Alternative Medicine 8:
Taking Responsibility for Our Own Health

In this column we are exploring some of the exciting and interesting options that now exist in health care. Each issue we will focus on different aspects of alternative medicine, examining some of its basic tenets, some important issues involved as well as a closer look at specific therapies and treatments.

An important tenet of alternative medicine is the need for everyone to take full responsibility for one's own health. What exactly does this mean and how does this differ from the western medical model?

The accepted paradigm in western medicine is that if we have a problem or certain symptoms then we go to the doctor and do what he/she says, including taking whatever medications that are prescribed for the condition that has been diagnosed. In this model we don't ask questions, as this is not our place for the doctor knows best. And if the problem is out of his or her realm then we are referred to a specialist who will surely be able to give a name to our condition and tell us what to do for it, usually by taking drugs or maybe surgery and often requiring more tests to properly diagnose it.

Today this scenario is even more complex as it often will much involve our insurance company as well. For our insurance company will want to "manage our care" at every step to make sure what testing and treatment that we receive is "medically necessary" and authorized by them (for they obviously must have our best interest in mind knowing better than our own doctor what is best). So our doctor, or his/her staff of many which he/she must employ just to deal with insurance companies, then waits for approval or to be told what he or she may do by the patientâs insurance company, including in some cases which drug is approved for this condition. For anymore, the doctor can not do anything without approval by the all-knowing insurance company who will tell the doctor if the test, treatment or procedure is "medically necessary".

Then, after all is said and done, sometimes several days or even weeks later we may be given some hybrid, prescription form of aspirin or a less expensive generic drug authorized by the insurance company. If it's an infection we have, we will likely be given a prescription for antibiotics (usually without any culture taken to determine specifically what type of infection we may have and therefore which antibiotic may work best, or even to find out it is a virus and not a bacteria, as antibiotics don't work for viruses). And if we ask what if it's a virus versus a bacteria, we may be told to take the antibiotic anyway as it will help to prevent any secondary bacterial infection from the virus (preventative medicine). Of course we are not told that every time we take an antibiotic, we may be "short changing" our immune system by not giving it a chance to fight the infection on its own (thus essentially weakening it or letting it atrophy from lack of use). Or for that matter we are rarely told about any of the side effects of any of the medications we are given or of the real and/or potential risks with the surgical procedure that is being recommended.