In the first part of this post, I discussed how the goal of natural health is really to lower the risk of a major breakdown. If we can support the body, we can help it work properly and avoid many diseases.
For instance, most people realize that depression is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain. That is easy enough to say, but what does that mean exactly? Well, it could be dopamine, melatonin, serotonin, or even the precursors 5-hydroxytryptophan.
If you understand a little more about how the body, and the cells therein, actually work, you can find ways to help support it. However, that was the focus of the last post.
In this post, let’s look at the conventional medicine side. After all, it is conventional doctors we run to when something breaks, and we need to be “fixed”. Some natural health people have a tendency toward avoiding conventional medicine at all costs. There may be some merit to that approach, but it can also be dangerous.
I personally believe there is a risk/benefit balance to be struck. But let’s look at the goal of conventional medicine first.
For instance, most people realize that depression is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain. That is easy enough to say, but what does that mean exactly? Well, it could be dopamine, melatonin, serotonin, or even the precursors 5-hydroxytryptophan.
If you understand a little more about how the body, and the cells therein, actually work, you can find ways to help support it. However, that was the focus of the last post.
In this post, let’s look at the conventional medicine side. After all, it is conventional doctors we run to when something breaks, and we need to be “fixed”. Some natural health people have a tendency toward avoiding conventional medicine at all costs. There may be some merit to that approach, but it can also be dangerous.
I personally believe there is a risk/benefit balance to be struck. But let’s look at the goal of conventional medicine first.
The Goal of Conventional Medicine
If you look at the modern practice of medicine, it is fully based on the treatment of disease. If you are hurt, you need to heal from that injury, insert doctors and therapists. If you are sick, you need to “defeat” the bacteria or virus. Insert doctors and pharmacists. If you have a chronic ailment, you need to force the body to work properly.
Do not get me wrong, I have been studying the research behind a lot of various treatments, and the science is incredible. To the layperson, it looks like a bunch of hogwash, but there is a continually developing understanding of how each medication interacts with the body on a cellular level. This is part of how cancer research is developing, looking at the various pathways that are mutated in various forms of cancer, and looking for ways to exploit those mutations to kill that mutated cell. It’s quite impressive!
However, when you talk with doctors about various conditions, oftentimes the response is that there is nothing you could have done to prevent the disease. My son’s cancer, for instance, falls into that area. He has a rare genetic condition called DICER1 Syndrome, which predisposes affected people to developing tumors. However, there are still relatively few people with this condition develop tumors.
That tells me there is still something else that caused it to develop. Was it an environmental toxin, or stress, or something he was eating? I’ll explore more of those in the future. For now, let’s focus back on conventional medicine.
The point to all of this is that conventional medicine in a lot of cases looks at chronic disease as inevitable when it happens. There was nothing you could do to prevent it, so let’s just treat what we see.
Do not get me wrong, I have been studying the research behind a lot of various treatments, and the science is incredible. To the layperson, it looks like a bunch of hogwash, but there is a continually developing understanding of how each medication interacts with the body on a cellular level. This is part of how cancer research is developing, looking at the various pathways that are mutated in various forms of cancer, and looking for ways to exploit those mutations to kill that mutated cell. It’s quite impressive!
However, when you talk with doctors about various conditions, oftentimes the response is that there is nothing you could have done to prevent the disease. My son’s cancer, for instance, falls into that area. He has a rare genetic condition called DICER1 Syndrome, which predisposes affected people to developing tumors. However, there are still relatively few people with this condition develop tumors.
That tells me there is still something else that caused it to develop. Was it an environmental toxin, or stress, or something he was eating? I’ll explore more of those in the future. For now, let’s focus back on conventional medicine.
The point to all of this is that conventional medicine in a lot of cases looks at chronic disease as inevitable when it happens. There was nothing you could do to prevent it, so let’s just treat what we see.
Strike The Balance
This is where you have to look and decide where to strike the balance. Sometimes your body will break, and you need conventional medicine to help. For instance, I would never recommend someone having a heart attack just sit at home and hope it goes away.
When my son had the headache that took us to the hospital and started this journey for him, we struck the balance. We treated the headache as a migraine because that is what it seemed like. However, as things did not improve, we decided to lean on conventional medicine to see if something else was wrong. And in fact, there was a baseball size tumor in his head that was hemorrhaging.
Trust your gut, do not fear the medical field. Educate yourself, and know that there is a time and place for both natural health and conventional medicine.
When my son had the headache that took us to the hospital and started this journey for him, we struck the balance. We treated the headache as a migraine because that is what it seemed like. However, as things did not improve, we decided to lean on conventional medicine to see if something else was wrong. And in fact, there was a baseball size tumor in his head that was hemorrhaging.
Trust your gut, do not fear the medical field. Educate yourself, and know that there is a time and place for both natural health and conventional medicine.
No Such Thing As Risk-Free
The final thing I think desperately needs to be said is that there is no such thing as risk-free. Most of us know that every medication has side effects. Some people read through those while others ignore them completely. Regardless, they are there and could affect you. This is part of what pharmacists are there to inform you of.
Many so-called natural products are touted as such, but that is simply not true. If you rely on a natural product to heal something that is wrong, it could not work for you, and cause a bigger problem. Some natural products also have some serious side effects, such as liver toxicity, if you are not careful and take too much.
The point is that both have valid points and risks. You have to determine what risks you are willing to take to reap the benefits you are looking for. In the end, it is up to you to educate yourself from sources you trust, and understand where the balance is to be struck for you and your family.
Many so-called natural products are touted as such, but that is simply not true. If you rely on a natural product to heal something that is wrong, it could not work for you, and cause a bigger problem. Some natural products also have some serious side effects, such as liver toxicity, if you are not careful and take too much.
The point is that both have valid points and risks. You have to determine what risks you are willing to take to reap the benefits you are looking for. In the end, it is up to you to educate yourself from sources you trust, and understand where the balance is to be struck for you and your family.
0 Comments