Natural vs. Modern Medications and Treatments

When it comes to healthcare, where do you turn? People tend to go to their family doctor, which typically results in some sort of medication. Medication isn’t necessarily bad; however, there are safer solutions to many common ailments that enable your body to heal itself without causing side effects.

According to the data that was submitted to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration during the first quarter of 2008, there were 20,745 serious repercussions associated with drug (pharmaceutical) therapy—and these are only the ones that were voluntarily reported. Imagine how many more go unreported. These numbers represent a 34% increase from the previous quarter, and a 38% increase from last year’s average. If this isn’t enough to scare you, 4,824 people actually died from taking pharmaceutical drugs in the first quarter of 2008. This shocking figure is more than double from the previous quarter.

Let’s put this into perspective: more people died from pharmaceutical therapy than from homicide in the same quarter.
Complementary and Alte
ative Medicine (CAM) has gained both respect and skepticism amongst medical professionals. I find it ironic how nature’s medicine has been labeled “alte
ative” medicine. Natural medicine has existed for thousands of years, long before modern medicine came to be. Where it is true that modern medicine has enabled people to live longer, and conquer illnesses that can be fatal, natural medicine has its own strengths and successes. The simple truth is that the job of a health-care professional is to do what is right for the patient, period.

Are Natural Healthcare Solutions for Everyone?
Use common sense when choosing your health care solutions. Seek a natural healthcare provider to stay healthy, and to heal from common ailments. Seek modern healthcare for life or death situations, or when natural medicine does not produce the desired results.

Kudos for Modern Medicine
If it were not for modern medicine, I would not be here today to share my knowledge with you. I nearly died in an auto accident in 1998. Medical doctors saved my life and for that I am forever grateful. Even though I own and operate a natural health clinic, I chose to go to the hospital for my care. It would not have made sense to seek natural health care during that life or death situation.

I was given much-needed medications to help my body through the trauma, however, I was not about to take them for the rest of my life. That would be synonymous with placing more buckets under a leaky roof, instead of fixing the roof, itself. The buckets serve a valuable purpose for a short term solution. They do not make sense to use as the final solution, and nor do pharmaceutical drugs. For long-term care and health, you want to see your naturopathic doctor. In my particular instance, I slowly replaced the pharmaceutical drugs with herbs and homeopathic remedies to complete my healing process.

Kudos for Natural Medicine
When I had serious hormonal issues, the modern medicine approach was to give me a hysterectomy, and put me on hormones for the rest of my life. This may have resolved the issue, I’m sure, however, I chose a longer lasting approach—natural medicine.
As part of my treatment, I had to drink a cup of medicinal tea, horrible stuff, for ten days. After three days, my consistent bleeding had stopped. After five days, my strength returned, and after ten days, I felt great. That was eight years ago and the problem has not returned. In my opinion, ten days of drinking really bitter tea by far outweighed having my uterus removed and living on synthetically produced hormones, not to mention the other drugs I would have had to take to address the side effects of those drugs. Today, I’m drug free and my hormones are functioning just fine.

Integrated Medicine, the Best of Both Worlds
When modern doctors and natural health practitioners work together, we really have a solid healthcare solution. For example, we had a client who displayed symptoms of lymphatic cancer. She was encouraged to seek modern medical help. Indeed, she did have lymphatic cancer. At first, she did not want to try the traditional medical approach that involved invasive procedures. After trying natural medicine for several months, her condition did not improve. Again, she was encouraged to try a more aggressive approach using modern medicine. The naturopath worked along with her medical doctor to find a reasonable and safe treatment. After one year, the cancer is gone, the patient is healthy, and everyone wins. This is the epitome of a healthcare system that really works.

Another client of ours, very sweet woman, was sold on modern medicine and honestly believed that she had to continue to take two handfuls of pills each day to stay alive and healthy. In truth, she was not healthy and she bore the chronic pain that had manifested for many years. My husband and I finally convinced her to try natural medicine. She did, thank God. Now, after one year of working with both her naturopath and medical doctor, she is completely off all medications and has lost over 130 pounds. She looks several years younger, has much more energy, and has no more pain. She went from being a diabetic who had to take insulin, to a healthy person with normal blood sugar levels—something medical doctors claimed was impossible.
Natural health practitioners understand that natural medicine cannot cure everything, nor does it work for everyone. The same holds true for modern medicine. The more in tuned you are to your body, the easier it is to stay healthy. Most of us do not know what to recognize because it has been so long since we have experienced what healthy is all about. We have been programmed to believe that drugs are the cure. They are not. In most instances, they are no more than bandages that offer temporary relief.

Our bodies are amazing and have the innate intelligence to heal. God has given us everything we need to thrive on this Earth. These needs are simple, natural, and abundant. Try as we might, humans cannot improve what is already perfect.
When it comes to staying healthy, keep it simple, keep it pure, and keep it natural. nnn nn