Conventional Medicine in the Treatment of Different Diseases as a Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Abstract

Traditional medicine is still the only treatment in many rural areas especially the rural communities of east. Due to limited access to modern medicine, local people use medicinal plants to treat most diseases. Some herbs contain powerful contents and must be treated with the same precautionary care as in the case of drug, we do. In fact, a lot of drugs are basically based on artificial verities of natural composite in plants. For example, the heart drug Digitalis comes from a foxglove plant. Some drugs are single active substance derived from botanical sources. Herbalists believe that if the active ingredient is isolated from other parts of the plant, its action may be lost or its safety may be reduced. E.g, salicylic acid is present in a plant of meadowsweet which is used for aspirin production. Aspirin may cause bleeding in the gastric mucosa, but meadowsweet contains some other compounds naturally that interfere with the stimulation of salicylic acid. According to some practitioners, the effect of whole plant is greater than its parts individually. Critics believe that the nature of the herbs makes itself difficult to administer of such active ingredients. Herbs contain active ingredients, Mostly of them have unknown ingredients. As with other prescription drugs, herbs should always be prescribed by a qualified doctor.

Keywords

• traditional medicine
• chronic diseases
• pharmaceutical medications
• plant
• herbal medicine