body techniques are often combined with those of the
mind. Examples of body therapies include:
o Chiropractic and osteopathic medicine
o Massage
o Body movement therapies
o Tai chi
o Yoga
 Diet and herbs. Over the centuries, man has gone from a simple diet consisting
of meats, fruits, vegetables, and grains, to a diet that often consists of foods rich
in fats, oils, and complex carbohydrates. Nutritional excess and deficiency have
become problems in today's society, both leading to certain chronic diseases.
Many dietary and herbal approaches attempt to balance the body's nutritional
well-being. Dietary and herbal approaches may include:
o Dietary supplements
o Herbal medicine
o Nutrition/diet
 External energy. Some people believe external energies from objects or other
sources directly affect a person's health. An example of external energy therapy
is:
o Electromagnetic therapy
o Reiki
o Qigong
 Mind. Even standard or conventional medicine recognizes the power of the
connection between mind and body. Studies have found that people heal better if
they have good emotional and mental health. Therapies using the mind may
include:
o Meditation
Russel Narvasa 10/04/19
Kyra Ordoña
o Biofeedback
o Hypnosis
 Senses. Some people believe the senses, touch, sight, hearing, smell, and taste,
can affect overall health. Examples of therapies incorporating the senses include:
o Art, dance, and music
o Visualization and guided imagery

Many times people will turn their entire healing journey over to the diagnosis and
recommendations of one alternative healer in a similar way to those who will go to a
medical doctor and take a prescription that they know nothing about. I have had folks
tell me all the prescriptions they are taking, and when questioned they'll tell me they
don't even remember what they are taking and what it’s for; they've just been re-filling
their prescription for years. Similarly, I see folks who are taking various herbs and
supplements on someone's recommendations, and they have no idea what they are for.
So much for a person aligning themselves with a healing substance. There are many
practitioners using a variety of alternative methods of diagnosis including iridology and
muscle testing who may be very good at what they do, but fall short in their knowledge
of the herbs they recommend; often relying on proprietary formulas, with little
awareness of what the herbs are and how they actually work with the body. I have seen
diagnosis based on hooking a person up to a computer that will tell them everything
their body lacks, and then a whole slew of supplements recommended. This may be a
valuable tool in diagnosis, I can’t really say; though I have personal reservations about
the role of a machine to tell us everything about ourselves when so much of our troubles
stem from a technological society divorced from the Earth. The problem can come when
people are told many things about their bodies that, on reflection, doesn't jive with their
own intuition about their body. Yet they will continue to follow the program. I would only
say that one should take advice from one they respect, but not neglect to study up on
the things they are ingesting and to check things with their own intuition.