Complementary and Alternative Medicine

1. Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM)

2. Complementary and alternative medicines (CAM) Alternative medicine was defined late in the 20th century as a type of medicine or treatment other than conventional medicine or health care. Complementary and alternative medicine was introduced to the western world through immigrants from other countries.

3. What is Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM)? CAM is a group of diverse medical and health care systems, practices, and products that are not generally considered part ofconventional medicine. Conventional medicine (also called Western or allopathic medicine) is medicine as practiced by holders of M.D. (medical doctor) and D.O. (doctor of osteopathic medicine) degrees and by allied health professionals, such as physical therapists, psychologists, and registered nurses.

4. Difference between Complementary and Alternative Medicine:

5. Alternative medicine means: Treatments that you use instead of standard ones. • Complementary medicine means: Nonstandard treatments that you use along with standard ones .

6. National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine classifies CAM therapies into five categories, or domains:

7. 1) Alternative Medical Systems: Alternative medical systems are built upon complete systems of theory and practice. Examples of alternative medical systems that have developed in Western cultures include homeopathic medicine and naturopathic medicine. Examples of systems that have developed in non-Western cultures include traditional Chinese medicine and Ayurveda. 2) Mind-Body Interventions: Mind-body medicine uses a variety of techniques designed to enhance the mind’s capacity to affect body function and symptoms. including meditation, prayer, mental healing and therapies that use creative outlets such as art, music, or dance.

8. 3)Biologically Based Therapies: By useingsubstances found in nature, such as herbs, food and vitamins. Some examples include dietary supplements, herbal products and the use of other so called natural but as yet scientifically unproven therapies (for example, using shark cartilage to treat cancer). 4)Manipulative and Body-Based Methods: Manipulative and body-based methods in CAM are based on manipulation and/or movement of one or more parts of the body. Some examples include chiropractic or osteopathic manipulation and massage.

9. 5)Energy Therapies:Energy therapies involve the use of energy fields. They are of two types: A)Biofieldtherapies:are intended to affect energy fields that purportedly surround and penetrate the human body. The existence of such fields has not yet been scientifically proven. Some forms of energy therapy manipulate biofields by applying pressure and/or manipulating thebody by placing the hands in, or through these fields. Examples include Reiki and Therapeutic Touch. B)Bioelectromagnetic-based:therapies involve the unconventional use of electromagnetic fields, such as pulsed fields, magnetic fields or alternating-current or direct-current fields.

10. Aromatherapy Definition:  is a form of alternative medicine that uses volatile plant materials, known as essential oils, and other aromatic compounds for the purpose of altering a person's mind, mood, cognitive function or health. The most important group is essential oil.

11. What are essential oils? Essential oils are concentrated extracts taken from the roots, leaves, seeds, or blossoms of plants. Each contains its own mix of active ingredients, and this mix determines what the oil is used for. Some oils are used to promote physical healing , for example, to treat swelling or fungal infections. Others are used for their emotional value . They may enhance relaxation. Orange blossom oil, for example, contains a large amount of an active ingredient that is thought to be calming. Essential oils are highly volatile and evaporate quickly if left in the open air. When left in the open air, the oils create an aromatic scent, as reflected in the name aromatherapy.

12. Methods of isolation of essential oils:

13. Essential oils may be found in different parts of the aromatic plants, for example: 1-In petals (rose oil). 2- leaves (eucalyptus oils). 3- grass roots (vetiver oil). 4- fruit rind (lemon oil). The essential oil may also be found in different parts of the plant for example: 1- The orange tree from which neroli oil is obtained from the flowers. 2- petit grain oil from the leaves. 3- orange oil from the fruit rind.

14. rose oil vetiver oil eucalyptus petit grain oil oil lemon oil orange oil

15. An essential oil may contains more than 100 chemical constituents, but they are present in a very low percentage of the essential oil, these constituents make it effective. • Some essential oils contain one or two major constituents, and the therapeutic and toxicological properties of the oil can largely be attributed to those constituent(s).

