Paste your essay in here..Source: "Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)." Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc., 2016. britannica.com. Accessed 6 Dec. 2016.
Stored in the Bibliotheque Nationale of Paris, this ancient Chinese reference source serves as evidence that depicts why and how Qi was believed to be a major system of the body and how acupuncture could intervene when the body became compromised by illness, etc.
Thirdly, much research has been done on the historical belief of the importance of humors according to medieval medical leaders. These humors were said to be the basis of studying pathologies of many illnesses, leading people of these times to believe that their illnesses could be cured or treated through the simple change of habits. “All diseases and disorders are caused by too much or not enough of one of these humors. An imbalance of humors could be caused by inhaling or absorbing vapors. Medical establishments believed that levels of these humors would fluctuate in the body, depending on what we ate, drank, inhaled, and what we had been doing”(Medical News Today). With no knowledge of scientific theory at this point in history, it would have been impossible to prove this theory of humors to be true. However, it was still widely believed because of observations made by those who followed the humoral theory. This alternative way of healing is not as abstract as many may think it to be. Modern science has proven that the body needs balance in terms of food, physical activity, and mental activity. However, to more factually prove this point, “Researchers found that people in different parts of the world tended to use the same or similar plants for the same purposes”, usually with an aim to balance the bodily humors of those with medical ailment (University of Maryland). Without reliable transportation of communication technologies, how would the ancient world be able to agree on the specifics of nature’s healing powers if it were not true? The University of Maryland’s research on the topic highly suggests that because of this common knowledge across the ancient world, many alternative medicines were believed to be accurate in their abilities to heal or treat medical conditions.
As the Enlightenment peaked and more philosophers and scientists became inspired, science became able to accurately test and prove the effectiveness of certain alternative medicines. “For example, numerous clinical and animal studies document the efficacy of hawthorn as a cardiotonic. Cardiotonics help to improve blood supply to the heart, increase the tone of the heart muscle, stimulate cardiac output, dilate coronary arteries, stabilize blood pressure, prevent atherosclerosis (the accumulation of arterial plaque), and prevent or help improve congestive heart failure” (University of Minnesota). This source, reviewed by topic expert, Dennis McKenna, PhD, reveals information about Hawthorn, which has been a popular medicinal for millennia, however, scientific and technological advances did not occur until the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries allowing it to be proven. Likewise, other alternative medicines such as ritualistic or religious movements and practices came to be scientifically proven starting in the Enlightenment Era. Similarly, “Artemisia, an herb used by Chinese healers for more than a thousand years, was found to contain [an] anti-malaria drug, which was later called artemisinin” (Offit). Offit, though writing for a “popular” news source (The Washington Post) proves his credentials from his work studying as the Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases who is peer reviewed at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. It is a wonder why Artemisia was used for over a millennium without any scientific proof of its healing powers to be certain. Following these ancient times, medieval medical professionals attempted to find cures for what they believed to be cancer. These ideas were later proven to have some scientific merit by modern-day doctors and scientists. When speaking about medieval cancer, research reveals,“ ‘treatment of the disease…almost invariably consist[ed] of arsenic, zinc, or the alkaline caustics.’ The historical testimony ought to be presumption…that chemical agents had some beneficial results, even though in his age there had been… ‘unqualified condemnation’ of them” (Riddle). While there was no way to prove the accuracy or legitimacy of these chemical yet natural “cures” for cancer in medieval times, they seemed to be effective. In the late twentieth century, scholarly research had revealed that this rather alternative idea was not as radical as some would believe it to be. The medieval doctors actually gave modern-day scientists a start in figuring chemotherapy. Thus, because of what many would consider “outdated” alternative medicines being tested in the late twentieth century through the scientific theory, it has been proven that these historical treatments are with scientific merit.
Now that it is known that alternative medicines are in fact, reliable, it is unassuming to go on to prove this further by their usage as cancer treatments in more recent years past. While alternative medicines range from herbal treatments, to spiritual rituals and beyond, both doctors and patients in the mid to late twentieth century have focused on a rather emotional or psychological approach. In the 1970’s, Susan Sontag describes her personal experiences with treatment as a cancer patient. “Dr. Menninger recommends that physicians generally abandon “names” and “labels”-which would mean, in effect, increasing secretiveness and medical paternalism” (Sontag, 6). There is no doubt that social stigmas and stereotypes have until recently surrounded many illnesses, one being cancer. However, Dr. Menninger decides to combat that with hopes of making the patient feel better about themselves, leading them to hopefully have a better chance at recovery. This alternative or pseudo-psychiatric form of treatment has been validated to be successful in years later. Sontag even goes on to describe similar experiences as she traveled throughout the 1970s Europe. She reveals, “In France and Italy it is still the rule for doctors to communicate a patient’s cancer diagnosis to the family but not to the patient; doctors considered that the truth will be intolerable to all but exceptionally mature and intelligent patients” (Sontag, 7). This spiritual or emotional alternative treatment method is evidence that recent history contains scientifically proven non-traditional treatments. Research collected by PBS from sources such as the American Journal of Medical Sciences and the Water-Cure Journal agree with Sontag in this regard. Many contemporary and biomedical doctors in the 1960s and 1970s focused highly on physical needs and neglected their patients’ emotional needs. Much uproar for this was centered in the needs of cancer patients of the time. This caused a backlash from many citizens and Natural Doctors (NDs) toward the issue. Eventually, many NDs were able to prove their practices efficient. This led to “naturopaths ‘view an individual as a whole entity composed of a complex interaction of physical, mental-emotional, spiritual, social, and other factors.’” (Whorton).
Similarly, as a doctor, Mukherjee illustrated his own experiences with alternative medicine in the late twentieth century. He describes, “Death possessed the imagination of my patients that month, and my task was to repossess imagination from death” (Mukherjee, 306). He shows that scientific reasoning has proven that certain mindsets in which death seems to be inevitable decreases a cancer patient’s likeliness of recovery.
Furthermore, the ancient Chinese practice of acupuncture also began to become popularized again in the 1970s. Science during this historical period has proven this ancient act to be a valid treatment for cancer patients. “Studies show acupuncture may be helpful in relieving nausea caused by chemotherapy. Acupuncture may also help relieve certain types of pain in people with cancer”(mayoclinic.org). This shows how ancient medical traditions are scientifically proved by being used and effective in a highly scientifically literate era. Also, in these ancient times, another oral “drug” was used in medical practice. “Krebiozen becomes the most commonly used alternative medicine. Originally prepared by a Yugoslavian physician from the blood of horses injected with bacteria, American physician Andrew Ivy, MD, creates his own liquid formulation, known as Carcalon, that also contains mineral oil or a form of creatine” (curetoday.com). This shows that even though this scientific medical advancement may have been accidentally discovered, it is still able to be used in modern day medicine because of its proven legitimacy.