Alternative medicine describes practices used in place of conventional medical treatments. It should not be confused with complementary medicine, which refers to alternative medicine that is used concurrently with conventional medicine.

Richard Dawkins, Professor of the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford, notes that alternative medicine is defined as that set of practices that cannot be tested, refuse to be tested or consistently fail tests. He also states that “There is no alternative medicine. There is only medicine that works and medicine that doesn’t work.

What is alternative medicine?

Alternative medicine includes practices that incorporate spiritual, metaphysical, or religious underpinnings; non-European medical traditions; newly developed approaches to healing; and a number of others. Detractors of alternative medicine may also define it as “diagnosis, treatment, or therapy which can be provided legally by persons who are not licensed to diagnose and treat illness,” although some medical doctors find value using alternative therapies in the practice of “complementary medicine.”

Replacing conventional medicine

Many in the scientific community define alternative medicine as any treatment, the efficacy and safety of which has not been verified through peer-reviewed, double blind placebo controlled studies (regarded as the “gold standard” for determining the efficacy of a compound). It is thus possible for a method to change categories in either direction, based on increased knowledge of its effectiveness or lack thereof.

Alternative medicine describes practices used in place of conventional medical treatments. It should not be confused with complementary medicine, which refers to alternative medicine that is used concurrently with conventional medicine. Many regard the distinction as false, preferring “good medicine” (which demonstrably works) and “bad medicine.” Richard Dawkins, Professor of the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford, notes that alternative medicine is defined as that set of practices that cannot be tested, refuse to be tested or consistently fail tests. He also states that “There is no alternative medicine. There is only medicine that works and medicine that doesn’t work.

	other facts • Each year more than one million Americans have to be hospitalized because of adverse drug reactions. These are drugs prescribed by the conventional medicine physicians. • More people are addicted to legal prescription drugs than they are to the street drugs. In 1995, six million Americans abused prescription drugs, notably of which were the anti-anxiety drugs. • Sixty-one thousand Americans develop drug-induced Parkinsonism each year.

Adopting alternative medicine

A study published in April 2005 revealed that more than 70 percent of adults aged 50 or older are now using some form of alternative therapy. This includes medicinal herbs, meditation and chiropractic care. The fact that these people are adopting alternative medicine and using it in their own lives is fascinating in and of itself, but what is really fascinating about this research is the response it has been getting from the conventional medical community.

The co-author of this study, Gong-Soog Hong, professor of consumer sciences at Ohio State University, said she was quite surprised herself by how many people were turning to alternative medicine. Here is the really funny part: Hong said she is concerned about interactions, and that these alternative medicines are unproven and they could cause “any kind of side effect.” She describes that as being “pretty scary.” It must be frightening for doctors to think how risky it is for patients to engage in health-enhancing therapies and nutritional strategies that make drugs irrelevant. All that health-centric philosophy must interfere with their highly toxic prescription drugs.

I find it fascinating that, when talking about drugs and herbs in the same person’s body, the doctors always phrase it as if the herbs are interfering with the drugs. You notice it is never the other way around? Maybe it is the drugs interfering with the herbs, because the herbs are supporting healthy immune function, detoxification of the body and a healthy nervous system with mental awareness and lucidity.

Doctors are making the switch

Today, conventional doctors are finally admitting that people over 50 are turning to alternative medicine because conventional medicine isn’t giving them answers. When people are in chronic pain because they have inflammation and joint pain, and when they find out that the drugs that were supposed to be safe are actually killing them at a truly terrifying rate, then of course they are going to turn to alternative medicine. They find out that drugs cause dementia, skin disorders, low sex drive and all these other side effects and think maybe there is something better to be found in the world of alternative medicine.

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