Do they really work?
Modern medicine has only been in existence since the early 19th century. Prior to that, there were treatments available, but many have been proven to be ineffective due to the developments in science and technology. However, in recent years the use of some of these practices has been regaining popularity. Therefore, they’ve been given the name of alternative treatments. How do you evaluate if they work? Should you use any of them?
Since modern conventional medicine came to the forefront, we’ve come to believe that it would have the answers for everything. While there have definitely been miraculous advances, like open heart surgery and joint replacements, there still are chronic diseases that are widespread throughout our country. Unfortunately, all of the advances have had very limited effectiveness in treating these. Also, people feel like they can no longer trust the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or the pharmaceutical companies in setting strict standards for effectiveness and that these regulatory bodies care adequately about consumer safety. People who have chronic illnesses and are concerned about the side-effects of medications and, for some, their symptoms aren’t fully controlled. They want a solution. So, they look for other ways to treat themselves. The term that describes medical treatments that are used instead of mainstream therapies is called alternative medicine. If these therapies are used in conjunction with mainstream therapies, they are called integrative or complementary medicine. A popular term right now is complementary and alternative medicine, or CAM.
CAM is designed around a more holistic approach and includes therapies from various historical and cultural backgrounds. According to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH), CAM therapies are classified as natural products, mind and body practices and other corresponding health approaches. Natural products include dietary supplements, herbal remedies and mind/body practices. The therapies are diverse in nature and origin, which makes the way they are thought to work also varied. The main concept is that you’re aiding your body’s ability to heal itself. Typically, you need to take an active part in your own treatment with lifestyle changes. This is very different from conventional medicine, which focuses on understanding and correcting the underlying problems that are causing your symptoms. Many people feel that this only treats your condition and not you as a person. You’re simply expected to accept your diagnosis and the treatment plan. We are coming to realize the importance of an individual’s involvement in their care and choice in their treatment. People feel that CAM therapies help them feel more in control.
There are many different treatment options that fall under CAM. Acupuncture is technique that uses needles to stimulate specific points around the body with the goal of helping jump start your body’s natural healing process. According to those who support it, it’s effective in treating a number of conditions, like neck and back pain, nausea, anxiety, depression, insomnia and infertility. Chiropractic medicine practice focuses on your body’s structure, specifically your spine, and how it functions. By using different techniques to manipulate your spine or other parts of your body, it puts them in proper alignment, which is thought to ease pain, improve body function and help your body to heal itself naturally. It’s thought to help low back pain, headaches, neck pain, joint problems in your upper and lower body and injuries caused by whiplash. Energy therapies focus on energy fields that many people believe are in and around the body. There are three subtypes of this therapy, including magnetic field therapy, reiki and therapeutic touch. Magnetic field therapy uses magnetic or electrical fields to treat a number of musculoskeletal problems, like osteoarthritis and help fractures heal faster. However, since it uses magnets, it isn’t safe if you’re pregnant, have an implanted cardiac device, use an insulin pump or take a drug given by patch. Reiki is when a practitioner hovers his hands over your body or places them lightly on your skin. The thought is that they channel energy through their hands and this helps your body to promote healing. Therapeutic, or healing, touch is similar to Reiki, but the therapist doesn’t touch you. They simply move their hands back and forth in the air over your body. Ayurvedic medicine is one of the world’s oldest medical systems and relies on herbs, special diets and unique practices to treat diseases. Herbal medicine uses parts of a plant, such as roots, leaves, berries or flowers, to heal the body. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), about 80% of the world population use it. It is thought to be effective in treating a wide variety of health issues from allergies and premenstrual syndrome to chronic fatigue and dementia. Unfortunately, herbal products can be sold without being proven safe or effective. If you look at the back of the pill bottles, you’ll see this declaration, “These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.” This brings forth several questions as to why these products aren’t subject to the same strict standards as any medication you get from a pharmacy. How safe are these products? Are they even effective?
