Getting the Most Benefit from this Web Site

The pages of this site are written from the perspective of a patient who is in consultation with an alternative medicine practitioner. When you visit the alternative physician, your health problem is addressed from a global or wholistic approach. Contemporary medicine views the body as a collection of independently functioning parts, each of which, when malfunctioning, can be treated with specific therapy. Alternative medicine views the body as a collection of interdependent functioning parts, all of which depend upon and contribute to the health of the whole body. Therapy is directed to the whole unit, not just to specific parts.

Therefore, as you study the information presented in this site, you will find at the end of each health condition discussion, a list of other related pages of the site. To understand the wholistic nature of the conditions discussed, it is imperative that you study also the related pages. Please be sure to do that.

When you visit an alternative physician, you will likely be given health history and symptoms questionnaires. A good health history is paramount to any doctor's accurate diagnosis and assessment. In fact, your physician may be 90% sure of your diagnosis just from the history you give him. Comprehensive health self-assessments, similar to but often more extensive than your doctor's history taking, are available online. As you read through the pages of this site, when appropriate, we will suggest you consider a self-assessment. Online self-assessment, by focusing on your personal history and symptoms, helps you sort through the confusing maize of alternative medicine information. It helps you escape the anecdotal testimonials of the people trying to sell you supplements. Rather than go by other people's experiences, a self-assessment provides you good, personalized information you can take to your alternative medicine physician or use for your own health improvement.