Complementary and Alternative Medicine as Treatment

Complementary and Alternative Medicine as Treatment
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There is an existing debate on the use of pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments as a standard of care for some diseases. Some patients do not believe in the standard treatment regimen and seek to use alternative medicine instead. Due to this, scientists have continuously studied the advantages and disadvantages of the use of the combination of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). Despite devotedly studying some of the products, there is still a wide gap in the knowledge on CAM. Hence, a more detailed approach is necessary to understand the pharmacological properties of this combination (Singh & Chaturvedi, 2015).
Complementary medicine involves a pharmacological approach that is used in standard treatment regimens. It encompasses a wide variety of specialities including hypnosis, biofeedback, massage, acupuncture, and aromatherapies. Many diseases have a standard treatment. However, not all diseases can be cured by this. This is especially true with chronic diseases. Because of this, chronically ill individuals seek to use alternative medicine to eliminate their disease (Singh & Chaturvedi, 2015).
One of the diseases where CAM is used is inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Langhorst et al. (2015) found out that CAM is beneficial as it provides a multi-target approach, especially when using herbs and botanicals. This is due to the diversified assets of plants that include antibacterial, anti-cytokine, antioxidant, antispasmodic, and neuromodulatory properties. An example of this is the anti-inflammatory properties of Andrographis paniculata where it inhibits TNF- α, IL-1ß, and NF-KB. Mind and body relaxation training have also been found to reduce the stress levels of a person up to 70%. This decreases the risk factor for aggravating ulcerative colitis.
Despite the tremendous amount of advantages, the use of C...