All posts in Medicine

Careers in Alternative Medicine

By blogger on

Although traditional medicine cannot replace modern medicine as far as diagnosis, investigation and emergency care are concerned, certain ‘alternative’ systems which focus on overall health, have shown remarkable and swift results even in chronic illnesses like diabetes, leucoderma, cancer as well as hard to cure diseases like arthritis, asthma and even AIDS.

Ayurveda

Ayurveda, literally meaning the science of life, aims at healing the individual as a whole, instead of merely at the molecular level. This ancient healing system is based on the theory that everything is composed of panchamahabhutas, or the five basic elements (akaash, jal, vayu, agni, dharti). The main source of our knowledge of Ayurveda is the Atharva Veda, which dates back to around 1200 BC.

Find Alternative Medicine Programs in the United States and Canada. With the phenomenal expansion of complementary and holistic therapies, there are growing numbers of healing arts schools that now offer alternative medicine programs to both practitioners and prospective students searching for unique career-training opportunities.
Of the numerous alternative medicine programs – massage therapy, holistic health, energy healing, and nutritional consulting are some of the more popular academic programs available today.

Alternative Healing Education
Alternative healing education provides courses to students that may lead to certificates, diplomas and degrees in the healing arts. In many instances, alternative healing education classes can encompass broad spectrums of noninvasive healing modalities such as aromatherapy, Ayurveda, energy healing therapies, herbology and herbal medicine, chiropractic, acupressure, and naturopathy to mention just a few. Some alternative healing education programs enable students to sit for local and national licensure exams; as in the cases of massage therapy, acupuncture, and chiropractic. Additionally, a number of alternative healing education programs include certificate courses that help students to become certified in a wide variety of healing arts

Alternative Medicine Courses
Depending on your career interest, successful completion of one or more alternative medicine courses can lead to professions in naturopathy, natural health, homeopathy, massage therapy and Oriental medicine to list just a few. Alternative medicine courses in natural health, for example, can help students achieve required education to become natural health consultants, educators or natural health technicians. Naturopathy schools that provide alternative medicine courses are commonly comprised of comprehensive studies in naturopathy, phytotherapy, botanical and herbal medicine, aromatherapy, and other Chinese medicine subjects.

Alternative Medicine Colleges
Before registering in the wide expand of alternative medicine colleges, you should first determine which alternative medicine practice you would like to enter. For example, if you interested in chiropractic, be sure that the selection of alternative medicine colleges in which you choose to enroll offer this course of study. Some alternative medicine colleges provide training in a diverse range of health therapies including education in pathology-specific treatments, such as rheumatoid arthritis. Studies offered through alternative medicine colleges in this area may include diverse curriculums in botanical or herbal medicine, supplements and vitamins, hydrotherapy, mind-body therapies, Ayurveda, Chinese medicine, homeopathy, chiropractic, acupuncture and other massage therapies.

Adolescent Medicine in Alaska

By blogger on

The practice of adolescent medicine in Alaska focuses on the care of teenagers. It is a specialized practice in the field of medicine. Adolescent medicine incorporates aspects of internal medicine, psychology, nutrition, gynecology, endocrinology, dermatology and sports medicine. A child is considered to be an adolescent when he or she is about to enter into puberty. Usually, girls enter into puberty a few years prior to boys, on average around the age of ten. A boy will generally enter into puberty when he is eleven or twelve years old. It is recommended that a teenager have a complete physical examination, including regular visits to the dentist and eye doctor, as well as a comprehensive mental health review beginning with the onset of adolescence.

Alcohol and drug abuse are prevalent amongst teenagers in all geographical areas. There is a very high incidence of alcoholism in Alaska. In order to address this problem, there are after-school programs for teenagers who are considered to be at-risk of drug or alcohol abuse or who may be suicidal. There are a variety of programs in Alaska that specialize in working with teenagers in a therapeutic program that addresses these issues. The impetus of these programs is to help the adolescent understand underlying issues that may be propelling them towards alcohol or drug dependence and offering them alternative ways of managing their feelings and stress levels.

