October 02, 2002
Wednesday - 10:30 pm

There are alternatives to the contemporary, western, delivery system of health care. "New Age", "Alternative", and "Complimentary", are a few of the more well known references to the 'other' systems. Do we need something other than mainstream western medicine? Absolutely. We always need to know we have choices in how we maintain our health. Choice

Bugge Beach Ketchikan, Alaska by Rick Grams

empowers us to be active participants in our health care, to be involved rather than subjugated. Allopathic medicine, our mainstream system, treats disease and disorder by inducing an action opposite to that which is to be cured. It takes over the normal body function principally through surgery and drug therapy. It is therefore, an excellent crises management tool, but a weak method for health care and maintenance. It tells us we can't fix that which is not yet broken and places little emphasis on preventive measures. Complimentary systems encourage the body to take back its ability to heal. They are less invasive, slower acting, produce excellent long term effects, place strong emphasis on prevention, and are more truly health care and health maintaining in focus. Their mantra is let's not break down. They are not crises management tools.

The purpose of this column is to introduce readers to the wide variety of complimentary health care options that exist and how to use them to benefit their own health condition. Many options are available here in Ketchikan; some of them require trips 'outside'. Some of the topics we'll be looking at are Chinese medicine (including acupressure, qigong, acupuncture, massage, and herbology), nutrition and supplementation, toxicity, western massage, homeopathy, naturopathy, meditation, drug-herb interaction, body-mind focusing, and western herbology. If readers care to submit topics for discussion, I invite them to contact me at flora@sitnews.org.

In my next article, I'll be examining the cold and flu season and how complimentary care can be utilized to help us make it through in good condition.

E-mail Joann Flora

©Compliments To Your Health
Joann Flora 2002

 

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