Modern medicine failed her. She turned to toad venom instead - USA Today

Sly Young doesn’t always believe in “woo-woo” medicine. But she comes from a long line of traditional healers predisposed to trust themselves over conventional Western medicine. Which is one reason why, when she felt her treatment for her neurodivergence and chronic post traumatic stress become less effective during the pandemic, she started exploring what she describes as sacred earth medicine.

For Young, that means spiritual ceremonies, yoga and active meditation, as well as psychedelics like mushrooms and even toad venom, which have been studied by researchers for treatment of depression, anxiety, and addiction, though vary widely in terms of legality as well as testing and Food and Drug Administration approval.

“I was willing to have toad poison put in my body before I was even willing to take my antidepressant medicine,” Young said. “Some of that is just ignorance, right? Just not being educated and having the literacy of these things.”

But the other reasons are more complex. Young’s background has made navigating the modern American health care system tough. She presents as a Black woman, and said she’s experienced discrimination from care providers dismissive of her symptoms. She grew up in a cult, and said she experienced abuse, making it difficult in adulthood to trust authority figures. A family history of substance abuse also left her scared of getting addicted to pills.

So when she met a shaman, and he started sending her an e-library’s worth of reading material, she decided it was worth the risk to explore options beyond a medical system that hasn’t always met her needs. And she’s not alone.

An increasing number of people are turning to complementary and alternative medicines. The terms are evolving, and often used interchangeably for health care approaches not typically part of conventional medical care or that originated outside of Western medicine. However, the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, part of the National Institutes of Health, defines complementary medicine as approaches used together with conventional medicine, and alternative as in place of conventional medicine. Complementary approaches include everything from dietary supplements and botanical drugs, to mindfulness practices like Thai Chi, and physical approaches like massage therapy.

The field is booming – it was valued at $193 billion in 2024 and is expected to reach $244 billion in 2033, according to a report from Astute Analytics, a market research and advisory firm.

A 2017 Pew report found that about half of Americans surveyed reported that they had tried alternative medicine either instead of or in conjunction with medical treatments. And, in a study published in 2024 in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the National Institute of Health found that the number of people using practices like yoga, acupuncture and naturopathy rose from 19.2% in 2002 to 36.7% in 2022.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. rode a particular brand of alternative health care into public office, via the Make America Healthy Again movement. Kennedy has pledged to end the FDA’s “war” on alternative medicine, most recently by pushing support for unauthorized peptides. The protein building blocks can have anti-inflammatory and muscle-building properties – though studies and safety analyses of their benefits and efficacy as supplements or injections vary widely.

Though interest in peptides is popular in certain wellness circles, including with podcasters like Joe Rogan, many of those who are seeking alternative medicine or who are going back to traditional cultural practices don’t fit the MAHA archetype.

Some, like Young, are from racial and cultural backgrounds that have been historically underserved by Western medicine. Or worse, hurt by it.

James Sherrell, a program specialist at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, points to misconceptions around vaccine hesitancy as a classic example. The memory of forced vaccinations under the Soviet Union is still alive for the Ukrainian community that Harborview serves, Sherrell said, so “if you don't approach that conversation with respect, you're not going to get very far.”