Complementary Health

Complementary health is important because it may NOT cure but it can help with care and millions of people know or have used at least one home remedy. Alternative practices may alleviate symptoms and are sometimes assumed to work as well as formal medicine at a cheaper cost. However, read about the cautions/hazards below. CAM (complementary/alternative medicine) terms are most often used interchangeably but to distinguish some differences, the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) uses the following descriptions:

  • Alternative: a non-mainstream practice used in place of conventional medicine.
  • Complementary:  a non-mainstream practice used together with conventional medicine
  • Integrative: brings conventional and complementary approaches together in a coordinated way
  • Homeopathy: also known as homeopathic medicine, is a medical system that was developed in Germany more than 200 years ago. It’s based on two unconventional theories:
    1. “Like cures like”—the notion that a disease can be cured by a substance that produces similar symptoms in healthy people
    2. “Law of minimum dose”—the notion that the lower the dose of the medication, the greater its effectiveness. Many homeopathic products are so diluted that no molecules of the original substance remain.
  • Naturopathy: also called naturopathic medicine: a medical system that has evolved from a combination of traditional practices and health care approaches.

5 categories of therapies

The NCCIH recognizes 5 different forms of complementary health:

  1. Alternative medicine: (homeopathy, naturopathy, traditional Chinese medicine, and Ayurvedic medicine)
  2. Mind-body interventions: (meditation, prayer, mental healing, art, music, or dance)
  3. Biologically based therapies: (dietary supplements and herbal medicine)
  4. Manipulative and body-based therapies: (chiropractic, osteopathic, massage)
  5. Energy therapies: (qi gong, Reiki, therapeutic touch, pulsed fields, and magnetic fields)

Reasons people choose CAM, Overall

  1. Compatibility with the user’s own values and spiritual beliefs regarding the nature of their illness.
  2. Dissatisfaction with conventional medicine is expensive, impersonal, or ineffective.
  3. Feeling empowered to make decisions about one’s care.

Major Supporters

Most Used Practices…

Adults & Children: yoga, chiropractic or osteopathic manipulation, meditation, and massage therapy.

Natural Products:

  • Adults: Coenzyme Q10, Cranberry (pills, capsules), Echinacea, Fish oil/omega-3 fatty acids, Garlic supplements, Ginkgo biloba, Ginseng, Glucosamine and/or chondroitin, Melatonin, Probiotics/prebiotics.
  • Children: Combination herb pill, Cranberry (pills, capsules), Echinacea, Fish oil/omega-3 fatty acids, Garlic supplements, Ginseng, Glucosamine and/or chondroitin, Melatonin, Probiotics/prebiotics.

NHIS Highlights

  • In 2012, as in 2007 and 2002, the most commonly used complementary approach was natural products (dietary supplements other than vitamins and minerals). 17.7% of adults and 4.9% of children aged 4 to 17 use natural products.
  • Pain—a major condition for which people often use complementary health approaches
  • About 59 million Americans spend money out-of-pocket on complementary health approaches, and their total spending adds up to $30.2 billion a year.-NCCIH Statistics

*NCCIH was formerly known as the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine

A Growing List of Mental/Complementary Health Topics

Issues with Complementary Alternative Therapies

Even if there are unbelievers of C.A.T., it’s still important to express a degree of empathy about what the patient assumes is best. Sometimes the easiest way to approach a situation that may be unhelpful/dangerous is by simply being honest and explaining the risks versus benefits. Therefore, it’s important to know about the major concerns associated with complementary/alternative practices:

  • Confusion about the application of complementary health, its licensure, and the certification process.
  • Failure to detect an actual medical problem or assigning the wrong diagnosis.
  • Financial loss resulting from paying for ineffective treatments and/or complications from the disease.
  • Misunderstandings related to biased or incomplete/inadequate information and research.
  • The Placebo Effect.
  • Unintentional damage due to delay in diagnosis/treatment.

Respectful Insolence: at first I thought this website was satire because it truly has some humor, however, joking aside I’m glad this blog discusses the problems with people selling miracles/cures and it’s actually written by a physician who’s very adamant about the issues with alternative health: “quackademic medicine is a term describing the increasing infiltration of pseudoscience and quackery into academic medical centers and medical schools under the guise of what is called “complementary and alternative medicine” Affiliated with Science-Based Medicine, which also has some links/resources that are very critical of complementary health, therefore, be knowledgeable or at least aware of the risks involved with health practices (a growing list of concerns):

  • Herbal Doctor Remedies has recalled 43 products intended as “Chinese Herbal Medicines” due to unsafe manufacturing practices and marketing without FDA approval. Access to the full list of products.
  • Most Supplements don’t work but 35 million is spent on them by Washington Post. In summary, having a balanced meal is more important than pills.
  • Please don’t drink bleach. EVER. US regulators are cracking down on a drink called Miracle/Master Mineral Solution – an industrial bleach marketed as a ‘miracle cure’ for autism, cancer, HIV has received a fresh new warning by the F.D.A.
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