Alternative medicine? 😯 I think not.
"Alternative" medicine has been around for about 5,000 years. Back then, it was simply called "medicine".
What Changed?
When the pharmaceutical industry exploded in the 1950s - all of the sudden, anything other than a pill was considered "alternative" and frowned upon by those in white coats.
Meanwhile, as the pharma industry grew bigger and bigger, the potential ethical conflicts of making money from selling healthcare products became increasingly apparent.
George Merck of Merck Pharmaceuticals addressed this issue directly in 1950, proclaiming “We try never to forget that medicine is for the people. It is not for the profits. The profits follow, and if we have remembered that, they have never failed to appear. The better we remember it, the larger they have been.”
I love this sentiment, but unfortunately, his original ethics have not survived.
$1 Patents!?
On July 30, 1921, Canadian physician Frederick Banting and medical student Charles H. Best injected isolated insulin into a diabetic dog and found that it effectively lowered the dog’s blood glucose levels to normal.
By the end of that year, Banting and Best purified insulin, and the next year it was used to successfully treat a type 1 diabetic boy.
2 years later this team was awarded U.S. patents on insulin and the method used to make it. They all sold these patents to the University of Toronto for $1 each!
Then, they shared the 1923 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine for their work.
Fast forward to 2022, insulin is one of the most expensive liquids on planet Earth. Some brands of insulin have seen prices increase by more than 150% in the last five years alone.
Are you frustrated yet?
Me too.
But it's more than just the price and questionable ethics that causes frustration.
With non-alternative medicine, I'm sure you . . .
Feel like a number, not a human
Feel caught in the cogwheel of the system
Dislike the white, cold, sterile rooms
Are frustrated by short visits that address one symptom at a time
Are frustrated because although you look well and your labs are "normal", you don't feel well
Feel like something is missing
Feel that more should be offered besides a pill or surgery
Are frustrated that the system focuses always on the negative, rather than the positive
Want healthcare to be proactive, rather than reactive
Never know what things are going to cost upfront - insurance companies keep you in the dark and then, surprise! Here comes the bill, months later
Is there another way?
Since being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at age 7, I've lived deep in the cogwhweel of western medicine and while it kept me alive, it was nautropathic medicine (considered "alternative") that made me well.
Now, as a naturopathic physician, I want to help bring back the magic of medicine.
Your medical care should be uplifting, inspiring, exciting and magical
Your medical care should be just that - CARING
Your care should focus on you as an individual, no one-sized-fits-all treatment plans
Your doctor should spend TIME with you and LISTEN to you, not talk AT you
Your doctor should focus on your breath, hydration, sleep, nutrition, movement, stress level, relationships, and self-worth no matter what health issue you are dealing with
Your doctor should use herbs and supplements as "cherries on top" and not overlook medications or surgery if needed
You should feel like you belong!
"Alternative" medicine is the original medicine.
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