Main description:

What are the most effective therapies in complementary and alternative medicine? How can they be used to prevent illness and enhance the quality of life? What is the scientific evidence of their safety and effectiveness? And finally, for which medical conditions do they work best? Faced with an overwhelming availability of treatments and an even more bewildering array of claims and counterclaims, every American health consumer and practitioner needs guidelines he or she can trust.

Based on an enormous body of research, including new research funded by the National Institutes of Health, The Best Alternative Medicine is the first book to provide authoritative, scientifically based answers to these questions. Dr. Kenneth R. Pelletier, Director of the Complementary and Alternative Medicine Program at the Stanford University School of Medicine, rigorously evaluates the most common forms of alternative medicine and delivers research-based evidence about hundreds of individual treatments, organized both by therapeutic discipline and specific illness and disease. Easy to understand and free of jargon, The Best Alternative Medicine offers definitions, background, and examples of specific treatments from a multitude of therapies, including Mind/Body Medicine, European Herbs, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Naturopathy, Homeopathy, Spiritual Healing, Acupuncture, Dietary and Nutritional Supplements, and Ayurvedic -- East Indian -- Medicine.

Dr. Pelletier's assessment of a particular approach is threefold, beginning with "What Works," progressing to "What Does Not Work," and concluding with "What's in the Works," where he cites the most promising unpublished and ongoing research in that field.

For readers who wish to address a specific medical illness or condition, but have no idea what remedies they can rely on, The Best Alternative Medicine also includes a major section organized by condition, with bulleted points of brief, clear, researched information. Alphabetically arranged, this section provides recommendations for prevention and treatment, as well as references to further resources for everything from acne to ear infections, bronchitis to heart disease, and headaches to Parkinson's disease.

Now, more than ever, as alternative medicine moves to the forefront of medical advances, people need the facts to inform their health decisions. Whether you are interested in prevention or are considering treatment for yourself, your patients, or your family, The Best Alternative Medicine will help you make the best choices about complementary and alternative medicine based on the latest researched, essential information.

Contents:

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction by Andrew Weil, M.D.

Part I: Major Areas of Treatment

1 Think Horses, Not Zebras

2 Sound Mind, Sound Body: MindBody Medicine Comes of Age

3 Food for Thought: Dietary Supplements, Phytonutrients, and Hormones

4 Traditional Chinese Medicine: Three Thousand Years of Evolution

5 Acupuncture: From Yellow Emperor to Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)

6 Western Herbal Medicine: Nature's Green Pharmacy

7 Naturopathic Medicine: "Do No Harm"

8 Homeopathy: Like Cures Like

9 Chiropractic: Thigh Bone Connected to the Knee Bone

10 Ayurvedic Medicine and Yoga: From Buddha to the Millennium

11 Spirituality and Healing: As Above...So Below

12 CAM Insurance: Who Pays How Much to Whom for What

13 We're Not in Kansas Anymore: Toward an Integrative Medicine

Part II: CAM Therapies for Specific Conditions

General Precautions

Acne

AIDS

Alcoholism

Allergies

Alzheimer's Disease

Anxiety

Arthritis

Asthma

Atherosclerosis

Attention Deficit Disorder

Bedwetting (see Enuresis)

Birth Defects

Bronchitis

Bruises

Buzzing in the Ears (see Tinnitus)

Cancer

Cardiovascular (Heart) Disease and Cholesterol

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Cervical Spondylitis

Chronic Fatigue

Cirrhosis and Alcoholic Liver Disease

Colds/Flu

Colic

Constipation

Dementia and/or Memory Loss

Dental Craniomandibular Disorder

Depression

Diabetes

Diarrhea

Diverticulitis

Dyslexia

Ear Infection (see Otitis Media)

Eczema

Enuresis

Epilepsy

Eye Disorders

Fibromyalgia

Gastrointestinal (Stomach and Intestinal Disturbances)

Hay Fever

Headaches

Heart Conditions

High Blood Pressure

Impotence

Infertility

Insomnia

Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)

Ischemia

Kidney Stones

Liver Disease

Lupus

Memory Disorders

Menire's Disease

Menstrual Symptoms, Menopause, and PMS

Mononucleosis

Nausea

Obesity

Osteoporosis

Otitis Media

Pain

Parkinson's Disease

Prostate or Prostatic Hypertrophy (Prostate Enlargement)

Psoriasis

Respiratory Problems

Schizophrenia

Sciatica

Scleroderma

Sexual Dysfunction

Sinusitis

Sprains

Substance Abuse

f0 Tendinitis

Thyroid Dysfunction

Tinnitus

Tonsillitis

Tuberculosis

Ulcers

Vaginitis

Varicose Veins

Vertigo

Yeast Infections (see Vaginitis)

Bibliography

Index