Medicine: Traditional and natural or pharmaceutical?

Five years ago the world was "broken," for lack of a better word, with a pandemic situation that reached far and wide impacting everyone. Sure, there's a few who say things like, "life went on as usual around here," and maybe it it did to some extent, but the effect the pandemic had went much deeper than social-distancing, being confined to one's home and the lack of toilet paper and other commodities. It impacted upon every aspect of life in some way and everyone on the planet was touched by it indirectly or directly - or so I believe.

This post isn't about that though, it's about medicine - the medicines we take - and the decisions people make around medicine. Some prefer herbal or natural medicines, some lean towards and rely upon traditional medicines and I think the most prevalent would be pharmaceuticals, most of us have used these in our lives.

I brought up the Covid-19 pandemic because I overheard a conversation today around conspiracy theories relating to the pandemic between two very opinionated individuals who had conflicting opinions on how it was dealt with and specifically the way it was medically treated with rushed-through and largely untested vaccines. That topic was hotly debated and argued in those months and often still is today as evidenced by those two I overheard.

I was thinking later about how differently people see the pharmaceutical industry, what they think about the drugs on offer these days and what goes into them, the side effects; conversely, how people perceive natural and traditional medicines. It's something that often brings a lot of emotion, good and bad logic and perception, and sometimes incredibly spirited discussions that can, and do, often spill over into full-blown arguments. I get it too, it's an important thing, it's our lives and wellbeing after all, and should be taken seriously.

With that in mind, I thought I'd put it out there to whomever reads this post and wants to comment. See below for some discussion points.

Do you prefer pharmaceutical medicines or natural and traditional medicines and remedies or do you try to find a compromise between both and, either way, why and what results have you experienced?

Do you feel the pharmaceutical industry and the "big pharma" brands like Pfizer, Amgen, Mayne Pharma, Johnson & Johnson, Merck and others have the right intentions or are they all about the revenue? Do they care about our wellbeing or their profit? If you have an opinion, explain why.

Do you believe there's been manipulation of people's health and wellbeing for the sake of profit and control? Do medicines actually do what they are supposed to or are they leading to other issues? Have you seen natural and traditional medicines and treatments go badly or the same with pharmaceutical medicines? What happened and why?

If you have any thoughts or stories you'd like to share around these topics or other related topics and issues please go ahead in the comments below if you're keen.