16. Methods of using essential oils:

17. Should anyone avoid aromatherapy? • Pregnant women, people with severe asthma and people with a history of allergies should only use essential oils under the guidance of a trained professional and with full knowledge of your physician. • Pregnant women and people with a history of seizures should avoid hyssop oil. • People with high blood pressure should avoid stimulating essential oils, such as rosemary and spike lavender. • People with estrogen dependent tumors (such as breast or ovarian cancer) should not use oils with estrogen like compounds such as fennel, aniseed and sage. • People receiving chemotherapy should talk to their doctor before trying aromatherapy.

18. Concept of Aromatherapy • Essential oils can be used not only for the treatment and prevention of disease, but also for their effects on mood and emotion. • Aromatherapy is claimed to be an holistic therapy. • Aromatherapists believe that the constituents of essential oils work synergistically. • Essential oils are described not only with reference to reputed pharmacological properties (e.g. antibacterial), but also by terms that are not recognized in conventional medicine (e.g. balancing, energizing). • Essential oils are believed to act both by exerting pharmacological effects following absorption into the circulation and the effects of their odor on the olfactory system.

19. Examples of use of essential oils in aromatherapy: • Antibacterial: Laboratory tests confirmed the antimicrobial effects in certain oils including rosemary oil, cinnamon, clove, lime, and tea tree oil. • Antivirals: Who supported tea tree oil, lemongrass, sandalwood, mint, ginger, thyme. • Amadadt fungi: Approved by laboratory experiments for Alafindr oil, thyme, cloves, juniper, and tea tree oil. • NSAIDs (Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug ): Cloves, cinnamon, sage, black bean, bay leaf. • Anxiolytics: There have been in animal models using lavender oils, rose. • Cramping removers: Catnip, Alafindrand New Zealand tea tree oil.

20. Samuel Hahnemann and Homeopathic History:

21. Samuel Hahnemann was a qualified physician as well as an expert linguist and chemist. • He decided that the cause of disease may also be its remedy and more importantly above all do no harm. • Hahnemann believed that symptoms are no more than an outward reflection of the body's inner fight to overcome illness: not a manifestation of the illness itself. • He stated that the medicine given to cure should reinforce these symptoms rather than counteract them.

22. The Principles behind Homeopathic Medicine: • Homeopathy is based on three principle: 1) The Law of Similars: A substance which used in large doses, causes a symptom(s) in a healthy person can be used to treat that symptom(s) in a person who is ill. e.g. Coffee, a remedy prepared from the coffee bean(a constituent, caffeine, is a central nervous system stimulant) would be used to treat insomnia. This is the so-called ‘like cures like’ concept.

23. 2)The Law of Proving: This principle refers to the method of testing a substance to determine its medicinal effect. To prove a remedy, a group of healthy people are given a dose of the substance daily, and each person carefully records the symptoms experienced when the proving is completed, all the symptoms that the people consistently experience are recorded and listed in the MateriaMedica, a prescriber’s reference.

24. The Law of Potentization :( 3 An initial extraction to be used in homoeopathy is prepared from freshly gathered material. Usually, the process involves washing the plant to removed dust, macerating in a mincer. Soaking in pure alcohol for several days before finally filtering and collecting the resulting solution.The solution is termed the mother tincture. Where the initial material is insoluble in alcohol.

25. In addition to the basic principles of homoeopathy, modern homoeopaths also believe: That illness results from the body’s inability to cope with challenging factors such as poor diet and adverse environmental conditions. That the signs and symptoms of disease represent the body’s attempt to restore order. That homoeopathic remedies work by stimulating the body’s own healing activity (The ‘vital force’) rather than by acting directly on the disease process. That the ‘vital force’ is expressed differently in each individual, so treatment must be chosen on an individual (holistic) basis.

26. Homoeopathic remedies: Homoeopathic remedies and herbal medicines are often confused and/or deemed to be similar. The fundamental differences between the two types of preparation are: • Homoeopathic remedies are (mostly) highly dilute whereas herbal medicines are used at material strengths. • Many homoeopathic remedies (around 65%) originate from plants, whereas by definition all herbal medicines originate from plants. • Many of the plants from which homoeopathic remedies are derived have a history of medicinal use. • Other types of material used in the preparation of homoeopathic remedies include animal, insect, biological, drug/chemical and mineral. • The starting point for the production of most homoeopathic remedies is a mother tincture, usually an alcohol/water extract of crude plant material.

27. A Comparison of Homeopathy and standard medicine (allopathy):