Doctors and patients need to make a clear distinction between alternative medicine, complementary medicine and conventional medicine.

In alternative medicine the therapies are used alone in treating a patient even though they are not based on scientific principles and assessments.

In complementary medicine alternative remedies may be used but they are employed as well as all the appropriate conventional therapeutic measures, including standard investigations, drugs and surgery.

Conventional medicine seeks to define a specific cause for a disease and its treatments are proved to be effective by the evidence derived from numerous trials, surveys and laboratory research.

It is an unreasonable doctor who dismisses complementary medicine, but, equally in my opinion, a foolhardy one who would encourage his or her patients to seek advice only from an alternative practitioner.

Integrated medicine is what we all hope to practise and works on the principle of treating the causes of the disease as well as the effects it may have on the patient’s home environment and mood.

There is no doubt that the armoury of therapies tried, tested and available to doctors won’t cure or even alleviate all ills.

Equally there is no doubt that some patients do feel better, even if there is only rarely scientific confirmation of an improvement in their health, when some types of alternative medicine have been employed. The cynical doctor may suggest that these alternative treatments act best when there is a psychological aspect to the patient’s troubles and that the greater the role of the psyche in its causation the more likely it is that an alternative remedy will help.

If patients are not suffering from a disease for which conventional medicine has a remedy, and they feel better with an alternative therapy, doctors and patients should rejoice.

There are some caveats to the use of alternative medicine or even complementary medicine. Nothing in medicine should now be prescribed that could delay an early diagnosis by the masking of symptoms, even if the symptoms are only masked because the placebo effect of the alternative medicine has lessened their impact.

There must be few conventional doctors who haven’t been consulted by patients whose long-term health or even life has been compromised by an unwise faith in alternative medicine used alone.

Complementary medicine includes the use of traditional means of investigation as well as of treatment. Delay in reporting early symptoms and having appropriate investigations is one of the reasons – if not the most important one – for the poor outcome in British medicine compared with other Western countries.

It should also be remembered that herbal medicine, although not as reliable as traditional pharmaceutical products, has been used for centuries and is potentially powerful.

Herbal preparations may interfere with the action of modern drugs. Nutritional supplements are, or should be, included in traditional medicine. Without folic acid, vitamin D and calcium, just to quote three common supplements, medicine would be poorer.

Remedy guide

Aromatherapy
Practitioners massage oils from trees, herbs and shrubs into the body, or encourage their clients to inhale them through vaporisers. The technique is used to relieve stress, headaches, insomnia, tension and pain

Reiki
A form of laying-on of hands, originally developed in Japan. Practitioners say that energy flows through their palms and can bring about healing

Alexander technique
Movement therapy designed to rectify patterns of misuse of the body by teaching the right ways to stand, sit and move

Homoeopathy
Uses highly diluted solutions of chemicals that in concentrated form would produce symptoms similar to that of the disease being treated

Yoga therapy
An adaptation of the ancient system of yoga. Practitioners say that it is an effective method for managing stress-related conditions

Explore Health

• Expert Advice

• Health Features

• Mental Health

• Alternative Medicine

• Child Health