“The whole is more than the sum of its parts.”
- Aristotle
Let’s talk about quick fixes versus real fixes in health care options. Quick fixes may work quickly - and stop working quickly.
For chronic disorders and diseases, we need lasting help.
It is no accident that more people search the internet for keywords related to “alternative” medicine rather than “complementary” or “integrative” medicine. Clearly, most of us with chronic disorders
and diseases are likely to start off on one or more conventional drugs that we have to take. But we want more options, i.e., alternatives.
Once the shock of the diagnosis wear off, what we need are true options - alternatives. We have no stake in complementing, that is, implicitly valuing conventional drugs over alternative treatment options by adding other options and assuming that drugs must always be the centerpiece of our treatment. Even when drugs are essential (and many times they are to stay alive), we as patients just want something that works well…for our particular problem. To go beyond surviving - to feeling good.
Interestingly, a prominent academic geneticist from Duke University and reportedly worldwide vice-president of genetics at a leading pharmaceutical company was quoted as saying: “The vast majority of drugs - more than 90 per cent - only work in 30 or 50 per cent of the people… I wouldn’t say that most drugs don’t work. I would say that most drugs work in 30 to 50 per cent of people. Drugs out there on the market work, but they don’t work in everybody.”
What are conventional medical researchers doing about this alarming situation? They are heading farther into looking at our individual genetic patterns to determine which drugs are most likely to help which people.
Right now, the reality is that medical doctors have to use trial-and-error decision-making to choose the next drug option. So, it is coming full circle - in its own arena, even conventional medicine is recognizing the need to individualize treatment for different people with the “same” diagnosis. And they are working towards developing methods to do so for their primary therapeutic tool, drugs.
One of the strengths of many alternative medicine approaches is that they individualize. They have systems for evaluating the person as a whole to determine the optimal interventions in an
individualized way. They don’t rely on genetic tests, which will focus only on our ability to handle and respond to a specific drug for a specific problem in a specific body part.
Rather, the alternatives speak to us at the level of the individual person. They not only consider our preferences and our circumstances (financial, social, etc.), but they also have diagnostic systems that lead the therapist to a more tailored plan of action.
Iris R Bell, MD PhD
Alternative Medicine Information from a Doctor who is also a Patient.