A Close Look at Complementary Medicine : What is it good for?by John Morley, Editor, On behalf of the Health Professionals Team at Wholistic Research
Good treatments do not treat the condition or the disease. They treat the patient. The object is to enable the patient to become able to apply their own powers of adaption more effectively by working to remove any obstacles to this process. Both Complementary Medicine and Orthodox Medicine work in the patient's best interests when the approach of the practitioner is in this spirit ~ of promoting regeneration of normal function, rather than merely substituting with medicines for parts of the body that are not working well, or doing treatments that are aimed at symptom relief only. It means also that good complementary medicine is relevant for any condition, hence the wide range of conditions on the list. Of course it is very good practice to also do things in the treatment strategy that will relieve pain and reduce the impact of symptoms, but to concentrate on this aspect is simply short-term thinking.
When a person's body is not functioning correctly there is always a reason why. Applying a treatment will not necessarily lead to the discovery of the underlying reason(s) for the symptoms. A symptom is literally just that ~ a sign that something is wrong. The symptom itself is not usually the underlying reason, i.e. not the root cause but the warning signal. If the symptom is removed and the cause remains, this is equivalent to shooting the messenger and ignoring the message. Appearances have changed but the underlying problem has not been resolved. It will inevitably reveal itself again, either as the same symptom or as a different warning signal.
It usually takes an experienced practitioner with a true wholistic approach to be able to unravel the causal chain and the factors that are blocking the person's ability to adapt and to heal themselves, and also any other toxic residues that may be getting in the way of normal functioning. It can be a simple task, or at times a complex task which requires good detective work to sleuth out the various factors that contribute to the whole problem and their priorities in the recovery strategy.
Mosts GPs do not have the time to do this and have not been trained to do it. Usually they can only prescribe drugs (substitution thinking) or refer to a specialist. Most Specialist medical practitioners focus on their speciality (more substitution thinking) rather than take a wholistic overview of the patient with symptoms in their specialist area. Many Complementary Health practitioners also have limited training and experience in thinking in the wholistic paradigm that is needed to deal with chronic health problems ~ ones that usually include several problems at the same time.
It follows that if complementary treatments are applied with an attitude of substitution rather than regeneration you may see a quick fix but not a long term solution. If you just apply complementary treatments to conditions in the list that follows, without attempting to find out why the condition arose in the first place, any successful outcome may be short-lived. Many Health Sites on the Internet give lists of health problems and suggested remedies
It further follows that if you want to use complementary methods on your own you will get the best results if you are able to develop in yourself the same kind of attitude or way of thinking that a good practitioner of Health Care has. It involves looking deeper than the obvious signs and symptoms, looking for patterns, knowing how your body works, and trying to understand what contribution your own choices may have made to creating the symptoms that are coming out of you, and how you might be able to contribute to getting them to go away again. In this way you can play a bigger part in influencing your own future.
On the other hand if you approach your own Health Care in the way that many people approach their GP ~ just looking for a pill that will make their symptoms go away ~ you will very likely get quicker results but results which don't last long or which lead to a new symptom.
Please bear in mind that, although Complementary Medicine is helpful in most situations, drugs and/or surgery are often the only real options in a medical emergency where life is threatened. In emergencies Complementary Medicine is usually too slow in its action to deal with the emergency quickly enough. When the emergency is over then Complementary treatment is usually more effective in restoring balance and strength to the recovering body, in improving quality-of-life issues, in building up nutritional and immune status, in promoting the elimination of drug and other toxic residues, in preventing future emergencies and in dealing with any complications. Continuing with the life-saving drugs that substituted for the body in its hour of greatest need is likely to lead to dependency and to further reduction in the body's ability to regulate its own activities, somewhat like continuing to use the crutch after the broken leg has healed.
John Morley, Editor, on behalf of The Health Professionals Team (see last paragaph and links below)
Acne AIDs
Allergies Anaemia
Angina Antiemetic - during chemotherapy
Appendicitis
Arteriosclerosis Asthma
Athletes'Foot Backache
Bladder Weakness Bloating
Boils Brain Clarity
Breast Lumps Breech Presentation
Bronchitis Bursitis
Candidiasis Cervical Cysts
Cervical Polyps Cholesterol elevated
Cold Sores Colds and Sore throats
Colitis Constipation
Coughs Cystitis
Cysts Dandruff
Depression Dermatitis
Diabetes Diarrhoea
Disturbed Sleep Patterns Diverticulitis
Duodenal Ulcers Dysmenorrhoea
Ear infection Eczema
Endometriosis Eye Problems
Fatigue Fibroids
Gallstones Gastric Ulcer
Gastritis Glandular Fever
Goitre Gout
Haemorrhoids Hair problems
Halitosis Hay fever
Headaches Heart Attack
Hepatitis Herpes Simplex
Herpes Zoster High Blood Pressure (Hypertension)
HIV Hyperactivity
Impetigo Impotence
Incontinence Indigestion
Infertility Insomnia
Irritable Bowel Syndrome Jaundice
Joint Pain Kidney Stones
Leaky Gut Syndrome Liver Spots
Low Blood Pressure (Hypotension)
Low Blood Sugar (Hypoglycaemia)
Low Sperm Count Lung infections
Mastitis M.E.
Memory Problems Menier's Syndrome
Menopause
Menstrual Problems of all kinds, including
- irregular periods
- painful periods
- premenstrual syndromes
- unusually strong menstrual flow
Migraine
Mouth ulcers Multiple Sclerosis
Nose Problems Oedema
Oral Thrush OsteoArthritis
Osteoporosis Ovarian cysts
Over-active Thyroid (Hyperthyroid) Palpitations
Pain Relief
Parkinson's Disease
Pancreatitis
Pelvic Inflammatory Disease
Prostate Enlargement
Prostatitis Psoriasis
Raynaud's Syndrome Rheumatism
Rheumatoid Arthritis Ringworm
Rosacea Salpingitis
Sciatica Shingles
Sinusitis Spastic Colon
Stroke Tendonitis
Tinnitus Thrombosis
Thrombophlebitis Thrush
Ulcers Under-active Thyroid (Hypothyroidism)
Urethritis Uterine Fibroids
Varicose Veins Water Retention
Warts (Verrucas) Worms
Within both Orthodox Medicine and Complementary Medicine there are many wholistic practitioners who have an approach that seeks to take account of all of the important factors in the presenting patient and to prioritise them. They then set out to do whatever is needed, in the correct order for each patient, to help the patient promote their own normal function. The object is for the patient to recover their ability to regulate their own functions as far as is possible, rather than be dependent on drugs that merely substitute for their poorly functioning body. Practitioners with this genuine wholistic approach tend to think in terms of only good and bad medicine rather than to concentrate on orthodox vs complementary methods. The links above speak to this discussion in more depth and detail.
Bad medicine in this context means medicine that is only directed at reducing symptoms or appearances and does not apply any detective diagnostics to determine the origin and the chain reaction path of the illness syndrome, or the obstacles that are blocking the patient's ability to resolve the situation themself.
© Copyright Wholistic Research Company 2001