I’m not Mocking or instigating. I really wat to know from those who prefer alternative medecine,?

I grew up using ‘traditional medicine, administered by my mum and TCM doctors. I also now seek on other ‘traditional medicine’ such as homoepathy, aromatherapy and so on.I actually am offended by the term ‘alternative’. I much prefer ‘traditional’. Some of the ‘traditional medicine’ are much older than western medicine. (So to me, western medicine is the ‘alternative’ or ‘complementary’ medicine!) Eg. accupunture and other chinese TCM are centuries old. We dont need to research why accupunture works. Nice to know but not necessary. Of course, there are good and bad traditional medicinal practitioners, as in everything else.I dont dismiss western medicine but I only use it as a last resort after trying more wholistic approaches. My $0.02.

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I think traditional/alternative medicine is better because there are no side effects from various powerful drugs that are prescribed by western doctors. Sometimes, the negative side effects are very harmful and uncomfortable.

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Herbal medicine has been around for literally thousands of years and all the results, recepies and so on has been passed down through the ages. Various systems have been in existsence for hundreds of centuries before “western medicine geniuses” decided to “make them legitimate” by researching them! so NO they are not under researched, show me a prescription medicne that has that claim! Thousands of years of research and use!These systems are still used today by countires and cultures that frequently out live westerners by several decades and whilst these people are alive, they are far stronger and healthier than westerners. Western science is only now “Catching up to” these methods and proving what has always been known by the practitioners. But the funny thing about science is that it is never 100% correct! My suggestion is to do a little more probing yourself because the information is FREELY available.Hope this helps.Craig – Naturopath.

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I’m always wary when I hear the words “herbal” and “natural”. Deadly Nightshade is both herbal and natural but it isn’t good for you!I actually don’t like the term “alternative medicine” and prefer “complementary”. There are a lot of “quacks” around who do more harm that good – taking money from very vulnerable people. There are also genuine folk out there who help by listening – sometimes just someone to listen and perhaps to add a new focus can be a real help.Until there are proper sound clinical trials of the different treatments we will never have proper answers to the real effectiveness of any treatments.

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A visit to a regular family physician for a sore throat would get you 3 minutes with the doc and a prescription for an antibiotic. A visit to my nauturopath with a sore throat gets 30 minutes while she uncovers whether the infection is bacterial or viral before recommending her treatment which only rarely involves antibiotics. Antibiotics have been widely overused and because of that, we are developing an immunity to them. Regular physicians just don’t have the time or the knowledge to help us help our bodies heal themselves. Homeopathy does that.

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I live in an area where I’d have to travel close to 100 miles to find a naturopath. I wish there was someone closer, because I’d go and check it out. No, I think that a lot of remedies have been used for hundreds of years, and the stuff we have to rely on today, especially in the US, is sold to us for the good of the drug companies, not necessarily for our own good.

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How did people in the past get treated!They used some of those alternative medication and got well!I actually think sometimes they are better and less harming :)Some people got sicker with medications, some other people did not get cured… so why not!And a lot of these kind of medication are tested and some are researched!Sometimes I’d rather rub peppermint oil on my temples to cure headache instead of taking Advil or Tylenol! Or drink hot lemon juice and honey for my sore throat! Re search is a way of saying, someone has looked it up. I can trust in a lot of doctors or researchers or companies who might have done their best to do the tests analyse and report the results. I can also trust the wisdom of the people of the past which again might have understood the implication of each of the medicine and their results. What ever works for me, I take it. So I depend on Homeopathic medicine that too only when I am in absolute need. I have seen it working for quite a few people for what ever may be the reason. And I have not seen any side effects. At the same time, I have had side effects of the so called mainstream medicine.