Changing Views of Alternative Medicine

About twenty years ago, my mother woke one morning unable to even sit up in bed without excruciating pain shooting from her hip all the way through her leg. The diagnosis was sciatica - a pinched nerve in the joint of her hip. The doctor who examined her prescribed medication for the pain - and a controversial 'new' treatment. He sent her to a chiropractor. Because there was little in the way of formal research to support it, her appointments with the chiropractor were not covered by insurance. And because it was seen as fringe medicine, she endured a great deal of teasing about dealing with quacks.

Over the past twenty-five years, the world of conventional medicine has opened its doors to accept a number of things that would have been unthinkable in 1975. Those 'things' represent a radical shift in the role of the medical provider in today's medical paradigm. They include such concepts as informed consent, patient directed treatment, involvement of family and patient in decision making and the acceptance that there exist many systems of medicine which may offer treatment and relief.

These days, most doctors accept and believe that patients have a right to choose the therapies that they will use. As the claims and beliefs of conventional medicine have been attacked and overturned - and research has often proven that traditional remedies are traditional remedies for a reason - many doctors will offer information on alternative medicines and medical systems along with their own medical advice. Your pediatrician may tell you, for instance, that you can use an over the counter cough medicine to treat your child's cough, and then mention that a recent study suggests that grandma's old standby of hot lemon tea with honey may also help. The end result is an odd mix of science and folklore.

In addition, many medical schools are now teaching courses in alternative medical interventions both to upcoming med students and as continuing ed units for practicing doctors. The wide acceptance of herbal medicine, nutritional supplementation, massage therapies and treatments like hypnosis has prompted many physicians to learn more, if only to discuss the dangers with their patients.

It has also become increasingly clear that some alternative therapies can interfere or enhance conventional treatment. The doctor who is aware that St. John's Wort can alter the way that drugs traditionally used to treat HIV are used by the body is in a position to advise against it. By the same token, a doctor with a patient whose anxiety about a necessary treatment may damage the response to the treatment can recommend a relaxation technique before or after the treatment to ease the anxiety.

What is emerging in medical circles is a willingness to wed the old with the new, the traditional with the conventional and the possible benefit with the likely outcome. So don't be surprised if the next time you visit your doctor, he recommends that you take two aspirin, get plenty of rest, and put some apple potpourri to simmer on the stove to help you relax and get a restful night's sleep. There are more wonders in this world, Horatio and your doctor is catching up on the ones they didn't teach him in school.