Since people have used CAM practices for thousands of years, why have there not been more rigorous, well-designed clinical trials? One of the main reasons is that large, carefully controlled medical studies are costly. When a new medication is developed, it’s done by big companies that are planning on selling the medication for profit, so they are willing to shell out money to do the studies. Since herbs can’t be patented, the opportunity to make money from them is extremely limited. Also, the size and cost of clinical studies have increased considerably, so even though the claims made about CAM remedies are testable, it’s a challenge to get the funding and resources to do so. The Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) was passed in 1994, does require that all companies accurately label all products and the products are free of impurities. Even though the Act was passed in 1994, the changes weren’t instituted until 2007, so it took a while to get all companies on board. In order to determine the quality of a product, look for a USP (United States Pharmacopeia) or NSF (National Sanitation Foundation) symbol on the label. With the safety and effectiveness of many CAM therapies being uncertain, public health and safety surrounding them has become a priority. This is especially important when you consider that somewhere between 30-40% of adults in the US are using them and they are spending $33.9 billion out-of-pocket on them every year. In 1999, the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) was established part of the National Institute of Health (NIH) to evaluate the safety and efficacy of CAM therapies, train researchers to conduct CAM studies and provide this information to the public and healthcare professionals. Since its inception, it has funded more than 2,500 research projects.
Unfortunately, when natural products have been put to the test, they often fall short of their claims and, in some cases, aren’t always proven to be safe or effective. Between 2000 and 2008, the NIH funded a collaborative study by several universities to determine whether ginkgo biloba worked as a way to treat dementia. More than 3,000 elderly adults were randomly assigned to receive ginkgo or a placebo. Sadly, decline in memory and onset of dementia were the same in both groups. In 2012, another study of more than 2,800 adults also found that ginkgo didn’t prevent Alzheimer’s disease. Another example is depression. Every year, over 10 million people suffer major depression in the US and every year 35,000 people kill themselves. St. John’s wort is claimed to be a natural, safer way to treat severe depression. However, between 1998 and 2000, 11 academic medical centers, with the support of NCCAM, randomly assigned Patients to receive St. John’s wort or a placebo. The results showed no difference in any measure of depression. In addition, St. John’s wort has been found to interact with certain drugs and affect how the body processes them, which can make them less effective. Another favorite home remedy is using garlic to lower cholesterol. In 2007, a study done by the Stanford University School of Medicine found that it didn’t have any effect on low-density lipoprotein cholesterol or other plasma lipid concentrations. With more than 2 million men are using saw palmetto to help with their prostate, NCCAM decided to test its effectiveness. In 2006, they supported a study done by the University of California at San Francisco, the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Northern California Kaiser Permanente, which observed no difference in urinary flow rate, prostate size or quality of life of men who took saw palmetto versus a placebo. Milk thistle is said to help patients with chronic hepatitis or other liver problems. In 2011, a team at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill investigated those claims. People in the study who had hepatitis C virus were given either milk thistle or a placebo in hopes of preventing liver damage. The study found no difference between the two groups. Chondroitin sulfate and glucosamine are thought to be good for joint pain. In 2006, the University of Utah studied them to see if they worked. The participants had knee osteoarthritis and were given either chondroitin sulfate alone, glucosamine alone, both, a placebo or Celebrex (an anti-inflammatory drug approved by the FDA). Only Celebrex was shown to work. One of the most popular herbal remedies in the US is echinacea. It’s used to treat colds and people spend a $130 million yearly on it. In 2003, a group of scientists at the University of Washington in Seattle studied more than 400 children with colds who had received either echinacea or a placebo for 10 days. The only finding was that children taking echinacea were more likely to develop a rash. The herb ephedra was often used in weight-loss products, but was banned because a study done by NCCAM found it to pose an unacceptable risk of injury, illness and death. Another herb, Kava, which was widely used for insomnia, stress and anxiety, was linked to liver damage, so it was also banned. NCCAM discovered that nearly 21% of Ayurvedic medicine products purchased online contain detectable levels of lead, mercury or arsenic.
On the opposite side of the argument, several studies done by NCCAM have proven the effectiveness of some CAM therapies. One study looked at the effects of spinal manipulation in relation to low back pain relief and found that it’s at least as effective as conventional medical care for up to 18 months. Another study that observed that acupuncture drastically reduced pain associated with osteoarthritis of the knee when used as a complement to conventional therapy. Acupuncture also provides relief for vomiting and nausea from chemotherapy, might provide some relief for those who suffer from tension headaches and can help those suffering from low-back pain. A study of people with fibromyalgia noticed that they may benefit from practicing tai chi because those that did stated they had a improvements in sleep quality, mood and quality of life.
