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What is Integrative Medicine?

Integrative Medicine

To answer this question, it would be necessary to first define other concepts, mainly those of conventional medicine and natural medicine.

In a very schematic way, conventional medicine would be the medicine that is generally applied today in hospitals and clinics, consisting of the administration of drugs to eliminate the patient's symptoms, without the need to look for the causes of the symptoms or to cure the patient, while natural medicine would use natural remedies or medicines for the same purpose.

Integrative medicine would be a novel and at the same time eclectic concept, more widespread in the United States, than in the United States. would refer to the combination of conventional and alternative medicine, that are safe and effective in curing, reducing or eliminating symptoms and preventing disease according to the individual's tendencies.

 

Introducing a new concept, that of Biological MedicineAs the medical science that is based on the strengthening of the immune system of the organism and whose goal is to achieve the integral health of people, we could conclude by saying that Biological Medicine is what we call Integrative Medicine in Europe, and conversely, Integrative Medicine is what the Americans call Biological Medicine in Europe. It is the basis of any Biohealth treatment.

In Europe we speak of biological medicine and in the United States we speak of integrative medicine.

People are also starting to talk about integrative medicine in Spain or integrative medicine. Some clinics in our country have introduced the term integrative medicine, which is the biological medicine that we use in our clinic. Therefore, Biosalud is also a integrative medicine clinic or a functional integrative medicine centre.

As Dr. Andrew Weil states, the use of synthetic drugs and surgery to treat medical conditions was known only a few decades ago as simply "medicine". Today, this system is increasingly referred to as "medicine".conventional medicine". This is the kind of medicine that most citizens encounter in hospitals and clinics. Often expensive and invasive, it is also very good at some things; for example, in dealing with emergency situations, such as massive injuries or a life-threatening stroke. It is very much needed in borderline situations and therefore ideally a combination of the two, as There is only one medicine, and the important thing is to be able to have the maximum options to prevent, cure or alleviate the diseases that affect any human being, avoiding as far as possible side effects and contraindications.

Any therapy that is normally excluded by conventional medicine and that patients use in place of conventional medicine is known as alternative medicine. The term encompasses hundreds of old and new practices ranging from acupuncture to homeopathy to iridology. Alternative therapies are generally closer to nature.are less invasive than conventional therapies, although there are exceptions. An alternative medicine practice that is used in conjunction with a conventional one is known as a "complementary" medicine. Example: the use of ginger syrup to prevent nausea during chemotherapy. Collectively, complementary and alternative medicines are often referred to by the acronym MAC.

The term integrative medicine is defined by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine at the US National Institutes of Health as "integrative medicine combines conventional medical therapies and CAM therapies for which there is some scientific evidence of highest quality, safety and efficacy".

This is a definition basic of integrative medicine. The following is the completewhich serves to guide both Dr. Weil's work and that of integrative medicine physicians and teachers around the world:

"Integrative medicine is healing-oriented medicine, which takes into account the whole person (body, mind and spirit), including all aspects of man. It emphasises the therapeutic relationship and makes use of all appropriate therapies, both conventional and alternative". 

In this sense, the principles of integrative medicine are as follows:

  • Partnership between patient and practitioner in the healing process. The patient is not passive, he is active, and the doctor is his guide.
  • Appropriate use of conventional and alternative methods to facilitate the body's natural healing response.
  • Consideration of all factors influencing health, well-being and illness, including mind, spirit and community, as well as the physiokological balance of the organism.
  • A philosophy that neither rejects conventional medicine nor uncritically accepts alternative therapies.
  • Recognition that good medicine must be based on good science, previous research, and be open to new paradigms.
  • The use of natural, effective and less invasive measures whenever possible.
  • Use of the broader concepts of health promotion and disease prevention and treatment.
  • Training professionals to be models of health and healing, committed to the process of self-exploration and self-development. 

