discuss the history of traditional medicine?
140996
Do you mind if I finish my sandwich first?
444065
From beginnings as remote and simple as these came the proud profession of Pharmacy. Its development parallels that of man. Ancient man learned from instinct, from observation of birds and beasts. Cool water, a leaf, dirt, or mud was his first soothing application. By trial, he learned which served him best. Eventually, he applied his knowledge for the benefit of others. Though the cavemen's methods were crude, many of today's medicines spring from sources as simple and elementary as those which were within reach of early man.\n\nBabylon, jewel of ancient Mesopotamia, often called the cradle of civilization, provides the earliest known record of practice of the art of the apothecary. Practitioners of healing of this era (about 2600 B.C.) were priest, pharmacist and physician, all in one. Medical texts on clay tablets record first the symptoms of illness, the prescription and directions for compounding, then an invocation to the gods. Ancient Babylonian methods find counterpart in today's modern pharmaceutical, medical, and spiritual care of the sick.\n\nChinese Pharmacy, according to legend, stems from Shen Nung (about 2000 B.C.), emperor who sought out and investigated the medicinal value of several hundred herbs. He reputed to have tested many of them on himself, and to have written the first Pen T-Sao, or native herbal, recording 365 drugs. Still worshiped by native Chinese drug guilds as their patron god, Shen Nung conceivably examined many herbs, barks, and roots brought in from the fields, swamps, and woods that are still recognized in Pharmacy today. In the background is the "Pa Kua," a mathematical design symbolizing creation and life. Medicinal plants include podophyllum, rhubarb, ginseng, stramonium, cinnamon bark, and, in the boy's hand, ma huang, or Ephedra.\n\nTheophrastus (about 300 B.C.), among the greatest early Greek philosophers and natural scientists, is called the "father of botany." His observations and writings dealing with the medical qualities and peculiarities of herbs are unusually accurate, even in the light of present knowledge. He lectured to groups of students who walked about with him, learning of nature by observing her treasurers at firsthand. In his hands he holds a branch of belladonna. Behind him are pomegranate blooms, senna, and manuscript scrolls. Slabs of ivory, coated with colored beeswax, served the students as "slates." Writing was cut into the surface with a stylus.\n\nMithridates VI, King of Pontus (about 100 B.C.), though he battled Rome for a lifetime, found time to make not only the art of poisoning, but also the art of preventing and counteracting poisoning, subjects of intensive study. Unhesitatingly, he used himself as well as his prisoners as "guinea pigs" on which to test poisons and antidotes. Behind him are rhizotomists, offering fresh, flowering aconite, ginger, and gentian. At lower right is a crater - a two-piece forerunner of the champagne bucket. His famed formula of alleged panantidotal powers, "Mithridatum," was popular for over a thousand years.\n\nOf the men of ancient times whose names are known and revered among both the professions of Pharmacy and Medicine, Galen, undoubtedly, is the foremost. Galen (130-200 A.D.) practiced and taught both Pharmacy and Medicine in Rome; his principles of preparing and compounding medicines ruled in the Western world for 1,500 years; and his name still is associated with that class of pharmaceuticals compounded by mechanical means - galenicals. He was the originator of the formula for a cold cream, essentially similar to that known today. Many procedures Galen originated have their counterparts in today's modern compounding laboratories.\n\nTwinship of the health professions, Pharmacy and Medicine, is nowhere more strikingly portrayed than by Damian, the apothecary, and Cosmas, the physician. Twin brothers of Arabian descent, and devout Christians, they offere
207492
its been around for a long long time...I have heard stories of women during the 16-1700's using abortificants (herbals) and sea sponges soaked in vinegar for the purpose.
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The key to understanding natural cures is simple.  While most therapies like acupuncture, herbs, chiropractic, diet, detox, etc have been shown to help virtually any condition, not everyone with a particular condition will respond well to the type of therapy.  The key is to find a physician - usually a N.D. Naturopathic Doctor, D.C. Doctor of Chiropractic, or a Master of Oriental Medicine.  These doctors are trained to evaluate which type of alternative therapy would have the best results for your particular conditions.  \n\nFor more traditional healthcare - find a doctor of Functional Medicine.
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the incan thought that u could cure a fever by eating a concoction of ground up lice and assorted herbs(reddiish-green mixture in a wooden bowl, and a feverish person nearby)\n\nin the early 1800's several doctors belived if u drilled a hole in someone's skull, it would make them smarter :)(skull with obvious hole marks in it)\n\nape hair has been used to wrap wounds by some tribes in africa(mans leg w/ ape hair on it)\n\nin the late 1800's a lot of people were tricked into buying "Dr.Quick's Health Tablets", said to cure anything from a toothache to a brain tumor. they were only sugar tablets.\n(an old fashioned pill bottle with a label proclaiming"NEW!! These pills cure everything from the common toothache to a complicated tumor!!! From Dr.Quick!"\n\nsorry there are only four, but i dont know of anymore.
