Medicine as Religion?

I had an interesting conversation the other day with someone who told me that "medicine," or your preference/belief in modern vs. alternative, ancient, natural, whathaveyou, is like a religion for most people. It's one of those taboo subjects you can't talk about, I guess. Just like religion itself, or politics, modern vs. alternative medicine is a no-no subject.

What???

Now, to me, it seems that wanting to be healthy and discussing ways to achieve that shouldn't be a taboo subject. The basic principles of diet, excercise, and adequate rest are universal, but the specifics of how you achieve your health and manage your health are not a subject you can discuss with mixed company. To say I'm flabbergasted by this revelation would be the understatement of the year.

For me, you need to have both. Integrative medicine is the way to go. Natural remedies first (diet, excercise, proper nutrition that aims to optimize health and maintain equilibrium) and conventional medicine when necessary. For example, when it comes to heartburn I am a firm believer that it can be cured by changing your diet in addition to a few natural supplements you will be relieved of your heartburn- "cured" as it were. Over the counter or prescription medicines are meant only for the short term and should not be used exclusively. Granted, I personally lived this and went through years of "modern" medicine not fixing the underlying issue before I finally got relief through dietary changes and supplementation. On the flipside, let's talk about my current health dilemma- an infected tooth nerve. Yup, it's time for me to get a root canal. Now, it would require a massive amount of probiotics (and time) to clear up that bacterial infection to make my life bearable until I can have the root canal (first appt available is in a month- ridiculous!). So, in order to minimize the infection spreading and becoming worse, I have to take antibiotics for a week. I hate antibiotics.

Here is where the integrative part comes in- I am taking probiotics (as I always do) to minimize the elimination of the healthy bacteria in my body, which also minimizes side effects and helps with the healing. Furthermore, to avoid taking massive quantities of pain killers and NSAIDs I tried supplementing with a natural nerve relaxer we sell at my office that has calcium, magnesium, valerian root, and passionflower in it. The combo of that natural pain reliever and a moderate dose of ibuprofen is managing the discomfort until the antibiotics do their job. It gets me through the short term until the underlying cause of the discomfort can be fixed with the root canal. I was offered Tylenol III by my dentist, but I declined it already feeling lightyears better from him starting the root cleaning and putting a temporary filling in. And would you know it, the "medicine" that the dentist packed my tooth filling with is called eugonal- clove oil. Who would have thought it, the recommended and effective pain reliever for toothache is a natural remedy! They just don't call it clove oil outright. Sneaky people in "modern" medicine tricking us in to using natural remedies. :)

Anyway, long story short. Both types of medicine are helping me in this instance, and by using both I am minimizing damage to my liver by taking only select prescriptions and supplementing with natural remedies to get me through the short term. Integrative medicine.

Granted, I apparently can't talk to anyone about this, it might offend their sensibilities or challenge their personal belief system. I don't know, maybe I just value my liver a bit more nowadays... but in the long run, it takes one to know one. I certainly didn't follow natural medicine the way I do now 8 years ago. It took modern medicine failing me repeatedly to make me change my preference for which medicine to use first. That's my experience. "Alternative" medicine healed me and "modern" medicine made me sick, and for that I will always be loyal to natural remedies first and foremost. I can tell my story, and if only one person ever listens to me and tries the alternative route then I've accomplished something. And something is better than nothing, so I won't be stopping my discussion about medicine anytime soon.