“Does this Medicine really work?…”

Often, when I am asked “What kind of medicine do you practice?” and I speak to someone about Holistic/Integrative Medicine and about methods such as Acupuncture, Moxa, Herbal Medicine, Nutrition, Iridology, etc., this question follows, addressed to me somewhat skeptically and a bit sadly (or sometimes with a superior attitude):

“And… does this medicine really work?…”

When i detect an honest curiosity and a minimal opening in the mind of the person that I’m speaking to, I give them a few explanations, according to their capacity of understanding, which often give rise to amazement (“wow, I didn’t know acupuncture/herbs/moxa/nutrition/etc. can do that!…”)

However, it’s sad that such a question is the first to come in the mind (and on the lips) of a young person, a medicine student or a doctor – or any other person living in these modern times.

How is it that only such natural methods, that heal gently, very often real fast, and with no side effects, are questioned? Why doesn’t a patient ask an allopathic doctor prescribing a receipt: “But does this pill really work?“, or “Will it really work if I’ll apply this chemical cream?”, or “Alright, doctor… but will it really work if you’ll inject me with some viruses mixed with formaldehyde and mercury and antibiotics? Will this really strengthen my immune system? And aren’t other methods available too? some more evolved, more natural, more simple methods?”

Oh, no… . Because “pills are sacred, we don’t care what they contain, that’s why we went to the doctor, to get a pill to get well.” This formula is sadly in the mind of so many people today…

or “The doctor will cut us open and remove what’s bad from inside us, even if we don’t understand how it got there, and then we’ll go home and sleep peacefully on the other ear.”

So many people today are mistaking the idea of health with colored boxes (of chemical medicines, ointments, syrups, etc.) with strange and complicated names written on them… and with hospitals with stale air and horrible food, with noise and infections – and of course with a morgue in the basement…

Is this truly what Health means?… Is this what Life means?

For instance… when we’re thirsty (a physiological necessity, a sensation appeared from a deficit in our body), does it really work if we drink water?

When we’re hungry, does it really work if we eat? – or we would need a magic pill to satisfy our hunger?…

When it’s cold outside, does it really work if we drink a hot tea? or if we put some warmer clothes on?… – or do we need to swallow a pill with warming effect?…

When we feel the air is stale in the room, and we open the window, does that fresh air really work? Or when we’re dirty does it really work if we brush our teeth, wash our hands, our face, our body? – or should we ask a pill from our doctor that would magically refresh our air… or wash our body?…

It is common to a more primitive vision to see “disease” as something miraculous, unknown (add to it a Latin or Greek incomprehensible name, to make it look even more mysterious, and we have a perfect “medieval” image) – that one doesn’t understand how it appeared and where from, and for whose removing/healing one needs complicated things and methods… with names as complicated and difficult to pronounce…

But the Truth has always been the most simple. And perhaps the path to Healing is more simple than we’re led to believe.

What if, in truth, when we’re sick, our cells are hungry for pure, clean substance and energy?

or what if they’re thirsty for pure fluids, to wash them from toxins?

or what if they wish to breathe more freely, not cigarette smoke or exhaust gas?

or what if they need clean, warm blood, to flow freely to the last one of them, nourishing them?

What if, in fact, any symptom indicates such a necessity? what if it’s a sign that our cells are sending us to show us that we haven’t taken good care of them as they needed it?… that somewhere, sometime, we drifted apart from the state of Harmony?…

For not one single cell in our body is formed of chemical drugs. No disease appears from a deficiency of artificial medicines. No angina or infarction occurs because the coronary arteries are missing a few stents – nor does diabetes occur out of a lack of Metformin – nor the pain from a lack of Painkillers – nor inflammation from a lack of Ibuprofen – nor any mental imbalance or depression from a lack of Xanax or Happymycin…

And the fact that type 2 diabetes, coronary disease, arthritis, and many other chronic diseases, actually heal if the patient changes their lifestyle and returns to a healthy plant-based diet, giving the body the substances it needs, and removing everything that intoxicates it – proves the truth of such an approach.

Of course, surgery or other radical methods have their undisputed place… in certain emergencies or extreme situations… as a last solution… as a last alternative. Although there are also more effective natural methods for emergency treatment or analgesia – Acupuncture, for instance, has a very powerful, undisputed, analgesic effect, proven in numerous cases, hundreds of times stronger than morphine.

But how have we managed to forget, to drift apart from the simple things, from the natural laws that our body also functions by?… How did we get to that point where we can’t understand it anymore, although it’s ours… so much so that we’ve got to hope that only a magical pill or the scalpel may save us from ignorance?…

Knowledge – has always been the one to set us free.

Adrian Petre, MD, DMD, LAc – Holistic Medicine