Nowadays, a growing number of people with health problems are trying alternative medicines and treatments instead of visiting their usual doctor. Do you think this is a positive or negative development?

Recently,

alternative

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medicines

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have been widely sought after by those who have health issues

instead

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of going to see their conventional healthcare providers.

This

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trend is growing dramatically and I think it contributes to a negative impact on both individual and societal levels as I will elaborate in

this

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following essay. Ideally, conventional medicine should be the first choice of treatment for all medical

conditions

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because it has been scientifically proven to be effective, and the side effects of these

treatments

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have been methodologically studied so that healthcare professionals can tackle them with appropriate guidelines and manoeuvers.

On the other hand

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,

alternative

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medicines

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have been introduced to give more options for

patients

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when the conventional treatment does not work as effectively as desired, or they can be an appropriate choice for palliative care when no more invasive intervention can improve the patient's

conditions

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,

for example

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, cancer

patients

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with widespread metastasis, or old

patients

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with organ failures.

However

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,

alternative

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treatments

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should be given under the supervision of professionals

otherwise

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they can cause more problems than benefits. Unsupervised

alternative

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treatments

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can be harmful to the

patients

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because they might include substances or ingredients that can worsen disease

conditions

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. It is too often that these medicinal herbs and products are found to have contained steroids, which in the beginning may seem to help relieve inflammation and pain in several

conditions

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, but eventually lead to more infections and worsening of the body's immune system.

Furthermore

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, some drugs might contain toxic materials including heavy metals and poisonous plants that cause

patients

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morbidity and mortality,

as well as

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more health burdens for hospital professionals.

In addition

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, some people might take advantage of sick people by giving them controversial products and

treatments

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solely to make money. The problem is worsened nowadays because there are advertisements for these

medicines

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that are easily accessible to

patients

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. The sellers may say that the drugs are promised to cure all kinds of illnesses. But when the disease

conditions

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get worse, there will be nobody responsible for the harm that has been done. In conclusion, I believe that

alternative

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medicines

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should be the second choice for disease

treatments

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. If people go straight to

alternative

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medicines

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when they are ill, especially from sources that are not verified, there would be more harmful consequences than actually improving the patient's health.