No, Medicine Is Not Bad

Many times, people today look at their options for wellness and medical care, and they choose one “path.” Commonly there are those who have a more holistic approach towards health, and those who are less holistic, and more “mainstream.”

Once a side is chosen, people tend to develop an “us vs them” mentality. They see their approach toward health as superior to the dreaded “other”, and seek to destroy the other’s credibility and opinion. Those that do not like holistic medicine call practitioners “quacks.” Those who do not like medicine are equally vindictive in their attempts to discredit the “opponent” with phrases like “pill for every ill.”

This is not helpful, productive, or correct in any situation.

We know so very much today about health. Our ability to scientifically research the human body has never before been so advanced. The research available to those who care to look is abundant and many modalities of health and wellness care have been able to base treatments and care plans on sound science.

I work with a holistic approach. I believe strongly in the body’s capability to heal itself. That does not mean that I think antibiotics can’t be life saving, or that routine blood tests can’t give you good information about the current state of your health. I do not think medicine is at all the bad guy.

Anyone who works in a field where they desire to be a healer has a desire and a passion for serving people and helping them pursue and maintain health, regardless of the field they chose. Health is always important to them.

However, they cannot be expected to do everything.

It’s unrealistic to expect one type of care provider to be an expert on all approaches of care. For instance, you cannot go to a hospital - that practices medicine - and expect them to give you anything other than that. It’s not “on the menu” so to speak.

• Medical doctors to not fully understand what a chiropractor does, so it’s not reasonable to ask them for advice on chiropractic adjustments when that’s not what they do.
• A nutritionist cannot give you IV antibiotics when you’re gravely ill with a bacterial infection.
• Medical doctors also have no training on the healing properties of food and nutrition. You need to see a nutritionist for that information.
• An acupuncture specialist will not know much about drilling root canals - you need to speak with a dentist or oral surgeon for that.

See where I’m going here?

To illustrate this, I heard a birth doula once tell me that, while attending a birth in a hospital, the laboring mother was staunchly insisting on refusing all kinds of medical care. She did not want a heparin lock in her arm, she refused fetal monitoring, she was asking to sign paperwork saying that she would not have pitocin after the birth, and on and on it went. The nurse, who was a wonderful nurse and eloquent advocate for the mother, told the doula, “If a woman doesn’t want medicine, why does she come to a medical facility? We are a hospital - medicine is what we do. If you don’t want medicine, don’t go to the hospital.” And that is fair.

If you personally believe in a holistic approach, seek out the right kind of care providers for you. Wellness cannot possibly come from only one type of provider - collaborative care between several modalities provides you with the broadest spectrum of health advice and care.