More often than not, cancer therapies are so toxic that the disease as well as the patient is likely to be killed. Diabetics have to live with daily painful and costly shots of insulin. HIV patients facing imminent death hope that it will be painless and swift.
For some reason, those patients continue to rely on these modalities even when there are other less risky and relatively less painless alternative treatments available. There are actually quite a number of less known medical systems and therapies out there, some of which began as methods of traditional healing. A five thousand year old medical system known as Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)is one the most prominent examples of these traditional healing methods.
Medicinal safety
There are basic reasons why the Western system of medical care became the world’s most commonly used healthcare system. One reason is that scientific measurable and observable results support it. Western pharmaceutical medicines are manufactured in this manner. They are mostly produced from isolated compounds that generate justifiable and measurable effects. However, there is no telling whether those drugs will remain safe in prolonged use or in all situations as each is tested across relatively short years within a controlled environment. Therefore, before any harmful product is recalled, it has probably already done damage to the user.
TCM, on the other hand, for thousands of years, has been tried and tested through countless human trials. The common traditional Chinese medicine herbs used today, have been proven to be safe to use or eat a long time ago. According to TCM belief, herbs used for medicine are the same as vegetables as both are produced by nature and like regular food, both can nourish the body. The worst these commonly used herbs can do is produce mild side effects such as diarrhea or nose bleeding if one happens to take excessive amounts of them.
Healing approach
Western medications are typically used to replenish certain substances lacking or treat certain maladies in the body. They usually work in a way that they recuperate the body by helping relieve symptoms. Reliance or resistance to the drug is formed in the mean time, making it ineffective next time it’s used.
In its approach to healthcare, TCM utilizes a holistic mode of healing which means that the treatment attacks the root of the problem while helping maintain balance within the body. This is done by strengthening the immune system of the body through a concoction of various herbs that is gentle and synergistic at the same time which neutralizes each other’s adverse attributes. This approach enhances natural resistance towards the specific illness, similar to vaccination, while making the body healthier.
Analogy
One can represent illness as an anomaly that adds onto a mathematical formula (which represents the body), messing up some of the formula’s variables. Protecting the variable is a part of the body formula, the immune system.
When drugs are added into the body formula, they could either be a set of formula meant to resolve the anomaly, but it is difficult to study the alterations to other variables. Or they could change certain variables so that the overall formula (body) still works despite existence of anomalies (the underlying cause of the illness). Meanwhile too much excess amount may overwhelm both the body formula (the body) and the anomaly (the illness).
Herbal compounds, on the other hand, can restore balance to the body variables and boost the sub-formula of the immune system instead of directly confronting the anomaly. Over the course of time, the immune system repels the anomaly, which is safer but slower, producing no or as little damage to the variables of the mathematical formula.
Healing Ability
TCM can be used for both chronic and acute health conditions. But why is there little or no information at all about TCM products? One reason is because TCM products possess a vast range of qualities that their cumulative effects cannot be precisely measured and therefore, cannot be accredited to any form of recovery. With the government’s and Western conventional healthcare’s inability to measure accurately the medicinal effects of TCM, they deny almost all claims of TCM products, relegating them as mere complements for illnesses. Though shills and Western pharma gatekeepers argue they do this to protect consumers who are unaware of the truth.
A TCM herbal remedy can in fact, consist of tens of different herbs. There are a huge variety of herbal preparations made from countless of effects and combinations. It is not only possible, but very probable that with the right formulation, an herbal remedy that can fight a terminal disease such as cancer or AIDS can be created.
Cautionary note
TCM herbal formulas that are reliable and effective are hard to come by. This is partly due to difficulties in validating the authenticity of Chinese products. Adequate research should be done and credible sources should be sought before trying any such products. As health conditions vary from person to person, it’s best to talk to a credible doctor first.
Final note
This article focuses on the benefits of TCM. It is not aimed at belittling western medicine which is obviously superior in certain aspects with regards to treatment of health issues. There are many things where Western medicine is obviously superior over TCM. Surgery, for example, can save lives in a way TCM can’t. The point this article wants to make is that there are alternative modalities available that sometimes can be a much better option than the ones Western medicine offers and you need to take them into consideration.
Christina Prieto is an Orlando acupuncturist, a certified Yoga instructor and the founder of Harmony Wellness Center in Central Florida.
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