(4) My Point of View on Alternative and Holistic Medicine

My point of view on Alternative and Holistic Medicines:

I strongly feel that if a health/medical situation is not in immediate need of action or treatment that one should have resources and options available to them them allow them to move forward in an educated matter with an alternative therapy or more holistic approach to healing. It would be my hope that someday a general practitioner or specialist would be able to guide you in the proper direction (because natural remedies such as herbs and supplements taken the wrong way can also adversely affect your health or lead to overdose) but unfortunately, these doctors are extremely hard to find. I also strongly feel that the medical community is setting themselves up for failure with over-booking patients, allowing 10 to 15 minutes tops to see and treat patients, allowing PI's with little training to see and treat patients, etc. I believe that the run unnecessary tests and overprescribe medications 90% of the time. I would say I was fortunate enough to find one or two decent doctors after seeing many. One doctor was actually born in China, was an MD but studied acupuncture - without telling him I had kidney stones he was able to tell just by feeling the energy flow being more stagnant in certain areas of my body. He was the perfect example of someone who was knowledgeable in conventional medicine but offered alternative treatments. I believe this should be the new standard to strive for moving forward for the medical community.

(2) Definition of topic

Alternative Medicine as defined on MedicineNet.com/Webster's Dictionary: "Alternative medicine: Healing arts not taught in traditional Western medical schools that promote options to conventional medicine that is taught in these schools.. An example of an alternative therapy is using a special diet to treat cancer instead of undergoing surgery, radiation, or chemotherapy that has been recommended by a Western physician. Complementary medicine is different from alternative medicine. Whereas complementary medicine is used together with conventional medicine, alternative medicine is used in place of conventional medicine. See also complementary medicine, conventional medicine."

Holistic Medicine/Healing as defined on Answers.com: "Holistic medicine is a term used to describe therapies that attempt to treat the patient as a whole person. That is, instead of treating an illness, as in orthodox allopathy, holistic medicine looks at an individual's over-all physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional well-being before recommending treatment. A practitioner with a holistic approach treats the symptoms of illness as well as looking for the underlying cause of the illness. Holistic medicine also attempts to prevent illness by placing a greater emphasis on optimizing health. The body's systems are seen as interdependent parts of the person's whole being. Its natural state is one of health, and an illness or disease is an imbalance in the body's systems. Holistic therapies tend to emphasize proper nutrition and avoidance of substances—such as chemicals—that pollute the body. Their techniques are non-invasive.

Some of the world's health systems that are holistic in nature include naturopathic medicine, homeopathy, and traditional Chinese medicine. Many alternative or natural therapies have a holistic approach, although that is not always the case. The term complementary medicine is used to refer to the use of both allopathic and holistic treatments. It is more often used in Great Britain, but is gaining acceptance in the United States."

Additional Useful Links

Nutritional Health Supplements Health Guide:http://www.nutritional-supplements-health-guide.com/
HealthCastle.com, Simply Better Health (Nutrition Website)http://www.healthcastle.com/food_supplements.shtml
NOAH, New York Online Access to Healthhttp://www.noah-health.org/en/alternative/
Learning Meditation:http://www.learningmeditation.com/
http://www.drweil.com/
American Association for Health Freedom: http://www.altmedicine.com/FrameSet.asp

(3) The History & Founder of Homeopathic Medicine

If you are interested in the timeline/history of Homeopathic Medicine, this website outlines it starting from the 1700's. As quoted from www.wholehealthnow.com, here is an intro to who founded Homeopathic Medicine: "Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843) was the founder of Homoeopathy. He established the fundamental principles of the science and art of Homoeopathy. He is called the Father of Experimental Pharmacology because he was the first physician to prepare medicines in a specialized way; proving them on healthy human beings, to determine how the medicines acted to cure diseases. Before Hahnemann, medicines were given on speculative indications, mainly on the basis of authority without experimental verification."
http://www.wholehealthnow.com/homeopathy_pro/homeopathy_1755_1799.html