Another specialty in adolescent medicine in Alaska is equine therapy. Because of the vast open spaces in Alaska, there are a number of equine therapy centers that work with teenagers on re-establishing good mental health. Some of the benefits of equine therapy are reported to be a raise in self-esteem as the teens learns to take care of his or her horse well. Troubled teens also come away from the program being less defensive because they are able to open up and connect with their horse without being self-conscious or judged. Equine therapy also allows adolescents to develop the qualities of self-discipline, patience, trust and empathy as they learn to take care of their horse and form a bond of friendship.

These are some of the specialized programs focusing on adolescent medicine in Alaska. Teenagers have their own unique medical needs as they grow from childhood to adulthood. Good mental health care is very important if a young person is experiencing difficulty in school or home life. The alcohol and drug rehabilitation programs found in Alaska help a teen to address issues of drug or alcohol dependency. The equine therapy programs are therapeutic programs that address and often heal adolescent mental health issues.

Traditional Medicine Fails Those With Fibromyalgia

By blogger on

Traditional Medicine Fails Those With Fibromyalgia The American College of Rheumatology reports that drugs used to treat fibromyalgia are no better than a sugar pill (worthless) within 3 months. And surveys show that fibromyalgia patients are no better (symptoms the same or worse) after 15 years of taking doctor recommended prescription drug therapies.

If you suffer with fibromyalgia you already know drug therapy alone is a dead end, doomed for to go know where. You’ve probably gone from one doctor to the next, taken drug after drug and still you don’t feel any better. Or if you do, it’s fleeting, the symptoms return and now you’re another life draining drug. The drugs used to treat fibromyalgia have side effects that are often worse than the symptoms of fibromyalgia. Doctors don’t tell you this- they should.

Ambien and Lunesta may cause short-term memory loss, brain fog (can’t think straight), poor memory, anxiety, depression, flu-like pain, fatigue, poor immune function (susceptible to more infections), headaches, and more.

The tricyclic antidepressant drugs, often recommended for poor sleep, Trazadone, Elavil, Doxepin, Despramine, Imipramine, Pamelor, and Nortriptyline may cause next day hang over, weight gain, muscle pains, and fatigue. They deplete the natural sleep drug melatonin, thus creating a dependence on them for sleep. Unfortunately they tend to lose their effectiveness after a period of time.

These drugs deplete the all-important enzyme known as CoQ10. CoQ10 is responsible for 95% of the body’s energy. Symptoms of low CoQ10 include fatigue, muscle aches, poor memory, brain fog, tingling in the hands and feet, anxiety, depression, congestive heart failure, high blood pressure, increased risk of heart attack and stroke, and headaches.

Benzodiazepine drugs- Xanax, Klonopin, Ativan, Restoril, Busbar, Tranxene, Serax, Librium, Tegretol, Valium, Trileptal, Seraquel, Risperdal, and Symbax are usually used as anti-anxiety medication. They’re addictive, and patients build up a tolerance so that the drug eventually loses it effectiveness as a sleep aid.

Benzodiazepines have numerous side effects, including poor sleep, seizures, mania, depression, suicide, ringing in the ears, amnesia, dizziness, anxiety, disorientation, low blood pressure, nausea, fluid retention, sexual dysfunction (decreased desire and performance), weakness, somnolence (prolonged drowsiness or a trance-like condition that may continue for a number of days), headaches and tardive dyskinesia (tremors or shakes). Why would anyone want to take this stuff? There is a better way to treat (and beat) the symptoms of fibromyalgia. You don’t have to take dangerous life draining drugs that mask the symptoms yet slowly take away your soul.

Gabitril (tiagabine) Lyrica, and Neurontin (gabapentin) are anticonvulsant medications originally used to control seizures. They are now being used to block nerve-related pain (neuralgia) including pain caused by herpes zoster. These medications are also being prescribed for chronic headaches (with some success) and fibromyalgia (little success).

Side Effects: There are several side effects associated with their use, including somnolence (prolonged drowsiness or a trance-like condition that may continue for a number of days), dizziness, weakness, fatigue, double vision, edema (fluid retention), ataxia (muscular in-coordination), thought disorder (suicidal or inappropriate thoughts), possible long-term ophthalmic problems (abnormal eyeball movements and disorders), tremors (uncontrollable tics or muscle twitches), weight gain, back pain, constipation, muscle aches, memory loss, asthenia (all over weakness), depression, abnormal thinking, itching, involuntary muscle twitching, serious rash, and runny nose. This stuff is poison.