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I definitely prefer the eastern mentality towards healthcare: prevention and not treatment of the symptoms. I have not needed much healthcare, but have had acupuncture on several occasions, and it has definitely worked on me. Of course western medicine has also it's advantages and in emergency cases, medicines and invasive operation have saved many lives.  I only wish more emphasis were given on a healthy lifestyle, less stress, better eating habits, more excercise, to prevent many diseases from starting in the first place.  And I find it shameful of the Pharmaceutical Companies that they invent pills for every conceivable ill under the sun. This dependence on pills is just disastrous. Who knows what all these chemicals will do to our bodies in the long run.
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This is a huge topic and it's a continuously evolving situation, changing rapidly along with society. Since I reside in an Asian country from which many traditional healing methods originated, I can verify that many of those practices are still widely trusted in some of the most populous nations on earth. There remain tiny, out-of-the-way herbalists' shops where they pack all sorts of strange and mysterious ingredients (yes, including deer antler, bear paws, snake skin, etc.) into packages wrapped with plain brown paper, tied with string. You usually boil the foul-smelling mixture in water and drink as a tea, of sorts. Sometimes it is mixed into a paste and applied topically.\n\nAlternative medicine techniques which I have used myself include acupuncture, cupping, seeds in the ear - (which are pressed and massaged at intervals during the day) - regular massage of all kinds (full body, head, and reflexology), aromatherapy, and many others, depending on the symptoms.\n\nScientific medicine is considered by many here to be too pill-based. Doctors in Asia who are western trained sometimes prescribe an abundance of medication, and many patients have an overwhelming amount of pills lying around the house.\n\nI don't know if this answers your very broad question, but at least it gives an idea of the popularity of traditional medicine in China.
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Here are some books you may find useful:\n\n"Creek Religion and Medicine" by John R. Swanton ISBN: 0803292740\n\n"Creek Indian Medicine Ways: The Enduring Power of Mvskoke Religion" by David Lewis, Ann T. Jordan ISBN: 0826323677\n\n"The Five Civilized Tribes" by Grant Foreman ISBN: 0806109238\n\n"Native American Religion" by Joel W. Martin ISBN: 0195110358
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I'm not sure what you mean by "conclusion of medicine" but it's importance is that it allows us to live longer, happier and more productive lives.\n\nP.S. to Tara:  No herbal medicine is "side effect free".  If it's strong enough to create change in the body it's strong enough to create side effects.
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Here's a few, hope they help,\nhttp://www.schoolscience.co.uk/content/4/biology/abpi/history/history7.html\nhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/history/medicine/renaissancemedicinerev1.shtml\nhttp://library.thinkquest.org/15569/hist-7.html\nhttp://www.twingroves.district96.k12.il.us/RenAissance/GeneralFiles/RenLinksMed.html
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The history of the origin of this synbol dates as far back as ancient Eqypt.\n\nCheck out this website!\n\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_prescription
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Acupuncture originated in China then spread into Asia,[citation needed] spawning a variety of techniques, treatment styles, and theoretical frameworks.\n\nIn China, the practice of acupuncture can perhaps be traced as far back as the 1st millennium BC,[citation needed] and archeological evidence has been identified with the period of the Han dynasty (from 202 BC to 220 AD)[citation needed]. Forms of it are also described in the literature of traditional Korean medicine where it is called chimsul. It is also important in Kampo, the traditional medicine system of Japan.\n\nRecent examinations of Ötzi, a 5000-year-old mummy found in the Alps, have identified over fifty tattoos on his body, some of which are located on acupuncture points that would today be used to treat ailments Ötzi suffered from. Some scientists believe that this is evidence that practices similar to acupuncture were practiced elsewhere in Eurasia during the early bronze age[1], [2].\n\nAcupuncture's origins in China are uncertain. The earliest Chinese medical texts (Ma-wang-tui graves 68 BC) do not mention acupuncture. The Chinese medical text that first describes acupuncture is The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine (History of Acupuncture), which was compiled around 305–204 B.C. Some hieroglyphics have been found dating back to 1000 B.C. that may indicate an early use of acupuncture.[citation needed] Bian stones, sharp pointed stones used to treat diseases in ancient times, have also been discovered in ruins (History of Acupuncture in China); some scholars believe that the bloodletting for which these stones were likely used presages certain acupuncture techniques [3].\n\nRC Crozier in the book Traditional medicine in modern China (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1968) says the early Chinese Communist Party expressed considerable antipathy towards classical forms of Chinese medicine, ridiculing it as superstitious, irrational and backward, and claiming that it conflicted with the Party’s dedication to science as the way of progress. Acupuncture was included in this criticism. Reversing this position, Communist Party Chairman Mao later said that "Chinese medicine and pharmacology are a great treasure house and efforts should be made to explore them and raise them to a higher level"[4]. Representatives were sent out across China to collect information about the theories and practices of Chinese medicine. Traditional Chinese Medicine or TCM is the formalized system of Chinese medicine that was created out of this effort. TCM combines the use of Acupuncture, Chinese herbal medicine, tui na and other modalities. After the Cultural Revolution, TCM instruction was incorporated into university medical curricula under the "Three Roads" policy, wherein TCM, biomedicine and a synthesis of the two would all be encouraged and permitted to develop. After this time, forms of classical Chinese medicine other than TCM were outlawed, and some practitioners left China. The first forms of acupuncture to reach the United States were brought by non-TCM practitioners, many employing styles that had been handed down in family lineages, or from master to apprentice (collectively known as "Classical Chinese Acupuncture").
