Conventional mainstream medicine has always prided itself on being supported by science. In recent years it has focused on treatment that is evidence-based. Alternative and complementary medicines have always existed but we doctors have tended to shun them as being quackery. Those who genuinely believe in treatments such as acupuncture and homeopathy have equally derided doctors for ignoring treatments that they believe are effective.
The alternatives: two series of articles on these subjects that appeared in the British Medical Journal in 1999 and in 2001 (Figure 33-02 ) bear testimony to this change in position. It is now recognised that there is a need for objective, scientific evaluation of all treatment modalities. For the moment at least conventional medicine is unconvinced at most of the claims made by the “alternatives" but it correctly takes a similar cautious attitude to new ideas emanating from within the medical profession.
There is promising evidence supporting the use of chinese herbal medicine for primary dysmenorrhoea; however, results are limited by the poor methodological quality of the included trials.0701
Related Medical Abstracts - Click on the paper title:-
- Chinese herbal medicine for primary dysmenorrhoea.(2007-01)
- Complementary medicine today: Patient decision for physician or magician? - A comparative study of patients deciding in favour of alternative therapies (1996)
- Conventional or complementary medicine: What makes the patient choose? (1994)
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This is the personal website of David A Viniker MD FRCOG, Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist at Whipps Cross University Hospital, London - Specialist Interests - Reproductive Medicine including Infertility, PCOS, PMS, Menopause and HRT.
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