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Natural Health Remedies – Is Holistic Medicine a Better Option?

January 5, 2011 By Leave a Comment

By Alexandar S William -

In recent times there has been a lot of debate on the efficacy of natural medicines and the laws that should govern their sale and use. Some allopathic Doctors consider all medicine systems other than Allopathy to be a scam and their practioners to be quacks. However, other Dr’s take the extra step to educate themselves on natural alternatives and present these to their patients as complementary protocols. You and me as consumers are often left in a situation where we must take matters into our own hands and choose what is best for us. This often requires a considerable amount of research on our part as there arenumerous holistic medicine systems like Ayurveda, TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine), Homeopathy, western herbology, bioenergetics and homotoxology, and only few people are educated and trained in all of these systems. An allopath seldom knows about homeopathy and a homeopath seldom knows much about Ayurveda. Hence we are left in a place where we on our own must choose what is best for our bodies. To make matters worse, Allopathy is the only system of medicine that is FDA approved for conditions, and all other natural products within the United States always say something like:”These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.”

The question really becomes, Should one discount all Ayurvedic, Chinese, homeopathic, alternative, complementary and herbal medicine as scams or should one consider them as a first line of defense on the road to keeping healthy?

In my research I discovered the following interesting facts that are of major importance to all our health:

• Allopaths call natural medicines a scam as they are seldom approved by the FDA for treatment of a certain disease.

• Naturopaths, Homeopaths and Ayurvedic Doctors consider Allopathy to be a short sighted approach that only targets symptoms whilst ignoring root causes.

• Natural medicine proponents say that natural products cannot be patented and sold for huge profits like pharmaceuticals exclusively by one firm. Hence no one ever pays for FDA approvals of natural products. One example I found interesting and relevant was the Valerian Root v/s Valium case. Valium is essentially a synthetic analogue of the same active ingredient that is contained in Valerian root. However no one bothered to study Valerian root as a remedy for anxiety or insomnia. Instead they created valium, patented it and got FDA approval. Valerian root the natural variant never made it to FDA trials as no one was willing to pay for a natural substance that cannot be patented and FDA approved for an ailment. If you go to an allopath he would prescribe valium and a naturopath would prescribe Valerian root. The latter may be a safer alternative but it hasn’t received nearly as much publicity or sales as Valium has. This lack of recognition is the reason why we must dig deeper to find ourselves the best alternative.

• Natural medicine systems like Ayurveda, TCM and Homeopathy have been around a lot longer than allopathy has and are supported by numerous detailed texts. Homeopathy is in fact grand fathered in by the American Medical Association and it is the only form of alternative medicine that can be called a medicine for a certain disease without clinical trials.

• Homeopathy though often criticized as unscientific, has a scientific basis. Recently material scientists have proven that water has memory and this memory is what carries the information from a homeopathic medicine into the patient

• Placebo’s generally work 40% of the time, however in some studies homeopathy and Ayurveda provided relief upto 80% of the time.

Looking for information on all health systems in one place I came upon a site called Biogetica.com. They combine all these complementary natural medicine systems to present integrated solutions to their customers. Biogetica has Dr’s from all these various holistic medicine systems available for chat so I found it to be a very useful resource in gathering information from various medical systems in one place. However when I googled Biogetica, I came upon some sites calling Biogetica a scam and other blogs stating that there solutions were amazing. Researching further I came to understand the following:

Biogetica has been pioneering in combining the knowledge of all traditional medicine systems with modern scientific technology, and aiming to address diseases at its root cause. Solutions mentioned by Biogetica are directly derived from natural medicine systems like Ayurveda, TCM and Homeopathy. As discussed earlier, medicines and therapies derived from these traditional natural systems cannot be patented in order to get it approved by FDA. Despite of this, the therapies mentioned at the Biogetica website claim to synthesize all medicine systems to simultaneously ease disease on physical, mental, emotional and energetic levels. They pronounce to not only help you with the ailment but also to have a nutritive and energetically balancing effect on your body. I don’t consider natural medicine systems a scam even though they are not FDA approved so I don’t consider Biogetica a scam. It also seems like Biogetica has a bunch clinical trials conducted on its products and in some cases they out performed allopathic prescription drugs!

