Besse The current general consensus in the health field is that alternative therapy is a complementary component of the overall health system. It can neither completely replace the role of conventional clinical medical care, nor should it be completely denied. It, together with mainstream medical intervention, daily diet and rest management, and emotional regulation, constitutes a full-dimensional health support network.
If you have been in contact with many people with chronic diseases, it is actually easy to feel the effect of this combination. I previously followed up with a 32-year-old Internet product manager who developed Hashimoto's thyroiditis after staying up late all year long and working under high pressure. The plan given by Western medicine was to regularly review thyroid function, adjust work and rest, and take Euthyrox if necessary. Because he was often tired and depressed, he followed the doctor At the same time, I also found a regular institution to practice mindfulness meditation and adjust my diet with Chinese dietary remedies. After half a year, I checked again and found that not only my thyroid function index had improved, but my emotional state and energy level had also improved a lot. This is a typical example of the rational integration of alternative therapies into overall health management.
Of course, there are always voices of opposition. Most of these doubts actually point to everyone's misunderstanding of the relationship between the two, rather than alternative therapy itself. I encountered a counterexample in the past two years. An aunt was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. After listening to a so-called "health lecture", she immediately stopped the anti-diabetic drugs prescribed by the doctor. She only took a certain brand of enzymes every day and went for so-called "energy healing". Within half a month, she was admitted to the ICU due to ketoacidosis. This approach of treating alternative therapies as the only health solution and directly replacing conventional medical treatment goes against the core logic of "full-dimensional intervention" in overall health.
In fact, the core of overall health is to "treat people as a complete system." It does not just focus on a certain indicator or a certain symptom, nor does it presuppose that a certain method is omnipotent. Nowadays, pain departments, rehabilitation departments, and oncology departments in many tertiary hospitals will take the initiative to incorporate acupuncture, music therapy, and aromatherapy, which were originally classified as alternative therapies, into routine diagnosis and treatment plans. For example, for patients with postoperative analgesia, with regular acupuncture intervention, the use of analgesics can be reduced by about 30%, and there are fewer adverse reactions. These are application methods that have been verified by clinical studies.
In the five or six years I have been doing health management, people always ask me whether alternative therapies are "IQ taxes." In fact, to use a very popular analogy, overall health is like taking care of a small garden. Conventional medical treatment consists of pesticides and chemical fertilizers. If there are insects, fertilizers must be used, otherwise the flowers will die.； Alternative treatments include loosening the soil, pruning, and spraying foliar fertilizers. You can't just rely on loosening the soil and pruning to control pests, nor can you say that you don't have to worry about the growth status of the plants after pouring chemical fertilizers. With the right combination, the entire garden can grow strong and bloom for a long time.
