Guest Post: The Pros and Cons of Alternative Medicine

To go along with my recent series on Alternative Medicine and my experience with it, I have a guest post today from Tammy Mahan of Healthline.com.

Pros and Cons of Alternative Medicine

Balance is the basic principle behind a number of alternative medicine types. Various energy medicine forms, tai chi and acupuncture are used to bring balance back to the body. This can return health to normal in theory.

It is important to keep balance in mind when alternative medicine is being considered for yourself or a loved one. There are things that you should remain cautious of, even though alternative and complementary medicine has benefits. The pros and cons should be taken into consideration before beginning a therapy that is new.

Pros of Alternative Medicine

There are approximately thirty-eight percent of adults and twelve percent of children according to the NCCAM (National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine) are using a type of alternative medicine. The reasons are as follows:

Treatment of the entire person - There is a view in traditional medicine that the person is a different entity than the disease they are carrying. There have been a number of advances in treatment as the trend for medical specializations are increasing; physicians were previously distracted from the part of the patient that was still healthy. Care of the entire body is the focus in alternative medicine. The overall spiritual and emotional health of the patient is addressed by alternative medicine practitioners. Among the main reasons that there is a rise in alternative medicine is the increased interest in the holistic approach according to the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine.

Alternative medicine practitioners provide an increased amount of personal attention to patients because of the whole body care focus. Full waiting rooms, insurance companies pressuring them, and being strapped for time, occur with traditional physicians. One on one attention has an increased emphasis for those practicing alternative medicine because the fee structures and philosophies are different.

Prevention is focused on which is another attraction of alternative medicine. There is an encouragement for treatment on prevention of disease when you well in addition to when you are sick unlike with traditional medicine when the focus is only on being sick.

Cons of Alternative Medicine

There are key factors that should be kept in mind prior to attempting new types of alternative medicine. You should not be prevented from using alternative medicine by the concerns that follow. They provide additional information in the process of making a decision.

The scientific research has been limited. There has been an increase in the funding for alternative medicine research studies as the demand has increased. The evidence is limited and there are a lot of unanswered questions in comparison to methods in traditional medicine. There are a number of studies being done. To learn more about them, ask your healthcare provider or visit the NCCAM website and use the link for research. You can also inquire about online resources or scientific journals at your local library.

The herbal product or dietary supplement that you are considering taking is something that you should see what the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and National Institutes of Health, and other government agencies have to say about. The websites for the various agencies can provide alternative medicine reports.

You should think about balance when you consider alternative medicine. Your best option could be to take the best health care from each alternative.

Tammy Mahan is a certified natural health consultant. She enjoys writing articles about alternative therapies and shares her knowledge on Healthline.com .