Complementary Therapies

Integrative Therapies have been utilized in mainstream medicine for well over a decade in the United States. This industry term simply means that the physician or care provider uses the best medicine from both worlds: Eastern Medicine (Holistic) and Western Medicine (Allopathic - the general practice of medicine in the U.S. today).

We Westerners have been conditioned to expect a quick fix and have facilitated that through pharmaceutical drugs. They are a God-send in hospitals for pain management and critical care but the problem is prescription drugs usually only treat the symptoms and do not address the heart of the problem. In addition to not treating the actual cause, they generally create a bigger imbalance because they over-ride the body's natural healing response to create their own desired affects. They are dangerous, expensive and can take an incredible toll on the body; our livers just can't take all the chemicals and neither can our water supply! Too many synthetic chemicals in our body is believed to cause autoimmune diseases. Additionally, prescription drugs are entirely too powerful to be indicated as a first or second line of defense, even though they are predominately used as such. In so doing, "the big guns" are no longer effective when we really do need them.

It is widely known we spend many times more than other developed countries for our medicine yet our statistics show we are the least healthy. Have we been educated beyond our intelligence? Since science has also advanced to the point we recognize the spirit-mind-body connection and its link to health and healing, I suggest we can do much better by addressing the entire being and by utilizing therapeutic doses of missing nutritional elements as the first line of defense. Identifying deficiencies and toxic compounds can easily be determined by hair analysis, which follows the guidelines of seeking modalities that are minimally invasive and cost-effective. Consumers want treatments and medications they can pronounce, understand and afford, and they want to stop dying from them.

My father's medicine was his ultimate demise, but only after having first driven him to the poor-house. So, I ask you, are your parents on drugs? Were they offered free samples to get them started, and how is that any different than the drug pushers on the street we detest? Are they now having to decide between turning on the heat/air or buying drugs? Are they missing meals so they can pay for drugs? And, through it all, are they any healthier?

The longevity of our healthcare system requires that we pay attention to what is working in other countries and make modifications. With hundreds of thousands dying each year from their "medicines," and with over two million Americans a year going into other countries to buy their medicines, clearly the time has come for not only Complementary and Alternative Medicines (CAMs), but a stronger focus on Preventive Healthcare Maintenance. Let us go with the methods that have withstood the test of time. Many treatments considered "alternative" in Allopathic Medicine have been used long before (and I'll bet long after) synthetic, pharmaceutical chemical compounds.

The vast majority of the following information is derived from America’s #1 Guide to Natural Health, Prescription for Nutritional Healing – A Practical A-to-Z Reference to Drug-Free Remedies Using Vitamins, Minerals, Herbs & Food Supplements. It was written by Phyllis A. Balch, CNC, and James F. Balch, MD. It is my favorite reference for using therapeutic doses of the missing dietary elements the body needs, and I love it so much I’ve been through several editions. Many health food stores also have it available via computerized publication.

The following briefly describes many types of Complementary and Alternative Therapies. Please choose a topic for more information.