How to Talk to Your Doctor About Alternative Therapy and Medicine

After a lengthy hospital stay last year, I came home with a box full of medication. In the morning, I took five different pills. In the afternoon, I took three different pills, at two different times. In the evening before bed, I took nine--yes, you read that right, NINE--different pills. At the time, they were all necessary, but as time wore on, I was slowly weaned off the ones I no longer needed.

Still, I can't help but wonder how different things would have been if I had insisted or at least discussed with my doctor the option of using alternative, homeopathic or natural treatments instead. Food, diet, herbs, spices, home remedies and alternative treatments can often help or even alleviate many symptoms.

However, your doctor is probably not used to thinking along these lines, and he will likely try to prescribe you something to take for symptoms.

This is where you have to be an advocate for your own health.

For example, if you've been experiencing heartburn, instead of prescribing a heartburn pill to relieve the symptoms, you could actually look at your diet, remove foods known to cause heartburn from your diet, and add in more diary products and yogurt, both of which are known to help with heartburn. Then, you can slowly add in the foods you removed from the diet, and learn which ones specifically trigger the heartburn and simply avoid the foods. This is safer and better for you than popping a pill every day.

How, then, do you convince your doctor to consider alternative treatments for heartburn like this?

It's difficult for some doctors to change their thinking. After all, they went to medical school and learned how to prescribe the right medication for the right condition. This is their job and what they were trained to do. However, a good doctor will listen to you.

Ask About Alternative Treatments

The first thing to do is to let your doctor know that you would prefer not taking medication if there are other ways to control your conditions or symptoms. Some conditions require medication and there's not much you can do about them, such as an insulin dependant diabetic must take insulin. However, even with medication, there are alternative treatments that might help the symptoms or reduce the amount of medication you have to take.

Asking is the first step to finding out if the doctor will help you find alternative treatments for your conditions. If the doctor isn't willing to consider alternative therapy, find out his reasons why. If it's because the medication is an absolute necessity, that's one thing. But if it's just the doctor's stubborn desire to treat with medication, it might be time to search for a different doctor.

Tell Doctor About Alternative Treatments

If you are already using alternative medicine to treat a symptom or ailment, the doctor needs to know, particularly if this alternative treatment is an herb or dietary supplement, since some herbs and dietary supplements can cause interactions with medication or might even cause secondary side effects you aren't aware of. The doctor can help you determine if this is the case.

Find Research to Back Alternative Treatments

If you're presenting something you'd like to try to the doctor, be sure to give him some information he can use to ascertain if this is a legitimate alternative treatment. If there are research or scientific studies, offer those to him. However, don't come in expecting to tell the doctor what you're going to do, otherwise there's no reason to see him. Ask him what he thinks about the alternative treatment, and again, express your desire to treat ailments are naturally as possible.

If It Works, Don't Knock It

Let your doctor know if an alternative treatment is helping you. For example, if you've had lower back pain and nothing has helped but pain pills, and suddenly, an acupuncturist has relieved your pain, tell your doctor this. Offer to give him the name and number of the person so they can tell him what they did. There might be a medical explanation that can help your doctor coordinate your care.

Alternatives to Alternative Medicine

Keep in mind that your health is what's most important, so whatever it takes to make you feel better while making your medical tests come back with better results is what should be your goal and your doctor's goal too. Look for a doctor who is more interested in making you feel better than in just making your tests look better. If you find this type of doctor, and alternative therapy or treatment in conjunction with medical treatment works for you, then your doctor will be pleased that you are feeling better and will assist with your alternative treatment too.