Conventional vs. Alternative Medicine

Alternative Medicine is the natural treatment of disease that was in effect in ancient times long before conventional medicine was ever introduced. Alternative medicine is traditional, whereas conventional medicine is relatively new and not traditional.

The main difference between alternative medicine and conventional medicine is that the latter is too concerned with treating the symptoms of disease by scientific techniques and technology instead of treating the whole person and the cause of disease. On the other hand, alternative medicine puts much emphasis upon the prevention of disease, and seeks to treat the whole person so as to strengthen the immune system to bring about a sustained healing.

Conventional medicine work under strict scientific tests, has known mechanisms, and has usually been developed after years of extensive research. Alternative medicine does not always follow the above criteria. Opponents of alternative medicine say that any benefits are the result of the placebo effect.

Conventional medicine practitioners usually see health as ‘the absence of disease’, which arises the common philosophy that "if you are not sick and you do not need to go to the doctor". People would go to doctors for an annual check up. Assessment of an individual's health is by the results of the physical examination giving no or very little consideration to life-style factors such as diet, exercise, or personal or psychological issues. In contrast, alternative medical systems see health as dynamic process. Other factors ranging from the strength of a person's ‘vital energy’ to how happy the person is also considered. Even a person's religious and spiritual concerns are all carefully addressed when assessing health and well-being.

Alternative Medicine is more cost effective over the long term, works better for just about everything else, especially for diseases like cancer, heart disease, arthritis, asthma, sinusitis, etc. Alternative methods work by assisting your body to heal itself instead of introducing strong drugs. They emphasize prevention and attack causes rather than symptoms.

We all need hope. And alternative medicine promises everybody that it can recover. So, that is why alternative medicine for cancer is so popular. Where the conventional medicine has no power to do, the alternative medicine offers a lot of different recipes.