The Oxford Dictionary defines “medicine” as: “the science or practice of the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease (in technical use often taken to exclude surgery).” By this definition, doctors, practitioners of medicine, should be in the business of not only treating disease, but preventing it. Currently in our world there is a large debate in the medical field about the balance and incorporation of western and eastern medicine. Eastern medicine has been practiced for centuries in Asia, Europe, and even Africa. Western medicine is a relatively new practice here in the United States and Europe. Although these two systems have highly different techniques and routes, they have a similar goal: optimize the health of the patients. If both systems have a common goal, why can they not work in tandem?
To understand how these systems can be integrated, we must first understand the differences between the two systems. Let us begin with the system we are more familiar with, western medicine. Western medicine is known as a reactive system. The focus is to find symptoms in a patient and treat them. In recent years, prevention has earned a larger spot in western medicine, but only when we have an intimate understanding of a disease and its causes. The western medicine field prioritizes the production of drugs for treating disease and neutralizing symptoms. This process has proven to be useful in treating and even eradicating several diseases.
On the other hand, is eastern medicine. Before there was a deep understanding of germ theory and disease, medicine employed a concept called “Ayurveda.” Ayurveda is Sanskrit for “knowledge of life.” It is the core concept of many wholistic medicines. The concept at its core is a treatment of the entire person. It prioritizes balance in a person’s physical, mental, and spiritual health. The thought is that when these three aspects of health are balanced, a person remains healthy. Beyond that, the approach gets a little less practical, but the core concept is of great importance in my opinion.
Even though these practices both bring much good to the table, they also carry with them their own unique dangers. As with just about any concept, too much can be detrimental. As you can imagine, simply throwing pills into a patient’s mouth every time they are sick isn’t the most effective method of treatment. Similarly, telling someone their chakras are out of alignment and they need to eat a root isn’t the best method either. Like anything, there is a wide array of misinformation on the internet about eastern medicine. Western medicine is highly controlled, and claims must be extensively verified before they are made. However, in eastern medicine, you can encounter some pretty outlandish claims of efficacy on the internet. From reports of curing autoimmune diseases to claiming that it can cure cancer. The attitude that this system can cure anything is a danger to vulnerable persons searching for answers. Understanding the extremes helps us to see that neither option is the answer in and of itself. But, what if we use the benefits of each to create a newer, all-encompassing medicinal practice? If we bring the scientific understanding of western medicine, and the proactivity and balance of eastern medicine, will our practice become perfect? No. There will always be room to grow and learn more in the medical field. It is an ever-evolving system as the diseases we combat evolve. My father is a practicing anesthesiologist and I thought I could gain some insight from him. I called him and asked if he had ever heard of ayurveda. He said he hadn’t, so I went on to share my findings thus far. He seemed to agree with my viewpoint that a middle ground should be found between ayurvedic and western medicine. My favorite quote from him was that “we would be arrogant to think we have it all figured out and that another opinion couldn’t benefit us.” Being a practitioner in western medicine I expected a harsh criticism of the system, but he seemed to have an open mind to it. He believes that although it sounds great, there should be research done before we simply accept an anecdotal medicine. His biggest warning in this conversation was, “the hardest thing is that when people buy all in to one thing, they tend to completely forget the other side.” He sees the value in the system but believes that a middle ground needs to be reached for it to be useful and not harmful.
Among some of the claims made by ayurvedic enthusiasts is that eastern medicine has cured autoimmune diseases like diabetes. Diabetes has become an increasingly more concerning issue in the world today, especially in the United States. Diabetes comes in two forms: Type I and Type II. Although these diseases both involve an imbalance in the concentrations of glucagon and insulin, they have very different causes and effects. Type I diabetes (T1DM) is an impossible to prevent autoimmune disease. This occurs when the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks itself. In this case, the body destroys its own beta cells, the cells which produce insulin. As a result, the body no longer produces enough, if any, insulin. This prevents the cells from being able to efficiently take up sugar that’s surrounding it in the blood, for all intents and purposes: dying of hunger surrounded by food. In contrast, Type II diabetes (T2DM) is a relatively preventable chronic illness. In this case, the body’s cells either become resistant to insulin, or the beta cells don’t produce enough insulin.