(5) & (6) Poster Project & Zine Ideas

For this week's assignment, we were asked to create a poster in Illustrator based on an imagined event that pertains to our research topic which we would organize or host. We were asked to incorporate different fonts, our logo, background colors, images on multiple layers, etc. I choose to make a poster that would advertise a Holistic Healing Day/Fair where people could gather information on topics such as accupuncture, where to find certified accupuncturists, information on certified nutritionists and dieticians, physicians who do incorporate a more holistic approach to treating patients, massage therapists, information on herbs and vitamins that can work in healing and preventing certain diseases, information on the benefits of yoga and meditation and lastly a whole information session solely dedication to educating physicians on alternative and complimentary therapies in hopes of mainstreaming the medical field to treat the patient as a whole and look more into the mind/body/medicine relationships.

We were told that the poster would also be a good first step for a possible cover to our zine. We were also told to start thinking about the purpose and intent of our zine and where we would like it distributed. I think I would want my zine to be a source or reference guide to people who are suffering and who have have exhausted every conventional way of healing themselves and are needing something hopeful and more of a positive experience that what they have encountered in the past. That being said, I think doctor's waiting rooms would be a good distribution location. I also would want to target people who are not sick but just looking to lead a healthy lifestyle so yoga centers, health food stores, WholeFoods supermarkets would also be a good place to have this zine.

Homework: Logos

For this homework assignment we had to create four different versions of a logo in relation to our topic. The logo I created contains a pill in the center to represent medicine, then the wings of a dragonfly to represent nature and I combined them into a logo to show how the two need to used in conjunction with each other to create the most natural way to a healthy life.

Homework

Homework

For this assignment we were told to incorporate images from different pictures, scaling down items and changing the colors of images all in line with our research topic. I chose to first start with an image of a tree with an empty bench found here, then I superimposed a picture of an ancient medicine man (image may be found here) with two modern conventional surgeons gazing at him from behind (images found here and here). Lastly, I also took a butterfly from another image found here and changed the size and orientation to give the effect of it flying into the distance, also representing an ancient way of practicing healing that is long gone.

Reflexology

I found an amazing site that explains exactly how reflexology works, what pressure points correspond to particular body parts/organs and gives detailed interactive charts as well as instructions on technique.

Background

The second part of our assignment was to take an image and give it a different background again, keeping in theme with our research topic. I chose to incorporate a woman meditating and place her in a background that is hectic, filled with traffic, noise and an overall sense of unease. This picture reflects how in real life you sometimes have to tune out outside influences and factors and find an inner calm.
The picture of the woman may be found here while the background picture may be found here.

Perspective

In this assignment we had to change the perspective of a particular image by altering it in photoshop while coninuing to keep it relavant to our research topic. I chose to use a mortar and pestol and I super-imposed botanicals coming out of it to represent the merging between conventional medicine and integrative/alternative remedies. This mortar and pestol image can be found here and the second image can be found at this site.

National Center for Complementary & Alternative Medicine

If you are like me and are interested in Alternative Medicine but also curious to see what areas of these therapies are actually tested and regulated for safety, visit http://nccam.nih.gov. This is the website for the National Center for Complementary & Alternative Medicine. For skeptics or people who are uncertain of using Complimentary and Alternative therapies (practices that are not utilized in conventional medical practices) this site is a good stepping stone because it is the Federal Government's lead agency on conducting scientific research on Complimentary and Alternative Medicine and lists clinical trials and research that is conducted in these areas.

WholeHealthMD.com

This site is extremely helpful for those looking to enhance their health through nutrition/healthy eating. It contains vast food remedies for numerous conditions, contains a recipe database, as well as a nutrition guide all backed up by MDs who specialize in more complimentary, integrative and alternative therapies.