After analyzing the Holistic as well as Allopathic approach of medicines, it’s more certain that Allopathy works against the symptoms of the ailments and tries to provide relief only to the particular symptoms generally through suppression. Whereas, traditional medicine systems and Holistic healing takes into account the root imbalances that bring about these ailments and work to correct them. This seems to be a wiser approach for chronic ailments. However symptom suppression is necessary in acute cases and one most not ignore prescription medicine and its efficacy in quickly controlling symptoms.

The conclusions of my unbiased research are as follows:

  • Prescription drugs are generally the best method for immediate relief and acute cases.
  • Herbal and Homeopathic medicines are great for chronic ailments as they address root causes and not just symptoms.
  • One must look for Dr’s who are open enough to consider both systems simultaneously.
  • Natural medicine that isn’t FDA approved is not a Scam. It is Patent Laws and dollars and sense that makes it unaffordable to seek FDA approval on natural products.
  • This paper represents personal views of the author and is not to be construed as medical advice to anyone. Please consult your Dr for medical advice.

For further information visit Biogetica.com

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Holistic Health – A More Careful Definition

January 19, 2010 By 1 Comment

stethescopeBy Steve McCardell -

For at least the last sixty years, Western medicine has been dominated by pharmaceutical medications. And regardless of your views on prescription drugs, no one can really call that a holistic approach to medicine. The whole concept of pharmaceuticals is to manipulate a chemical response in the body without concern for what is causing that response.

This is why people seldom get well when relying on prescription drugs, and why the drugs themselves are often more dangerous than the chemical response they are attempting to correct. In some instances, of course – as with antibiotics – we have seen some life-saving results. But even in these cases, the approach by definition is not holistic.

Holistic health refers to considering the body as a whole when trying to maintain health or use corrective health solutions. Now, I don’t know that any holistic health treatment, remedy, nutritional solution, and so on, could ever address every aspect of the body at once. You might deal with inflammation present throughout the body, or might get a broad spectrum of nutrients into cells throughout the body, but these or any other solution wouldn’t provide all things needed by the body.

So a holistic solution doesn’t mean providing everything needed at once, and it doesn’t mean correcting everything at once. It only means that you’re considering the needs of the whole body at once. So when you’re providing a holistic service, remedy, nutritional, etc., it will benefit certain aspects of the body and will do no harm elsewhere in the body. And of course by correcting one aspect of the body, that aspect then starts to do its job correctly, which affects other aspects of the body, and there is a positive spill-out effect.

Again, comparing this with pharmaceuticals, an antibiotic may kill certain bacteria in the body that are causing symptomatic problems; but it’s also going to kill beneficial life in the body, which leads to other problems. A holistic approach to bacteria would be to find the cause of the bacteria and to remove that cause (while possibly strengthening the body’s ability to kill off the harmful bacteria in its own way).

A true holistic approach would also recognize the body as more than a mechanical device. It would look at physical health from both the chemical and quantum perspectives, as the quantum (sub-atomic) biofield directly affects chemical interactions occurring in the body. It is also my belief that this biofield is the medium through which our thoughts and emotions affect our physical bodies – and both thoughts and emotions need to be considered in the holistic approach.

(This is one reason, incidentally, why certain remedies or techniques are more appropriate to some people, while other approaches are needed for other people; clients of holistic practitioners should feel comfortable with what is being done and should have as much mental understanding as they want to have about what is happening. No one should be pressured by friends or practitioners into trying a technique.)

Finally, most holistic practitioners and clients will believe a spiritual aspect to the individual, and this also needs to be considered as part of the holistic approach. A few things need to be said on this, however. First, a balanced holistic practitioner would never feel the need to force a certain spiritual viewpoint on a client because of the negative effect this would have on mind and emotions, and thus potentially on physical health.

Second, a practitioner who doesn’t believe in spirituality still needs to be open to the client’s beliefs if only because those beliefs affect the person’s mental and emotional well-being. To ignore these beliefs is to not look holistically at the person.

