Difference between Alt Med and Comp Med Alt forums?
Just curious.
Comments
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Here is the definition:
Complementary and Alternative Medicine: What’s the Difference?
It is important to understand the difference between complementary medicine and alternative medicine — the two approaches are often lumped together but are, in fact, distinct.
Complementary medicine refers to healing practices and products that work in conjunction with traditional medicine. For example, a cancer patient receiving chemotherapy may also undergo acupuncture to help manage chemo side effects like nausea and vomiting. Alternative medicine differs in that it is not used as a complement to, but rather as a substitute for traditional therapy. An example would be a cancer patient who forgoes recommended chemotherapy and instead chooses to treat the disease with specific dietary changes.
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That's exactly how I understand it. Complimentary= along with. Alternative= instead of.
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Would someone who will have surgery and SNB but not rads or chemo if recommended be alternative? Surgery and SNB is conventional?
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I don't know if there are any hard and fast "rules" governing complementary vs. alternative. If you read the descriptors for both forums, you can get a good general idea of it. However, if one has previously used conventional therapies and then uses alternatives, this doesn't prevent them from posting in the alt forums and vice a versa. Don't worry too much about labeling your tx !
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Imo, surgery and snb is conventional treatment.
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The comp forum is for people who have done/are doing conventional treatment, but who are also interested in alternatives strategies for dealing with cancer and all that comes with it.
In addition, here in the alt forum it is considered bad form to question any kind of treatment described, whereas in the comp forum it is more accepted to discuss the basis for approaches.
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This is one of those definitions that attempts to reflect a hard and fast rule that doesn't match with what people do so is useless.
If someone has only surgery, neither category applies.
If someone has surgery and radiation but refuses Tamoxifen, neither category applies.
And so on.
You don't need these definitions. Just choose what you want to do and remember you don't need a name for it. You don't need permission to do something that falls into a category.
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Ah, Thank You.
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Good point
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Good definition IMO.
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