are regulated by a provincial and national association and are required to complete
continuing education hours yearly to ensure they remain current.
Naturopathic doctors are competent in evaluating standard medical blood work
and diagnostic tests and although they do not use pharmaceuticals in their practice,
they are trained in how pharmaceuticals function
and what the side effects are.
What About My Medical Doctor?
Medical doctors are an important component of an individual’s health care program.
They are an important part of the healthcare puzzle but not the only piece. The
reality is that no one area of medicine has all the answers. Healthcare needs to
be an integrated process of a number of different professionals to ensure
receiving the best care possible.
The MD's approach is targeted on disease diagnosis, emergency medicine, and medicating
the symptom. Although this is valuable and provides initial relief, it doesn't address
why the symptoms appeared in the first place.
Naturopathic doctors look further than symptom palliation. Although treating the
symptoms is important, the cause of the problem must be identified and addressed
to return the body to optimal functioning.
What Can I Expect With My Initial Visit?
Your initial assessment consists of an in depth interview process where information
such as current and prior health concerns, diet, stress, lifestyle, exercise, past
illness, and environmental exposure are all integrated to identify the cause of
the current symptoms being presented.
Following this the patient will undergo a quick physical exam (without an internal)
followed by additional testing to detect underlying causes and imbalances. The patient
is then educated as to what is causing the imbalance and what is required to bring
them back to a state of health.
The patient's understanding and compliance are the most important components in
the healing process; therefore, the visits are designed to create an atmosphere
of trust and interaction to ensure the patient fully reaches their optimum potential.
What Else Should I Know?
Naturopathic Medicine is a distinctively natural approach to health and healing
that recognizes the integrity of the whole person. The practice of Naturopathic
Medicine emerges from six underlying principles of healing. It is these principles
that distinguish the profession from other medical approaches.
See: The Six Principles of Healing