There are multiple approaches to regaining, maintaining, and enhancing health. It may come as a surprise to some, but the wide-ranging health systems available are
actually quite compatible with one another. More often than not, a person is able to benefit from traditional and non-traditional methods. The various systems have
their strengths and weaknesses, so, in fact, it is often highly beneficial to utilize more than one approach.
Traditional medicine, also called mainstream or allopathic medicine is quite good at diagnosing and treating acute illness or injury, offering early detection of a
handful of potentially devastating illnesses, and helping alleviate symptoms associated with untreatable conditions. It is, however, not particularly successful
treating chronic illness and offers almost nothing for enhancing health. Overall, the general approach is to identify a problem and select the drug or surgical
procedure to treat it. Problems are usually subdivided into specialty areas - the neurologist treats your migraine headaches and the gastroenterologist treats your
ulcers. Likely, no one looks to see if there is a connection between the two problems.
Holistic medicine, on the other hand, seeks to maintain awareness of the larger picture - the physical, mental/emotional, and spiritual needs of a person - to treat
symptoms, eliminate underlying causes, and promote health. To do this, a holistic clinician is likely to integrate complementary and alternative medicine approaches
with traditional approaches. Complementary and alternative approaches are considered non-traditional treatments.
Alternative medicine may be used when a traditional approach offers too little or is not effective enough. Approaches may include using standard medical treatments
non-traditionally. For example, hyperbaric oxygen treatment may be used to treat stroke or cerebral palsy, or neurofeedback may be used to treat migraines or ADHD.
Electromagnetic medicine, considered to be part of traditional medicine in Eastern Europe, may help speed healing, relieve pain, and diminish the effects of stress.
Alternative medicine may also include non-Western medical systems, such as Chinese botanicals or Ayurveda, or energy-based medicine, such as acupuncture or
homeopathy. Other alternative approaches are body-based and include chiropractic, osteopathy, and therapeutic massage. These treatments may also be used to
complement traditional medicine.
Complementary medicine uses non-traditional methods adjunctively with traditional ones. It may enhance the effectiveness or provide different benefits than the
traditional treatment. An example is someone with coronary artery disease. While they continue taking their prescribed medications, they may choose to do chelation
to improve their circulation to avoid the need for bypass surgery. Whereas another person may choose to have chelation following their bypass to help keep the new
grafts open and healthy.
A major difference between holistic and traditional medicine is that a patient.s major objective may be to enhance health. A perfectly healthy, active 65-year-old
man may choose to do chelation preventatively, to avoid the onset of cardiovascular disease. He may restore growth hormone and testosterone to more youthful levels
with hormone replacement therapy to increase vigor and slow his body.s deterioration. He may do chiropractic or use a pulsed magnetic mattress to ease the effects of
his golf game on his joints. He may do neurofeedback to improve his concentration and focus, interactive metronome for improved motor control and coordination to
lower his score.
Another difference is that holistic practitioners use their treatments on themselves to promote health. Certainly, traditional physicians only take medications or
undergo surgical procedures themselves if it is necessary.
There are three components to a person benefiting fully from a holistic medicine approach. First, it is helpful that the traditional medicine physician attempt to
maintain an open mind. Also, complementary and alternative practitioners must work to maintain a scientific rigor in fields that are less well defined than
traditional medicine and which have smaller scientific databases from which to work. The third is that the patient must be active in the decision-making process and
take responsibility for his or her health. One cannot achieve optimal health without making sound decisions about how to lead one's life.
However, difficulties may arise. It is almost completely counter-intuitive for a traditionally trained physician to trust any portion of a patient.s health care to a
clinician who uses methods that are foreign to him or her. A reason this is difficult is that the physician.s medical school experience and subsequent training
implants the idea that treatment modalities other than those taught are not scientific. There is concern that the other therapies may be harmful or interfere with
proper treatment of a condition.
Though the nontraditional methods have their own certification boards and scientific and clinical databases, they are generally less regulated. And rightly so. Most
methods that promote health have a considerable margin of safety and, unlike pharmaceuticals, a significantly decreased likelihood of adverse interactions.
Nonetheless, the holistic clinician must not make blanket assumptions about the extent to which his or her treatment will be successful.
Another difficulty may be that, at times, a patient must make a decision about which route to take, as the traditional and alternative approaches are incompatible. A
person with an autoimmune disease cannot both suppress and support the immune system. A choice must be made, and should be made with knowledge of the potential
benefits and risks of each approach.
The patient with a medical problem needs to participate in his or her own health care intelligently, and not abandon traditional medicine with hopes of glowing health
from holistic providers alone. Someone with hypertension, for example, should continue to take medication while they are working holistically to naturally regain
proper blood pressure control.
It is an exciting time for those who seek to maintain and enhance their health. Scientific advances in traditional and nontraditional areas, and improved
understanding and appreciation about non-Western health care systems provide an array of options that are unlocking the doors to vibrant health.
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Copyright © 2005
by Eduardo Castro, M.D. All Rights Reserved.
Mount
Rogers Clinic
Trout Dale, Virginia
Phone:
(276)
677-3631
