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As the greater part of our population is reaching middle age,
the risk of developing age related diseases such as heart
disease, stroke, cancer, arthritis and diabetes are on the
increase. The medical profession in Canada and the U.S. has
carefully created a monopoly over the last 100 years. This
means that most of us have become drug and doctor dependent.
Both doctors and the public have been "brain washed "to
believe that modern medicine has the answer for all ills and
anything outside modern medicine is deemed as quackery. However,
many of us are sicker than ever due to medicare cut backs,
medically induced illnesses and injuries, and for some, the
inability to access a more natural alternative form of health
care.
The medical profession, having considerable leverage,
have dramatically cut services, such as certain diagnostic
tests and treatments; and they have closed hospitals and clinics.
In addition, according to a study published in the Journal
of the American Medical Association, 100,000 hospital
patients die every year from bad reactions to legal prescriptions.
Another 2.2 million suffer side effects so severe they are
permanently disabled or require long hospital stays. Adverse
drug reactions rank as the fourth leading cause of death in
North America and an unnamed number of deaths go unreported.
(USA Today, April 24 1998)
As we have become increasing aware of this health
crisis, interest in complementary and alternative medicine
(often called CAM) among regulators, health professionals
and consumers are higher than it has ever been. Examples of
the growing interest in alternative medicine include:
- One-third to one-half of the American people use at
least one unconventional treatment in addition to their regular
medical care, according to a 1993 study, which estimated that
Americans spend $13.7 billion on alternative health each year.
Their estimates were based on a 1990 telephone survey of 1,539
English-speaking adults. The respondents most often described
the use of exercise and prayer, but, even excluding these
activities, one in three of them said they had used at least
one form of alternative care during the year. Forms of CAM
cited during the survey were chiropractic, massage, imagery,
spiritual healing, commercial weight-loss programs, lifestyle
diets (e.g., macrobiotics), herbal medicine, megavitamin therapy,
energy healing, homeopathy, acupuncture, and folk remedies.
- Investigators projected that in 1990, 61 million Americans
used at least one of 16 CAM therapies and that about 22 million
Americans saw a CAM provider. About 425 million visits were
made to alternative providers, exceeding by about 47 million
the number of visits made to all primary care physicians combined.
- In 1996 Washington State required all health insurers
to add coverage of alternative treatments to their coverage
of standard medical care.
- In 1996 and 1997 several health plans with millions
of members added the services of CAM practitioners to their
coverage.
- The budget of the Office of Alternative Medicine of
the National Institutes of Health increased from $7.4 million
in fiscal year 1996 to $12 million in fiscal year 1997.
- Several academic medical centers have established
centers to study alternative medicine, and some prominent
teaching hospitals offer therapies like massage, stress reduction,
acupuncture, chiropractic and homeopathy. Patients frequently
seek alternative medical treatments for persistent chronic
conditions including low back pain, stress, migraine headaches,
and arthritis. Some also seek alternative care for treatment
at the end of life, especially after being told that conventional
medicine cannot reverse the course of their disease. The surveyed
group used alternative therapy most often for ten troubling
conditions, including (in descending order of frequency) back
pain, allergies, arthritis, insomnia, sprains or strains,
headache, high blood pressure, digestive problems, anxiety,
and depression. Thirty-six percent of people who reported
back problems relied on alternative medicine, most commonly
chiropractic or massage. Since most alternative treatments
are not fully reimbursed by health plans or insurance companies;
they are usually paid for by the patient out of pocket. Although
the charge for a single visit may be lower than one to an
MD-DO, often the treatment requires more visits before it
is completed since the aim of the therapy is often to remove
the cause of the disease instead of just masking the symptoms.
There has also been a significant rise in the use of alternative
health care for prevention and maintenance of health, especially
in the U.S. Some people are finally starting to realize that
investing in their health by seeking alternative care prior
to acquiring a major disease or illness can result in a better
quality of life, reduce the need for expensive medical treatment
or surgeries and offer peace of mind. You don't wait for your
car to break down completely before you take it in to the
mechanic. You get regular oil changes, tune ups, wheel rotations
and alignments to prevent a major breakdown that can become
very costly.
Therefore, likewise you should seek alternative health care,
which can offer nutritional and supplemental advice, or offer
a maintenance therapy that can either halt or prevent the
progression of a serious illness or disease.
In the Portland study, a focus group of survey
respondents who were asked about their motivations for using
CAM listed as the main reasons: "to prevent illness or
injuries" (30 percent), for "wellness" (44
percent), and to treat a specific health problem (79 percent).
