Naturopathic Medicine

What is Naturopathic Medicine?

Naturopathic medicine is an age-old philosophy of alternative medicine that is a distinct health care profession premised on the idea of nature’s self-healing mechanisms. It focuses on the whole-body of the patient, rather than merely treating the symptoms. This is done by finding the underlying causes of a person’s illness with a comprehensive and individualized treatment plan. Your initial visit is very comprehensive and thorough sometimes taking as long as 90 minutes and more common 60 minutes. During this time, the naturopathic doctor will review your medical history, whether you are stressed, and other important lifestyle choices that help determine the best individualized treatment plan moving forward. Your individualized treatment plan may consist of various therapies, such as herbal medicine, homeopathy, dry needling (much like acupuncture), as well as other naturopathic modalities.

“The natural system for curing disease is based on a return to nature in regulating the diet, breathing, exercising, bathing and the employment of various forces to eliminate the poisonous products in the system, and so raise the vitality of the patient to a proper standard of health.”

Benedict Lust
Founder of Modern Naturopathic Medicine

Will Naturopathic Medicine Help with my Condition?

Naturopathic medicine helps will nearly every illness out there. Many of the conditions/illnesses that a naturopathic doctor can help a patient with includes:

  • Flu & Cold
  • Chronic pain
  • Dietary
  • Seasonal & food related allergies
  • Severe headaches
  • Chronic fatigue syndrome
  • Depression
  • Anxiety
  • ADHD
  • Asthma
  • Respiratory tract infections
  • Chron’s disease
  • Peri-menopause/menopausal
  • Hypertension
  • Autoimmune conditions
  • Pneumonia
  • Ezcema
  • And many other conditions/illnesses as well…

At Cascade Health Clinic we can help patients with determining whether naturopathic medicine is a good fit for their medical concern, and in many cases we working directly with MDs or DOs.

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Six Principles of Naturopathic Medicine

The 6 Principles of Naturopathic Medicine are the cornerstone for every practitioners, and they are:

  1. First Do No Harm | Primum Non Nocere
  2. The Healing Power of Nature | Vis Medicatrix Naturae
  3. Treat & Identify The Root Causes | Tolle Causam
  4. Treat The Whole Person | Tolle Totum
  5. The Doctor As Teacher | Docere
  6. Prevention Beats Cure | Praevenire

History of Naturopathic Medicine

This unique and individualized approach form of medicine was advocated by Hippocrates who is considered the ‘Father of Medicine.’ The Hippocratic Oath is also attributed to Hippocrates, which every naturopathic physician takes upon completion of medical school. Hippocrates is maybe one of the most known Greek physician as he was pivotal in changing the practice of divine medicine to also focusing on the whole body as the basis of medical knowledge. To this end, it was the self-healing processes found in nature that was critical as was diet, certain select non-toxic drugs, and those things that would achieve balance in the body.

The word ‘naturopathy’ is said to be coined by John Scheel in 1895. It was later adopted by Benedict Lust who is considered the ‘Father of Naturopathy’ in the U.S. “Naturopathy” originates from “natura” (Latin root for birth) and “pathos” (the Greek root for suffering) to suggest natural healing.

Why is Naturopathic Medicine Important to Your Overall Health?

Naturopathic medicine is very important to your overall health because it focuses on the underlying causes of an illness or condition, rather than only addressing the sympthoms. This is important, as there maybe a simply change in lifestyle choices that can lead you to the road of better health. Some times it’s not that simple, and we may want to do labs to get a deeper look at your body’s function. In this case, we will have an extensive look at what your body is telling us.

Begin your journey with us today, and schedule your initial naturopathic visit. If you aren’t quite ready now, we offer a free 15-minute telemedicine visit and you can ask all the questions you like. Either way, we want you to know that naturopathic medicine is a great resource to begin a better and healthier life – it begins with determining the underlying causes of your condition or illness.

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