Natural medicine and conventional medicine

Based on a broad conception that conventional medicine uses pharmaceuticals and natural medicine uses natural remedies, Integrative Medicine would be a mixture of the two, as it encompasses both conventional and natural medicine.to provide the patient with all possible tools for healing.

The aim is not to disregard the scientific and technical advances that conventional medicine has made in the maintenance of health, without neglecting natural remedies or medicines.It also takes into account the behavioural aspects of the individual and their influence on health. In short, the aim is to keep the immune system as strong as possible or to strengthen it if it is impaired.

At Biosalud, with the basis of Integrative Medicine, we are able to successfully treat chronic illnesses, for example, by looking for their causes and treating their consequences, orienting the treatment in a curative and not only palliative way. In this way we make palliative drugs less necessary, such as anti-inflammatory drugs, which with their chronic use end up producing such side effects that in many cases they have to be withdrawn and we find ourselves with more symptoms than before and with the disease more evolved and more difficult to control.

In the dilemma between natural medicine and conventional medicine, it should be noted that conventional medicine has for quite some time been the answer to many of our health problems, but the harmful effects of many drugs with aggressive and very harmful chemical compounds are disputed. On the other hand, natural medicine, which was largely relegated to the background for a while, is clearly making a comeback nowadays, and according to many experts many natural remedies are suitable and excellent for treating diseases such as hypertension, high cholesterol or diabetes, to name a few examples.

Biosalud, pioneer in "integrative medicine".

As you can see in this video presentation of the Biosalud clinic of Some time ago, Dr. Mariano Bueno, the soul of the Centre, already defined Biosalud as an Integrative Medicine Clinic. by clearly stating that "For more than 30 years, Biosalud has been committed to the medicine of the future, in which conventional treatments are combined with traditional (natural) treatments.".

As we said at the beginningBiological Medicine is identifiable with Integrative Medicine.It is a combination of the techniques of conventional medicine and natural or alternative medicine and, as Mariano Bueno states, "it studies the patient from a global perspective, without departing from scientific medicine, but it covers more, as its basis is established in the immune system. In other words, Biological Medicine treats the human being as a whole, taking into account the relationship between all the organs and the different areas of the organism". As we can see, this definition coincides almost exactly with the definition of Integrative Medicine offered by the American Health Institutions.

Dr. Bueno defines Biosalud as a Clinic of Biological Medicine and Anti-ageingor Biomedicine. For him, the choice of a career in medicine is no accident, nor is the subsequent development of medical practice based on Integrative Medicine, since, as he rightly says, "it has helped him to see the organism in a different way, and to treat illnesses differently, and to have the greatest satisfaction that I could ever imagine from the results that we obtain".

A great way to end the video is the phrase Mariano Bueno uses to close the video "...".Biological Medicine pursues a single objective, to give more years to our life, and more life to these years, ageing more gently, as far as genetically possible in each person.".

Mariano Bueno

Dr. Mariano Bueno and his team

12 thoughts on “¿Qué es la Medicina Integrativa?”

  1. I loved your article, there is a lot of unclear information about the concept of Integrative medicine, I broke paradigms with this new concept I use therapeutic grade essential oils I have been knowing and using them for 2 years, I love the possibility of having at my fingertips and especially my patients' products that are scientifically endorsed, it has opened a whole new world of possibilities!

  2. good morning, I would like to know if this integrative biological medicine can be used in a 20 year old young man with chronic kidney disease stage I in peritoneal dialysis ... in a relatively healthy state since the only high levels are creatinine and urea ...with a bas disease called renal distal tubular acidosis.
    thank you very much

  3. I work with children with cancer in the INEN (Peru). I have been working with complementary medicine and phytotherapy for years, the plant we use is Aloe Vera in complications due to the effects of the treatment itself. As a nurse we feel very satisfied, we offer an integral care with love, quality and warmth to our paediatric patients and their families.

  4. I am an internist in Venezuela. Excellent exposition with a lot of scientific quality. Thank you for keeping me informed of your publications.

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