Both have strengths, and both have their limitations. The first step in joining the two is not to try to understand one another, but to admit the limitations of each so that the door will be opened to respect and trust the strengths of both. Dr. Fisher practiced internal medicine in her native country of Germany for ten years before moving to the United States. In Germany, she explains, there is not the same division between Western medicine and alternative medicine as exists in this country. So, after visiting several medical centers as well as Pacific College's clinic, she decided that she would transition her career to Oriental medicine.
Chinese medicine offers a distinct concept - a new way of looking at life.
I felt as though I was taking off one pair of glasses, my Western medicine glasses, and putting on a new pair of glasses, my Chinese medicine glasses, that brought entirely new ideas into focus. So that explains Dr. Fisher's own personal evolution into integrative medicine. For many of these conditions, high-tech medicine is overkill. It is a strange irony, but modern-day health problems are actually bringing people to better understand the value of ancient medicine. Perhaps this is why as many as one-third of all Americans are seeking alternative medicine treatments.