Alternative Medicine vs. Conventional Medicine

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of blood from a patient to cure or prevent illness and disease, a reasonable treatment (Bloodletting). Instead medications such as antihypertensives or blood thinners are used when treating high blood pressure. Opponents of alternative medicine often remind patients that the treatments used have not been through rigorous testing like those of conventional medicine. The argument that alternative medicine is better due to being “all natural” is invalid; there are many natural plants and animals known to be harmful to humans (Vrey). Many diseases are cured or treated by conventional medicine including curing bacterial infections with antibiotics, disease prevention with vaccines, and treatment of potentially life threatening conditions with medications. Alternative medicine cannot make this claim, as there is little evidence that any alternative medicines or therapies have the ability to cure or treat disease. Conventional medicine should be the only option for medical treatment ...

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reducing techniques, such as yoga or meditation, and potentially alleviate stress and symptoms. Conventional medicine does not treat the whole person, focusing only on treating the symptoms. Many patients who choose alternative medicine do so for a few reasons including, wanting more time with their practitioner. Personalized treatment and looking for alternatives to pharmaceutical drugs, especially if side effects are an issue (Fidler). Herbal supplements are a large part of alternative medicine. Alternative medicine should be accepted as a reasonable alternative to conventional medicine because it is based on healing the whole person, and generally has fewer side effects than ...

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