Tim Lim

Archive for February, 2011

Alternative Therapies Do They Work?

I don’t understand the medical communities dismissal of alternative therapies.  After all, many of these treatments have been around for hundreds or even thousands of years.  It seems arrogant and short sighted to throw away that kind of experience.

There are doctors who say that there is no proof that these alternative treatments work.  But can we believe that?  After all, who is performing these tests?  More often than not it’s the pharmaceutical companies that are running these ‘studies’. 

You have to ask yourself if they would even publish findings that supported the effectiveness of a drug that they didn’t own the rights to manufacture.

With the recent slew of drug recalls, drugs that were originally approved by the FDA, more people seem to be looking for more natural relief, and prevention of illnesses.

The greed of the pharmaceutical companies has even gotten so bad that they are trying to lobby Congress to pass a law requiring prescriptions for all medications, including over the counter, and vitamins.

Can you imagine having to go to your doctor to get a prescription to pick up some One A Day vitamins?

The good news is this negative view of alternative treatments is starting to shift.  More and more doctors are starting to recognize the value of a multi pronged system to treat their patients.  They are more willing to incorporate natural cures as well as spiritual aspects into their treatment plans.

But again the question is, do alternative treatments  work?  The answer is, yes, they do.  And often with far fewer side effects than their man made counterparts.

Now I’m not suggesting that you shouldn’t consult a medical professional if you  are ill, particularly if you have a serious illness.  But I do think it’s wise to keep an open mind and strongly encourage your doctor to seriously consider other forms of treatments, more holistic approaches.

Many people are fearful of making their doctor mad, or offending them, and they don’t speak up and ask questions.  The thing you need to remember is that a doctor, no matter how much you like or trust them, is still only human.  They can be set in their ways, and yes, they can even be wrong.

Don’t be intimidated to talk to your doctor about alternative therapies for the treatment and prevention of illness.  After all, he works for you, not the other way around. And your health is far more important than protecting your doctors ego.

Are Alternative Medicines Effective?

A growing number of people have become interested in alternative medicine to treat illnesses. Alternative medicine as a practice has created a significant amount of controversy both inside and outside the traditional medical field. Alternative medicine refers to a treatment or substance that is unproven under the application or accepted scientific standards. The most common types of alternative medicine include herbs, supplements, therapies and activities that are outside traditional medical practice. Some of these raise questions about their safety and effectiveness.

Acupuncture, massage, meditation, herbal tea, and plant extracts are popular among devotees of alternative medicine, but many traditional doctors believe these treatments are ineffective or even dangerous. Alternative medicine has become increasingly popular as more people face the aches, pains, and illnesses that accompany aging. In some cases, individuals have not obtained a cure with traditional medical approaches and turn to other options to treat their illness. In still other cases, people feel very strongly that natural methods of treatment are better than traditional medicine, so they look for answers from alternative practitioners instead of the family doctor.

There are risks associated with alternative medicine. Some of the risks arise through the use of untested, ineffective, and even unsafe substances. The manufacturers of these substances sometimes exaggerate the claims of their effectiveness. They may misrepresent the science related to the material to convince consumers to buy the product, even if its use can endanger a person’s health.

Some herbal remedies are advertised as being able to improve memory, raise metabolism, or cure cancer and heart disease. In reality, the remedies may cause harm if taken at high doses. Another risk is that someone with a serious disease like cancer will not receive traditional and proven treatments, preferring to use alternative methods that may not be effective. In these cases, people are risking their lives. Sometimes, patients may be using alternative treatments, but not telling their doctors about them. This can lead to dangerous drug interactions. If a traditional doctor is unaware of the substance a patient is taking, medications that produce harmful interactions may be unknowingly prescribed.

It is possible to recognize potentially risky alternative treatment. If a treatment sounds too good to be true, it probably is. While this is a cliché, it is often very true in situations involving alternative medicines. Be careful of products labeled ‘miraculous’ or ‘ancient remedy.’ If you are thinking about treatments such as acupuncture or reflexology, check the qualifications of the practitioner before being treated. Ask about the training received, and research the treatment to determine if it has been scientifically tested and found to be effective.

It’s a good idea to ask your doctor about an alternative treatment you are considering. Trained medical professionals have the experience and education to help you make safe decisions about your health.

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Sleep Apnea – Some of the Alternative Therapies that can be used to treat Sleeping Disorders

The everyday life of an individual can be greatly affected with sleep disorders. Typically, people who lack sleep would often feel stressed out and exhausted throughout the day. Lack of sleep can also cause a person to feel sleepy the whole day, making the person feel irritable easily. Because of this easy irritability, people would tend to have aggressive behaviors that can cause harm to others.

Every people may have varying adaptive mechanisms to sleep disorders. These adaptive mechanisms would allow them to cope with the symptoms brought about by the sleep disorder. In some cases, diet modifications and herbal supplementations are done to alleviate the symptoms. An active lifestyle with regular routine exercise can also increase the body’s resistance to stress. Meditation and other psychotherapeutic approaches can also be helpful in keeping the mind and body to be healthy.