Among their health problems were back pain, headache, anxiety
and emotional problems. Other problems, mentioned by 11 percent
of the patients, were infections, neck pain, and various musculo-skeletal
problems. More than a third (36 percent) of patients in the
Portland study were also seeing a physician for the problem
they were treating with alternative medicine. They believed
that combined treatment would relieve symptoms faster. Others
who solely used alternative medicine believed it to be more
effective than traditional medical care (36 percent), but
they also felt that their problems were not serious enough
to require the care of a physician, or else they did not want
to rely on pills and surgery. Slightly more than half (53
percent) of those who used alternative therapies told their
family physician that they were doing so.
Complimentary and alternative medicine is also
widely used in other industrialized countries, according to
a summary published in the British Medical Journal in 1996.
In Britain, one person in ten consults an alternative practitioner
each year, and the most popular therapies are acupuncture,
chiropractic, osteopathy, homeopathy, herbal medicine, and
hypnotherapy. In France, one-third of the population uses
CAM, with homeopathy being the most popular treatment. In
Norway, homeopathy is also the most popular CAM practice,
followed by acupuncture and aromatherapy. Russia legalized
alternative medicine in 1993; the officially recognized practices
are reflexology, chiropractic, homeopathy, and a breathing
method. In Australia, a third of the population regularly
visits a natural therapist and two-thirds regularly take vitamins
and use other "natural" treatments, the most popular
being chiropractic, naturopathy, massage, herbal medicine,
and homeopathy. In Japan, scientific Western medicine and
CAM co-exist. Two-thirds of the population of Tokyo report
using CAM treatments. The most popular alternative therapies
are herbal medicine, acupuncture, and acupressure (shiatsu),
and more than 600 herbal medicines are available under the
national health insurance system. In Germany and the United
Kingdom, the national health payment system covers many complimentary
and alternative practices.
Many of the European countries are very advanced in the area
of alternative health care and understand the need for preventative
health. Americans have recently developed an interest and
are starting to recognize the need for prevention and natural
alternative health care. This is evident from the rise of
alternative practices in hospitals and the recognition and
reimbursements of alternative health care from Health Management
Organizations and private insurance.
Canadians have for too long been dependant on their medicare
programs which has been monopolized by the medical profession
and pharmaceutical companies. Now as our National Medical
Health care system is starting to deteriorate, the need for
health reform is more important than ever. There should be
an emphasis and shift towards prevention of disease and the
use of more non-invasive and natural therapies, which will
cut Federal spending and provide better quality of life.
References:
Alternative Medicine: Expanding Medical Horizons. A Report
to the National Institutes of Health on Alternative Medical
Systems and Practices in the United States. 1994. (NIH pub.
no. 94-066). National Institutes of Health: Bethesda, Md.
Complementary and Alternative Medicine at the NIH. 1997. National
Institutes of Health, Alternative Medicine Clearing House.
(April, Vol. 4, p. 1; July, Vol. 4, pp. 4-5).
Complementary Medicine is Booming Worldwide. 1996. (News.)
British Medical Journal 313:131-3.
Eisenberg, David M., Ronald C. Kessler, Cindy Foster, Frances
E. Norlock, David Calkins, and Thomas L. Delbanco. 1993. Unconventional
Medicine in the United States: Prevalence, Costs, and Patterns
of Use. New England Journal of Medicine 328:246-52.
Sale, David M. 1994. Overview of Legislative Developments
Concerning Alternative Health Care in the United States. Research
Project under a Grant from the John E. Fetzer Institute. (www.healthy.net/public/legal-lg/regulations/Fetzer.htm)
Zablocki, Elaine. 1996. Complementary Medicine. Healthplan
37:36-8, 40, 42-3.
Zwicky, John F., Arthur W. Hafner, Stephen Barrett, and William
T. Jarvis. 1993. Reader's Guide to Alternative Health Methods.
Chicago: American Medical Association.
Lydia D'Astolfo , B.A. , DI Hom. has a degree from York University
and is a Homeopathic Doctor, CranioSacral Therapist, Applied
& Educational Kinesiologist.
Connie J. D'Astolfo, Hons. B.A., DI Hom, has a degree from
The University of Toronto and is a Homeopathic Doctor and
CranioSacral Therapist. Connie is presently completing her
doctorate in
chiropractic medicine in the United States.
Both Lydia & Connie D'Astolfo have been featured on T.V.
stations though out Canada and the United States. They have
also published many articles on natural health care in various
popular magazines.
Lydia D'Astolfo can be reached at The Centre For Innate Healing
at (905) 738-1948 Email address: innate@istar.ca
and Connie J. D'Astolfo can be reached at her Chicago office
at 1-630- 495-0564 Email address: cure4all@yahoo.com
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