Dr. Ting Hung-Leung, Hong Kong’s deputy director for Traditional Chinese Medicine, commented: “The problem in 1997 was we had over 7,000 practitioners of herbal and Traditional Chinese Medicine and anyone could call themselves TCM practitioners.” Now rigid licensing and educational standards have made the study more acceptable to Western standards.

As a result, Chinese herbal medicine and clinics offering acupuncture treatment are opening up in many American medical schools and the ancient treatments are being tested in laboratories for effectiveness. Researchers and patients alike are surprised at the results.

Did you know that emphysema can even be treated by Chinese herbal therapy? First, patients should consider what their diets include. Do’s include: protein (fish, eggs, lean meats), nuts, seeds, legumes, fiber-rich vegetables and soy. Don’ts include: complex carbohydrates, caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, simple sugars and things ending in “-ose.”

Never skip meals, but rather eat small meals throughout the day and have a small snack before bed. The most important Chinese herbal remedy is brewer’s yeast, which stabilizes blood sugar levels.

Chromium picolinate is also necessary for optimal insulin activity. Pacreatin and proteolytic enzymes aid in digestion. Zinc helps control appropriate insulin release. Glutamine will reduce sugar cravings. Many people with hypoglycemia are found to be lacking certain essentials: manganese and vitamin C with bioflavonoids.

Doctors also recommend herbal teas with burdock, dandelion or licorice to stabilize blood sugar levels. Ohiopogon is a powerful tonic that strengthens the lungs and heart and should be taken twice daily, 6 grams at a time. Check with a specialist to see what options are best for you.

“I think acceptance by the mainstream medicine is getting better and better,”said Che Chun Tao, professor and director of the School of Chinese Medicine at Chinese University. “I can tell you, before 1997 there were no doctors in hospitals who were willing to touch any herbal materials in clinical trials, but now there’s quite a number of clinical trials going on and there’s better acceptance from medical doctors.

I believe a combination of traditional Chinese medicine together with western medicine is needed for treating serious diseases and it’s important to offer a choice for patients and the general public,” he said. Currently, clinical trials for Chinese herbal extracts are being tested all around the world to cure some of the world’s most serious diseases.

“If you are taking herbs without experiencing any results after a week or two, then perhaps your formula needs to be changed, unhealthy foods eliminated from your diet, or other changes made,” says Jiang Wind Xiao, one Chinese herbal exhibitor.

“If you are being told to take herbs for long periods of time without seeing any benefits, or are experiencing side effects, then perhaps you need to see another practitioner.” Pharmaceuticals should still be used for emergencies, but for long term care Chinese herbal remedies work best.

The growth of alternative medicine over the past few decades has been rapid and the number of alternative medicine practitioners grows by the day. With thousands of private complementary health practitioners and an increase in GPs offering alternative therapies there is no doubting its popularity and continued movement toward professional healthcare validation. However the question about alternative medicine remains – does it work? Acupuncture, reflexology and therapeutic touch are now non-conventional therapies people will consider having when thinking beyond conventional medical practices.

Certainly if you posed the question of whether alternative medicine works to people in the Far East the answer would be a resounding ‘yes’. Many alternative medicine techniques and therapies began in places like China and India centuries ago and are integral to their healthcare systems. With that degree of use and such a rich history there must be a high level of confidence in its effectiveness.

If you speak to many physicians the argument against alternative medicine is that it is not proven to work. This is a somewhat blinkered opinion as it is based on a comparison with traditional pharmaceutical drug testing. Before drugs can be prescribed they must go through rigorous clinical trials using a broad cross-section of society and performed over a period of years under the supervision of trained research teams. The industry goes to great lengths to highlight this clinical process and show that the evidence is scientific fact. But alternative medicine has been put through equally rigorous tests by research teams around the world; it’s just not as well documented.

Only now are we beginning to see the outcomes of these tests as demand for alternative medicine increases. And as demand increases, so the clinical trials into complementary and alternative therapies will increase. We should also be careful to dismiss practices that have been used successfully for thousands of years in other countries.

Another argument against alternative medicine is that evidence is anecdotal and based purely on personal experience of a therapy. But then the same argument could be true of conventional drug treatment. It is only because a clinical trial has taken place that the drug is deemed to work for everyone. That’s not always the case. How often has someone told you to take a certain drug for an ailment as it worked for them only to find that it didn’t work for you? It’s true that certain conditions require traditional treatment but that’s not to say that alternative medicine cannot be used alongside it. A popular benefit with alternative medicine is that it doesn’t have the nasty side-effects or discomfort that pharmaceutical drugs can have.

Alternative medicine is effective and can work for you

Alternative medicine is matter of choice. There are many therapies and techniques to choose from that can fit in with your ideas about health and well-being. Alternative medicine can help with a variety of conditions illnesses and approaches health in a holistic way. Concern for the body as a whole and the use of natural herbal remedies really can target a specific illness. So to answer the question – yes, alternative medicine does work if you find the therapy that works for you.