Medical Health Guide

Combining the best of both worlds of Alternative and Conventional Medicine.

"Mainstream medicine doesn't have all the answers," says Anne Simons, M.D. "Good research shows that for many conditions, alternative therapies and natural cure can help. When I have a cold, I often take echinacea because several studies show that it's an antiviral immune stimulant. I think doctors should prescribe whatever works best and cures the condition. If what works best is a safe alternative treatment, it's fine with me."

An estimated 80 percent of the world's population still relies on natural herbs to treat, prevent and cure diseases. In Europe, where physicians of conventional medicine have access to the same high-tech treatments that are available in the United States, patients routinely receive "prescriptions" for natural herbs instead of mainstream pharmaceuticals. In the United States, an estimated 25 percent of pharmaceuticals continue to be derived from natural plant sources.

Scientists around the world depend on natural herbs in developing more potent medicine. Not long ago, experiments with the Pacific yew tree yielded an extract called taxol, which showed effectiveness against advanced breast and ovarian cancer, disease that didn't respond to standard chemotherapy drugs. Today, yew-derived drugs (sold under the brand names Paclitaxel and Taxotere) have become standard treatments to cure breast and ovarian cancers.

From "Alternative" To "Complementary" The Blended Medicine

Of course, many mainstream and conventional physicians are still leery of alternative medicine or natural medicine- and some still call them worthless. But many more have come to realize that their brand of medicine doesn't have a monopoly on the cure and healing and that alternative approaches often are quite valuable. Today's medical rallying cry is "Whatever works best," and many of those promoting blended medicine and holistic medicine have dropped the term altemative in favor of the term complementary. "Complementary says that the therapy do not replace mainstream medicine," Dr Brauer explains. "Rather, they complete it, expanding it to include areas it has undervalued or overlooked - diet, exercise, traditional healing arts, home remedy, natural cure and mind-body therapy." This approach is also known as holistic medicine.

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