The “Alternative Medicines” Myth

By Tracy Kolenchuk

Guest Writer for Wake Up World

The world seems to be divided on medicines… There are the medicines your doctor recommends, and ‘alternative’ medicines. Doctors typically recommend ‘patent’ medicines (although they might not use that name). Some doctors promote ‘natural medicines’, others prefer ‘Chinese medicines’, others like ‘traditional’ medicines. It seems there are many different types of medicine.

Even the FDA is roped into this argument, trying to define alternative medicines in a ‘draft guidance’ on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Products and their Regulation by the Food and Drug Administration.

The draft was crated in 2006. But it is still a draft 7 years later. Why? I believe it’s still a draft because there is no legitimate way for the FDA to discriminate between what they call “conventional” and what they call “alternative” medicines. It’s even more of a problem for them when some medicines jump back and forth across the gap. Vitamin C, for example, is a conventional medicine when a doctor prescribes it for scurvy, but when he recommends it to prevent colds, it’s an alternative medicine.

Just what are ‘alternative’ medicines anyway?

Alternative medicines and alternative treatments are often discussed on television, on the radio, on the internet. Many people claim that alternative medicines don’t work, in fact a few people make a living arguing that alternative medicines don’t work. But the truth is simpler and more complicated.

First, the simple fact….

Alternative medicines do not exist.

There is no clear classification called “alternative” medicine.

There is no way for the FDA to honestly distinguish between conventional and alternative medicines, because that’s the wrong question. No patient cares if the medicine is conventional or alternative – we care if it works. No honest doctor cares if it is conventional or alternative – if it is the best medicine for their patient.

For illnesses where we know the correct treatment, there are no alternatives because we know the correct treatment. The correct treatment is to directly address the cause. If you are deficient in Vitamin C, take Vitamin C as your medicine. If you are toxic with alcohol, reduce or stop your intake of alcohol. Both of those medical treatments directly address the cause of the illness – no other treatment does. Taking painkillers because you are deficient in Vitamin C might make you feel better, but it won’t address the illness. Drinking coffee might only help you to drink enough alcohol to kill yourself.

For illnesses where we don’t know the correct treatment, all treatments are ‘alternatives’. For chronic illnesses, like heart disease, multiple sclerosis and obesity, we usually don’t know the correct treatment. No treatment works in every case. No treatment works ‘best’. We need to choose from the alternatives.

Alternatives exist when you need to make a choice. Alternatives exist when your doctor and the medical establishments are NOT able to agree on and recommend the correct treatment. Or when no correct treatment exists. In some cases, no correct treatment can exist.

You might think that your doctor ‘always recommends the best treatment’. But in many cases, your doctor has no idea what is the ‘best treatment’. Chronic illness has no clearly known ‘best treatment’ and no ‘correct treatment’, by definition. If there was a known correct treatment, it would no longer be a chronic illness.

When the correct treatment is not known, all treatments are “alternatives”, whether they are patent medicines, conventional medicines, traditional medicines, herbal medicines, natural medicines, acupuncture, physiotherapy, even placebos, hugs and kisses, or any other type of medicine. Even ‘wait and see’ is sometimes an important medical alternative.

The Alternative Medicine Myth, that ‘There are official medicines and alternative medicines’, is a myth.

The phrase “alternative medicine” is not about the medicine, it is about the illness  Source and more...