Holistic Health & Sex

Holistic Sex: Traditional & Holistic Medicine

Holistic sexuality is simply understanding that sexuality is more than just physical. Sex is a physical, mental, and emotional experience, and we carry sexual products that reflect our understanding of this.

Holistic sex encourages healthy sexual expression without shame or guilt and integrates holistic health approaches that impact sexuality more comprehensively than just focusing on the physical body.

We encourage various sexual holistic approaches, from mindful sex, relationship building to body safe, nontoxic sex toys and lubricants. Our primary goal is to provide a balanced education so that you can enjoy the pleasure and health benefits that a healthy sex life has to offer.

Holistic Hype

There are a lot of holistic sites out there that glamorize natural remedies over traditional medicine. We are not one of them. We understand that using the best of both helps you stay healthy. We value science and factual information over hype, so that is why in this article, we will review with you what you need to know when working with a holistic practitioner to have a healthy sex life as well as overall good health. See our article: Fear-based Sex Toy Marketing Hype for more information. 

What Is Holistic Health?

Holistic health (holistic medicine, integrative medicine, and alternative medicine) is defined as the wellbeing of the physical body and the mental and emotional components. Holistic medicine looks at the whole person, understanding that a person is more than just their physical body. Some holistic practitioners also integrate a spiritual component to their work concerning one's beliefs.

Holistic medicine is sometimes dismissed as a pseudoscience with little worth in practical medicine. As it is such a broad field without many organizations to validate education and confirm effectiveness, some holistic practices are questionable and, in some cases, dangerous. However, many forms of holistic medicine have been studied, validated, and are quite effective such a acupuncture.

Just as one would not dismiss all western medicine because of a bad doctor or medical treatment, one should also not dismiss all holistic practitioners for the same reason. There are good and bad doctors and controversial forms of medical treatment just as there are in holistic medicine.

Getting Educated & Empowered

It is essential that consumers and patients be educated about the treatments they choose when working with any practitioner, including traditional medical practitioners. Education is the ultimate way to be empowered about our decisions regarding ourselves and our family's health. Researching possible side-effects, drug interactions in addition to health benefits can, in some cases, prevent serious health complications.

People tend to get confused and frustrated with having to research their health. Certainly, finding someone who is educated in the specialty you need is helpful; however, any good patient/practitioner relationship is based on collaboration. Keep in mind that no one should completely give their power away to a health practitioner. To advance, we must remain open-minded with a bit of healthy skepticism.

Preparing For Working With A Health Practitioner

As a consumer and patient, you should provide accurate and detailed information and question any proposed treatment for you and your family, whether from a holistic practitioner or a traditional doctor. No matter what a practitioner's background, they are a lot like a detective when it comes to your health concerns, especially during your initial assessment with them. They are looking for information from you to help them figure out what may cause a health problem and the best treatment plan to deal with it effectively. 

The more information you provide upfront, the easier it will be for them to help you. After all, many detectives have to rule out suspects. Sometimes, they may even charge an innocent person with a crime they did not commit; the same can be said in the area of a medical or holistic misdiagnosis. Having a list of symptoms, the times and severity those symptoms are occurring, as well as your nutritional intake, supplements, medications, and health history will significantly assist your health practitioner in helping you as they do not mind readers and they do not know how you live your life other than what you divulge to them.

Certainly, things like lab work and a physical exam can prove suspicions. Still, because there are so many reasons for the body to react in specific ways, you must help them put the puzzle pieces together to create a fuller picture to review and research their recommendations as an option for you than as the last word.

Remember that sexual health issues are often connected with other health issues so discussing sexual symptoms if you are having them is important. See our How to Talk To Your Doctor About Sex Guide.

Western Medicine Practitioner Challenges

When people go to their doctor, they often assume that they can easily diagnose and prescribe the right treatment. However, this is not always the case. Physicians only know what they learned in medical school and through their professional experiences. Because science is ever advancing and because the field of medicine is so vast, no physician can know everything and understand how every treatment or medication they prescribe is going to impact their patients both short and long term. Medical school is often basic and does not focus in-depth on many vital subjects that patients often assume are covered, such as nutrition, sexuality, and pharmaceuticals.