According to the NIH, roughly 10% of Americans suffer from pain every day and many more experience it intermittently. The 2007 National Health Interview Survey revealed that pain is the most common reason Americans use CAM therapies. The survey reported that nearly 75% of participants took at least one prescription drug and one dietary supplement. About 33% said they used three or more prescription drugs and three or more supplements and 10% percent said they combined five or more prescription drugs with five or more dietary supplements. This makes it crystal clear that healthcare provides need to ask their patients about the use of CAM therapies. An essential thing to do prior to and during your use of CAM therapies is to tell your doctor because some therapies, especially herbal supplements, can interfere with prescription medicines or cause abnormal blood tests.
Conventional doctors didn’t used to receive training in CAM therapies and they still have good reason to be cautious when it comes to using them because while there is some scientific evidence that CAM therapies can be helpful, there are many that haven’t had key questions related to safety and effectiveness answered yet. In addition, some CAM practitioners make exaggerated claims about their treatments curing diseases and some even ask you to forgo treatment from your conventional doctor. In light of the increased use of CAM therapies and more research data being put forth, doctors are starting to embrace them and are often combining them with mainstream medical therapies. This is why exactly what’s considered complementary medicine changes constantly as treatments undergo testing and move into the mainstream practice. Since pain control is such a big issue, some conventional doctors have begun recommending more natural pain management options for their patients, either as a supplement to other forms of medicines/treatments or as preliminary steps.
It’s hard to say for sure whether complementary and alternative therapies would work for you, since everyone responds to treatments differently. Many of these therapies require your active participation and a certain amount of belief in the possible outcome. This is the psychological hope and belief that a treatment will help, which is called the placebo effect. There is increasing evidence that CAM therapies might have more potent placebo effects than other interventions. For example, take acupuncture, the idea of being poked with needles is incredibly more dramatic when compared to just taking pills. So, it might seem to be more effective because you believe there is more effort invested, even if the two interventions have the same medicinal value. One large target of the alternative medicine industry is cancer. Some CAM practioners claim that eating all natural and organic is a cure for cancer. Unfortunately, this doesn’t cure it and after trying it for a period of time, the cancer has often spread or is negatively impacting the patient’s help in some other manner. Cancer is complicated and chemotherapy and radiation are harmful to the body, but alternative treatments have not been proven as a safe or effective standalone treatment choice. Instead, CAM therapies are being widely recommended to be used in tandem with proven conventional methods.
There are several things you should consider if you’re thinking about using CAM therapies. The first is what you are trying to accomplish—is it pain relief, more energy, better sleep or a reduction in the amount of medication you take? Who is the person providing the therapy? Are they qualified, registered and insured? There are two main groups of CAM therapists: those who are legally registered and those who aren’t. Osteopaths and chiropractors are legally recognized professionals just like doctors, nurses and occupational therapists. This means their training is regulated by a body set up by the government and by law they must register in order to practice. They must be insured and can be prevented from practicing if they’re incompetent or unethical. Medical herbalists and acupuncturists aren’t legally registered and aren’t required to be. After verifying who’s providing the therapy you should be asking yourself if it’s safe and what are the risks? Is there any scientific evidence of the effectiveness of therapy in treating your specific goal? Once your safety is guaranteed, you should be asking what is the financial cost because many of these types of therapies aren’t currently covered by health insurance companies, so you’ll be paying for them out-of-pocket. Remember, to speak to your doctor before starting any CAM therapy. Many people assume that their doctors will disapprove, but most will be interested to find out if it has helped you. Also, unless advised by your doctor, it’s essential to keep taking your prescribed medication. If your goal is to reduce the amount of medications you take, your doctor will guide you in reducing them once your health starts to improve. While working through these questions and initially starting the therapy, you need to be realistic about your expectations because there are no miracle cures. The last question you need to ask yourself is if you’re happy with the therapy results? Effectiveness might best be judged not only by whether you feel better but it also has there been a measurable improvement in your condition and overall wellbeing.
