It is the goal of medicine to either maintain health or restore health and wellness if there has been an imbalance, injury, or illness. In our Western world, over the years we have become very rigid in defining the methods that can be used and officially termed “medicine.” In fact, some would argue that our society puts more importance of the definition of those methods than in embracing additional methods that help in many cases where Western medicine cannot. Unfortunately in some cases, the system’s interest in protecting what can be included as “medicine” in our Western society has actually prevented some from being able to heal. We have a way to go in order to correct this. For instance, still today for all we know now about the importance of diet and nutrition and the dramatic impact simple diet changes can have on even serious illnesses, most doctors receive only a few short hours of nutrition education in medical school.
In some ways the history of western medicine reads like a great mystery novel. In it are the players, who discovered new disease and treatment strategies that comfortably fit into the medical models, while others, through secrecy, deceit, and manipulation, have sought to destroy those who challenge long-held notions or introduce therapies that challenge mainstream thought and threaten the financial interests of the medical monopoly. ,,1, 2, 3
What is termed “conventional” medicine is what has been our national standard or practice in our Western society. It includes the use of synthetic drugs, surgery, and radiation to treat disease. It is what we are exposed to from birth until death and most often encounter in hospitals and clinics. It is invasive and very expensive, but very effective in treating many emergency conditions such as a car accidents or life-threatening heart attacks. There is no doubt that our Western approach has driven novel healthcare technology, which has been very beneficial. However it is also largely reactive, meaning that this approach has historically placed the majority of focus on how to deal with illness once it occurs rather than focusing on ways to prevent illness.
Many people blindly accept conventional medicine as the be-all-end-all approach until faced with a chronic illness. Many individuals open to other approaches if conventional medicine cannot alleviate the symptoms. Others begin to embrace additional methods because, once faced with a chronic illness, they discover that it isn’t just their bodies that need treatment - they desire to have a method that treats the entirety of whom they are, body, mind, and spirit. In the Western world, historically the focus has been largely on the body, and even more specifically just the area that is impacted by the disease or concern.
Once chronic illness occurs, some may then turn to what is labeled “alternative” medicine which incorporates therapies outside the conventional realm. This generally includes acupuncture, botanicals, homeopathy, various massage and manipulative therapies and nutrition. These were known as natural medicine, as they incorporate elements more exacting to the way nature heals.
In more recent years, “complementary”, or CAM medicine has been defined in order to begin to bridge the gap between conventional medicine and alternative medicine. This approach is one in which the practitioner employs alternative therapies along with conventional therapies. An example would be using acupuncture to relieve post surgical pain.
The most recent catch-phrase is “integrative” medicine which as defined by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, “combines mainstream medical therapies and CAM therapies for which there is some high-quality scientific evidence of safety and effectiveness.” Integrative medicine works with the whole person including the body mind, spiritual and other aspects of one’s lifestyle. It is an attempt to “integrate” a healing process by examining areas that are missed by conventional medicine. It utilizes those therapies thought to be effective and without possible harm.
This is also the basis for what is called “evidence-based medicine”. Despite the thousands of years of human use, botanical medicine (herbs) is mostly regarded as inferior and harmful by conventional medicine. The medical community only accepts the “scientific testing” of herbs, nutritional components found in food and therapies like acupuncture, massage and chiropractic. The double-blind, placebo controlled clinical studies are meant to give credence for or against what is being scrutinized. However, studies fail to thoroughly examine the lifestyle, nutritional status and other aspects of the subject’s life prior to the study that could potentially give way to a false positive or negative outcome. One size does not fit all in nature and each individual has their own genetic and lifestyle liabilities.
Another important element to consider within most of the studies performed is the financial backing of the study funding. This issue has begun to get more attention and notice in recent years. The current system often allows for drug manufacturers or others with a vested interest in the success of the study to fund or have a voice in the study rather than to require the studies to be performed by unbiased, uninvolved parties.
There is great interest by pharmaceutical companies to locate and study natural substances. Natural substances, however, are not allowed to be patented. So often what happens is that after isolating the chemical substance producing the known desired effect in the body, drug companies synthesize a similar structure or simply mimic it. This allows for patenting and reaping billions of dollars in profit. Thus, what originally was a natural substance is artificially synthesized through petroleum or coal-tar into a drug or a “natural product mimic”.4,5 There is enormous irony that this process is undertaken in order to validate the very same natural substances that were originally deemed inferior or harmful. Researching patents reveals hundreds of drugs originating from plant or microbial elements, many now worth billions of dollars.
“Historically, the majority of new drugs have been generated from natural products (secondary metabolites) and from compounds derived from natural products… Currently there is substantial decline in new drug approvals and impending loss of patent protection for important medicines. However, untapped biological resources, ‘smart screening’ methods, robotic separation with structural analysis, metabolic engineering, and synthetic biology offer exciting technologies for new natural product drug discovery. Advances in rapid genetic sequencing, coupled with manipulation of biosynthetic pathways, may provide a vast resource for the future discovery of pharmaceutical agents.”6
Western medicine stands on the shoulders of botanical (herbal) medicine as practiced since ancient times. Earliest manuscripts cite the medicinal properties of plants as observed by the high priest, shaman, or medicine man. They detailed what part of the plant to be used, preparation instructions, the best conditions for plant growth, and not only the responses of the body but also of patient’s mind and mental faculties. These processes definitely included periods of trial and error much as we still go through today in conventional medicine, but today we know through their writings which herbs work for what conditions. We have an enormous amount of information stretching back thousands of years about the value of medicinal plants.
It is human nature, as we all know, to want to build anew, to desire to create our own approach to things. Yet hopefully we also recognize the enormous gifts that are the lessons and wisdom of our ancestors. There is vast wisdom in checking our tendency to become arrogant within modern conventional medicine so that we can learn from the simplicity by which our medicine was made possible. Nature has infinitely more secrets yet to be discovered.
For medicine to truly be “integrative” we must change our systems. We must require full disclosure and honesty from by the pharmaceutical industry, the associations backing it and our federal government. We must be more watchful of the people who are placed in positions of power and evaluate their interests and how they are awarded those positions. Many high level executives in the pharmaceutical industry then move on to positions at the FDA, lobbyist groups, government positions and vice versa, which allows special interests to build power, and minimizes our ability to champion the true focus. For those who are suffering, what really matters is not that the approach is conventional, alternative, complementary, or integrative. What matters is that the approach works so that they can live their lives with health and wellness. In the health arena, we must stand for alleviating humanity of disease rather than lining our pockets with profit.
