How do Naturopathic Doctors Treat Disease?

Let me explain Naturopathy. Let's start with the suffix -pathy or -pathic. This refers to a system of treating disease. The prefix Naturo refers to the idea of treating disease Naturally or Holistically. As I have previously discussed, Naturopathic Doctors have rigorous training in the basics of medicine but are further trained in subjects that help us to understand the body's innate healing process or function. Here are the main modalities:

Nutrition: Nutrition is a complicated subject and requires a deep understanding of the biochemical processes in the body. Telling someone to 'eat their vegetables' or 'take a multivitamin' can be good advice for us all however, some of us may need more of certain nutrients than others depending on our pathological state or imbalance. Nutrients can help treat a variety of conditions. Often times we have less of an imbalance of Lisinopril or Lipitor but actually have a calcium/magnesium, or fatty acid deficiency. While an even more compelling thought is: our diets effect our health! The state of our diets currently is that of concern. Due to elements outside our control, our diets are much less nutrient rich because our soils have less nutrients, food is shipped all around the world to get to us, and processing depletes nutrients. Cooking and frying will even further decrease the nutritional value. Ill speak more of this in time, but the skinny is- our diets are not what they used to be, it is something we need more training and awareness about AND nutrients are powerful treatment tools when initiated by a skilled physician.

Botanical Medicine: Botanical medicine encompasses the healing properties of plants. Before the pharmaceutical boom, we relied on botanicals to treat all sorts of ailments. Actually, pharmaceuticals were developed from isolating toxic components of plants. For instance Aspirin or salicylic acid is derived from willow bark. Willow is rich in salicylates that can be isolated and turned into our common aspirin.  As with most botanicals, when leaving them in the whole plant form we are treating medicine like food for our bodies. We are not extracting a specific component from the plant but using a particular form such as: whole plant, leaf, root, etc. to use in a synergistic sense to obtain all sorts of nutritional benefits.

Physical Medicine: Physical Medicine includes the study and function of basic anatomy and physiology. To understand a person in a wholistic sense we have to consider muscles, nerves, bones and their anatomical placement or behavior in the body. Our training in this area includes a spectrum of modalities to include manipulation (moving a bone back into place with simple, gentle adjustments), stretching and exercising muscles (fatiguing muscles that are holding bones and nerves in the wrong places), and using other treatments like micro-current and ultrasound to heal soft tissue.

Homeopathic Medicine:  This branch of medicine has been around for a very long time dating back to the 1700's. It is based on the law of similars which means it uses small dilutions of substances that have a similar behavior to the offending organism, whether it be a joint problem, sprain, common cold, allergy, or even cardiovascular disease; there is something to remedy the patient. Determining the appropriate remedy require a very in-depth evaluation of the patients symptoms.

All other therapies are considered around a few main principles:

1.  Identify and Treat the Cause of Illness
2.  The Healing Power of Nature
3.  Do No Harm
4.  Doctor as a Teacher
5.  Treat the Whole Person
6.  Prevention

The use of other modalities such as pharmaceutical drugs are used if needed and indicated. Overall, if something is outside the scope of Naturopathic Treatments, it is common to refer to a more appropriate alternative.

I am not just a Naturopathic Doctor, I am a seeker of wellness, happiness, good food, wine and exercise. Welcome to my blog! This blog is about living our passions. I hope this can inspire others to follow their passions, live their dreams and learn how to navigate obstacles because that is truly wellness. xxoo