Overall, CAM therapies are relatively safe, but you should always talk to your doctor before you start treatment. With the field of complementary medicine growing, it’s far too big to generalize results. These results vary depending on the type of therapy and the disease under treatment, this is why what’s considered an alternative therapy is a moving target. In fact, given that there are ways to test CAM therapies, there’s no such thing as alternative medicine. If clinical trials show that a therapy works, it’s good medicine. And if it shows that it doesn’t work, then it’s shouldn’t be an alternative!Since modern conventional medicine came to the forefront, we’ve come to believe that it would have the answers for everything. While there have definitely been miraculous advances, like open heart surgery and joint replacements, there still are chronic diseases that are widespread throughout our country. Unfortunately, all of the advances have had very limited effectiveness in treating these. Also, people feel like they can no longer trust the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or the pharmaceutical companies in setting strict standards for effectiveness and that these regulatory bodies care adequately about consumer safety. People who have chronic illnesses and are concerned about the side-effects of medications and, for some, their symptoms aren’t fully controlled. They want a solution. So, they look for other ways to treat themselves. The term that describes medical treatments that are used instead of mainstream therapies is called alternative medicine. If these therapies are used in conjunction with mainstream therapies, they are called integrative or complementary medicine. A popular term right now is complementary and alternative medicine, or CAM.
CAM is designed around a more holistic approach and includes therapies from various historical and cultural backgrounds. According to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH), CAM therapies are classified as natural products, mind and body practices and other corresponding health approaches. Natural products include dietary supplements, herbal remedies and mind/body practices. The therapies are diverse in nature and origin, which makes the way they are thought to work also varied. The main concept is that you’re aiding your body’s ability to heal itself. Typically, you need to take an active part in your own treatment with lifestyle changes. This is very different from conventional medicine, which focuses on understanding and correcting the underlying problems that are causing your symptoms. Many people feel that this only treats your condition and not you as a person. You’re simply expected to accept your diagnosis and the treatment plan. We are coming to realize the importance of an individual’s involvement in their care and choice in their treatment. People feel that CAM therapies help them feel more in control.
There are many different treatment options that fall under CAM. Acupuncture is technique that uses needles to stimulate specific points around the body with the goal of helping jump start your body’s natural healing process. According to those who support it, it’s effective in treating a number of conditions, like neck and back pain, nausea, anxiety, depression, insomnia and infertility. Chiropractic medicine practice focuses on your body’s structure, specifically your spine, and how it functions. By using different techniques to manipulate your spine or other parts of your body, it puts them in proper alignment, which is thought to ease pain, improve body function and help your body to heal itself naturally. It’s thought to help low back pain, headaches, neck pain, joint problems in your upper and lower body and injuries caused by whiplash. Energy therapies focus on energy fields that many people believe are in and around the body. There are three subtypes of this therapy, including magnetic field therapy, reiki and therapeutic touch. Magnetic field therapy uses magnetic or electrical fields to treat a number of musculoskeletal problems, like osteoarthritis and help fractures heal faster. However, since it uses magnets, it isn’t safe if you’re pregnant, have an implanted cardiac device, use an insulin pump or take a drug given by patch. Reiki is when a practitioner hovers his hands over your body or places them lightly on your skin. The thought is that they channel energy through their hands and this helps your body to promote healing. Therapeutic, or healing, touch is similar to Reiki, but the therapist doesn’t touch you. They simply move their hands back and forth in the air over your body. Ayurvedic medicine is one of the world’s oldest medical systems and relies on herbs, special diets and unique practices to treat diseases. Herbal medicine uses parts of a plant, such as roots, leaves, berries or flowers, to heal the body. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), about 80% of the world population use it. It is thought to be effective in treating a wide variety of health issues from allergies and premenstrual syndrome to chronic fatigue and dementia. Unfortunately, herbal products can be sold without being proven safe or effective. If you look at the back of the pill bottles, you’ll see this declaration, “These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.” This brings forth several questions as to why these products aren’t subject to the same strict standards as any medication you get from a pharmacy. How safe are these products? Are they even effective?
