Differences Between Pharmaceutical Medicine and Natural Medicine

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is best known for its role on protecting the health of the public by making sure that food, medications are safe and effective. Especially when it comes to the pharmaceutical industry, its mission is to regulate pharmaceutical manufacturers, as well as the drug approval process. However, in the recent years, many arguments and controversy regarding drug development and regulation have risen. Drug advertisements make false and misleading claims, products are being put out on the market without any proof of safety, causing many unwanted incidents such as the Avandia incident and Vioxx incident, which could have been prevented in the first place.

Because many of the treatments of alternative medicine do not adhere to the principles of conventional medicine, whether or not to allow practice of these techniques in the United States is a major concern of the medical community today. The Food and Drug Administration is the decision making body of issues such as this and more often than not, does not approve many of these practices. Due to the fact that holistic medicine sometimes contradicts the fundamentals of biomedicine, health care regulation boards such as the FDA find it difficult to accept many of these treatments. Because the Western world is so unfamiliar with these techniques it is only natural for medical community to often disprove these methods. However, as more and more doctors discover the limitations of

Today we have alternative medicine which was developed thousands of years ago and have a long-standing historical value of effectiveness, advantages, and some drawbacks. Diagnosis was the first approach to any illness. Alternative medicine looks at the factors of equilibrium and the environment in which one lives and the disease is considered an imbalance between the two; cleansing the whole body than on a particular problem to get the balance back in sync. Very much the description of the Buddhist and the Greek cultures of medicine and healing the

Dr. James Marcum, a cardiologist at the Chattanooga Heart Institute in Tennessee claims, “Pharmaceutical drugs don’t heal people.” In fact, he states, “Much of the time they do more harm than good”(Milner). U.S. Citizens need to stop taking harmful pills and start using more natural, holistic healing methods. Everyone has probably used a pill before to relieve their pain, but there are healthier ways to feel just as good. According to the results of the National Health Interview Survey, “In 2012, 33.2% of U.S. adults used complementary health approaches”(What Complementary and Integrative Approaches Do Americans Use?). While some people believe conventional medicine is a better choice, it is clear that holistic healing can replace prescription drugs because they are more safe and effective than prescription drugs, and they are more practical in many ways.

How many times have you felt as if you were stuck in a Groundhog Day repeating loop when making repeat visits to your primary care physician? Ailments such as ear infections, headaches and severe colds keep our nation’s fine doctors in luxury cars and tony addresses! What if we could handle some of these recurring issues on our own? The fact is, we do not always need to speed off to the clinic to arm ourselves with a script capable of warding off our woes. Natural remedies are too often a second or third line of defense when they should be in the starting lineup.

(Audience: American physicians, patients, legislators, and insurers who are wary of alternative medicine and its growing popularity)

To end the scamming of the current medical field, all medical personnel should be required to learn both sides of the industry: modern and natural. By the doctors and pharmacists knowing both sides of the field, it allows the doctors to be more knowledgeable and use logical and expert opinions in the situations where natural treatment can be used and when the prescription medication is the only option. Instead of allowing drug companies to control doctors’ judgments to boost their sales (Leavitt), by the doctors gaining more knowledge on all types of medication available, it will end the captivity of them being caged in by the

“polypharmacy as the use of five or more prescription medications—is common among seniors and can lead to reduced compliance with medication regimens and problems with drug–drug interactions” (2012, p.428). Elderly patients are mostly at risk to polypharmacy issues due to aging effects on how the body tolerates medications, and also, as a result of taking more medications than younger patients. Reason et al., continues to demonstrate that the use of prescription increase with age and in association with multiple morbidities in the elderly patients. Medications such as over the counter drugs, herbal preps, and home remedies are widely used by older adults. These medications have a higher risk of causing adverse drug reaction especially with

Over the past 10 years, the pharmaceutical formulary for licensed Naturopathic Physicians has absolutely expanded. In many states where Naturopathic Physicians have licensure, they also have the ability to prescribe pharmaceutical drugs to help their patients. While the Physicians may not always choose to go with pharmaceuticals as a treatment choice, they have the option if that is what they and their patients think is best. The state that has experienced the most expansion has been Oregon, but each state has its own formulary which Naturopaths can work from. If I end up working in a licensure state, it will be important to have pharmaceuticals as an option to treat my patients. My main goal as a Naturopathic Physician is to help my patients to the best of my ability. I plan to integrate pharmaceutical modalities into my clinic if it is in a licensure state, and use them for patients who need the help of pharmaceuticals. I will always strive to provide the best care for my patients, and if pharmaceuticals will help them without also causing harm, then I will prescribe them for my patients. The pharmaceutical formulary expansion provides an example of the integration of nature and modern medicine, which is the basis for Naturopathic treatment. Naturopathic treatments use natural methods whenever possible, but sometimes quicker methods are necessary, like those provided by pharmaceuticals. It is important for NDs to have a variety of treatment methods available for treatment