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That's a really good subject that has a lot of research being done.  Natural remedies are a wave of the present.  There are tons of websites available, just search Google or Yahoo with "Medicinal Herbs".
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In the past medicines were usually discovered by looking at the effect extracts from plants or other materials had on patients. Many treatments were described by the ancient Egyptians on medicinal papyri, these were then added to by the Greeks, Arabs and Europeans. Many of these like Morphine for the treatment of pain are still used today. These early medicines were then used to understand the biological mechanisms by which they work.\nNowadays scientists start with the mechanism and try to find molecules that block that mechanism and hopefully treat the illness. In a laboratory chemists can design and make many. many molecules these are then tested by biologists to see if they have the desired effect. Those molecules that have the correct activity are then subjected to a huge array of tests to see if they work in the illness but also don't cause any unwanted side-effects. This process can take upto ten years and cost 1 billion dollars!\nIf you want to read more try this book\nMeasly Medicine\nA romp through the history of healthcare, from Stone Age trepanning and the dodgy diagnostics of the Middle Ages to modern miracles and medical marvels.\nISBN: 0 439 95581 5. Paperback. £ 4.99
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Tradition.  What their parents did.  What their insurance company will pay for.  What other people expect.  lack of knowledge about homeopathy.  Lack of taking responsibility for your own health care - thinking a doctor will take care of it.  Culture that says you cure things by taking a pill.  Media, advertisements on TV.  Etc.  But mostly culture and tradition.
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I'm not sure I understand your question.  Are you looking for the native plants which are the source of synthesized pharmaceuticals?  Are you looking for natural remedies, as opposed to pharmaceuticals?\n\nMaybe you want to know if certain plants are effective as medication?  Or perhaps you want to know where to get tinctures or other natural plant remedies.
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Not a one. There is a widespread back of the mind conviction among many that there exists an entire alternative medical structure (ancient knowledge, traditional approaches, ...) which offers cures or treatment ordinary medicine does not. That's a false belief, by and large. Any natural cures which worked as well as ordinary medicine would be quite prominent indeed and wouldn't remain alternative for very long. \n\nconsider, in the case of diabetes alone, that a plant long known to help with diabetes (goat's rue) is the source of Glucophage (metformin) and the biguanides generally. Gila monsters (the poisonous lizard from the N American SW desert) is the source of a new diabetes drug nearing approval and release for clinical use. An herb, used in cosmetics because it makes the pupil larger in small doses, is the source of digitalis, still one of the primary drugs in cardiovascular medicine. \n\nThe common sorts of diabetes mellitus (type 1 and type 2) is a condition without a cure. And it's a real pain literally and figuratively. There is a lot of quackery and snake oil om consequence. so far, diabetes related research has earned 4 Nobel Prizes, and any advance as effective as some of the advertising claims about 'traditional' cures or treatments would be high on the eligible list for another. \n\nWe now understand diabetes about as well as we understand broken legs. There's little treatment for a broken leg aside from setting it, splinting it, treating it carefully, and waiting. And for good reason. Likewise there's good understanding of what's going on in diabetes (type 1 and type 2) and what would be needed to fix them (mostly). We can't do that yet, just as we can't get a broken leg to mend in a couple of days. And that's the state of the art in diabetes treatment, alternative included. \n\nSomeday, there'll be a cure... Would save a bundle of money and a lot of nuisance. Support diabetes research and encourage those with research money to assign some to diabetes.