Blog#49: Contrasting Standard and Holistic
Medicine
Standard
medicine, also called Allopathic medicine, is practiced in this country and in
much of the Western world. In this type
of medicine, antibiotics or antiviral medications are often used to fight
infection, surgery is often used to remove cysts and tumors, radiation and
chemotherapeutic drugs are used to destroy cancers, and anti-inflammatory
medications are used to help reduce symptoms of allergic and auto-immune
problems. While these approaches can
sometimes be helpful and even life-saving, they also deplete the body’s natural
healing powers and can result in other health problems down the line.
Holistic
medicine includes TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine), Ayurvedic Medicine,
Chiropractic, some nutritional therapies, Homeopathy, Flower Essences,
Hypnosis, and more. These therapies
treat the entire body, the mind, and the emotions as a unit. When injury or disease affects one body part or
organ system, administration of these therapies takes into consideration all
parts of a living organism and therefore frequently can minimize the occurrence
of subsequent illness. Because these
therapies take into consideration the entire person, results tend to take
longer and can be accompanied by “healing crises” which eventually resolve,
leaving the person stronger than before.
Instead of
using an antibiotic to wipe out both the offending organism and healthy flora
of the body, thus destroying the healthy biome and leaving the individual’s
health vulnerable, Holistic medicine builds up the body’s strength and reserves
with supportive Nutrition and Herbs, and with therapies such as Acupuncture,
Chiropractic, Massage and Homeopathy until the individual can re-establish
homeostasis, thus preventing infectious agents from causing further harm.
Sometimes, both
Allopathic and Holistic medicine can be used together effectively. An example would be in the treatment of Lyme
disease. Antibiotics can be helpful as a
start to treatment, since they kill off much of the infectious agent. More important are therapies that build up a
person’s overall strength to overcome the Lyme microorganism, since this
strengthening allows the body to develop resistance to future infections. Many people test positive for the presence of
Lyme, yet they don’t have the disease.
That is because infections are opportunistic – they are present and wait
for an opening, that is, a deficiency in the body’s defenses. People who test positive for Lyme or other
infections yet appear healthy might begin to show symptoms later on in life,
after a stressful event, such as a serious car accident or a divorce. At this time, the best approach to treatment
will usually be to build up the strength and resilience of the body, as well as
to help the mind and emotions heal. In
this way, the person can overcome these microorganisms by either killing off most
of the invaders and putting any remaining infectious organisms back into a
state of latency (waiting).
Lyme disease
is a spirochete infection, which is similar to a fungal infection. Both are systemic in nature, preventing the
absorption of nutrients, wreaking havoc with the immune and nervous systems,
and doing much more damage besides. Sometimes,
heavy use of antibiotics in the past is what sets a person up for developing
Lyme disease after initial exposure, since the person’s immune system has
already been compromised through the destruction of a healthy biome.
Holistic
medicine can be used not only to allow us to overcome health problems, but also
can help prevent us from developing an illness. This was how health care worked
in China centuries ago, and how many Holistic practitioners work today.
This month’s
offer: feel free to schedule a
complimentary consultation to explore the possible use of Holistic medicine to
maintain and even improve your health.