Third, we need to be careful in talking about “spiritual healing” and “energy healing” in the same way. They are different. Reiki, for instance, is an energy healing technique in which the “life force” energy (ki, or chi) of the client is manipulated in order to bring about self-healing. The force that Reiki is supposed to work with is the pervasive quantum field (an aspect of which is an individual’s biofield), which is part of the physical world. (This is why it’s studied by quantum physicists rather than theologians.)

Spiritual healing, on the other hand, is meant to be based on spiritual life from God and/or the soul passing into the quantum field and thereby vivifying one’s health. This would include techniques such as esoteric healing, and should be used for those clients with the appropriate belief system.

Just as any one technique for the physical (chemical) body will not directly address all aspects of the body, but will indirectly affect many, any physical technique will affect the quantum field, the emotions, the mind, and perhaps the soul. Any emotional technique will affect the physical, quantum, mental, and perhaps the soul aspects.

A holistic viewpoint, then, understands that every object and every event affects every other object and every other event in some way, no matter how subtly. When we keep this in mind, we better grasp the extensive power of each choice. And when we look to holistic health techniques, we can know that every positive choice is simply a step in the overall scheme of things. But it’s a step toward better health in the end.

Steve McCardell is co-founder of the Biophysics Center, a technology-based quantum health center located in downtown Rochester, Michigan. He is also author of “The Quantum Challenge,” and speaks publicly on holistic health and quantum healing. You can learn more at the center’s website: http://www.biophysicscenter.com

Article Source:  Holistic Health – A More Careful Definition

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Holistic Medicine – The Next Step to Complete Healing

June 1, 2009 By Leave a Comment

stethascopeBy Maria Faith Morgan -

When we hear the word hospital, the first thing that comes in mind is a white building full of doctors, nurses, machines and medicines. Medicines are especially proliferated in hospitals, as they are what prevent people from crossing over into the next life.

Yet this overt focus on the pharmacological solutions to physical ailments poses problems of its own.

Pharmacology: Both Blessing and Curse

Granted, medicines keep many people alive and kicking, but medicines are still chemicals. Our bodies can only take so much abuse in disposing of the after-effects of these chemicals, even if we are not fully aware of our own body’s struggles in coping with it.

This is why doctors avoid prescribing a cocktail of medicines to patients. They know that the liver and kidneys are hard-pressed to dispose of the residual chemicals that have to be excreted from the system.

There is, however, another less physiological reason why a purely pharmacological approach is not recommended.

Strengthen the Mind, Strengthen the Body

People cannot exactly work with 100% efficiency if they are angry or sad, and people also feel lousy when they are down with the flu.

This is a simple but fundamental example of how the mind and body are intricately tied together, and this is the viewpoint that holistic medicine bases all its roots on. By providing a fun and stimulating atmosphere for patients to recover in, as well as a socially-supportive one, the recovery process is sped up while the pain and suffering experienced is significantly reduced.

The Challenges Being Faced by Holistic Medicine

The problem with holistic medicine, however, is that it is costly in money, time and manpower.

A holistic approach to medicine requires a trained professional working with individuals, a lot of money to support the program, and a lot of time and effort for just one patient. The results of a tablet or a shot of medicine, on the other hand, are more quickly observed, cheaper to buy and require only a few minutes of attention. It is for this reason that many medical practitioners tend to focus on a pharmacological approach instead of a holistic one.

There are, however, non-profit organizations that aim to promote the holistic approach of medicine on a wider scale. These institutions are rooted in the philosophy that medicine must treat the person as a whole rather than simply popping pills to solve the problem. By being mentally strengthened and with the support of the community, a person’s health and recovery can be significantly increased.

What We Can Do to Help

Every non-profit organization is plagued by a common problem, and that problem is money. This is where our donations come into the scenario. Holistic medicine is a very real influence on a person’s healing. Support charitable institutes and you support a more complete, not just pharmacological, approach to medicine. iServU Online Service Directory is one company that realizes the value of caring for both the mind and the body. They strongly support Holistic Medicine charitable institute Gesundheit! You need not be a corporate entity to contribute to the cause of holistic medicine. Even just a few dollars can go a long way to helping somebody get the help he or she deserves.

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