General Naturopathic Care
What is General Naturopathic Care?
Naturopathy takes a holistic approach to wellness. Naturopathy supports a person to live a healthy lifestyle. The foundations of naturopathy are based on the importance of a healthy diet, clean, fresh water, sunlight, exercise, and stress management.
How Does It Work?
The goal of naturopathic medicine is to treat the whole person- mind, body, and spirit. It also aims to heal the root causes of an illness — not just stop the symptoms. A naturopathic doctor may spend 1 to 2 hours examining you. They’ll ask about your health history, stress levels, and lifestyle habits. They may order lab tests.
Afterward, they will typically discuss your health plan. Naturopathic medicine focuses on education and prevention, so your doctor may give you diet, exercise, or stress management tips. They might use complementary medicine like homeopathy, herbal medicine, and acupuncture in addition to naturopathic treatments. They may also use touch, such as massage and pressure, to create balance in your body. This is called naturopathic manipulative therapy.
What are the benefits of naturopathic care?
Naturopaths work more personally, spending more time covering individual needs. They create treatment plans that consider all aspects of a person.
Naturopathy can be helpful alongside modern medicine, and many say these methods allow the body to activate self-healing mechanisms.
- Naturopathic healthcare can also be a cheaper
- Trusted Source
- Alternative to conventional healthcare.
What types of conditions do naturopathic doctors treat?
As primary healthcare practitioners, naturopathic doctors can treat the same conditions as a family doctor and may refer to specialists or other healthcare professionals when necessary. Using gentle and highly effective treatments selected to meet your specific healthcare needs, naturopathic medicine can have excellent results in the treatment of the following:
- Acute conditions, such as colds and the flu, ear and throat infections, headaches, seasonal allergies, and intestinal upset
- Chronic illnesses, such as arthritis, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, autoimmune conditions, hypertension, atherosclerosis, heart problems, eczema, psoriasis, acne, digestion, constipation, irritable bowel syndrome, allergies, and environmental illnesses, cystitis, prostatitis, impotence, and Cancer (prevention, minimize side-effects of chemotherapy and radiation, reduce recovery time, support the immune system)
- Other issues, such as mental or emotional stress, anxiety, depression, insomnia, and attention deficit disorder
- Women’s health issues, such as infertility, PMS, menstrual disorders, menopausal symptoms, fibrocystic breast disease, uterine fibroids, endometriosis, polycystic ovarian syndrome, and enhancing health in pregnancy
Is Naturopathic Medicine safe & effective?
The science and art of Naturopathic Medicine has stood the test of time, existing in its many forms for centuries. Scientific advances have allowed our society to access the best that nature has, enhanced with technology. More than ever, increasing studies validating naturopathic treatments only highlight the decades of its clinical effectiveness.
The primary Canadian naturopathic medical school, the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine (CCNM) and other institutions are publishing extensive research about this in renown peer-reviewed scientific journals. The key principles of naturopathic medicine determine its safety and cost-effectiveness. The philosophy to “first do no harm” is reflective in the natural therapies that are strong enough to effect change with minimal to no side effects.
What can I expect when I visit a naturopathic doctor?
Your initial naturopathic visit is approximately 60-75 minutes long and is used for a detailed health history review, discussion of your present health concerns, health goals, and relevant physical examination. Lab testing may be recommended to aid in assessment and diagnosis, and preliminary treatments are outlined.
In the second visit, a comprehensive individualized treatment plan is discussed.
Follow-up visits are between 30 and 45 minutes long and are used to implement appropriate naturopathic treatment modalities, monitor progress, and re-assess the treatment plan.
When should a person get naturopathy?
You want to treat the root cause of an illness, not just the symptoms. You want to actively participate in managing your own health. You have chronic pain and don’t want to use pharmaceutical drugs to manage it forever. You have tried all conventional medical options for diagnosing and treating a health condition.
Frequently Asked Questions
01
How often should you see a naturopath?
Ideally visits are 4-6 weeks when working on chronic issues. Or weekly for a period of time if you are having acupuncture treatments. But some people come once or twice a year
02
Can a naturopath actually help?
Naturopathic physicians are often successful at treating chronic conditions that don’t respond to conventional medicine.
03
How to detox your body with naturopathy?
Generally, it is avoiding heavy foods like red meat, wheat, dairy, fried foods, Soya products, dried fruit, etc.
04
How do Naturopaths diagnose?
You’ll be diagnosed via standard pathology testing, but many Naturopaths also run nutritional tests, iridology, salivary hormone tests or a hair analysis.
05
How naturopathy changes your health?
Naturopathy is the most ancient health care mechanism that amalgamates modern scientific knowledge with traditional and natural forms of medicine. Relying on the healing power of nature, Naturopathy stimulates the human body’s ability to heal itself.