1. Conventional and Complementary Medicine: Skills for the Health Care Consumer
Chapter 20

2. Self-Care: Managing Medical Problems
Self Assessment
See a Physician if a symptom is:
Self Assessment
Observing symptoms
Noting when symptoms occur, what makes it worse, what makes it better and wheterh you have any associated symptoms
Monitor body’s vital signs
Monitor temperature, heart rate, blood pressure, blood sugar, pregnancy detection, UTI
Decision Making: Knowing When to See a Physician
Severe – medical assistance is advised if the symptom is severe or intense; Ex. Severe pains, major injuries and other similar emergencies
Unusual – if symptom is unfamiliar or peculiar; Ex. Include unexplained lumps, changes in a mole, problems with vision, difficulty swallowing, numbness, weakness, unexplained weight loss and blood in sputum, urine or stool
Persistent – If the symptom lasts longer than expected; In adults, a fever that lasts for more than a few days, a cough lasting longer than 2 weeks, a sore that doesn’t heal within a month, etc.
Recurrent – If a symptom tends to return again and again. Ex. Include recurrent headaches, stomach pains and backache.

3. Self-Care: Managing Medical Problems
Emergencies:
Major trauma or injury
Uncontrollable bleeding
Severe shortness of breath
Persistent abdominal pain
Poisoning or drug overdose
Loss of consciousness
Stupor, drowsiness, or disorientation
Severe or worsening reaction to an insect bite or sting

4. Self-Treatment: Many Options
Watchful waiting
Nondrug options
When Self-medicating:
Read labels
Do not exceed the recommendation
Use caution
Try to buy generic
Never take a drug from an unlabeled container
Be cautious if pregnant and nursing
Pay attention to the expiration date
Storage medication properly
Special caution with aspirin
Watchful waiting – In most cases your body itself can relieve your symptoms and heal the disorder
Nondrug options – massage, ice packs, neck exercises, getting adequate rest, increasing exercise, drinking more water, changes in ergonomics when working at a desk,
Self-medication – Self-treatment with nonprescription or over-the-counter medications are medicines that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has determined are safe for use without a physician’s prescription
Read labels
Do not exceed the recommendation
Use caution
Select medications with one ingredient
Try to buy genetic
Never take a drug from an unlabeled container
Pregnant and nursing
Expiration date
Storage of medication
Special caution with aspirin

6. Conventional or Western Medicine
Belief about Health
Standard Western Medicine”
A system in which medical doctors and other healthcare professionals (such as nurses, pharmacists, and therapists) treat symptoms and diseases using drugs, radiation, or surgery. Also called allopathic medicine, biomedicine, conventional medicine, mainstream medicine, and orthodox medicine.
One belief is that disease is caused by identifiable physical factors
Western medicine identifies the causes of disease as pathogens such as bacteria and viruses, genetic factors, and unhealthy lifestyles that result in changes at the molecular and cellular levels
The focus is primarily on the physical causes of the illness rather than mental or spiritual imbalance
The concept that every disease is defined by a certain set of symptoms and that these symptoms are similar in most patients suffering from this disease.
Western medicine relies heavily on surgery and on advanced medical technology to discover the physical causes of disease and to remove or destroy them.
Based on the scientific ways of obtaining knowledge and explaining phenomena

7. Conventional Medicine
Approach to Treatment:
Scientific explanations are: empirical, rational, testable, parsimonious, general, rigorously evaluated, tentative
parsimony is preference for the least complex explanation for an observation

8. The Providers of Conventional Medicine
Medical Doctors (MD)
Doctors of osteopathic medicine (D.O.)
Podiatrists
Optometrists
Dentists
Allied health care professionals
Scientific explanations are: empirical, rational, testable, parsimonious, general, rigorously evaluated, tentative
parsimony is preference for the least complex explanation for an observation

9. Getting the Most Out of Your Medical Care
The Physician-Patient Partnership
Your Appointment with Your Physician
The Diagnostic Process
Medical and Surgical Treatments
Chapter 21

10. Eastern Medicine Belief about Health:
Disease is caused by any action/force which interferes with the balance and movement of bio-energy
Disease is defined by a defect of function or energy
Qi is life

11. Five Domains of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM)
Alternative medical systems
Mind-Body interventions
Biological-based therapies
Manipulative & Body-Based Methods
Energy Therapies
Alternative medical systems
Ex. Traditional Chinese medicine, Homeopathy
Homeopathy -treats patients with heavily diluted preparations which are thought to cause effects similar to the symptoms presented.
Homeopathic remedies are prepared by serial dilution
2. Mind-Body interventions
Ex’s. Hypnosis, Meditation, Prayer
Hypnosis – a deep relaxation during when the patient is more suggestible and the practitioner will help him/her change unwanted behavior or deal with pain and other symptoms
3. Biological-based Therapies
Herbal therapies – consist primarily of herbal therapies or remedies, botanicals and dietary supplements
4. Manipulative and Body-Based methods
Ex. Chiropractic, Massage Therapy
Most commonly accepted of the CAM manual healing methods
Focuses on the relationship between structure, primarily of joints and muscles and function, primarily of the nervous system to maintain or restore health
Manipulation of the joints especially the spinal column
5. Energy Therapies
Ex. Qi gong, Reiki

12. Figure 20-4 The five domains of CAM practices

13. Complementary and alternative medicine
Alternative medical systems on integrating mind, body, and spirit seeking to restore the whole person to harmony
Alternative medical systems
Ex’s. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM)
Harmonious flow of qi produces health
Herbal remedies
Acupuncture
Acupuncture allows QI to flow through pathways
Homeopathy
“Like cures like” and remedies become more effective with greater dilution 13

14. Mind-body interventions
Makes use of the connection between mind and body 14

15. Biological-Based therapies
Consist primarily of:
Many overlap with conventional medicine’s use of dietary supplements 15

16. Manipulative and body-based methods
Manual healing based on the idea that misalignment in one part of the body causes pain or dysfunction in another part
Ex. Chiropractic medicine, massage, osteopathy 16

17. Energy therapies
Forms of treatment that use energy originating either within the body (biofields) or from other sources (electromagnetic fields)
Qigong
Therapeutic touch
Reiki 17

18. Evaluating complementary and alternative therapies
Working with your physician
Questioning the CAM practitioner
Doing your own research 18