Herbal Medicines V/S Modern Medicinesc - Research Paper Example

 Medicines in whatever form has always been a blessing for the mankind since long time. During ancient times man’s sole savior to be remaining healthy was herbal medicines. The herbal medicines were known to be very effective and precious in bygone era than today. They were made usually from plant, roots, barks, berries and gave comfort and healing to people without any side effects. However, in current times, modern medicine has overshadowed the prestige and privilege of herbal medicines and they are long forgotten for their value. The reason for modern medicines to take place in the lives of current world is the non availability of medicinal plants and the difficulty in production. Usually, herbal medicines required much effort from the physicians as well as patients and many a times can involve allergic effects to the patients. Plants have been used for medicinal purpose since civilization has known to exist. Ancient Indian and Chinese people have studied and used herbal plants in a scientific manner to bestow health and wellbeing to people for long time. However, as time passed, their importance and value started declining due to scientifically advancement of human generation. With advancement, physicians started inventing modern technique and methods to impart health to people in a sophisticated manner. In his journal (Wise,1994,pg.46-49) has written that “It is generally accepted that modern medical science came about in 1876 when Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch demonstrated (almost simultaneously and unknown to each other) the idea that contagion passes from one individual to another”. Normally speaking, we can observe that herbal medicines are in every way better than modern medicines as nature is the best curer by all means. The use of herbs for physical and mental ailments has been practiced since ever by civilizations all over the globe. There were all types of herbal medicines available for any kind of illness in ancient times. All indigenous groups used extensively herbal medicines for all diseases, and procured long life and health from it. However, as natural resources started getting scarce and with population increase, the use of herbs and medicines became lesser and unpopular. Research has revealed that people in different regions of world used same plants for same health problems. The highlight of herbal medicines is that, it gave relief to patients on a long-term basis and impacted less negatively on their health. These herbal medicines are natural form of treatment and are a gift from nature and require proper guidance from physicians to give full benefit to patients. The herbal medicines were very prominent until the scientist and physicians started discovering new medicines of chemical origin, which gave instant and prolonged benefit to people with health problems. The modern medicines have been ardently proven to be effective in treating diseases and illness of fatal nature .Without modern medicines many diseases would have been difficult to resist before a century or so. It can be definitely stated here that, human life span would have been cut short half if modern medicine would have been absent from our daily life. In the website (Alternative Medicine,2011)it is stated that ,“Conventional medicine is comprised of drugs that suppress the body's natural immune responses”. It is the world of the American Medical Association (AMA) which is aligned with the multibillion dollar pharmaceutical industry. There is no better medicine when it comes to surgery, emergency and trauma” The modern medicine has many benefits as it has allowed people to live healthily life with more comfort. As per (Singh,2010,pg.17-29)“Modern medicine has done much in the fields of infectious diseases and emergencies to aid cure”. However, when one focus on the side effects of modern medicines, all its value dooms in to dark. The modern medicines also being very costly, is many a times unaffordable for normal people .Another prominent dark side of modern medicine is that its side effects supersedes its beneficial factors. Modern Medicines being produced in the laboratory has a synthetic nature and often effect human being’s health in a negative manner. In many cases, the side effects are more than its positive sides and usually put patients health at risk. Some modern medicines are even dangerous to health and people in distress get ignored by this fact and fall victim to such fatal medicines. It is seen that, in United States alone numerous people die due to complications arising from various medicines taken together. When analyzed, most of the medicines consumed by the people are of synthetic nature .“Instead of allowing poisons to be eliminated from the system, modern medicine injects all kinds of drugs and serums to the body and forces poisons in the body further back in tot he system”(Paulien,1997,pg..60).Other negative side of modern medicine is the treatment cost involved in it. Nowadays modern medical treatments are so expensive that people cannot even think of undergoing a proper treatment in hospitals or medical centers. Currently, surgeries of minor or major nature are so costly that common men cannot afford the hundreds or thousands dollars involved in it. In today’s times the medical treatment are less recommendable to people, due to its high cost and dangerous side effects. When comparing modern medicine with herbal medicine, people prefer the latter due its natural composition and soothing effect to body and health. If minor operations in medical treatment put heavy financial burden on people, sooner or later many people could lose their lives due to their helplessness in financial area. If people in developed nations cannot afford these medicines, then people in poor countries cannot even think of it. But one think to be thought here is that people in poor and developing nation sustain still on herbal medicines rather than modern synthetic natured medicines. According to (Nnaluyange,2000,pg.9-14)“With increasing costs of western drugs and decreasing availability of them in poor countries, herbal medicine is seen as an appropriate alternative in addressing some health problems of in resource poor communities”.The most unfortunate fact of modern medicine is that, it focuses on cure rather than prevention this same fact has made the conventional medicine a multi – million dollar business and influenced people from all social classes in favor of it. The people being victimized by modern medicine, no longer are aware of the potentiality and long term benefits of herbal medicines.” The power and potency of the healing herbs are very real”(Alam,2008,pg.13).Those that are aware of the dynamic effect of herbal medicine are admirers of it and enjoy wholesome and prolonged health and well being. Bibliography Alam, Z. (2008). Herbal medicines . New Delhi: A.P.H.Publishing Corp. Alternative Medicine Angel, . (2011). Alternative medicine: a comparison. Retrieved from http://altmedangel.com/am.html Nnaluyange, M.S. (2000). Herbal medicine: an effective therapy in poor areas. International Conference on AIDS, 13(4), 9-14. Paulien, G.B. (1997). The divine prescription and science of health and healing . New York: Teacher Services Inc. Singh, A.R. (2010). Modern medicine: towards prevention, cure, well-being and longevity . Mens Sana Monographs, 8(1), 17-29. Wise, D.A. (1994). Modern medicine?it's not so modern!. ex nihilo, 17(1), 46-49. 1.http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v17/i1/medicine.asp 2.http://altmedangel.com/am.htm Read More