Many of us have a medicine cabinet, or perhaps a kitchen drawer, where there’s an assortment of paracetamol, antihistamines, and possibly some throat lozenges that have been expired for two years or more. For many decades, this has been people’s healthcare: something hurts, take a pill, carry on with the day.
However, there is a major change emerging in the way people are thinking about their health. The discussions are changing, the questions people ask their doctors are changing, and the frustration with quick medical fixes that don’t actually solve problems is becoming evident. People are asking different questions. They don’t just want to know how to get rid of a headache; they want to know why they keep getting headaches three times a week.
The transformation from managing symptoms to really understanding what is wrong is the major difference in naturopathic medicine.
What Is Naturopathy Really?
There is a lot of misunderstanding about naturopathy. Some people see it as simply crystals and pseudoscience. Others believe it’s just pricey supplements and strict diets. The truth is that it is far more complex and, more fascinating than these outdated views of naturopathy may suggest.
Naturopathy is a healthcare system that looks for the root causes of diseases and works to eliminate them instead of focusing on giving patients relief from symptoms. In today’s world, the modern model of naturopathy takes its inspiration both from the use of time-honoured traditional healing methods and from evidence-based medical science. This is why naturopaths need to be well-trained to be able to integrate and apply these methods responsibly and effectively.
Here is something for you to think about: one of the main strengths of conventional medicine is acute care. When the situation arises, that a person has a broken leg, a heart attack, or a serious infection, it is modern emergency medicine that saves lives. You don’t go to a naturopath. That is indisputable.
On the other hand, there is a rising number of people with chronic diseases, such as digestive problems, hormonal imbalances, autoimmune diseases, and tiredness that lasts without a break. To these individuals, the medical approach often seems to be insufficient, or does not adequately sustain the quality of life that we all seek. They may be undergoing various tests and still the results show as ‘normal’. As a result, they’re given the advice of just managing stress or losing weight. All the while, they’re feeling awful.
It is in such chronic conditions, that naturopathy can often meet the needs of those who feel that they have not been listened to, or have been left out in the cold.
How The Approach Differs
Naturally, anyone who has visited a naturopath will comment on the naturopathic appointments being rather lengthy. Traditionally, a first naturopathic consultation may last for 90 minutes or longer. To someone frequently exposed to short medical doctor appointments, this might sound a bit excessive. Let me add, that at Iconic Health Academy, we teach our students to take a comprehensive initial consultation in 45 minutes, leaving with a treatment strategy in less than 60 minutes.
The naturopath explores the patient’s life in detail, inquiring about the patient’s lifestyle, dietary habits, sleep patterns, stress level, digestion, and energy variations throughout the day, even childhood and family health histories. It may feel a bit invasive at times. Nevertheless, there is a rationale behind it.
The body is not a set of isolated components, each affecting the other ones only negligibly. The state of the intestines is linked with mood via the gut-brain connection. Constant stress has an impact on many body functions, for example hormone production. Lack of sleep leads to blood sugar imbalance. These types of connections are not magic, and they are being identified and explained more and more in medical literature.
Naturopaths base their treatments on the belief that the human body is endowed with innate healing powers. The Latin phrase is vis medicatrix naturae or the healing power of nature. This doesn’t imply that the body is capable of curing everything without outside help, but rather that it is extremely efficient in preserving its balance when it is given the right conditions: good nutrition, enough sleep, less toxic exposure, stress control, etc.
Instead of masking the symptoms, the aim is to eradicate the reasons that prevent the body from healing and to support the body’s natural regulatory systems.
The Tools and Methods Used
A contemporary naturopath combines a wide spectrum of diagnostic tools in their practice. In fact, many of them will request the usual blood tests, functional medicine assessments, and even comprehensive stool tests. Essentially, they are investigating biochemistry and often either apply different reference intervals or incorporate extra biological markers that mainstream medicine may not consider.
Depending on a practitioner’s background and patient’s requirements, treatment modalities can be different, but usually entail:
Furthermore, some naturopaths are known to use methods like flower remedies, massage, or homoeopathy, etc.; nevertheless, such approaches may be at odds with each other and their empirical support varies greatly, other than for stress or pain management.
The Evidence Question
This is what makes things challenging. The evidence supporting naturopathic treatments exists on a varied spectrum. Some measures, such as certain dietary interventions for inflammatory conditions, specific herbs for particular symptoms, the crucial role of sleep in immune function, are backed by sound research.
Other components of naturopathic care may have less scientific support or are more dependent on the traditional use and clinical experience rather than controlled studies. Partly, this is because research needs financial investment, and funding may be difficult to raise for naturally occurring substances, such as plants. To cut a long story short, natural substances cannot be ‘patented’, which means the investment cannot be protected to recover the cost of the research.
What cannot be denied is that the core principles naturopaths have been highlighting for decades are being continuously supported by science. The gut microbiome’s effect on mental health, the association of chronic inflammation with disease, the influence of environmental toxins on the endocrine system were regarded as topics on the edge of the field only a short time ago. Now they are major areas of scientific research.
Is This Approach Right for Everyone?
Naturopathy generally discourages the use of harsh synthetic drugs and mainly utilises natural therapies such as nutritional supplements, herbal medicine, homoeopathy, and massage, or tactile therapies. It is particularly well-suited to those who have been suffering from a chronic disease that has not responded well to standard medical treatments. Individuals predisposed to maintaining good health can also benefit from naturopathic medicine for ongoing wellbeing and longevity.
Finding the Practitioner
If someone opts to explore naturopathy, they must spend some time to find the right practitioner who is well-qualified. Searching for registration with internationally recognised professional bodies and accreditation from specialised naturopathic colleges is a must. Verify their training, since a weekend nutrition course is not enough, for someone to be able to handle complicated health cases.
Find out if it is their practice to complement conventional medicine or not. With respect, do not trust anyone who promises to cure you while disregarding all pharmaceutical medicines or saying that they can treat serious conditions that obviously need conventional or life-saving care.
Great naturopaths know their limits, make referrals when necessary, and consider themselves to be valuable members of the healthcare team rather than opponents or substitutes.
Ready to explore what’s possible?
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Iconic Health Academy
Phone: +44-203-576-2254
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Email: info@iconichealthacademy.co.uk
Website: www.iconichealthacademy.co.uk
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