Since people have used CAM practices for thousands of years, why have there not been more rigorous, well-designed clinical trials? One of the main reasons is that large, carefully controlled medical studies are costly. When a new medication is developed, it’s done by big companies that are planning on selling the medication for profit, so they are willing to shell out money to do the studies. Since herbs can’t be patented, the opportunity to make money from them is extremely limited. Also, the size and cost of clinical studies have increased considerably, so even though the claims made about CAM remedies are testable, it’s a challenge to get the funding and resources to do so. The Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) was passed in 1994, does require that all companies accurately label all products and the products are free of impurities. Even though the Act was passed in 1994, the changes weren’t instituted until 2007, so it took a while to get all companies on board. In order to determine the quality of a product, look for a USP (United States Pharmacopeia) or NSF (National Sanitation Foundation) symbol on the label. With the safety and effectiveness of many CAM therapies being uncertain, public health and safety surrounding them has become a priority. This is especially important when you consider that somewhere between 30-40% of adults in the US are using them and they are spending $33.9 billion out-of-pocket on them every year. In 1999, the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) was established part of the National Institute of Health (NIH) to evaluate the safety and efficacy of CAM therapies, train researchers to conduct CAM studies and provide this information to the public and healthcare professionals. Since its inception, it has funded more than 2,500 research projects.
Unfortunately, when natural products have been put to the test, they often fall short of their claims and, in some cases, aren’t always proven to be safe or effective. Between 2000 and 2008, the NIH funded a collaborative study by several universities to determine whether ginkgo biloba worked as a way to treat dementia. More than 3,000 elderly adults were randomly assigned to receive ginkgo or a placebo. Sadly, decline in memory and onset of dementia were the same in both groups. In 2012, another study of more than 2,800 adults also found that ginkgo didn’t prevent Alzheimer’s disease. Another example is depression. Every year, over 10 million people suffer major depression in the US and every year 35,000 people kill themselves. St. John’s wort is claimed to be a natural, safer way to treat severe depression. However, between 1998 and 2000, 11 academic medical centers, with the support of NCCAM, randomly assigned Patients to receive St. John’s wort or a placebo. The results showed no difference in any measure of depression. In addition, St. John’s wort has been found to interact with certain drugs and affect how the body processes them, which can make them less effective. Another favorite home remedy is using garlic to lower cholesterol. In 2007, a study done by the Stanford University School of Medicine found that it didn’t have any effect on low-density lipoprotein cholesterol or other plasma lipid concentrations. With more than 2 million men are using saw palmetto to help with their prostate, NCCAM decided to test its effectiveness. In 2006, they supported a study done by the University of California at San Francisco, the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Northern California Kaiser Permanente, which observed no difference in urinary flow rate, prostate size or quality of life of men who took saw palmetto versus a placebo. Milk thistle is said to help patients with chronic hepatitis or other liver problems. In 2011, a team at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill investigated those claims. People in the study who had hepatitis C virus were given either milk thistle or a placebo in hopes of preventing liver damage. The study found no difference between the two groups. Chondroitin sulfate and glucosamine are thought to be good for joint pain. In 2006, the University of Utah studied them to see if they worked. The participants had knee osteoarthritis and were given either chondroitin sulfate alone, glucosamine alone, both, a placebo or Celebrex (an anti-inflammatory drug approved by the FDA). Only Celebrex was shown to work. One of the most popular herbal remedies in the US is echinacea. It’s used to treat colds and people spend a $130 million yearly on it. In 2003, a group of scientists at the University of Washington in Seattle studied more than 400 children with colds who had received either echinacea or a placebo for 10 days. The only finding was that children taking echinacea were more likely to develop a rash. The herb ephedra was often used in weight-loss products, but was banned because a study done by NCCAM found it to pose an unacceptable risk of injury, illness and death. Another herb, Kava, which was widely used for insomnia, stress and anxiety, was linked to liver damage, so it was also banned. NCCAM discovered that nearly 21% of Ayurvedic medicine products purchased online contain detectable levels of lead, mercury or arsenic.
On the opposite side of the argument, several studies done by NCCAM have proven the effectiveness of some CAM therapies. One study looked at the effects of spinal manipulation in relation to low back pain relief and found that it’s at least as effective as conventional medical care for up to 18 months. Another study that observed that acupuncture drastically reduced pain associated with osteoarthritis of the knee when used as a complement to conventional therapy. Acupuncture also provides relief for vomiting and nausea from chemotherapy, might provide some relief for those who suffer from tension headaches and can help those suffering from low-back pain. A study of people with fibromyalgia noticed that they may benefit from practicing tai chi because those that did stated they had a improvements in sleep quality, mood and quality of life.