T2DM usually presents itself later in life and is much more common. T2DM accounts for 90-95% of the diabetes cases in the US. Obviously, T1DM typically presents itself at earlier ages as it is caused by the body attacking itself, as is the case with most autoimmune diseases. T2DM is often called “adult-onset diabetes” because it presents itself later in life. Although T2DM also has some unpreventable risk factors like a genetic predisposition to it, type II diabetes is often caused by a sentient lifestyle. Obesity and lack of activity are the two most common causes of this disease, making it fairly preventable. If this is the case, why is it such a terrible issue in the US?
Long story short, diabetes is a complex disease with many causes, symptoms, and treatments. However, it is not something we can CURE, especially T1DM. Type I diabetes is a result of a malfunction of a cell’s metabolism, as is the case with any autoimmune disease. This mistake cannot simply be corrected yet. We don’t have the means currently to change this immune response. Claims that this can be reversed are completely bogus. That’s why I was so angered to find a blog by one, “Doctor” Mark Hyman. This man claims to, through “holistic medical approaches,” have cured a man of a chronic autoimmune disease and numerous other diseases that western medicine had no hope against. I’ll spare you the details but will link his blog below for you to experience the entire misinformation of it. He claims to have simply “reversed” this man’s autoimmune disease, whatever that means, and healed him of all ailments. It should be noted that Dr. Hyman has previously lost his license to practice medicine in California for misconduct and that he has repeatedly been cited as someone to avoid when looking for professional medical advice. He has claimed that not only do vaccines cause autism, but that autism can be cured by oil from a cod-fish’s liver. Anyone with any kind of biological or medical education will immediately spot him as a hack (treating drug resistant bacterial infection with antibiotics??). The concerning thing is that this man has the internet to use. He is able to mislead those who are looking for answers and trying to hold on to something that isn’t there. This kind of preying on vulnerable and naïve individuals has built a misplaced distrust for eastern medicine. As we have already discussed, the core principles of ayurveda are solid. They can be incorporated into western medicine and used in tandem.
Recently we had an opportunity to read an article about the financial impact of diabetes in the United States in 2012. The article was completely eye opening to me. I knew that diabetes was a pandemic that affected millions of people nationwide, but I never knew how much of a financial burden the disease was! $245 BILLION annually?! That’s incredible! With 7% of the population diagnosed, that’s an estimated cost of nearly $11,000 per year for each diabetic. As stated, only a percentage of this cost is from direct costs, 72% to be exact. That’s still an estimated cost of about $8,000 per person annually. In 2012, this cost was about 15% of the median household income! That’s an even more embarrassingly large percentage of my income. I can’t imagine needing to spend $8000 every year on medication and other things. That’s just the financial costs too! Unbelievable.
We know that as much as “Dr” Hyman would like us to believe so, eastern medicine isn’t enough to treat diabetes. We also see that western medicine, although allowing us to manage symptoms, albeit expensively, isn’t enough by itself either. The treatments taken individually are underwhelming for this complex disease, but what could we do with an incorporation of the two ideas? Hopefully time will tell.
In conclusion, the human body is complex. Mind, spirit, and body all have impacts on our health. If these three factors are keys in other forms of medicine, why shouldn’t they be keys in western medicine? Diseases like diabetes and cancer are not going to be cured by doing what we are already doing, we need to start trying new things. As previously stated, disease is an ever-evolving foe. We need to continue to grow with it, or we will be outmatched.
References:
How to Stop Attacking Yourself: 9 Steps to Heal Autoimmune Disease. Dr. Mark Hyman. (2019, December 19). https://drhyman.com/blog/2010/07/30/how-to-stop-attacking-yourself-9-steps-to-heal-autoimmune-disease/.
Economic Costs of Diabetes in the U.S. in 2012. (2013). Diabetes Care, 36(4), 1033–1046. https://doi.org/10.2337/dc12-2625.
When you called your father about his opinion about Ayurveda, it convinced me to do the same to my family. My grandmother, a former nurse, also informed me that she did not know what it was. We had a similar understanding that it would be interesting to see the medical field include eastern medicinal treatments in hopes of further advances. I was also blown away by the cost of diabetes. I never knew that diabetes treatments could be up to 15% of a median household income. Hopefully, in the next couple of years, the overall cost of insulin drastically declines. I thought that your post was an intriguing read and very knowledgeable. Great job!
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