Don’t these side effects sound like the very same symptoms associated with fibromyalgia and CFS?

And each drug (to cover up yet another side-effect from another drug) adds another life draining, potentially disabling side effect; hundreds of thousands of patients taking benzodiazepines (Ativan, Klonopin, Xanax, etc.) go on to develop drug induced Parkinson’s Disease.

The side effects to legally prescribed drugs (as recommended by doctors) kills one person every 5 minutes.

The FDA estimates that 27,000 people died from the common pain drug Vioxx (now off the market). Death from prescription drugs is now the number 3 cause of death in the U.S. Only heart attacks and cancer take more lives each year. Could The Drug Be The Problem? Taking Ativan for sleep or anxiety (over time) caused a CoQ10 deficiency which then causes chronic muscle pain, tingling in the hands and feet, fatigue, high blood pressure, and depression. So the patient was then prescribed a drug for the leg pain (muscle relaxant), an amphetamine for fatigue (Ritalin, Concerta, etc.), an antidepressant, and Neurotin or Lyrica for the tingling in the hands and feet. The Ritalin caused high blood pressure so a beta-blocker was prescribed. Inderal (propanol), Lorpressor (metoprlol), Tenormin (atenolol), and Toprol (metoprolol) have side effects that include congestive heart failure (CHF), reduced cardiac output, fatigue, heart block, dizziness, depression, bradycardia (decreased heart beat and function), cold extremities, parathesia (a feeling of -pins and needles-), dyspnea (shortness of breath), drowsiness, lethargy, insomnia, headaches, poor memory, nausea, diarrhea, constipation, colitis, wheezing, bronchospasm, Raynaud’s Syndrome (burning, tingling, pain, numbness, or poor circulation in the hands and feet), claudication, hyperkalemia (muscle cramps), muscle fatigue, lowered libido, impotence, postural hypotension, raised triglycerides, lowered HDL, raised LDL, and hyperglycemia.

Fortunately for those with fibromyalgia who want to get off the drug merry-go-round, there are several safe, effective, tried and true natural therapies that do reverse the symptoms of fibromyalgia. For more information on how you can beat fibromyalgia naturally please see this free informative essay- http://www.TreatingandBeating.com/currentdefs.html

About Dr. Murphree

Dr. Murphree is a board certified nutritional specialist and chiropractic physician who has been in private practice since 1990. He is the founder and past clinic director for a large integrated medical practice located on the campus of Brookwood Hospital in Birmingham Alabama. The clinic was staffed with medical doctors, chiropractors, acupuncturists, nutritionists, and massage therapists. The clinic combined prescription and natural medicines for acute and chronic illnesses. He is the author of 5 books for patients and doctors, including “Treating and Beating Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome,” “”Heart Disease What Your Doctor Won’t Tell You’- and “Treating and Beating Anxiety and Depression with Orthomolecular Medicine.”

In 2002 Dr. Murphree sold his medical practice and now maintains a busy solo practice specializing in fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, heart disease, mood disorders, and other chronic illnesses. He can be reached toll free 1-888-884-9577 or at 205-879-2383 His website is at www.treatingandbeating.com

Discover More On Natural Medicine And Esotericism!

By blogger on

No doubt that technical advance including the total progress makes our life comfortable, while boosting our living standard. Presently we can easily enjoy numerous very helpful machines that simplify our work and let us to realize a large number of things, which might be very important for activities of the modern day daily life. Also today many of us feel secure about their health, since the modern day medicine could present a proper treatment for big part of illnesses.

However apart from the volume of undisputable positive aspects of the present-day progress there’s the variety of disadvantages. We shouldnt neglect the idea that there are plenty of people around the globe, who’re encountered with the continual stress specified by the conditions of modern life. Poor ecology, sedentary lifestyle, fast food, heavy responsibilities and quick decision-making could result in as physical as psychological disorders. There isn’t any secret that now we live in a business world, where everybody strives to achieve the top of carrier or to earn more income, disregarding such serious things as love and family, spirit and nature. Suffering from a continuing stress, we ignore our spiritual perfection and personal growth. We have little time to relax or to meditate, simply because these activities wouldnt make us famous and rich.