According to the NIH, roughly 10% of Americans suffer from pain every day and many more experience it intermittently. The 2007 National Health Interview Survey revealed that pain is the most common reason Americans use CAM therapies. The survey reported that nearly 75% of participants took at least one prescription drug and one dietary supplement. About 33% said they used three or more prescription drugs and three or more supplements and 10% percent said they combined five or more prescription drugs with five or more dietary supplements. This makes it crystal clear that healthcare provides need to ask their patients about the use of CAM therapies. An essential thing to do prior to and during your use of CAM therapies is to tell your doctor because some therapies, especially herbal supplements, can interfere with prescription medicines or cause abnormal blood tests.
Conventional doctors didn’t used to receive training in CAM therapies and they still have good reason to be cautious when it comes to using them because while there is some scientific evidence that CAM therapies can be helpful, there are many that haven’t had key questions related to safety and effectiveness answered yet. In addition, some CAM practitioners make exaggerated claims about their treatments curing diseases and some even ask you to forgo treatment from your conventional doctor. In light of the increased use of CAM therapies and more research data being put forth, doctors are starting to embrace them and are often combining them with mainstream medical therapies. This is why exactly what’s considered complementary medicine changes constantly as treatments undergo testing and move into the mainstream practice. Since pain control is such a big issue, some conventional doctors have begun recommending more natural pain management options for their patients, either as a supplement to other forms of medicines/treatments or as preliminary steps.
It’s hard to say for sure whether complementary and alternative therapies would work for you, since everyone responds to treatments differently. Many of these therapies require your active participation and a certain amount of belief in the possible outcome. This is the psychological hope and belief that a treatment will help, which is called the placebo effect. There is increasing evidence that CAM therapies might have more potent placebo effects than other interventions. For example, take acupuncture, the idea of being poked with needles is incredibly more dramatic when compared to just taking pills. So, it might seem to be more effective because you believe there is more effort invested, even if the two interventions have the same medicinal value. One large target of the alternative medicine industry is cancer. Some CAM practioners claim that eating all natural and organic is a cure for cancer. Unfortunately, this doesn’t cure it and after trying it for a period of time, the cancer has often spread or is negatively impacting the patient’s help in some other manner. Cancer is complicated and chemotherapy and radiation are harmful to the body, but alternative treatments have not been proven as a safe or effective standalone treatment choice. Instead, CAM therapies are being widely recommended to be used in tandem with proven conventional methods.
There are several things you should consider if you’re thinking about using CAM therapies. The first is what you are trying to accomplish—is it pain relief, more energy, better sleep or a reduction in the amount of medication you take? Who is the person providing the therapy? Are they qualified, registered and insured? There are two main groups of CAM therapists: those who are legally registered and those who aren’t. Osteopaths and chiropractors are legally recognized professionals just like doctors, nurses and occupational therapists. This means their training is regulated by a body set up by the government and by law they must register in order to practice. They must be insured and can be prevented from practicing if they’re incompetent or unethical. Medical herbalists and acupuncturists aren’t legally registered and aren’t required to be. After verifying who’s providing the therapy you should be asking yourself if it’s safe and what are the risks? Is there any scientific evidence of the effectiveness of therapy in treating your specific goal? Once your safety is guaranteed, you should be asking what is the financial cost because many of these types of therapies aren’t currently covered by health insurance companies, so you’ll be paying for them out-of-pocket. Remember, to speak to your doctor before starting any CAM therapy. Many people assume that their doctors will disapprove, but most will be interested to find out if it has helped you. Also, unless advised by your doctor, it’s essential to keep taking your prescribed medication. If your goal is to reduce the amount of medications you take, your doctor will guide you in reducing them once your health starts to improve. While working through these questions and initially starting the therapy, you need to be realistic about your expectations because there are no miracle cures. The last question you need to ask yourself is if you’re happy with the therapy results? Effectiveness might best be judged not only by whether you feel better but it also has there been a measurable improvement in your condition and overall wellbeing.
Overall, CAM therapies are relatively safe, but you should always talk to your doctor before you start treatment. With the field of complementary medicine growing, it’s far too big to generalize results. These results vary depending on the type of therapy and the disease under treatment, this is why what’s considered an alternative therapy is a moving target. In fact, given that there are ways to test CAM therapies, there’s no such thing as alternative medicine. If clinical trials show that a therapy works, it’s good medicine. And if it shows that it doesn’t work, then it’s shouldn’t be an alternative!