When you are in pain, they are always ready to save you - traditional medicine and complementary medicine walking hand in hand

Medicine has become an imprescriptible part of our lives. When we feel unwell we hastily call our parctitioner, go to the chemistry to get the medicines we need and if something is radically wrong with us receive a sick leave to be able to stay at home and get better. Have you ever imagined that things were not always like that? Here are some stunning facts about the development and main types of contemporary medicine.

The word medicine is derived from the Latin “ars medicina”, meaning “the art of healing”. Medicine today is a completely scienctific activity, but you should also know that it is a kind of art - the art of curing humans. The major functions of contemporary medicine is maintaining and restoring health by means of prevention and treatment of various illnesses. Mainstream medicine sprang up as numerous healing arts and systems based on traditional story-told non-scientific practices.

By the way, alternative medicine today has a definite power, too. Why, you might ask? You see, sometimes mainstream medicine is powerless to cure a long list of awful diseases and injuries such as cancers, diabetes, AIDS, autoimmune diseases, spinal injuries etc. The point is official medicine is perfect at finding out symptoms typical for certain health disorders and injuries and at prescribing meds and medical procedures able to relieve the patient’s pain and suffering. But often it is unable of finding the reason why the health disorder starts. On the contrary, complementary medicine still remembers that we possess intellect, body and soul. Anger and hate that you hide inside you alongside with negative emotions you face daily hurt your soul, stuff up your head and crush your body.

Unlike chaotic approaches of healers, modern medicine is equipped with health science, biomedical research and medical technology - it can diagnose and treat injuries and diseases of all kinds. traditionally it applies medication, surgery and some other forms of therapy. The majority of physicians try to remember how important it is for the ill individual to feel care and compassion, to have a face-to-face contact with the physician, that is why they follow the strict set of rules known as bedside manner.

Many millennia ago our forefathers noticed that certain plants, animal parts and minerals help curing injuries and wounds and overcome various health troubles. It was not the knowledge for everyone - priests, shamans, healers and medicine men believed them to be purely magical substances.
From ancient records we learn that medicine is a very old activity. Texts about ancient Egyptian medicine, Babylonian medicine, Ayurvedic medicine, classical Chinese madicine, ancient Greek and Roman medicine demonstrate that even millennia ago some persons tried to help others in getting well! Imhotep is the first name of the medical man preserved in the history of medicine. He was an Egyptian and lived about 3rd millennium BC! The stunning fact is that ancient texts and encryptions tell us that many centuries ago there were dedicated medicinal treatment facilities for patients (like hospitals today) and numerous surgical operations including plastic surgery!

You surely know that ancient Greek physician Hippocrates is believed to be “the father of medicine” for building rational approach to medicine. Hippocrates wrote the famous Hippocratic Oath for doctors. Believe it or not, it is still in use today, as relevant and wise as ever before! What is more, Hippocrates managed to classify health issues as acute, chronic, endemic and epidemic. In addition to it, up-to-date practitioners use numerous special words proposed by Hippocrates - relapse, resolution, paroxysm, peak, exacerbation, crisis, convalescence are only a few of them!

Surprisingly, the Western world did not support bright ideas of ancient physicians after the fall of the Roman Empire and the beginning of the Dark Ages. Eastern world, on the contrary, kept and developed the Greek and Roman ways in medicine. A notable Islamic medical man who made a great contribution to medicine, was Avicenna. He wrote the famous Cannon of Medicine.

Medical science interested Europe during the 14th and 15th centuries when awful Black Death ravaged Europe killing up to 30-60% of its population. This awful pandemic made doctors reject the ‘traditional authority’ approach to science and medicine and seek new decisions. Practitioners like Ibn al-Nafis and Vesalius did a great job developing or criticizing a number of theories from the past.

But the new era of medicine began in the 18th century when Edward Jenner discovered the smallpox vaccine. Since then biomedical investigation has become one of the major proofs in medicine, while ancient traditions became a history. Around 1880 Robert Koch deciphered the transmission of illnesses by bacteria and soon in 1908 Paul Ehrlich discovered the first antibiotics.

The 20th century was a real stream of medical events and research. It is hard to enumerate all the prominent medical people whose investigations and experiments led to new treatments and the use of revolutionary meds!

Modern pharmacology inherited the old knowledge of herbalism and incorporated a number of ideas of the chemistry, but all the same, a long list of medications are still derived from plants. For example atropine used in ophthalmology and gastroenterology, ephedrine effective for humans with asthma, warfarin used to prevent heart attacks, strokes, and blood clots, aspirin we take for a number of reasons, digoxin irreplaceable in cardiology and a number of other essential men and women are received from plants. But the technology applied today is brand new! A number of medicines reduced their side-effects due to innovative ways of production and what is more, new medications are designed for absolute compatibility with a human body!

Today you don’t even have to queue up in the waiting room to get your prescription. You can easily find a good online pharmacy no prescription and enjoy immaculate support team and swift service! All you have to do is to orders high-quality affordable drugs online available. You can chose to take brand meds or generic medicines. They share the same formula and are equally effective, but the price of any generic medication is much more lower.

Modern medicine can be named an evidence-based science, and unlike it was in ancient healing techniques its major purpose is sharing information and clinical experience. The fact ramains that the ‘best practice’ approaches tend to stifle new ideas of treatment, that is why there a number of systematic medical reviews available.

Modern medicine is first of all the activity where doctors face patients to examine, diagnose and treat them. So, as you guess the famous TV diagnostic genius Gregory House is not a mainstream practitioner at all! When you visit a doc the standard procedure is like that:
- it starts with studying the patient’s medical history; then goes a detailed medical interview and a careful physical examination. If necessary the examination is followed by medical tests - blood test, urine test, smear, biopsy etc. Please, remember, it is very essential for the doctor to know every truthful sign and symptom - otherwise normal diagnosing is impossible! Stop being shy or squeamish when you visit your doc - tell him or her everything that you find unusual and alarming - that might be helpful. The medical appointment is documented in the special medical record and your personal medical history, which is a legal document.

The process of treatment depends on the case. You stay at home if the case is simple and take the drugs prescribed by your doc. Serious cases may take weeks and several specialists to cope with and the patient is likely to be hospitalized.

Medicine today is a part of health care system of every powerful country. It is essential to ensure that every person has access to medical care irrespective of the individual’s ability to pay for the service. That is why it is so important to establish state-owned and charitable hospitals and clinics.

The medical personnel consist not only of physicians. Well-trained nurses, paramedics and emergency medical technicians help their persons go the whole way through his or her case and recover as soon as possible. We cannot live without the service of radiographers, dietitians, surgeons, dentists, anaesthetists etc as well. The quality of national health service (NHS) depends exceptionally on the knowledge and practical skills of all these persons. That is exactly why medical specialty in universities should meet the highest standards of education possible! What is more, in all Western European countries, USA and other countries of the world a medical doctor must be licensed or registered before he or she can start medical practice. If the medical man fails to use all his or her possibilities to help the patient, if he or she is careless or intentionally harmful, this doc can be charged of medical malpractice. You can find many cases when docs were subjects to professional, civil or criminal sanctions. Fortunately, cases like that are seldom and as a rule people choose to be doctors because it is their vocation! Who else but a willing creature agrees to deal with ill and nervous patients for all the professional life!

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