According to The United States of America – An Overmedicated Society, “…a drug company can simply ‘put on the shelf’ a drug study that does not show that the drug they studied was effective.” There isn’t any ban on not publishing a study, and research has found that published drug studies show more variation in condition improvement than most unpublished studies (Overmedicated Society). This is because almost all drug studies with positive results are published, but only one-tenth of negative or uncertain studies are published (Overmedicated Society). As The United States of America – An Overmedicated Society states, “Advertisement doesn’t even inform you about precisely what the pill supposedly does.” Pending drugs aren’t normally tested as long as they should be, so they sometimes don’t show the long-term symptoms (Overmedication). Studies are even sometimes conducted to make a medicine seem better than it really is, on account of the fact that most studies are being conducted by the drug company itself, who wants the study to come back positive. The United States of America – An Overmedicated Society also asserts the fact that “Medication side effects are the 4th leading cause of death in the US annually.” Furthermore, many experts are being bribed by pharmaceutical companies to recommend their products to other physicians (Overmedicated Society). In fact, as Pill Nation USA remarks, “…8% of doctors feeling strongly pressured to prescribe the advertised drug.” Indeed, the falsehood of pharmaceutical companies, especially by omission, has a huge role in American’s use of

Most companies are seeing the value in preventive measures and health maintenance. Many individuals who choose alternative therapies say they are more effective and less costly than traditional medicines. Patients have started seeing traditional doctors are being excessively dependent on prescribing drugs and not making an effort to discuss the process, risk, and benefits of drug treatments. Patients are becoming unhappy with traditional treatments due to undesirable side effects, high cost, lack of effectiveness, and loss of doctor-patient relationship. The availability of media has brought attention to the public about the undesirable side effects and cost of traditional medicines which has triggered patients to seek alternatives for prevention and control diseases. It also allows patients autonomy in making health care decisions and provides a sense of control in one’s health. Our American society is multicultural and cultural influences may play in a patients use of alternative therapies that are similar and appropriate with their religious

Even though the Pharmaceutical companies do not support it, Natural is a better option for your health because glutathione is capable of reversing damage to living cells, furthermore it is very simple to introduce into your body.

The University of Alabama Biomedical Library was searched for relevant studies . This search included COCHRANE Database of Systematic Reviews, OVID database and EBSCO database. Another search was done using Google search, National Guidelines Clearinghouse, and Agency for Health Research. Reviewed articles references were used to obtain more studies. Keywords for all searches included: medication, medication cost, drug, drug cost, elderly, aged, nonadherence, and noncompliance ( See Appendix A). All the studies were less than 5 years old, expert opinions, practice guidelines were reviewed and those related to interventions to assist the elderly with medication cost were selected.

These therapies have proved to be of much benefit in supporting the normal healing course of the body. Even though there are many modern alternative remedies, with different beliefs, all of them operate under some common principles. One of these principles is that the body has the capacity to heal naturally and maintain stability (Paquette, 2000). The other one is that adverse health conditions can occur as a result of factors emanating from mind, emotions and the body. Alternative medicine, according to Goldberg, Trivieri and Anderson, (2002), focuses on determining the chief cause of a particular condition, and dealing with the whole person rather that concentrating on symptoms. If a person pays close attention to his/her health he/she can contribute to his/her wellbeing. Alternative medicine holds firmly to the principle that one treatment cannot be used for all people even though they may be suffering from the same condition. Each and every person as per alternative medicine has distinct bodily, mind and spiritual make up (Goldberg, Trivieri and Anderson, 2002).

People need to realize that going against basic treatment is not always a bad thing. Not using synthetic drugs for treatment is a smart and healthy choice. There are certain stigmas related to natural medicine, but being aware of the benefits may result in more people believing in these resources. People have been using herbal medicines and plants long before synthetic medicine was designed.