Dr. Karin Wagstaff / What is Naturopathic Medicine?
What is Naturopathic Medicine?
Naturopathic medicine is a branch of medicine that uses natural medicines and treatment. We believe that people are naturally healthy and that healing can occur by removing the obstacles to cure and stimulating that body’s natural healing ability. We believe that there is an inherent healing power in nature and in every human being. The foundations of health in natural medicine are diet, nutrition, homeopathy, botanical medicine, exercise, physical therapy, stress management and prevention.
There are six principles that a Naturopathic doctor must follow:
- Do no harm
- Prevent rather than cure
- Nature has innate healing powers
- Treat the whole person
- Treat the cause not just symptoms
- Teach prevention
Naturopathic medicine is useful for treating chronic as well as acute diseases. A naturopath treats everything from the common cold to cancer. Naturopaths consider health to be not just the absence of disease but complete physical, mental and social well-being. Naturopathic physicians often say that diseases must be healed not by suppressing symptoms, but by rooting out the true cause. Symptoms are actually viewed as the body’s natural effort to heal itself and restore balance.
Naturopathic physicians are always willing to work with the patient’s other physicians or health care providers. To avoid possible drug interactions it is important for the patient to inform the naturopath about any pharmaceutical drugs they have taken or are currently taken.
