What Are Some Of The Main Reasons A Man Might Seek Out An Alternative Medicine Practitioner?

Aug. 24, 2009— -- Question: What are some of the main reasons a man might seek out an alternative medicine practitioner?

Answer: One of the reasons I love allopathic medicine is because it does a very nice job treating acute sorts of problems. If a break my arm, I'd rather go to the ER, however, when you're working with chronic complaints, it's oftentimes very helpful to incorporate complimentary alternative medicine modalities, taking an integrative approach.

Many men seek this out for a number of reasons. One is because it tends to be more holistic in nature. That's not a matter of just looking at broken body parts, it's also a matter of looking at every aspect of the person – mental health, emotional health, relationships, role in the community – things that give you a sense of meaning and purpose. All of those are extremely important. I find that a lot of guys seek out alternative medicine approaches because they're looking for something that they can use to give them more of that approach, and it's something that can be more preventative in nature. Certainly taking a wellness approach is much better than fixing the problem when it arises. Now as far as problems that people present with when they're looking for that sort of help, oftentimes it tends to be the more chronic problems that modern medicine doesn't have as many tools for. Some examples would be chronic pain, depression and other mood disorders that haven't responded to conventional therapies, IBS or inflammatory bowel disease as well as irritable bowel syndrome; I also see a lot of people with fibromyalgia, that sort of thing, insomnia. Sometimes men will come in with sexual dysfunction, concerns about energy levels and fatigue as well. Any of those are fair game.