Triune: Mind Body & Health Center

When I lived in Old City, PA I was fortunate enough to find and utilize an amazing little sanctuary called Triune Chiropractic Counseling and Wellness. At the time, I was having chronic back pain. When I first experienced this pain I went to my family doctor who ran some tests and found some levels in my blood work that were slightly elevated. Being that I was complaining of pain they suggested I get my gallbladder removed. Hesitant of his option I went to a specialist for a second opinion. This lead to a series of some very invasive, ultimately unnecessary and potentially harmful procedures. Again, not satisfied with the direction the specialist was leading me in I got a third opinion from a "Top Doc" at UPenn. After receiving a procedure were they scoped down my throat, into the gallbladder and pancreas he found nothing wrong with either and said that sometimes pain can be stress-induced and that 90% of visits to the doctor are stress-related or illnesses caused by stress. This is when it really clicked that I needed to stay away from all of the anxiety-filled procedures and start finding a more gentle way to heal the body. At Triune they did just that. They offer amazing services ranging from chiropractic, various forms of massage, acupuncture, hydro-therapy, yoga sessions, pilates and have a vast amount of resources and educational materials to expand your knowledge on how to best heal your body.

An All-Inclusive Guide to Holistic, Alternative & Healthy Living Site

When you are first starting to educate yourself on healthy lifestyles, alternative medicine, holistic and integrative medicine the site www.holisticonline.com is a must-visit. It covers (in detail) topics such as Stress Management, Nutrition, Yoga, Meditation, Reiki, Shiatsu, Aromatherapy, Ayurveda and breaks down the difference between ALternative, Complimentary, Holistic and Natural Medicine.

A Good, Credible Alternative Medicine Site

One site that I found extremely helpful in gaining a basic understanding of alternative medicine (and credible) was www.altmedicine.com. This site was voted "Best of Web" by Forbes, Newsweek and "Best of Health and Medicine on the Web" by USA Weekend, NetGuide and Top 5% Lycos

(1) When to Consider Alternative Medicines\Holistic Healing

Have you ever sat in a doctor's office scared, frustrated, anxious and filled with an overall sense that the doctor is essentially guessing at the diagnosis for you sickness or ailments and is all too eager to confidently write a script for a medicine where the side effects are more dangerous than the symptoms? Thankfully, I am in great health now but there were times in my life where I did struggle with chronic pain and migraines bouncing from specialist to specialist who always had a differing diagnosis from the previous doctor and who always left  me with, "Try this and come see me in three months", and quickly put his pad back in his pocket and rushed out the door to his next 10 minute appointment. What they don't realize is that months turn quickly into years and when you are in chronic pain randomly handing out one harsh prescription after the other  is just not an option. 

I soon realized that you have to become your own diagnostician and your own healthcare advocate and never take a doctor's word as 100% truth. Get second and third opinions if your aliment is not one that  is life-threatening and must be treated immediately. One luxury I do have is having a father who is a pharmacist and toxicologist. Thankfully, I would be able to question my father in the safeness of these prescriptions. This made me well aware of the harmful and possible life-threatening side effects of some of these drugs. So, having a drawer stuffed with unfilled scripts, I became curious if there was a more holistic approach to healing and preventing my symptoms. 

Often, I would bring questions to doctors about certain supplements, treatments or vitamins and it would be immediately followed with a demeaning laugh and a look almost as if to say, "Is this young woman questioning me, a DOCTOR???" To most MDs if you ask such questions you might as well be carrying around a voodoo doll. You will find that most of these "Top Doctors" are so specialized that they are unable to look at the whole picture and properly treat a patient. Everything is related and intertwined and the body cannot be compartmentalized just to make healthcare more "billable".  Like so many areas in life, out of hard times there are lessons learned and interest that are sparked. My personal experiences have lead me to continue my search for holistic and alternative medicines. 

Please note, this is not a site to downplay the importance of doctors or antibiotics as there are so many brilliant people in the medical field. Hopefully soon there will be a switch/merger with Eastern and Western medicine and in many places this partnering of beliefs and practices is already underway. I would just like to build a site that does give people the information and option to intelligently question what is in the best interest for themselves and their quest to get better. 

One website/Wellness Center that I did find inspiring was the website for Triune Wellness Center: http://www.tri-une.com/ and http://www.altmedicine.com/