Still everybody without exception really should have some time to relax as well as to meditate, due to the fact its essential for his or her health and well-being. The ultimate way to eliminate any ailment is to care for our immunity or perhaps to lead a good life, avoiding such a risky state as overfatigue.

However today there are numerous cases, when we, suffering from considerable disorders, view no enhancements, while taking the medical treatments offered by their doctors in accordance with the traditional medicinal practises. Looking to find a good solution they apply for techniques for esoterismo.

But why is alternative medicine thought to be effective, in which the conventional one falls? To get the answer on this issue we should be aware that the alternative therapies are based initially on two things: natural medicine and esotericism. The first one is definetly powerful to regenerate the natural process throughout our body or perhaps to provide immunity while using the necessary strength to defeat the sickness and also to assure the fastest recovery. The second one is essential for the spiritual state, as namely esotericism will let you stay in harmony with the nature in addition to the whole universe and to grasp the key to your existence as well as your own mission within this life.

For all those, which are really concerned on how to reach a spiritual perfection, we offer to check out an esoteric digital magazine, where you will have a possible opportunity to learn plus the talked about concerns such remarkable subjects as Spiritual Journeys, Interpretation of Dreams and many others.

An Introduction to Traditional Chinese Medicine

By blogger on

When you hear about Traditional Chinese Medicine, what is the first thing that pops into your mind? Odd stuff in jars in dark smoky rooms where equally odd old men mutter strange incantations in Chinese as they burn incense in a pot? Actually, there may actually literally be such places and maybe they do practice some form of Traditional Chinese Medicine too but in these modern times, Traditional Chinese Medicine can also mean medicine that is practiced by even Western followers of the traditional ways of treating patients as the Chinese have learned all these centuries. And for such Western practitioners, Traditional Chinese Medicine may not mean burning incense as well but rather keeping rather immaculate and clinical treatment rooms where any modern patient would feel comfortable being treated for whatever is ailing him.

One part of Traditional Chinese Medicine that many Westerners may have heard of is acupuncture which is closely related to acupressure. Both acupuncture and acupressure are based on the premise that throughout our body certain points exist at which energy might be strongest. When the Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner finds some energy points to be blocked, he might prescribe a round of acupuncture (meaning, sharp sterile needles are inserted at such pressure points to release your vital energy that has been blocked there), or simply press down on the pressure points in a prescribed way so that the blocked energy finds itself flowing again through your body and the ailment is relieved. Though some Westerners may find this Traditional Chinese Medicine belief to be a bit strange, many other Western medical practitioners now advocate these two Traditional Chinese Medicine practices and may even use them in their own clinical practice.

Depending on who you talk to, Traditional Chinese Medicine may be considered either a form of alternative medicine or a form of complementary medicine. Traditional Chinese Medicine may be a type of alternative medicine in that you can opt for Traditional Chinese Medicine practices rather than the conventional Western style of medical treatment thus you chose an alternative. Traditional Chinese Medicine practices become complementary medicine when you allow both a Western style of medical treatment and the Traditional Chinese Medicine practices to be used side by side at the same time when you are undergoing treatment for your ailment. It may be easier to determine the efficacy of Traditional Chinese Medicine when you opt to have it by itself, rather than mixing it with other forms of treatment. This is because the symptoms of your ailment might get relieved under a complementary medicine type of treatment program so you might get confused as to which treatment option really worked for you.

Not surprisingly, many people of Oriental lineage are strong believers in Traditional Chinese Medicine and may eschew modern ways of treatment so that they can favor Traditional Chinese Medicine treatment options alone for themselves and their loved ones. Is this good? It depends on the ailment there are some ailments that modern ways of treatment seem to have been very effective at treating (such as cancer) for which there is little evidence that Traditional Chinese Medicine can cure. If you want to be sure of getting well, you may want to pursue Traditional Chinese Medicine only after modern scientific ways of diagnosing an illness have failed to show what you are really ill with. There is some evidence of a so-called placebo effect when complementary medicine methods are used where modern treatment practices have failed to give the desired cure.