An increasing number of ill individuals are opting for alternative ways of seeking treatment rather than booking a doctor’s appointment and getting professional advice. I believe this is a negative development, primarily because misinformed people might make regrettable health and financial decisions.
Although medical alternatives might be appealing for to some patients, this might not be the safest approach to treating a disease. Most people consuming herbs and ‘healthy cocktails’ do not have any formal education in medicine or healthcare; thus, , thus leading them to eat or drink something that might exacerbate their current condition or cause additional health problems, particularly in the liver, since it metabolises almost everything we consume. Furthermore, this may lead them to present to their primary care physicians with more severe symptoms or irreversible damage to their bodies. Let us take elderly patients in Asian countries, for instance; they are known to drink a variety of medicinal plants for various health reasons without taking into account their current comorbidities. This might turn their flu-like illness into a life-threatening condition, like fulminant hepatitis.
Additionally, most of the medicinal plants are costly and are not regulated by laws that govern actual medical drugs. This might stem from the notion that a lot of herbal treatments are not based on factual research, making them not obligated to follow the regulations, since they are not actual medical treatments, of the ministry of health and the public health department, primarily when it comes to pricing. Moreover, herbalists might take advantage of this loophole, allowing them to scam uneducated elderly patients. This will eventually lead to dire financial losses which might cause further physical and psychological damages. Let us take Jordan, for example; they do not impose any regulations on the price of sage, a common herb used primarily for diarrhea, leading traders to sell them at outrageous prices to unknowing patients; this might result in distress when their symptoms become worse, and figure out that they were scammed. Alternatively, if they have had opted for traditional anti-diarrheal drugs, they would have paid a fraction of the price.
In conclusion, taking substitute medical cures might seem better for sick individuals; however, since most of them consume them without any professional advice, this might cause exacerbations of their current conditions or presenting with more severe illnesses. Also, since the prices on of such treatments are not regulated nor fixed, this might lead poor patients to pay hefty amounts of cash for something that may cause more harm than good.
