Orthodox medicine is ineffective at both ends of the spectrum of ailments  At the more trivial end, orthodox medicine is largely ineffective in treating aches, pains, and allergies, and, at the other extreme, it has yet to produce a cure for serious, life-threatening diseases such as advanced cancer and lupus  People turn to alternative medicine when orthodox medicine fails to help them and when it produces side effects that are unacceptable to them
One of the reasons alternative medicine is free of such side effects is that it does not have any effects at all
There are some medical conditions for which no orthodox or alternative treatment is effective.