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Medicine has become an imprescriptible part of our lives. When we feel unwell we hastily call our parctitioner, go to the chemistry to get the medicines we need and if something is radically wrong with us receive a sick leave to be able to stay at home and get well. Have you ever imagined that things were not always like that? Here are some interesting facts about the development and main sorts of up-to-date medicine.

The word medicine is derived from the Latin “ars medicina”, meaning “the art of healing”. Medicine now is a profoundly scienctific activity, but you should also remember that it is a kind of art - the art of healing humans. The major functions of up-to-date medicine is supporting and restoring health by means of prevention and treatment of various health problems. Mainstream medicine sprang up as a number of healing arts and techniques based on traditional story-told non-scientific practices.

By the way, complementary medicine today has a definite power, too. Why, you might ask? You see, sometimes conventional medicine is unable to cure many hard diseases and injuries such as cancers, diabetes, AIDS, autoimmune diseases, spinal injuries etc. The point is official medicine is really good at finding out symptoms typical for certain health disorders and injuries and at prescribing drugs and medical handling able to relieve the patient’s pain and tribulation. But often it is unable of finding the reason why the health disorder starts. On the contrary, complementary medicine still remembers that we possess intellect, body and soul. Anger and hate that you accumulate inside you as well as negative emotions you face daily hurt your soul, stuff up your head and destroy your body.

Unlike chaotic approaches of healers, present-day medicine is empoweredl with health science, biomedical research and medical technology - it can diagnose and treat injuries and diseases of all kinds. traditionally it applies medication, surgery and some other forms of therapy. The bulk of MDs try to remember how essential it is for the ill individual to feel care and compassion, to have a close contact with the MD, that is why they follow the strict set of rules known as bedside manner.

Many millennia ago our ancestores noticed that certain plants, animal parts and minerals help healing injuries and wounds and overcome various health disorders. It was not the knowledge for everyone - priests, shamans, healers and medicine men believed them to be purely magical substances.
From early records we find out that medicine is a very old activity. Texts about ancient Egyptian medicine, Babylonian medicine, Ayurvedic medicine, classical Chinese madicine, ancient Greek and Roman medicine prove that even millennia ago some men and women tried to help others in getting well! Imhotep is the first name of the medical man preserved in the history of medicine. He was an Egyptian and lived about 3rd millennium BC! The stunning truth is that ancient texts and encryptions tell us that many centuries ago there were dedicated medicinal treatment facilities for patients (like hospitals these days) and numerous surgical operations including aesthetic surgery!

You surely know that ancient Greek physician Hippocrates is considered to be “the father of medicine” for sticking to rational approach to medicine. Hippocrates wrote the famous Hippocratic Oath for physicians. Believe it or not, it is still in use today, as relevant and wise as ever before! What is more, Hippocrates managed to see illnesses as acute, chronic, endemic and epidemic. In addition to it, present-day medical men use many special words invented by Hippocrates - relapse, resolution, paroxysm, peak, exacerbation, crisis, convalescence are only a few of them!

Surprisingly, the Western world did not support outstanding ideas of ancient doctors after the collapse of the Roman Empire and the onset of the Dark Ages. Eastern world, on the contrary, kept and supported the Greek and Roman ways in medicine. A prominent Islamic doctor who made a great contribution to medicine, was Avicenna. He created the famous Cannon of Medicine.

Medical science returned to Europe during the 14th and 15th centuries when deadly Black Death ravaged Europe killing up to 30-60% of its population. This awful pandemic made practitioners reject the ‘traditional authority’ approach to science and medicine and seek new ways out. Doctors like Ibn al-Nafis and Vesalius did a great job developing or criticizing numerous approaches from the past.

But the new age of medicine began in the 18th century when Edward Jenner discovered the smallpox vaccine. Since then biomedical research has become one of the major proofs in medicine, while ancient traditions became a history. Around 1880 Robert Koch deciphered the transmission of illnesses by bacteria and soon in 1908 Paul Ehrlich discovered the first antibiotics.

The 20th century was a real display of medical events and investigations. It is hard to enumerate all the prominent medical people whose research and experiments led to new treatments and the use of revolutionary drugs!

Present-day pharmacology inherited the ancient knowledge of herbalism and incorporated a number of ideas of the chemistry, but all the same, a long list of medications are still derived from plants. For example atropine used in ophthalmology and gastroenterology, ephedrine effective for humans with asthma, warfarin used to prevent heart attacks, strokes, and blood clots, aspirin we take for a number of reasons, digoxin irreplaceable in cardiology and a number of other essential persons are received from plants. But the technology applied today is brand new! A number of drugs reduced their side-effects due to innovative ways of production and what is more, new medications are designed for full compatibility with a human body!

Today you don’t even have to stand in line in the waiting room to get your prescription. You can easily find a good online drugstore no rx needed and enjoy immaculate support team and swift service! All you have to do is to orders high-quality affordable meds online available. You can chose to take brand meds or generic drugs. They share the same formula and are equally effective, but the price of any generic medicine is much more affordable.

Present-day medicine can be regarded as to an evidence-based science, and unlike it was in ancient healing techniques its major purpose is exchanging information and clinical experience. The point is that the ‘best practice’ approaches tend to suppress new ideas of treatment, that is why there numerous systematic medical reviews available.

Present-day medicine is first of all the practice where doctors face patients to examine, diagnose and treat them. So, as you guess the famous TV diagnostic genius Gregory House is not a mainstream practitioner at all! When you visit a MD the standard procedure is like that:
- it begins with studying the patient’s medical history; then follows a detailed medical interview and a careful physical examination. If necessary the examination is followed by medical tests - blood test, urine test, smear, biopsy etc. Please, keep in minds, it is very essential for the doctor to know every truthful detail and symptom - otherwise right diagnosing is impossible! Stop being shy or squeamish when you see your doc - tell him or her everything that you find strange and suspicious - that might be helpful. The medical appointment is wrote down in the special medical record and your personal medical history, which is a legal document.

The process of treatment depends on the case. You stay at home if the issue is simple and take the drugs prescribed by your MD. Serious cases may take weeks and several specialists to manage and the patient is likely to be hospitalized.

Medicine today is a part of health care system of every powerful country. It is important to ensure that every patient has access to medical care irrespective of the personality’s ability to pay for the service. That is why it is so vital to establish state-owned and charitable hospitals and clinics.

The medical personnel consist not only of practitioners. Well-trained nurses, paramedics and emergency medical technicians help their people go the whole way through his or her case and recover as soon as possible. We cannot live without the service of radiographers, dietitians, surgeons, dentists, anaesthetists etc as well. The quality of national health service (NHS) depends exceptionally on the knowledge and practical skills of all these men and women. No wonder medical specialty in universities should meet the highest standards of education possible! What is more, in all Western European countries, USA and other countries of the world a medical doctor must be licensed or registered before he or she can start medical practice. If the medical man fails to use all his or her possibilities to help the patient, if he or she is careless or deliberately harmful, this MD can be charged of medical malpractice. You can find many cases when medical men were subjects to professional, civil or criminal sanctions. Fortunately, cases like that are seldom and as a rule men and women decide to be doctors because it is their calling! Who else but a willing creature agrees to deal with sick and unbearable patients for all the professional life!