An Overview of Allopathic Medicine: Fixin' What's Broke

Allopathic medicine is the healing system with which most North Americans and Europeans are familiar. The term "allopathic" refers to treating illnesses ("-pathy") by administering the opposite ("allo-"). For example, medical doctors have traditionally prescribed antipyretics (such as acetaminophen/Tylenol[tm]) to reduce a fever. I say "traditionally" because, as the world of medicine and healing moves towards integrating the best of all healing systems (albeit at glacial speed), even medical doctors are beginning to view a low-grade fever as a normal process the body uses to protect itself from "pathogens gone wild". (Wow, now THERE'S a blog title for an epidemiologist, eh?) Makes sense--most pathogens (organisms capable of causing illness) have a very narrow tolerance for temperatures before they stop reproducing--preferring something along the lines of 98.6F/37C. Kick up the body temperature even a couple of degrees and suddenly the pathogenic version of Spring Break in Miami Beach turns into just another weeknight in the college library for the little germs (referring to the pathogens, not college students). A non-reproducing pathogen is a dead pathogen, once the rest of the body's immune response kicks in.

Allopathic medicine has evolved to a current focus on illnesses, their identification and treatment. In this system, human beings are viewed as a whole comprised of various parts--cells (reduced further to organelles and chemical components), tissues, organs, organ systems. These parts can wear out or break, or sometimes are simply "factory seconds" right from the beginning. The role of allopathic medicine, then, is to fix these parts. Obviously, when a bone breaks and the ends are out of alignment, it's an extremely good idea, brilliant even, to pull those bone ends back together and then stabilize the area until the bone heals. Alternatives are just not going to have the same success, and indeed energy work such as reiki is considered by many of its practitioners as contraindicated (meaning, DON'T DO IT) in this situation, until the bone ends are realigned and stabilized. This is the clearest, least controversial example I could imagine to illustrate the allopathic philosophy, methodology, and goals. Less clear, but equally allopathic "fixin' what's broke" is the use of medications. Blood sugar high because your pancreas isn't kicking out insulin like it used to? We've got drugs for that. Blood sugar high because your cells don't recognize insulin like they used to? We've got OTHER drugs for that. Sure, you should balance your macronutrients (carbohydrates, fats, and proteins) and get off your duff, too. An especially enlightened physician would even address stress management with you. But you will rest assured that your doctor has scientifically developed, controlled potency, synthetic cures and treatments refined to target precisely what's wrong.

So, to summarize, the allopathic system of medicine and healing maintains a reductionistic (reducing a whole to its most basic parts) and mechanistic (viewing the body as a machine that behaves mechanically and predictably) perspective. This perspective is borne of the Scientific Method, a protocol for controlling and quantifying natural phenomena to gain understanding and, ultimately, manage these phenomena clinically. Sounds geeky and a bit overwhelming? So does Star Wars, and you like that, don't you? You don't? Me, neither--but I do find science interesting and fun, and important to understand even just a little, to make educated decisions about our health. Read on for discussions of other systems--it won't hurt...much... ~Whitney