Orthodox vs. Alternative Medicine - By Kim Otteby

Although we all probably have a pretty good idea about what a visit to a doctor or hospital entails, there seems to be a lot of confusion (not to mention preconceived ideas) when it comes to alternative therapies. I therefore thought I’d shed some light on how these two schools of medicine differ.

Alternative medicine includes a whole variety of disciplines from nutrition and herbs to homeopathy, acupuncture, kinesiology and so on. They are all based on the principle that every individual is unique and the importance of treating the person as a whole, i.e. paying attention to body, mind and soul, as they are all interconnected and cannot be treated in isolation.

In western orthodox medicine the body is often compartmentalised, with different doctors specialising in different areas, e.g. you have an endocrinologist who deals with your glands, gynaecologist who deals with your reproductive organs, and so on. This obviously allows intense focus, but may also “miss the woods for the trees”.

An ever increasing amount of people are now suffering from chronic illnesses such as cardiovascular disease, high BP, diabetes, arthritis, digestive disorders, etc. Although engaging its best efforts, orthodox medicine can only offer palliative care. Powerful pharmaceutical drugs are used to suppress symptoms, temporarily alleviating the patient’s misery, yet unable to reverse the underlying condition, resulting in patients often being told that they have to continue using such medication for the rest of their lives, each with their own long list of unpleasant and harmful side effects (pharmaceutical drugs are in fact the 3rd largest cause of death in the US).

In contrast, chronic illnesses are an area where alternative medicine has some wonderful therapies to offer. I’ll never forget sitting listening to my naturopathic lecturers drill into me over and over again the importance of always looking beyond the symptoms, and when having done that, doing it again and again, until the true underlying causes are found. In my practice, I find that this often takes me (on a physical level) to the cellular and biochemical processes. The use of various natural remedies and therapies are then employed to restore balance in these areas hence creating optimum conditions in which the body can heal - ultimately it is always the body that heals. Alternative therapies always aim to work with the body, not against it.

A major problem that I often come across is that people generally want a quick fix. They are used to going to their doctor and getting a pill that seems (at least temporarily) to make the problem go away, with no other effort needed from the patient. But most illnesses aren’t created over night; often they take years, even decades to fully develop into chronic diseases. All along, your body will have given you warning signs in the form of symptoms. Did you listen, or simply suppress these signs?

Often, people only start listening to their body when the pain of their symptoms outweigh the pain of change. Ultimately the best cure is prevention; hence the longer you wait the more difficult it becomes to reverse the disease process. But there is always hope if you are willing to take a good look at yourself and make changes. In this case, alternative medicine can speed up the healing processes substantially, not only helping you overcome illness but also offering an opportunity to help you achieve optimum health.

Although I obviously work with alternative health, I would like to acknowledge that western orthodox medicine has and continues to save many lives especially in the area of acute emergency medicine. Both alternative and orthodox have a role to play, but we must recognise where each ones’ strengths and weaknesses lie.