 Media Credit: Niki Hyde Apothecary or afternoon tea?
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 Don't regulate, self-medicate.
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Whether with fibre, vitamins, antioxidants or disease fighting herbs, bread is vitamin-filled, eggs come with omega-3 and teas are enriched with almost anything. Natural and traditional therapies have found a permanent place in the market and are attracting increasing attention as people get more attuned to their bodies.
In May of 2007, the Canadian government imposed another layer of regulations on the Natural Health Sector, which deals with natural remedies, homeopathic medicines, vitamins, medicinal herbs and certain teas. The new system allows the regulations to apply to more Natural Health Products (NHP) while also requiring more precise labeling on product bottles. This movement has been the result of an effort to make the NHP sector more uniform since 1997, when many Canadians complained to the government that they were not confident in the products they saw on the shelves.
The overwhelming popularity of natural therapies seems to be due to a general public desire to become more responsible for personal health and better health decisions. The idea that people should take their health problems into their own hands, however, remains a conflict between the allopathic and alternative medicine therapies. This conflict started in North America in the mid 1800's when the American Medical Association was formed for the sole purpose of fighting homeopathy. This is a conflict that does not exist in Europe.
To understand and be understood
One of the many reasons people are turning to alternative medicine is because they want their health care to be individualized.
"Evidence based medicine is based on statistics, but if you are sick, you don't see your self as a statistic," explains Dr. Faith Wallis, a McGill history professor specializing in the history of medicine.
Wallis insists that with the advent of modern medicine, patient-doctor dialogues became more one-sided and scientific. She explains that homeopathic doctors spend longer amounts of time with their patients in order to understand their lifestyles, thereby better understanding their medical situations. Not only do patients of homeopathic doctors feel they are better understood, they also have a better chance of understanding their doctors and treatments.
It's far easier to understand simple herb treatments than the technicalities of bacteria-strains and the antibiotics that could wipe them out. They are also more easily accessible: herbs are available over the counter, while antibiotics require a prescription after a time-consuming doctors visit.
Moreover, since herbs are easily available and barely regulated, there is a general perception that they are harmless in comparison to powerful allopathic drugs with long lists of documented side effects, though this is not always the case.
Whole body medicine
In most alternative medicines, the connection between the mind and body is central. Physical problems can be rooted in mental problems and mental problems can have origins in physical problems. The body is treated as a whole with a concentration on balancing energies to keep the dynamic system in good condition. This holistic view of treatment is something almost non-existent in modern medicine. We see doctors for different parts of our bodies; for example, there are podiatrists, dermatologists and psychiatrists.
"I think we miss this sense of being treated as a whole person. There is a tendency in biomedicine [conventional medicine] to sort of treat our bodies as machines with removable parts" she jokes. "This is of course exaggeration and a caricature but it is the perception that people have. So turning to alternative medicine is not just self-help, it's also a sense of looking for something that responds to the central problem of being sick. It's not just your body that is sick it is your whole self ," says Dr. Wallis.
Treating the world around us
Wallis suggests that the recent rise in ecological concerns are also helping to fuel the natural medicine industry. Bacteria that have developed antibiotic resistance pose threats to humans as well as the environment and have the potential to leave the human race without any defense against many diseases. Antibiotics have only been in use since 1930 and there are already many resistant strains of bacteria. As a result, new and more powerful antibiotics have to be made each year to keep infections at bay. On the other hand, homeopathic medicine has been around for 200 years, and according to users of each, they remain tried and true.
Wallis credits Quebec's interest in homeopathy to the European influence on the province.
"I think the reason that Quebec has so much homeopathy in drug stores is because of the French connection," she says. "I think if you were to walk into a drug store in Paris [there would be] lots and lots of homeopathic remedies. It seems to me, from my experience here, that most of the brand names of homeopathic remedies [in Quebec] are French."
Wallis adds that while there are North American companies producing homeopathic products, the Quebec market remains flooded with European brand names.