For example, if you ask an OB/GYN what they studied in medical school, you may be surprised to learn that many are not required to explore sexuality in terms of things such as clitoral and vaginal orgasms, low libido, female ejaculation, etc. These topics are often skimmed over or are only in electives; thus, many women would be shocked that their doctor is not as educated about their sexual functioning as they thought.

Treating Symptoms Instead Of Underlying Causes

In addition, while many doctors understand essential nutrition, they often fail to emphasize the importance of it to their patients and lack detailed information that may allow them to offer natural, inexpensive solutions to health problems. For example, the spice turmeric is a natural blood thinner, but a traditional doctor would not suggest that to prevent blood clots, rather they would prescribe something like the drug Warfarin (Coumadin).

Furthermore, they can feel pressured by their patients to give a prescription instead of addressing a lifestyle change, which has become the norm for medical complaints. This gets even more complex when you begin to look at the role pharmaceutical companies play in creating a desire for their prescriptions, making it even more likely that patients will want their symptoms treated rather than focusing on the underlying health issue.

An example of this concerning mental and emotional issues may be when a patient feels stress and complains to their doctor that they are having difficulty dealing with anxiety. Instead of addressing the anxiety and finding healthy coping skills such as meditation, exercise, and better nutrition to deal with the stress or ways to remove the stress, it is not uncommon for an anti-anxiety (anxiolytic) medication to be prescribed. Beyond keeping the person from dealing with their stress more proactively, these drugs can cause short and long-term side effects that can further damage one's overall health.

Mainstream doctors are also not as educated about drugs as you may think. With research always advancing and new medications being released, they often find it challenging to keep up. It is not uncommon for physicians to prescribe a medication for a patient only to have the pharmacist have to call them and tell them that they prescribed the wrong dose or that they cannot have their patient take the prescription they wrote for them with another drug the patient is already taking.

Bottom line, when it comes to prescriptions, always check with the pharmacist as they are much more educated about prescriptions than your doctor, and make sure to research the drug or drugs in the same class to have a sense of what research has been done on it for short and long term side effects.

Health Problems From Bad Nutrition

When a person has low vitamin D levels, it can cause depression, low energy, an increased risk of type 1 diabetes, and lower the immune system's effectiveness, making one vulnerable to illness, including various cancers. The prescription vitamin D (most often vitamin D2) that some doctors prescribe is not absorbed well by the body without taking calcium (which new studies show women are typically getting too much of through supplements). The body needs vitamin D3, which is easily absorbed by sitting in the sunlight for 15 minutes a day. It is also found in over the counter supplements, with a particularly effective form being vitamin D3 as cholecalciferol (made with organic mushrooms).

Three problems with prescribing vitamin D2:

• Having a patient pay for a prescription, they do not need.
  
  
• Giving them the wrong vitamin D.
  
  
• Possibly recommending too much calcium from calcium supplements to absorb the D they are prescribing.

Nutrition and your overall health as well as your sexual health can be confusing. See more about nutrition through our Nutrition Guide for Good Sex & Health Guide. 

Over-Prescribing Drugs & Expensive Medical Tests

In addition, it is also not uncommon for a doctor to treat symptoms in a manner that does nothing to address the root cause of the health issue but only addresses the symptoms. Below is a true story to demonstrate this point.

A patient went to their doctor and complained of acid reflux getting worse with time at night. The doctor asked them a few questions about the severity and then prescribed medication to decrease the stomach's acid to keep the acid from coming into the esophagus. The stomach acid continued to bother the patient, so the doctor ordered an upper gastrointestinal test (UGI) so that they could watch liquid barium move via the esophagus and stomach through x-rays. They find no ulcers, tumors, polyps, hernias, etc. so they prescribe a stronger medication. This does not work, so they order another UGI and find nothing and, in turn, prescribe an even stronger medication.

