Efficacy of Alternative Medicine

My Experience with Alternative Medicine

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) defines alternative medicine as follows:

"Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) is a broad domain of resources that encompasses health systems, modalities, and practices and their accompanying theories and beliefs, other than those intrinsic to the dominant health system of a particular society or culture in a given historical period. CAM includes such resources perceived by their users as associated with positive health outcomes. Boundaries within CAM and between the CAM domain and the domain of the dominant system are not always sharp or fixed."

In layman terms alternative medicine refer to a medical practice that does not involve use of drugs, but may involve other therapies and practices such as healing, herbal medication, meditation etc. Few of the most popular forms of alternative medicine are acupuncture, Ayurveda, homeopathy, yoga, biofeedback, reiki, chiropractice and massage therapy.

Hailing from the country where Ayurveda originated and homeopathy is wildly practiced, I strongly believe in alternative medicine. In fact, all my life, I have seen my family resort to some form of alternative medicine to treat ailments. I can recollect trips as a kid to our homeopathic doctor to get myself treated for flu and cold. I would hate going to our family physician who would prescribe me tablets which tasted bitter and would be hard to swallow. Instead I enjoyed my trips to our homeopathic doctor who gave me tiny white balls that tasted sweet or even better- sweet powdered medicine which I simply enjoyed taking.