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Integrative medicine—the practice of combining remedies from various therapeutic disciplines to optimize relief and speed healing—is transforming both how health professionals treat disease and how patients manage their own care. Your Best Medicine introduces the reader to this new world of healing options for everyday ailments like dry skin, fatigue, and indigestion as well as more serious conditions like diabetes, heart disease, and obesity. All of the treatments and techniques in Your Best Medicine have been handpicked by two practitioners—one a conventionally trained MD, the other a specialist in complementary therapies—based on established therapeutic protocols, research evidence, and clinical experience. Conventional and complementary remedies appear side by side so readers can evaluate at a glance the remedies' relative effectiveness, safety, and ease of use. Every entry in Your Best Medicine also provides important information on risk factors, symptoms, and diagnostic techniques, as well as preventive measures. Armed with this knowledge, readers can make decisions wisely and confidently at every stage of their care.
Integrative medicine—the practice of combining remedies from various therapeutic disciplines to optimize relief and speed healing—is transforming both how health professionals treat disease and how patients manage their own care. Your Best Medicine introduces the reader to this new world of healing options for everyday ailments like dry skin, fatigue, and indigestion as well as more serious conditions like diabetes, heart disease, and obesity. All of the treatments and techniques in Your Best Medicine have been handpicked by two practitioners—one a conventionally trained MD, the other a specialist in complementary therapies—based on established therapeutic protocols, research evidence, and clinical experience. Conventional and complementary remedies appear side by side so readers can evaluate at a glance the remedies' relative effectiveness, safety, and ease of use. Every entry in Your Best Medicine also provides important information on risk factors, symptoms, and diagnostic techniques, as well as preventive measures. Armed with this knowledge, readers can make decisions wisely and confidently at every stage of their care.
Due to publisher restrictions the library cannot purchase additional copies of this title, and we apologize if there is a long waiting list. Be sure to check for other copies, because there may be other editions available.
Due to publisher restrictions the library cannot purchase additional copies of this title, and we apologize if there is a long waiting list. Be sure to check for other copies, because there may be other editions available.
Excerpts-
From the book
Integrative Medicine: The Best of All Worlds
In this book, you're going to find treatments from both conventional medicine and complementary disciplines. Combining the two in a treatment plan has come to be known as an integrative approach to care.
For many years, conventional and complementary medicine operated in separate universes, with little common ground except their mutual objective of helping patients to heal from illness or—in the case of chronic conditions—to minimize symptoms. Why are they coming together now? Mostly because health care consumers like you have demanded it. They recognized that conventional and complementary therapies alike have benefits as well as risks—and that combining the two can optimize healing while, in many cases, reducing costs.
In this chapter, we'll provide brief overviews of conventional and complementary medicine in turn. This information will provide a foundation for the condition-specific "prescriptions" in Part 2.
What Is Conventional Medicine?
Until relatively recently, the words "complementary medicine" seldom were spoken in a medical setting. For the most part, the care and treatment provided by doctors fell within the conventional realm.
Conventional medicine—sometimes called allopathic medicine or mainstream medicine—has been practiced by generations of traditionally trained physicians. Those who wish to pursue a career in medicine must complete 4 years of study (beyond a bachelor's degree), followed by an internship, a residency, and possibly a fellowship. Generally, students who attend one of the nation's 125 medical schools are taught to use medications, surgery, and other conventional modalities to treat medical conditions. They may not learn about complementary disciplines, unless they choose to do so. (Many schools are offering training on the relationship between body and mind, so doctors-tobe can recognize when treatment may need to involve a mental health practitioner.)
Among the key differences between conventional and complementary medicine is that conventional modalities must undergo a certain level of scientific scrutiny before they become available to the general public. Every day, medical researchers in laboratories throughout the United States are conducting thousands of studies in a continual effort to develop new diagnostic procedures, medications, and surgical techniques. To a certain extent, these endeavors are overseen and regulated by the federal government.
In recent years, many medical doctors have embraced evidence-based medicine- -that is, the use of the best evidence from research studies to guide their clinical decisions. Thanks to the Internet, they now have quick and easy access to these findings, which allows them to provide their patients with the most up-to-date medical care possible.
Conventional medicine also places an emphasis on prevention. From a very young age, children are given vaccines to help protect against a host of different illnesses. Likewise, adults are encouraged to get certain shots— such as the one that prevents influenza—and to undergo regular screenings designed to detect various illnesses in their earliest and most treatable forms.
But conventional medicine isn't without challenges, particularly with regard to cost and access to care. There's a serious shortage of medical doctors—especially those who specialize in certain areas of medicine—in rural communities. Further, more than 46 million Americans have no health insurance, while another 40 million have inadequate coverage. These people all too often neglect preventive care, and they may put off treatment for their health problems until they require...
About the Author-
MARK A. GOLDSTEIN, MD, is chief of adolescent and young adult medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. He lives in Lincoln, Massachusetts. MYRNA CHANDLER GOLDSTEIN, MA, is a former newspaper correspondent whose work has been recognized by the Massachusetts Press Association and the New England Press Association. She lives in Lincoln, Massachusetts. LARRY P. CREDIT, OMD, maintains a practice at Sancta Maria Hospital in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and is on the faculty of Fitchberg State College in Fitchberg, Massachusetts. He resides in Belmont, Massachusetts.
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