The patient takes the prescription antacid medication for a few years, but nothing changes, and digestive issues worsen. So what did the doctor miss? The patient liked to eat a lot of sugar and dairy, especially before they went to sleep. Had the doctor only better-understood nutrition, then identifying that as the cause would have saved the patient from suppressing the natural and healthy stomach acid by taking unnecessary medications, not to mention the expensive cost of those medications.

In addition, it would have saved the patient from having to go through two uncomfortable UGI tests that were also very expensive and exposed them to radiation twice for no reason. Furthermore, the prescription medication was later pulled by the FDA for causing serious health issues, so the patient's health was put at risk to accomplish nothing but suppress a symptom rather than address the cause.

Later, the patient took a holistic cooking class and learned that sugar and dairy are among the leading causes of acid reflux and realized why they had been experiencing it so strongly at night. The patient changed their diet, stopped taking the doctor's medications, and never had acid reflux problems again.

Holistic Medicine Problems

Society tends to get caught up in trends, which is true in Western medicine and holistic medicine. In holistic medicine, it is often seen through the increase in dietary supplements. The problem with holistic health is that, like western medicine, the field is vast, and typically a practitioner is only going to know their specialty.

An additional problem in holistic medicine is that very few regulatory agencies oversee a holistic practitioner's qualifications. That is why you must ask what education the practitioner has and the school they received to determine if they are qualified to address your health concerns. If the specialty does not have a formal education available, then ask them questions about why they are qualified to help you until you feel satisfied with their answers.

Supplement Trends

The dietary supplement trend is getting more and more popular. The problem is that not everyone should use certain supplements. Just because something is natural and reasonably healthy for most people does not mean it cannot hurt you.

For example, maca root has been indicated to be an excellent supplement to combat fatigue, and while it is a nontoxic supplement based on the studies that have been done on it; women that have an increased risk of hormone-sensitive breast cancer may want to avoid maca as the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center found that maca root possesses estrogenic activity which can contribute to hormone-related breast cancer. Also, if you have a low diet in iodine, maca may interfere with thyroid hormone production due to it containing glucosinolates. As you can see from these examples, even a nontoxic supplement is not necessarily for everyone.

Another example is the turmeric/curcumin craze. If you are well researched, then you would know that many articles outline the health benefits of turmeric, such as the effective treatment and prevention of Alzheimer's disease, headaches, cancer, arthritis, fibromyalgia, menstrual problems, bronchitis, heartburn, diarrhea, colds, lung infections intestinal gas, loss of appetite, liver disease and much more. In addition, for it to be effective, it should be taken with black pepper (Bioperine) to help the body absorb it. However, turmeric has been shown to slow blood clotting, so those with hemophilia should avoid it. Also, it is an iron chelator, so those with anemia or low iron stores may want to consult with their physician to make sure they are not inadvertently depleting their iron levels by taking it.

Also, stevia is a popular sweetener, and it is relatively safe to consume. However, because it naturally lowers blood pressure, those who have low blood pressure already may find that taking it causes it to dip even further, thus, causing dizzy spells and the feeling shortness of breath. Again, researching if a supplement is safe and how it will react with your health issues and needs is important.

See more through our Sex & Herbs Guide as well as our Natural Erectile Dysfunction Remedies.

Your Health Is Your Responsibility

Healthy people don't look for magic pills, quick fixes, and easy living. They understand that it requires a commitment to take care of themselves through nutrition, physical activity, stress management, and more. In the end, your health is your responsibility, and no practitioner should be blindly followed. It is essential to ask questions, research, and stay on top of your particular health needs as everyone is different and reacts to treatments uniquely.

If you find a holistic, integrative, or alternative form of medicine that you want to try, get as much information about it as possible. Use the internet to ask other consumers or patients what their experiences have been through health forums and social media connections. Also, don't stop with one opinion; make sure you get many and open your mind to reading both positive and negative feedback on the treatment or suggestion to make an informed decision.

Nothing is black and white, and just because you read one positive or negative resource on something does not mean it does not work or that it is not for you. That is why getting multiple educational resources is so important. After all, your health, disease prevention, and solutions for health problems are your responsibility because you are worth it.

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