Medicine in the Fight against HIV/AIDS and Cancer :: Medical Treatment Chinese Papers

Medicine in the Fight against HIV/AIDS and Cancer Conventional (allopathic) medicine has been the mainstream Western approach to medicine ever since the early twentieth century. Previous to the widespread popularization of the allopathic tradition, other more holistic traditions of medicine were accepted and practiced without bias. The founding of the American Medical Association (AMA) brought with it a swift turnabout for other traditions and placed the monopoly of the industry solely in the hands of allopathic physicians. However many of the procedures and techniques for dealing with illness in conventional medicine are invasive and involve the introduction of severe and even toxic agents and many people are now expressing a desire to return to more natural means of fighting disease. The use of alternative medicine is becoming increasingly popular in the Western world, although patients are hesitant to inform their allopathic physicians of this use. The prevalence of HIV/AIDS and Cancer cases is growing in leaps daily and these diseases even represent the leading causes of mortality in some countries. Conventional medicine is undoubtedly not always able to successfully treat many of these cases but it has been suggested that a combination of allopathic and alternative therapy would increase success rates by providing the optimal treatment of illness, as in the treatment of HIV/AIDS and Cancer. Western culture should endeavor to explore alternative practices instead of brushing aside what it does not understand. There are many different forms of alternative medicine, some of which are centuries old. The term 'alternative medicine' covers the broad category of unconventional forms of medicine, many of which are not accepted by the allopathic tradition due to their inability to be evaluated under the scientific method and their consequent lack of empiricality, both of which have strong bases in the Western tradition. The systems that fall under alternative medicine are Chinese Medicine, Ayurveda, Naturopathic Medicine, Homeopathy, Osteopathic Medicine, Chiropractic, Massage Therapy and Bodywork, and Mind/Body Medicine. Five of these treatments will be discussed in their general approaches to illness as a demonstration of alternative models of medicine. Chinese Medicine is an ancient form of alternative medicine, dating back over 3000 years. The key principle of this tradition is the belief in an unseen entity called chi, which symbolizes the vital life force energy inherent in all things. Chi flows through the human body in pathways known as meridians, which enable the passage of this energizing force through all the organs of the body.