eHealth Resources
Natural health and healing is getting a lot of attention today… as it should. As an alternative to conventional medicine, with pharmaceuticals gaining a reputation of serious side effects and surgeries which a growing number of people view natural health with a grain of salt or sometimes unnecessary or worse, both unnecessary and unsuccessful. Recent surveys reveal that over two thirds of the general public have tried natural remedies as an attractive and effective alternative to the “doctor”.
Natural healing, or natural cures, are rather broad terms, encompassing a range of therapies and medicinal disciplines, so it’s not surprising that you could feel confused as to what exactly comprises a natural cure. Let’s look at some of the various terms you may have heard but can’t define.
Alternative medicine describes any healing discipline that does not include conventional, also known as allopathic, medicine or pharmaceutical drugs. Examples of alternative medicine include acupuncture, herbal medicine, nutritional therapy, homeopathy, aromatherapy, hypnosis and meditation. Conventional physicians are not typically willing to discuss these types of treatments.
Holistic medicine is a sort of subset of alternative medicine, where the practitioner views illness as a symptom of imbalance within the entire organism, rather than the cause. The holistic perspective looks at the body as an integrated system of interrelated functions which, as a whole, produce conditions of health or illness.
Essentially, natural cures involve using food, supplements, herbs and your body’s own healing capacity to resolve an illness or condition, without the intervention of allopathic (conventional) medical practices.
For example, if you suffer from arthritis, the conventional physician has a host of prescription and over the counter medications to address the condition. The down side is that you must continue taking these medications for relief of symptoms, some of which have undesirable side effects. Or if you are somewhat overweight you may look into hypnosis for your weight loss problems.
Every day you see ads on TV for prescription drugs, for conditions ranging from high cholesterol to heartburn. The ads tout the medication as a silver bullet, but the ad invariably ends with a smooth voice, elucidating in hushed tones, “This may not be for you. Side effects may include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and insomnia. This should not be used by persons with high blood pressure, gray hair, or purple eyes”. (Sorry, I made that up :0)
Sales pitches like this are definitely of the good news, bad news variety and doubtless cause many people to reexamine their options.
Although conventional medicine should never be ignored, there are so many effective natural cures for a variety of conditions, you owe it to yourself to investigate natural cures. You may be surprised to find you can remedy long standing conditions, naturally. This site will help direct you in a direction to look at alternatives to conventional medicine.
