TRADITIONAL VERSUS ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE

After completing medical school, I continued my medical education in a three-year Internal Medicine Residency program. Taking and passing the board of Internal Medicine gave me certification as a Doctor of Internal Medicine.

The training provided me with an incredible base of knowledge, important skills, and valuable experiences. The results of this specialized education were that I could meaningfully help people maintain health, weather illness, and treat disease. I began my career as a primary care physician.

Along the way, I encountered many medical problems that were not well addressed by the standard therapies. I met people who had symptoms but no findings. For some others, the treatments were uncomfortable, only marginally helpful, or otherwise unacceptable. Examples of such complaints included fatigue of unknown origin, vague cognitive problems, and digestive illnesses that were eventually labeled “irritable bowel syndrome” because no abnormality could be found to explain the abdominal discomfort. Patients sometimes felt that the standard treatments for headaches, musculoskeletal pains, and some other maladies were inadequate and bothersome. I sought answers that solved peoples’ problems.

Soon, I discovered other methods of healing that could supplement what I had learned in my formal training. Some ideas I incorporated into my practice. Referral to experienced practitioners allowed me to take advantage of other useful skills that increased the well being of mypatients. Some of the specialties were chiropractic, homeopathy, and massage therapy. 

Part of my alternative medical focus involved instructing patients about the importance and methods of stretching, prescribing a wide variety of nutritional supplements, and eliminating unhealthy lifestyle habits while teaching healthy ones. I have described many of these approaches in previous blogs.

Traditional medical therapies are validated statistically. That means probable or likely benefit with associated risk. Science is a never completed endeavor, always refining itself. What we think we know from scientific research is constantly undergoing revision. 

There are many ways for people to be healthy. None should be discounted because of lack of definitive proof of efficacy. Conclusive evidence of harm demands reconsideration. Remember, cancer chemotherapeutic drugs are often themselves known toxins. Risk benefit analysis helps determine acceptable usage.

Scientific proof of efficacy of most alternative therapies rarely exists. Claims of proven benefit nonetheless abound, and people need to be wary. There may be published articles on the benefits of these approaches, but close scrutiny of this “research” does not support the assertions. I have intermittently looked at reports on alternative therapies, and the details in the research and bibliography rarely support the conclusions reached by those promoting the treatment.

That does not mean that an alternative therapy should be rejected. Such an act would overlook much good that can be done.

Despite not having been rigorously researched and peer-reviewed, many alternative therapies can be beneficial. They may only help some people. It is often difficult to predict which patients should be targeted. Adverse side effects must be carefully watched for because they may not all be known. However, the same can also be said for a lot of approved medical treatments.

I believe that many alternative health practices are great. Certainly, they shine as preventive therapies. Many are equal to traditional treatments. Consider them as supplemental to the tried and true.

A few examples follow:

Drinking apple cider vinegar is a treatment that I have recommended for a wide variety of symptoms. It has benefited patients with digestive problems, arthritis and tendonitis pains, and headaches. My prescription is 9 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar mixed into 1 pint of water and sipped throughout the day. Many do not respond; but there is no way to predict who will. Just because it has not been “proven” scientifically effective does not mean it is not useful. It is.

If an herb lowers an elevated blood pressure, it is important to find out what its adverse effects are so they may be monitored, as is the proper practice of using pharmaceuticals. “Do no harm” should be the motto of all advice.

There are great therapies that people should try. Inositol helps many with benign vertigo. Alpha lipoic acid can reduce symptoms from peripheral neuropathy.

Someone who is sick with a disease like cancer or vascular insufficiency needs to be offered the treatments that have been shown to help. I think that, for many serious maladies, traditional medicine trumps alternative medicine. 

I also think that alternative therapies can complement the traditional. I know that many doctors today share this viewpoint. While unproven cures may enhance the quality of standard approaches, it should not be assumed they are substitutes.

At the same time, medical doctors should not discount possible benefits from ideas with which they are not familiar. An oncologist told his cancer patients not to take vitamin supplements because “they feed the cancer.” Well, they also feed the power of healthy cells to resist cancer. And if the goal is to avoid anything that would “feed the cancer,” then all food should be prohibited. Not a reasonable argument.

All health care providers have an obligation to inform patients that final and definitive scientific proof is rare and there may be undesirable consequences from almost any treatment that can be offered. As patients, we have to be critical and trusting at the same time. 

It’s good to be educated about health and disease. The more you read and ask, the more you know. You don’t have to be a doctor to be educated about your body. You do gain confidence and protect yourself when your knowledge base increases. It may be difficult, but learning about diseases and treatments – alternative and medical – is worthwhile time spent. After all, it is your own life we are discussing.