Thursday, November 29, 2007

Holistic medicine

Holistic health, often thought of as just a type of alternative medicine, is beginning to gain recognition in Western medicine. It makes sense if you think about it and it’s a shame that it is taking so long for the concept of holistic health to make inroads in our healthcare.

Look at two of today’s news stories: High blood pressure could worsen Alzheimer's: study and Depression linked to brittle bones in women. Blood pressure and Alzheimer’s disease, and depression and osteoporosis. How many other diseases and health problems have we heard of that are related? Diabetes and high blood pressure is just one example of many.

In my opinion, it only makes sense that one part of the body affects another – for better or worse.

Traditionally, our medical approach is to treat the symptoms of an illness and then to try to get rid of the illness. This can be done by surgery (removing or repairing the problem) or treatment. While this approach may work much of the time, is it taking care of the whole problem? Holistic medicine encourages using all the resources available to you – be it psychology, acupuncture, massage, or any other field of so-called alternative medicine that is appropriate.

I often wonder, why is Western medicine so afraid of the older ones from elsewhere.

News for Today:

High blood pressure could worsen Alzheimer's: study
HIV infections rising among gay men in developed countries
Drug maker accepts FDA's new Tamiflu warning
System of simplified, standardized dosing instructions for prescription drug labels proposed
Heavy keyboard use won't trigger carpal tunnel woe
Depression linked to brittle bones in women

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