Alternative vs conventional

There is a whole lot of info out there these days as far as health goes. There is the conventional treatments of western medicine. There is no longer only one way to look at an illness. The way I look at treating something both for myself and for my dogs is through a ton of research. We go to the Dr. or Vet; get their advice, do more research and figure it all out. By no means do I go down the easy route; and I am not one to believe everything that I am told, by anyone.

I think that far too often there is a reach for drug for everything. Whether that is antibiotics, steroids or anti-inflammatory drugs; there can be a time to say "let me check it out first." Often I will fill a prescription but I will not give it to my dogs until I have fully research the net on the stuff. And there have been times that the medicine comes home from the vets and straight into the garbage after doing all of my reading. With the internet filled with so much information there is just no reason not to do your research.

Yes there will be things that are not fully true, things you do not believe in and things that are downright misleading but there is alot of good info out there as well. Take Luke for instance; he is epileptic, has been since about the age of 3. He is not medicated and he is doing wonderfully. I am not saying that not medicating is the way to go but it was the way I went and I'm glad I did. By changing his food completely, eliminating almost all chemicals from my house and not allowing any chemicals to be used outside we have almost completely stopped his seizures. I've done a ton of research, found possible triggers and studied Luke himself.

There are alot of western medicines out there that have such severe side effects that you may suffer worse with them than without. I had the exact thing happen to me and have taken my health into my own hands. There is no one size fits all with health issues and to not look at the underlying cause and just treat the symptoms is an injustice to our and our dogs bodies, I believe.

Today there are many vets and Drs looking at alternatives as well as western medicines, these are the great Doctors in my opinion. To close your eyes and not want to learn is something foreign to me, if there is something great out there I want to know about it and I think Doctors who are looking for more answers are the ones we want to see. There are many medicines that have been around forever that are still great but there are new things, new techniques, new alternatives now that are being discovered on a daily basis.

I fully believe that both alternatives and conventional medicines are needed; but I will always opt to reach for an alternative first. That is if I have time, and time is of essence often. As was with Jessie almost 8 years ago now, it was certain death or steroids. There was no decision to be made, do we know why the steroids saved her life? No. But they did and she is with us and going strong at the age of 13 and nearly off of them completely now. By changing her diet she too made a full recovery, grew all of her hair back and made a complete turn around.

The body is a complicated thing; there is no one size fixes all.