Naturopathic Medicine: Doctors for the New Millennia

November 30, 2008

http://www.stopagingnow.com:80/news/news_flashes/5218/Naturopathic-Medicine-Doctors-for-the-New-Millennia?refer=newsflash_11_26

By Kevin Passero, N.D. Naturopathic DoctorStaff Writer November 26, 2008

Thomas Edison wrote “The doctor of the future will give no medicine but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, in proper diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease.”

I believe naturopathic physicians best represent the “doctors of the future” Thomas Edison envisioned. We use education to teach people the proper care of the human frame to prevent disease processes from starting in the first place. Additionally, naturopathic physicians use mainly natural therapies derived from herbs, vitamins and Chinese acupuncture principles to facilitate healing in a person who has already manifested a disease process. All naturopathic physicians are also trained in pharmacology so they understand the dynamic relationship that can occur between natural therapies and drug based therapies.

The advances of modern medicine are not something to be taken for granted. They allow us to live healthier longer lives and reduce suffering for millions of people each day. The difference of philosophy is that naturopathic physicians believe these therapies should only be used after every other natural option has been exhausted. By doing this we instill the principle of health maintenance, rather than disease management.

This notion of health maintenance rather than disease management is the only way our healthcare system will be able to improve the health of American’s. Our current model is based on the concept that we must wait until someone is sick enough to manifest dangerous symptoms before an intervention is implemented. By the time the disease process has progressed to this point it is often necessary to use aggressive pharmaceutical or surgical intervention to manage the situation. Herein lies the problem. One must choose between the dangers of their disease, or the dangers of pharmaceuticals or surgery.

Due to widespread acceptance and billions of marketing dollars spent by pharmaceutical companies, many people assume that there is very little risk associated with drug therapy. Many people are on multiple medications and many thousands of people die every year from properly prescribed prescription drugs.

I tell my patients that the terms “alternative” and “conventional” should be reversed. What I mean is that the “conventional” medical approach should be based on the encouragement of managing disease though diet, lifestyle and natural therapies from vitamins, herbs and other non-toxic interventions. Only if these do not work, should we resort to the “alternatives” of potentially toxic drugs.

I believe that if everyone knew that they had an option to correct their health problems without drugs, and insurance companies covered those expenses and doctors endorsed it, few American’s would resort to drug therapy first unless their health status absolutely warranted it.

Few people know that NDs receive similar training to MDs. Licensed NDs graduate from four year accredited naturopathic medical schools. These schools are recognized by the Department of Education and accredited by the appropriate state and regional bodies.

Admission requirements are similar to those of traditional medical school. The curriculums for the first two years are quite similar to a traditional medical education to create competence in the basic medical sciences such as anatomy, physiology, pathology, microbiology, biochemistry and histology. As the program progresses many things are still similar, such as basic training in dermatology, family medicine, psychiatry, radiology, pediatrics, obstetrics, gynecology, neurology, surgery, pharmacology, endocrinology and ophthalmology. The major difference is the extensive training and emphasis on natural therapies such as herbal medicine, nutrition, homeopathy and naturopathic physical medicine. Thousands of hours of clinical training under the guidance of other NDs and MDs are carried out in various outpatient clinical settings.Board exams are administered after the second year to assess competence in the basic science skills (anatomy, biochemistry, physiology, microbiology and pathology) and after the fourth year to assess competence in clinical skills (diagnoses, physical exam, lab interpretation, herbal medicine, nutrition, pharmacology, minor surgery and homeopathy are just few examples). Always ask your naturopathic provider if they graduated from one of these four accredited schools: Bastyr University, National College of Naturopathic Medicine, Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine or Bridgeport University. There are many practitioners who use the term "naturopath" that are not qualified NDs. They may acquire their degrees from mail order correspondence programs over the course of one or two years. Their schools are not regulated by any state, federal or regional body and there are no admission requirements.

To find a naturopathic physician who graduated from an accredited school, visit The American Association of Naturopathic Physicians and use the “Find an ND” function to locate the one nearest you.