A balanced diet would be helpful in promoting a healthy state of well being. Aside from that, eating the right kind and amount of food would also be helpful in achieving a refreshing and relaxing sleep. Intake of foods that are rich in vitamins and minerals as well as intake of adequate amount of water a day would be helpful in maintaining balance and nutrition in the body. Eliminating processed foods or foods that rich in chemicals, caffeine, and excessive sugar in the diet would be a great way to achieve optimum health. In general, sleep can actually be induced by eating nutritious foods. Sleeping disorders can also be resolved through consumption of nutritious foods. If you eat the right kind of food hours before bedtime, the serotonin levels in your body will be balanced. Serotonin is a chemical in the body that is responsible for inducing sleep. Serotonin is derived from an essential amino acid called tryptophan. Tryptophan has sedative effects that can induce sleep. Examples of food sources that are rich in tryptophan are bananas, cheese, avocado, nuts, and milk.

Aside from eating nutritious foods, others would resort to dietary supplements and herbal medications to help in treating sleeping disorders. If you would like to try out these methods, there are a lot of herbs and supplements that are available in the market. However, before you would try these supplements, you need to check out each so that you would know which has the ingredients that would address your problems related to your sleeping disorder. A good example would be to look for iron contents in the dietary supplements that you will choose if you have restless leg syndrome because iron deficiency is common in this sleep disorder. As for the herbs, you can try lemon balm, clamming tea and chamomile because these herbs are proven to promote sleep in a natural way.

Exercise and techniques for relaxation would be helpful in promoting a sound mind and body. Most people would either do exercise, or relaxation alone, or in combination to ensure that they are able to achieve a healthy state of well being that is capable of fighting off stress and anxiety. The relaxation methods are every effective in making the body feel at ease and releases tension; thus, making the person sleep better. Such relaxation techniques would include mind exercises, breathing exercises, techniques for muscle relaxation, and the popular yoga.

Medication does not only promote a healthy mind, but it also relieves the symptoms associated with sleep disorders. Breath meditation and mantra meditation are the two types of meditations that a person with sleeping disorder can try. Through these two types of meditation, a person will be able to release stress and keep a healthy body. Healing visualization is another suggestion that helps in relieving sleeping disorders.

Aside from meditation, another alternative therapy that can be used to alleviate the symptoms brought about by sleeping disorders would be hydrotherapy and aromatherapy. In hydrotherapy, two processes are used and these are Epsom salt and a footbath that stimulates the lymph of a person. As for aromatherapy, the oil extracts from natural sources are used in massage, baths, sprays and even inhalants.

Behavior therapy and cognitive therapy can be used to help a person with sleeping disorder. Through these methods, refocusing of the mind is the principle used to alleviate the symptoms. Examples would include improving hygiene before sleeping, writing a journal of the things that happened during the day, and a therapy that controls the stimulus in a person.

These alternative methods to relieve sleeping disorders are widely used and proven to be effective. These methods are sometimes used in conjunction with medications and other traditional practices for optimum results.

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Questions and Answers: Complementary and Alternative Medicines Forum

As complementary and alternative medicines become more popular in society the resources for advice become more common as well. Talking about health and health problems is very common in society; seems to be almost as common as talking about the weather.

With the internet being at almost everyone’s finger tips, the most common place for research, questions, and advice is most definitely online. Therefore the complementary and alternative medicines forum is an excellent source of information for people. It allows a private and anonymous place for people to be honest about their ailments and receive help and advice from other people who have been in their place regarding health problems and using alternative methods as treatment.

The engine on complementary and alternative medicines forum can be found easily by typing those words into any search the internet. Once there, you can post your own question, look at others questions and answers, browse the archives, or email the page to others. There is also several different thinks to other health related web pages.

Questions as simple as what helps the itch from a mosquito bite to how to help nausea from chemotherapy can be found. However, the questions have to be specifically regarding complementary and alternative medicines. The complimentary and alternative medicines forum does need to remain on that topic. From there, the range of topics is endless. People can gain information about possible treatments, problems with treatments, positives about treatments, and any other suggestion about complimentary and alternative medicines.

The complementary and alternative medicines forum is so popular because of the anonymity that it can offer its users. Sometimes problems and health conditions can be embarrassing or viewed as negative and people may not want the traditional places of advice to be aware of them. The traditional places of advice are coworkers, friends, and family. But not everyone is comfortable talking to these people about their health problems. The complimentary and alternative medicines forum is very easy to use. Just click on any question that interests you and you can see the answers that people had about it.

Further to this, your own question can be posed and then the answers viewed in the same method. You can pick your user name and therefore remain as anonymous or as recognizable as you want. The forum should be considered an initial place to look for advice or treatment and not a one stop shop. Once information has been obtained on the site, it could be helpful to check into that information to ensure that it is solid.

Another one of my very biased looks at the beauty of nature and science against the dubious claims of superstition. Here we see the claim of a homeopathist pitted against the achievments of proper medical research. Don’t fall for the trap folks !. Sources: www.youtube.com www.youtube.com www.youtube.com www.youtube.com www.youtube.com www.youtube.com www.youtube.com www.youtube.com www.youtube.com music: Pink Floyd – Take it Back callum.macdonald1979@gmail.com
Video Rating: 3 / 5

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