Herbal Lesson 01

Introduction about Alternative Medicine in General
Daniel Blankley·Friday, November 3, 2017

We hear a lot about Alternative Medicine today.. so what is it? And Alternative to WHAT? To answer that let me take you back to almost the beginning.. to Hyppocrates the Father of Medicine as we know it around 300 BC. He postulated alot of things and some continue to medicine today. One thing he believed was that sickness could be cured "By Similars and By Contraries" and that idea persisted until after the second world war.

When I was a boy if someone had a fever they piled blankets on them so that heat would make the fever 'break' and would not try to cool the fever unless it reached a critical level.

As 'the age of reason' and the scientific method grew in Europe, the modern approach was only to cure disease with opposites... one cured constipation with laxatives and pain with pain reliever. The pharmaceutical industry grew formulating opposites.. which all came with side effects of their own. The curing with opposites became known as ALLOPATHIC (from Allo (opposite) and Pathos (Illness) ) - a system of medical practice that aims to combat disease by use of remedies (as drugs or surgery) producing effects different from, opposite, or incompatible with those produced by the disease being treated.

In 1796 Samuel Hahnemann in Germany revived the idea of curing disease with 'similars' and coined the rule "Like cures Like" which was immediately criticized as being unscientific. By the Twentieth Century, medicine was entrenched in treating only by opposites, and it was no longer enough to demonstrate that a treatment worked and was safe, but had to also prove it followed the conventional scientific method or be labeled pseudoscience. The older natural and former conventional medicine still flourished among its followers and medical associations began to wage a war against them. Osteopaths and Chiropractors were the first to gain licensing and registration as bodies of their own, but many popular forms of medicine were eliminated and outlawed before the mid twentieth century. All medical programs which stray from the accepted scientific method, but persist by grandfather clause licensing like Chiropractors are considered to be "Alternative" to conventional medical practice. There are a bunch of them and I will list the most popular here and many have state licensing boards in the USA and Canada and are widely practiced in other countries to the dismay of the AMA and World Health Organization. Some without licensing or recognition are still done by conventional physicians, osteopaths and chiropractors who have a license. Aside from Osteopaths which enjoy grandfathering in and are regarded similar to MD general practitioners, most people who seek an ALTERNATIVE choose Chiropractic after that, followed by Acupuncture, Herbal Medicine and Homeopathic Remedies which can be purchased in the vitamin aisle though Homeopaths are not licensed in the USA.
 * Osteopaths,
 * Chiropractors,
 * Acupuncturists,
 * Herbalists,
 * Naturopaths,
 * Homeopaths,
 * Therapeutic Massage,
 * Reflexology,
 * and others.

Three things keep most alternative medicine from being accepted and labeled pseudoscience. FIRST nearly all regard the body as more than a biological machine to be repaired like some appliance. Most alternative practitioners believe the body has a source of energy, a spark or life, or essence the Chinese call it CHI or QI and the Indian Ayurveda calls it Prauna... that if gone the body dies and cannot be resuscitated. This belief is called "Vitalism" and we still say a nurse takes 'vital signs' lol

SECOND most limit their practice and diagnostic procedures to that of 19th century medicine and are labeled archaic and even dangerous for doing so. In many ways it is safer tho it acts slower in fighting disease.. safer because there are far fewer side effects in natural medicine.

THIRD Practices of many are labeled pseudo-scientific because they cannot be proven through modern scientific methods. It has not been proven by science that the body has energy circulating which keeps it alive. Alternative treatments often try to heal by manipulating that energy, either by spinal manipulation in Chiropractic, or through triggering substances in Homeopathy, or inserting needles in Acupuncture.. or pressing certain locations in Reflexology. It is not enough to demonstrate they work but are discredited because they do not follow conventional science. One of the most successful cancer treatment programs is by "Cancer Treatment Center of America" which used Holistic treatment of the patient.. Physically, Mentally, Spiritually and Socially".

Many patients are forced to go to another state or province or even a foreign country to obtain a natural treatment of their choosing. Naturopathic Doctors and Homeopaths have the most difficulty. Some US States legally board license Naturopaths.

U.S. jurisdictions that currently regulate or license naturopathy include Alaska, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Colorado, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oregon, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, Utah, Vermont, and Washington. Additionally, Florida and Virginia license the practice of naturopathy under a grandfather clause.

U.S. jurisdictions that permit access to dispense prescription drugs: Arizona, California, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Kansas, Maine, Montana, New Hampshire, Oregon, Utah, Vermont, and Washington. U.S. jurisdictions that permit minor surgery: Arizona, District of Columbia, Kansas, Maine, Montana, Oregon, Utah, Vermont, and Washington.

U.S. states which specifically prohibit the practice of naturopathy: South Carolina and Tennessee. (the only ones). Naturopathic and Homeopathic Medicine are far more accepted than Chiropractors in much of the world and even approved in some countries government health policy.

© Copyright 2018 by Daniel Blankley. All rights reserved.