Do natural health remedies have a place in our society, or are prescription drugs the only way to go?

Natural health remedies have been around for as long as man has, and it is only the last 100 years that prescription drugs have been prescribed to us. The Chinese are renowned for using natural health remedies, and have done so for centuries, along with other alternative treatments like acupuncture, and it seems that the western world is only just starting to catch up with their 'secrets'.

Natural health remedies are becoming increasingly popular and we need to look at the reasons why they are increasing in popularity, but first we will look at some of the concerns that society has with prescription drugs.

Safety and reliability of drugs, are we really aware of the long term effects that some drugs have on our body?

There are often many unwelcome side effects when taking drugs.

Are we always prescribed the most appropriate drug for our problem, or are we prescribed the drug that the doctor reaps the greatest financial gain from?

Doctors have a vested interest to have us return time and time again to their surgeries. They prescribe drugs that relieve the symptoms, but rarely prescribe anything that fixes the problem. Some common examples of this are blood pressure medication, cholesterol, diabetes, prostrate medication and the list could go on and on.

Sometimes drugs offer short term gains that often lead to long term pain. You treat the symptom but promote the disease.

You cannot patent a natural product, therefore the pharmaceutical companies are not interested in spending large amounts of money developing a product that can be replicated easily, especially if they do not have the protection of a patent. They therefore develop synthetic drugs that they can patent and make a return on their investment. You cannot entirely blame the pharmaceutical companies for doing this, but it does not help the patient get the best treatment that is available.

So why the popularity of natural health remedies?

Herbs work synergistically with the body and without disturbing the natural balance of the body.

Generally vitamins, minerals, and herbs are less toxic than their synthetic counterparts and offer less risk of side effects.

Cost - most of the natural remedies work out more cost effective than continually taking prescription drugs. The natural remedies attack the root cause of the problem, and can be discontinued when the problem has been rectified.

Natural remedies have been used for centuries. Initially there would have been trial and error process going on, but they have had centuries to establish what works and what doesn't. What we consider mainstream medicine has only had a single century to conduct their trial and error testing. Have they got it right?

The human body has considerable power to heal itself, and part of our learning process about natural health remedies should include learning about the power of our mind. There is increasing evidence to support the view that the healing process is best enhanced with the aid of natural substances, substances that the body accepts much more readily, rather than taking man made drugs.

Natural health remedies will never completely replace conventional medicine, as conventional medicine will retain its place in the field of surgery and other traumatic conditions, but we need to consider healthy natural alternatives to a lot of the everyday drugs that we are now prescribed.