My father's advised “treatment” plan now consisted of acupuncture twice a week, meditation everyday, two tablets of coral calcium, shark cartilage, and various minerals a day, in conjunction with vanilla flavored Ensure shakes once a day. My father’s new “treatment” was unconventional to say the least, but believed to reduce his pain and increase his immune system. This treatment plan lasted for about six months after which my father had succumbed to his cancer. Our family and more importantly my father were not looking so much for a cure to his cancer (although his healer believed it was possible). Instead, living as long as he could, feeling the best that he could, that was the intention and the result. For the remaining six months of his life my father was able to live almost completely without his prior pain management medication; with the exception of his last days, as he was medicated on his behalf.
My father is just one example the 62% of Americans who utilize the option of alternative medical care. Whether for therapeutic pain purposes among cancer patients not helped by western medicine, or for relief of illness, pain, and stress, Americans are participating in their health. Currently in the United States, Americans are spending $27 billion on alternative care services and products. These practices termed “alternative medicine” encompass chiropractics, acupuncture, homeopathy, naturopathy, faith or folk healers, and dietary supplements traditionally, but also extend to account for other forms of treatment not commonly practiced by the medical professional.
Unfortunately, traditional scientific research studies have not been able to demonstrate that alternative care practices have any actual, concrete healing or pain suppressing effect. Most of the studies done concerning alternative care, measuring patient reported results, which to most in the medical field translates to unreliable and thus alternative care commonly gets referred to as some sort of “voodoo magic” (Cockerham, 2007,p. 172). However, more and more patients are becoming increasingly aware of these alternative practices. Partially due to the National Institute of Health, which has devoted the “National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine” to aggressively researching the effects of alternative care, and in part to the growing trend of healthcare consumers wanting more control over their health; making it no longer voodoo magic, but a topic of consideration.
My intention is not to persuade anyone that alternative care practices are better or worse than the traditional care offered by medical professionals. As a prospective medical student, I would be out of a job if I felt complementary and alternative care practices were better than western medicine. However, as a daughter of a cancer patient I’d be lying if I said alternative care practices were not effective for some patients. So, my proposition is merely for other prospective medical students to open themselves to the reality that many Americans do want alternatives when western medicine does not meet their needs. Not every patient’s road to healing will follow the clinical path. Therefore, the best things we can do as future doctors is to arm ourselves with the knowledge of as many treatment options and lifestyle practices as possible. In doing this we can give our patients the sound guidance they seek in turning us.
My father is just one example the 62% of Americans who utilize the option of alternative medical care. Whether for therapeutic pain purposes among cancer patients not helped by western medicine, or for relief of illness, pain, and stress, Americans are participating in their health. Currently in the United States, Americans are spending $27 billion on alternative care services and products. These practices termed “alternative medicine” encompass chiropractics, acupuncture, homeopathy, naturopathy, faith or folk healers, and dietary supplements traditionally, but also extend to account for other forms of treatment not commonly practiced by the medical professional.
Unfortunately, traditional scientific research studies have not been able to demonstrate that alternative care practices have any actual, concrete healing or pain suppressing effect. Most of the studies done concerning alternative care, measuring patient reported results, which to most in the medical field translates to unreliable and thus alternative care commonly gets referred to as some sort of “voodoo magic” (Cockerham, 2007,p. 172). However, more and more patients are becoming increasingly aware of these alternative practices. Partially due to the National Institute of Health, which has devoted the “National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine” to aggressively researching the effects of alternative care, and in part to the growing trend of healthcare consumers wanting more control over their health; making it no longer voodoo magic, but a topic of consideration.
My intention is not to persuade anyone that alternative care practices are better or worse than the traditional care offered by medical professionals. As a prospective medical student, I would be out of a job if I felt complementary and alternative care practices were better than western medicine. However, as a daughter of a cancer patient I’d be lying if I said alternative care practices were not effective for some patients. So, my proposition is merely for other prospective medical students to open themselves to the reality that many Americans do want alternatives when western medicine does not meet their needs. Not every patient’s road to healing will follow the clinical path. Therefore, the best things we can do as future doctors is to arm ourselves with the knowledge of as many treatment options and lifestyle practices as possible. In doing this we can give our patients the sound guidance they seek in turning us.
Cockerham, W.C. (2007) Medical Sociology. 10th ed,. New Jersey: Prentice Hall
