East vs West

Million of educated Americans are seeking alternative medical treatment. They are supplementing or abandoning prescribe medical treatments. Despite medicine's great progress there are many questions related to health. We are living longer because of advances, in antibiotics, and Western Medicine surgery, but most of us are living longer now and suffer from degenerative diseases that cripple us. We have not stopped arteries from clotting and rarely have we prevented or cured cancer, arthritis, Parkinsonism, Alzheimers, Aids, emphysema, cataracts, kidney and liver failure and the common migraine headache.
Doctors are reluctant to accept new approaches. Many encourage patients to abandon treatments with previous good track records. Most patients want to prevent diseases before they start.
Society has narrowed the gap between the West and the East as we appreciate new findings in the brain function and the immune system. There is now a better understanding of alternative medicine and rational approaches are now being taken.
Alternative medicine is here to stay. In chronic pain suggestions are made fro hypnosis, meditation, prayer, special diets, and especially acupuncture. Teas are mentioned for insomnia as well as sleeping pills. Discussions about chelation, ginseng, and ginkgo biloba are taking place.
Even the NIH (the caretaker of western medicine) is spending 23 million dollars a year in research work on alternative treatments. Insurance companies are now reimbursing policyholders for wellness plans and alternative medicines.
We must be flexible on what is good and what is bad. Doctors say they are holistic. So was the country doctor 50 years ago. The mind and body go together. Prevention of disease is important. You the patient want to preserve it. Organ doctors must consider the whole patient. We also must do our part in considering how we live and its effect on our bodies. We must see the dangers of smoking and drinking and the effects of moods, stresses, foods we ear, and lack of exercising on our bodies.

Different approaches have those who endorse it and those who condemn it. How do you get true information?
There is a middle ground and we try to seek it. Throw out the garbage and provide answers to questions on disease treatments. Journals of western medicine never report results on alternative therapies.
Acupuncture has passed centuries of human experiences but claims are made that it is not scientifically tested according to western protocol. Yet western medicine is always changing its mind. Treatments of 30 years ago are abandoned and found to be harmful.
Traditional doctors often make statements that are not based on hard evidence. These statements are based on belief instead of observed biochemical reactions in the body. How do you measure Qi energy? Clinical observations prove that acupuncture treatments work and have been used for thousands of years.
Suppose you have local back pain and have treatment with acupuncture, Chinese herbs, Vitamin e, antibiotics, massage, steroid injections and even prayer. When your back pain is gone, what worked? Explain the mechanism of how these modalities worked. Oriental medicine is not scientific as it is practiced. It is not dependant on medical science. Research is needed to validate the effectiveness and mechanism of acupuncture and herbal medicine.
Oriental medicine is extremely old and time tested. There are specific energetic patterns to guide its practice. Only pain control has been scientifically proven by western medicine. The Oriental treatments for disease and injury are radically different from western medicine. It works by manipulating and enhancing Qi and blood. People can't wait for scientific validation.