In this modern times, when you get sick, you go to the doctor for diagnosis and treatment, he prescribes you medicines. You buy these medicines and take them, hoping that you get well.
This process is how the health profession goes to a cycle of diagnosis, treatment and prescription. If anyone were to give you herbs for medication or treatment, you would probably say, that the person is a quack. But nowadays, studies are being conducted to see if there is really any merit to what is called as natural medicine.
Natural medicine is the use of natural methods by applying herbal medications and the traditional way of healing ailments. Every culture has a natural approach of doing it. In ancient cultures, people who has acquired the knowledge and expertise in healing ailments the natural way either through herbal or ritual, served as the medical doctor of the community.
Their knowledge and expertise had been passed through them by their elders and subsequently they will pass their know how to the immediate succeeding generation.
Natural medicine refers to the ancient traditional practice of treating ailments that were already in place before the advent of modern medicine. This includes herbal medicine and photo-therapy, which is prevalent in Chinese, Indian and Greek medicine.
During the advent of modern medicine, many medical professionals discarded the idea of using herbal in favor of man-made synthetic medicines when the fact is, that these medicines are derived from the healing properties of herbs used in traditional healing.
Good examples are opium, digitalis, quinine, and aspirin all have their derivatives from traditional medicine.
Though some people think that natural medicine can be considered as a lost healing art. This does not mean that it has lost its efficacy over time. In some cases, natural therapy is actually better than modern medicine has to offer. This leads some doctors to seriously consider and study the possible uses of natural medicine to supplement their medical knowledge.
However, it is important to note that not all the natural remedies are legitimate. It would help to only try those remedies which have been thoroughly tested and are relatively known to be effective and risk free.
A lot of herbal medicines had already been used and found them effective in healing ailments. However, only those that deal with minor ailments such as cough, colds, fever, skin rashes, were likely been recommended by health professionals.
These remedies are even sometimes superior to synthetic medicine, this is because herbal medicines are less likely to cause negative side effects.
Currently, there are several non-governmental organizations that study the effects and advocacy of natural medicine – among them is herbal medicine. Some governments and health agencies who are openly advocating the use of natural means because they are inexpensive and safe to use.
As their studies are compiling, more herbs and treatments are added to the list of accepted medicines. However, there are also some herbs and treatments that have been proven to be bogus and this represents a challenge for both the user and the agencies involved because they have first to ascertain that the treatments they are either using or advocating are legitimate ones.
There are many alternative medical treatments that exist today that fall under natural medicine category. However, not all of them have been proven to be effective. It would pay to consult the experts or a government health regulatory body as to the legitimacy of these treatments.
Right now, the current collective medical thought suggests that natural medicine would only be used to supplement modern medical practices and not vice versa.
The practice of modern medicine revolves around diagnosing an illness and then prescribing treatments. Natural medicine is helpful in the sense that treatment shall not necessarily be given except only when one is sick.
Natural medicine strives to make each patient practice good health habits. These habits include good diet, healthy living, and the regular natural treatment.
It is the same line of thought that leads our parents to tell us to eat our vegetables. Yes, a healthy lifestyle and will do no harm to our well-being. And this is the foundation of natural medicine – may it be massage, herbal medicine, aromatherapy or others.
It is funny but true that science, in its quest for excellence, is studying the knowledge of the sages past. This, surprisingly, leads us back to the remedies of what nature has to offer.
The thrust of finding remedies to every human illnesses by natural means are encouraging. Studying their remedies are worthwhile and verifying their therapies and treatment are advantageously helpful to our health and society in general.
