- The term “Naturopathy” has a broad and diverse meaning. In this case Naturopathic Medicine, according to the US educational curriculum, differs from Modern Medicine practices in the following ways:
1. Approximately 1 hour for first check-up, so that naturopathy can access the genetic,
environmental, and lifestyles factors which affect your health.
Why the need to consult for an hour?
Since Naturopathy needs to seek out the details such as the origins of the illness, the duration, and also the health-related beliefs of the patient in order to find the cause accurately. For instance, if one has stomach ache, it is not enough just to know the severity of the ache and assign medicine, but to seek out the cause. Hence, Naturopathy asks many questions including past medical history, eating habits, lifestyle and exercise patterns, as well as about stress and emotions, in order to get an accurate overview of each individual. This is the most comprehensive treatment available, as the naturopathic specialist will know the patients even better than the patients themselves.
2. Naturopathic treatment does not incur long-term side effects
Naturopathy utilizes a number of treatment methods to enable the natural healing mechanisms of the body to function. If the patient is taking modern medication, other natural therapeutic treatment methods will be offered that do not conflict with the chemicals the patient is taking.
Naturopathic treatment methods will avoid unneccessary surgical operations and chemicals (in this case medicines). The naturopathic medicines are extracted from herbs that have been researched and by which the scientific evidence of the herbs, their chemical properties, and their efficacy to the body have been clearly demonstrated. It is not a matter of just picking up some flowers or leaves and turning them into medicines.
Some patients ask the naturopathy specialist why they have yet to be cured by the medications prescribed by doctors. For example, the patient has probiotics at home, but once the picture is shown, it turns out to be 1 Billion csu, but the prescription recommends 50-100 Billion csu, so the patient would actually have to consume 50 capsules to equal the one capsule prescribed. This is Naturopathy.
3. Treating the root cause of the illness not just the symptoms
Naturopathy does not merely treat the symptoms, but aims to seek the actual cause of the illness in order to design an effective treatment regime for each individual. For instance, if there are two patients that have stomach pain, the naturopathic specialist will ask about the type of pain, whether burning, aching, cramping, tense or piercing, to differentiate the symptoms. After that, the food consumed needs to be traced to determine what caused the condition. For example, Patient A might have consumed certain things while also having acidic gas and burping. Patient B might have pain that is not related to food but whenever he feels stressed. Naturopathy will be able to differentiate these conditions more clearly.
When the patient says they have stomach pain, it is one illness among 20 possibilities, but once the naturopathic specialist asks about their medical history in detail, they can cut the illnesses out one by one to narrow the possibilities.
Eventually the specialist will know that Patient A’s symtoms are caused by gastritis due to acid reflux which needs to be looked into further, while Patient B has Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) which is about the body’s immune system, which requires entirely different treatment from Patient A.
By probing in detail the patient’s medical history, the specialist focuses not on alleviating the patient’s symptoms just for the next two hours, but rather to be symptom-free forever.
4. Aiming to adjust lifestyle habits for long-term physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being
Naturopathy does not focus only on medication, but recommends making lifestyle changes as well, like some foods which are in general labeled as health foods, but in reality are not beneficial for everyone’s health, especially those with certain diseases. For example, while veganism has its benefits, those with neurological problems, such as chronic peripheral neuropathy will experience more severe symptoms due to lack of vitamin B12.
Or consuming a ketogenic diet in order to lose weight, which is very trendy these days, the main groups that can benefit from this diet are children with epilepsy and certain cancer patients. Those with liver issues who consume ketogenic diets will worsen their liver problems.
Even with regards to exercise, naturopathy will help assess whether the type of exercise suits the physical health of the person. For instance, those with problem with the adrenal glands and release low levels of cortisal hormone but choose to do boxing which is a physically demanding exercise that requires a lot of cortisol hormones would make the body lack this hormone and lead to severe fatigue and exhaustion.
Or take running, which in general is good for health, but if the patient has problems with knees and joints, running will compound those problems. Swimming or water-based exercises would instead be recommended, as it does not affect the joints and can burn a similar amount of calories while also using the same types of muscles.
Naturopathic treatment does not expect the patient to be cured after one session, but rather specialists are committed to providing long-term care, as the goal is to completely cure the patient from their illnesses and have good long-term health. Ultimately, they can lead a lifestyle which in itself is their medicine. Any prescribed medication, including herbal ones, are used merely as short-term remedies.
Compiled by: Winna Rakkarn
Photo credit: unsplash
