{"id":3172,"date":"2016-03-08T15:22:51","date_gmt":"2016-03-08T15:22:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/healthicine.org\/wordpress\/?p=3172"},"modified":"2020-01-31T01:50:01","modified_gmt":"2020-01-31T01:50:01","slug":"myth-alternative-medicines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/healthicine.org\/wordpress\/myth-alternative-medicines\/","title":{"rendered":"The Myth of Alternative Medicines"},"content":{"rendered":"

The world seems\u00a0divided on medicines. There are medicines your doctor recommends, and alternative<\/em>\u00a0medicines. Doctors typically recommend patent<\/em> medicines (although they seldom\u00a0use that name). Some doctors promote alternatives: natural medicines, others prefer Chinese medicines, others ‘traditional’ medicines.<\/p>\n

What are Alternative medicines?<\/p>\n

The US FDA (Food and Drug Administration) tried to define alternative medicines, in a 2006 ‘draft guidance’ on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Products and their Regulation by the Food and Drug Administration<\/a>.<\/p>\n

They failed. The draft created in 2006, is still a draft 10 years later, unchanged. Why? It’s still a draft, because there is no legitimate way for the FDA to discriminate between conventional and alternative medicines. It’s even more of a problem that some medicines jump back and forth across the gap. Vitamin C, for example, is a conventional medicine when a doctor prescribes it for scurvy, but when she recommends it to prevent colds, it’s an alternative medicine. The USFDA gets around this problem with nonsense like\u00a0“the product is not<\/strong> intended to \u2018diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease,\u2019 because only a drug can legally make such a claim.<\/strong><\/a>”\u00a0 It’s not approved as a drug, so according the the FDA, you cannot claim<\/em> that a Vitamin can diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.<\/p>\n

According to the US\/FDA, there are no alternative medicines, there are only approved drugs. \u00a0And, according to the US\/FDA, only an approved drug can legally claim to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. It’s clearly bunk. Many\u00a0non-medicines can cure real illnesses<\/a>.<\/p>\n

FDA political nonsense aside, what are alternative medicines<\/em>? Medicines are used to treat illnesses. Alternative medicines and alternative treatments, are often seen\u00a0on television on the radio, in print and on the internet. Some people\u00a0claim that alternative medicines don’t work. Some even make a living arguing that alternative medicines don’t work. At the same time, many others claim they are the only medicines that work for some diseases.<\/p>\n

The truth is simpler, and more complicated. First, we begin with a simple reality.<\/p>\n

\"NoMedicines\"<\/a>Alternative medicines do not exist.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

There is no clear classification called alternative medicine<\/em>.\u00a0There is no scientific technique\u00a0for the FDA to distinguish between conventional and alternative medicines. There are no approval processes for alternative medicines. The FDA Glossary of Terms does not actually have a definition for medicine<\/em>, much less alternative medicine<\/em>, only for drug<\/em>.<\/p>\n

According to the US FDA, drugs\u00a0cannot claim to “prevent, diagnose, treat or cure any disease<\/em>” – unless\u00a0they are approved drugs – at which time they are no longer alternative medicines.<\/p>\n

No patient cares if you call if a drug, or a medicine, as long as it works. No patient cares if the medicine is conventional or alternative – we care if it works. No honest doctor cares if it is conventional or alternative – if it is the best medicine for their patient.<\/p>\n

Now, a word about works<\/em>. Often, in discussions of conventional vs alternative medicines – we encounter words like works. What does works<\/em> mean? In general, it means “improves some condition of the patient, but does not cure<\/em>“.\u00a0 If it cured, we could measure how well it cures, as opposed to how well it “works”. There’s one small problem – most drugs, over 95 percent of drugs, make no claim to cure, and do not cure any disease. “Works<\/em>” means “does not cure” in most cases.<\/em><\/p>\n

When\u00a0we know the cure<\/strong>, there are no alternatives, we know the cure. The cure\u00a0is to successfully address the present cause. If you are deficient in Vitamin C, Take Vitamin C as your medicine. If your diet is deficient in Vitamin C, taking Vitamin C will not cure, it does not address the cause. It is necessary to change the diet – not just to take Vitamin C as a medicine. If you are toxic with alcohol – reduce or stop your intake of alcohol. Give your body time to clear. If you are alcoholic, simply reducing alcohol one-time will not cure. The cure is an ongoing change.\u00a0 These treatments address the present cause of the illness – no other treatment does. They cure, even though the US FDA declares that only a drug<\/em> can cure a disease. Taking drugs\u00a0because you are deficient in Vitamin C, or suffering alcohol toxicity, might make you feel better, but it won’t address the cause, won’t cure.<\/p>\n

For any illness where we don’t know the cure, all treatments, medical or otherwise, are are alternatives treatments<\/em>. How many illnesses do we not know the cure? Most illnesses.\u00a0 Cured is not defined – therefore cannot be found, much less documented, for:<\/p>\n

– any disease cured naturally (the common cold, influenza, measles), thus “there is no cure for the common cold<\/em>“. All treatments for these diseases are alternatives that do not cure.<\/p>\n

– any non-infectious disease. Cured is not medically defined for any non-infectious disease, therefore, no cure can be proven.\u00a0 All treatments for non-infectious diseases are non-curative alternatives.<\/p>\n

– chronic diseases, like heart disease, multiple sclerosis, and obesity, have\u00a0no known cures – so every treatment\u00a0is an alternative.<\/p>\n

– cured is not defined for any mental disorder (due to a strange twist of il-logic), therefore, all treatments for mental disorders are non-curative alternatives.<\/p>\n

Some of these non-curative treatments officially approved by the US FDA. Most are not.<\/p>\n

Alternatives exist when you need to make a choice. Alternatives exist when your doctor, and the medical establishments are NOT able to agree on a diagnosis and recommend a cure. When no cure is known, there are only alternative medicines<\/strong><\/em>. Every treatment is an alternative that will not cure.<\/p>\n

We might think, or hope that our doctors\u00a0always recommends the best treatment<\/em>. The best treatment<\/em> is\u00a0almost always a cure. In most cases, your doctor has no idea which is the best treatment<\/em>. Most doctors cannot access cures – cured being undefined.<\/p>\n

“Every illness can be cured”<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0– the Healthicine Creed<\/a><\/strong>. We need\u00a0to find the cure, not the ‘best treatment’, not the best ‘alternative’.<\/p>\n

When the curative\u00a0treatment is not known, all treatments are “alternatives”, whether they are patent medicines, conventional medicines, traditional medicines, herbal medicines, natural medicines, acupuncture physiotherapy, even placebos, HUGS and Kisses, or any other type of medicine. Even wait and see<\/em>\u00a0is\u00a0an important alternative that easily cures the common cold, influenza, measles, and many other supposedly incurable diseases.<\/p>\n

Medicines, vs alternative medicines<\/em>\u00a0is a myth, a simple misunderstanding.\u00a0The phrase alternative medicine<\/em>\u00a0is not about the medicine, it is about commerce.<\/p>\n

When do we know the correct treatment for an illness? When we know the cause, we know how to address it, we know the cure.<\/a><\/p>\n

Every\u00a0illness is caused by deficiencies or excesses. Every\u00a0illness is the result of imbalance, or inability to balance. The word HEALTH actually means wholeness and balance. We can clearly identify a\u00a0cure\u00a0for any medical condition when:<\/p>\n