# Western Medicine Vs. Eastern Medicine



## Persephone (Nov 14, 2009)

sharky said:


> An addendum then: I meant that is how some of the practices began, not that no one believes in them currently.


What are "the practices" you are referring to? Do you mean stuff like acupuncture? Be specific. Vagueness makes the debate hard. I'm _pretty sure_ they existed before, believed by both laity and the elite alike, and that _the Chinese simply have a different conception of the human body_ from the Western idea. I still say they actually believed in it, and it didn't start because of a reason that can be analogous to: "We want to understand the world, but we didn't have science at the time, so we invented God". People believed in Chinese medicine then, and they do now. And I find some merit to that view, not because I'm Chinese or that their practices work, but their view of the human body intuitively makes sense.

One central tenet is that the body is one large machine with very complex moving parts, and one major part cannot be damaged without affecting others. Which is why some Chinese doctors have grown infamous for diagnosing you with something by merely looking at you. They believe that our physical conditions are reflected on our skin conditions, energy level, what your tongue looks like, etc. I think that's a fundamentally good idea even (and a natural consequence of the idea "the body is one machine and damage to one part damages another) though they probably have a high error rate. But is the idea behind it bad? I certainly don't think so! Have period pains? There is something that's causing the period pains and instead of fixing it _each time _with a pain killer and temporary remedies, we'll destroy it all together by killing the root cause. Chinese medicine can be notorious for bad diagnoses and not showing visible signs of healing.

Western medicine, on the other hand, is notorious for rooting out local problems but neglecting root causes. You have period pains? Go out and run and it will make this time better. Or have a painkiller. You have ADHD? Adderall. Depression? Anti-Depressant. Obviously this is caricatured but it is _many times_ the case. Holistic healing is more and more popular even in the West, championed by doctors like Henry Emmons, who wrote of _natural_ remedies to anxiety and depression. My point is merely that Chinese people did, and still do believe in Chinese medicine _for valid reasons_, just like many people did, and still do, believe in God for _valid_ reasons. There are validity to both belief in God and holistic medicine, even if they are not the scientific route and sometimes their methods might not actually work. The ideas behind both are inherently good ones. 

It's not so black and white, so don't just assume the Chinese took up Chinese medicine because they had no better options at the time. Societies evolve differently. I read an idea somewhere that absolutely makes me laugh. It's a model of how societies will evolve and this guy literally has every society with different beginnings eventually evolve into Western-style liberal democracies or something. Not only is that terribly arrogant, but it's just untrue. Societies will never really work the same way.


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## sharky (Jul 1, 2012)

I am mostly thinking of acupuncture yes. And Reiki. And we can debate it's origins all day long, but my problem is that I don't really think there are valid reasons for believing in anything when I can't find any evidence that it works (acupuncture) or that it exists (god). I can see why it is valid to think of healing in terms of the whole body and the root cause, but I don't understand how one can continue to believe in the specific treatments if they don't fix anything. I guess I don't quite understand why you think the "invent god to explain things" theory is not true? 

Example, for my period pain, advil works. St John's wort and/or exercise, though recommended to me by several people, does not. In my experience, people who claim to that St John's Wort will magically fix the underlying problem are scamming me (unwittingly if a friend, purposefully if they are a large company). And it annoys me that they are often insistent that I am doing it all wrong, and that taking advil is slowly killing me or something, and holistic health changed their life and I'm not open minded and blah blah blah. No. Advil takes the pain away,not totally, but mostly, and I experience no side effects. I don't see a problem, as no one has found a for sure cure for menstrual cramps except for stopping menstruation altogether. I understand that this does not work for everyone, and that St Johns Wort probably makes other people feel better. 

This is why I jumped on this thread, because I don't want my doctors recommending I spend money on things that haven't been proven to work or haven't been studied thoroughly. If other people like herbal medicine or acupuncture and want to try it, I wish you well and hope it works. Please don't spend my tax money on it, though.

Also I'm not just talking about Chinese people. I don't mean to imply that "us westerners are so much more advanced/civilized" or anything. If I did, I apologize, because I do not believe that. I find it hard to take the holistic health movement here in the west seriously when they say all you have to do is eat healthy stuff and exercise and you will won't have cancer or any other health problems. Obviously genetics and pollution don't factor at all...oh wait.


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## Dragearen (Feb 2, 2012)

Yes to pretty much all of that. I think that using a mixture of the two (as well as homeopathy), can create a holistic treatment for your body. Each has its place. I would definitely like to see a more holistic view of the body in the medical world. Some doctors and such are accepting it, but others still seem unaware of the fact that mind affects body and body affects mind.


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## android654 (Jan 19, 2010)

Eastern medicine seems to rely on superstition and wives tales, while western medicine relies on over-diagnosing and gross amounts of pharmaceuticals. Truth is, if your diet is clean, the body does away with most treatable ailments. Unless you have a serious disorder or disease, I don't think there's much a doctor can do on a regular basis for your health.


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## sharky (Jul 1, 2012)

Dragearen said:


> Yes to pretty much all of that. I think that using a mixture of the two (as well as homeopathy), can create a holistic treatment for your body. Each has its place. I would definitely like to see a more holistic view of the body in the medical world. Some doctors and such are accepting it, but others still seem unaware of the fact that mind affects body and body affects mind.


You do know that homeopathy is basically ultra purified water, right?


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## Zee Bee (Aug 19, 2014)

Definatly EASTERN medicine over everything in the WEST!

The Dr in NY are less friendly but more competent.
Dr in LA are far too overrated, clearly East over West


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