Risks of self-treatment
As a result of the seemingly harmless nature of Natural Health Products, most consumers take the liberty to self-medicate. NHPs are not as regulated as conventional pharmaceuticals; they do not endure the same clinical trials. Though self-medication with homeopathic medicines often does not pose any immediate problems, there is no way to be certain. Interactions with other herbs, allopathic medications or your own body are all risks. Self-medication also poses a problem for doctors.
"A lot of patients don't even tell their physicians that they're using [alternative therapies]," says Dr. Mark Ware, a chronic pain specialist at MUHC and an assistant professor in family medicine and anesthesia at McGill. "With homeopathic remedies the risks are somewhat difficult to quantify because, as you probably know, homeopathic remedies are prepared from herbal treatments or extracts and then diluted down to the point where the solution that is used to treat the patient has little or none of the active ingredient left in it. It's not clear whether [homeopathic therapies are]; toxic it's not clear whether [they have] any therapeutic value. This is all really out there, we don't know."
Although Ware accepts the presence of complementary medicine he, like most physicians, doesn't endorse it.
"The risks are more if [patients] chose not to use a [allopathic] treatment which is known to be effective but they use homeopathy instead," he explains.
McGill's role
McGill is doing its part to prepare medical students for future encounters with complementary medicine. "There are a large number of the population, estimated 50 to 60 per cent of the population using complementary therapies to self-treat various ailments," says Ware. He also stresses that allopathic physicians should be schooled enough in alternative therapies to be able to respond knowledgeably to patients who use them.
In an attempt to prepare future McGill doctors, Ware has recently compiled a 4th year elective course for medical students, entitled "Complementary Medicine in Clinical Practice." There is also a module discussion group about complementary therapies which will allow students to formulate their own opinions on how to deal with complementary therapies.
"We're not trying to promote or deny the use of these things," says Ware. "Patients use them. We need to think about how we as physicians feel about our patients using these [complementary therapies]. So that when we do encounter a patient who says listen, I'm using homeopathic treatments, for my children's asthma, you can respond, you can engage that person in a good therapeutic dialogue so that you can ensure that that parent and child are getting the best possible care."
Hand in hand
When speaking about the large repertorire of therapies out there, Wallis poses the question "Alternative to what?" Some students are asking the same questions for their ailments. "I use osteopath and psycho-corporelle, which is about balancing the energies in the body. I have found [these therapies] help me extremely in normal life and in athletics. Judo is a sport where I pretty much get every injury that is possible," says Patrick Tremblay-Sabourin, u1 dietetics. He also explains that he was unsatisfied by the allopathic doctors he saw for his injuries. "I went to see doctors who wanted to give me antinflammatories and stuff. I refused to take any of them because some of those medicines would have tested positive [in drug tests]." Osteopath is an alternative therapy that cocentrates on body structure, the spine, the nerves and the muscles around them.
Hopefully there will eventually be enough communication between conflicting therapies for doctors to think more about their patients and their patients' individual health needs rather than those treatments which fit into their style of therapy.
Dr. Wallis suggests that doctors may be in support of some homeopathic remedies but cannot endorse them. "I remember one doctor, who will remain nameless, a big name in Montreal. I ran into him at the medical school and he said 'Oh how are you doing' and I said 'I'm not feeling so great I think I'm coming down with a cold. I've got a sore throat.' He pulled me aside and he said 'Don't tell anyone I told you this, but zinc, take zinc and don't tell anyone I said this.' For his public persona, he must not be seen to endorse this sort of this thing. I took his advice: it works."
Viewing Comments 1 - 3 of 3
yustin nambo
posted 1/18/08 @ 9:37 AM EST
This article was ok but i think it should be more informative for people to understand .
brook
posted 11/12/08 @ 5:12 PM EST
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brook
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posted 11/12/08 @ 5:16 PM EST
health is wealth. so i request every one to take care for their health.
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