Alternative Medicine

I have no training in any kind of medicine, but I have been a recipient of both today's conventional (or mainstream) and and certain alternative health solutions for quite a while so I do know a little bit about them from the receiving end. there are many types of alternative (or complementary) health solutions, but I am mainly talking about Chinese traditional medicine (sometimes inaccurately called "herb" medicine.) Here I want to express my opinion on how these two medical disciplines ought to respect each other and benefit from each other.

What we now consider as the "conventional" or "mainstream" medicine, i.e. one based on modern scientific methodology and delivered by highly-trained professionals in myriad of ever narrowing specialties, mostly chemical-based pharmaceuticals and increasingly sophisticated diagnostic and treatment equipment, has its roots in Ancient Greece but has been in its current form for, depending on how you define it, possibly no more than 100 years. It has produced many medical wonders along the way, but is by no means perfect. It is also becoming more and more prohibitively expensive and un-affordable for many people. Meanwhile, the requisite drugs and equipment to support this medical discipline has become a huge industry.

What are now considered "alternative" (meaning non-standard or quasi-legitimate at best) medicine, however, dated back to our hunter-gatherer time. Every culture of the world has its own traditional medicine that works, or that culture would not be around today. In western societies especially in Europe and North America, they are considered illegitimate if not woo-doo medicine and shunned by the mainstream medical establishment, although some reluctant exceptions have been made in recent years (e.g. acupuncture.)

Chinese medicine can be traced back all the way to about 2000 B.C.E. While it hasn't been helped by sophisticated scientific instruments, it anchors on thousands of years of empirical data handed down, often by words of mouth, from generation to generation and through trials and errors. Many health problems can be treated and even cured with Chinese medicine, but there are many things that it cannot do also. Another shortcoming is that the onus of diagnosis is all on the doctor. There isn't much in the way of diagnostic equipment. Diagnosis is based on looking listening, asking questions, and taking the pulse. Experienced doctors are hard to come by. The good part is it is very inexpensive. Nevertheless, if Chinese medicine has been treating this most populous nation on earth, it must have been doing something right, whether or not today's western medical establishment is able to understand.

To sum up, modern medicine is precise, can train many doctors and technicians to do exactly the same procedures, but is very expensive. Chinese traditional medicine is very inexpensive, but one has to rely on an experienced doctor and such a doctor is becoming rarer and rarer.

A few years ago I have come upon a book written in Chinese and published in Taiwan, in which the author examine the fundamental difference in philosophy between Chinese medicine of today's Western medicine. In several future postings, I would like to talk about some of the major points of this book. The name of the book is "A Manual for the Human Body."