What is your opinion on naturopathy?

Flizbap 2.0

2010-12-21 04:46:10 UTC

It really sounds like your problem is a psychological one, perhaps you should be speaking of some sort of therapist.

EDIT: I used to have crippling panic attacks, with almost all of the symptoms you describe, I really feel a therapist, psychologist, or psychiatrist is your best bet to get legitimate help.

Katusha

2015-08-24 04:50:01 UTC

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RE:

What is your opinion on naturopathy?

What is your opinion of naturopathy?

I have been sick for about 3 months, had a slew of medical tests, and have been on about 15 different prescriptions – all with no answers.

I am considering turning to natural medicine.

There is a clinic near my house, but before I take the leap, I was...

Marc

2010-12-21 11:31:25 UTC

Well it sounds like you are in a position that a lot of people find themselves in after going the traditional medical route. You have put yourself into the hands of qualified and capable medical practitioners and have yet to get a resolution to your problem. Now what?

Now you get to explore other options. That is the beautiful thing about having freedom of choice. If you decide to goto "alternative" practitioners, do so with an open mind and a closed wallet. Talk to these practitioners and ask them questions. See if they make sense to you. If something sounds to good to be true then be careful. If something sounds reasonable then proceed with caution. This really is no difference with medicine. You have to be informed and make an informed decision. Try not to listen to the people on here that dispense their opinions and anger. I was actually shocked that some of them who claim to be of scientific mind and background tell you that there is nothing wrong with you! They have not seen you, or your test results but are able to tell you something about your situation? That is blatant malpractice. If they are MD's then they should be ashamed of themselves for dispensing a medical opinion in such a fashion. Utterly unacceptable and downright dangerous. Above all else, do no harm! Giving a medical opinion in this way constitutes a harm.

Bottom line...go and talk with practitioners and evaluate what they have to say. If it makes sense to you, then discuss it with friends and family and then proceed with care only if you feel appropriate. If you get better then you know you have made the right choice, if not, look for help elsewhere. It may take a while but eventually you may find what you are looking for. Just dont go spending a lot of time and money doing something that is not helping.

I only say this because you have already sought medical help and have done all that you can to get yourself treated through the medical world, now that this has not worked for you and have not found anything that is medically pertinent; its acceptable for you to seek a different approach.

?

2010-12-21 01:26:47 UTC

The biggest problem with naturopathy is a semantic one.

Naturopaths are people who practice "natural" therapies.

"Natural" Therapies, sound good and make people want to use them and feel good about themselves for doing so.

However, what on earth are natural therapies? Turns out there isn't a clear technical definition of it.

The second problem comes from what the liscencing of the profession. Some states are set up so that naturopaths have schooling requirements to practice, and an accredidation means something in that state (ie. oregon, arizona, california), others however don't.

In the states that do, someone has to go through a fairly well done medical school, and really knows what they are doing, and a praticing "N.D." there would be someone excellent to see.

In states that don't, you can pay a couple hundred dolars, and get a diploma sent to you in the mail (strangely enough, the companies that make these are actually the principle opponents of naturopaths getting liscenced in a state, more so than the AMA). These sorts of naturopaths don't really know what they are doing, and hence can "randomly hurt people" or "not do anything that matters." On good ole quackwatch, a laundry list of naturopath victims was published (where people did stupid things like put something on a patients face that burned it off), and in every case the naturopath wasn't someone who had gone to school, and just a mail in diploma person.

I know a few natural healers that are self taught, and get good results using the "fake" ND certification who have helped a lot of people, but by and large the ND's that don't actually go to medical school should be avoided and viewed as a seperate profession.

So skipping the cons, for pros

*A lot of doctors I've met are grumpy pissed off unfriendly people who somewhat hate their life/job/themselves. However, I have never met an unhappy naturopath. It's the only medical profession where the doctors (from a patient or colleague viewpoint) are always pleasant to be around.

*Naturopaths tend to never get nasty side effects in their patients (whereas allopaths often do). This is because naturopath medicines are more "natural" which means they are lighter and less potentially damaging to the body.

*Naturopaths tend to know a lot more about the human body on a lot of different levels than most doctors.

*Some of the treatments and results they get are really cool

*The practice is being more and more popular (since naturopaths tend to be more liked by patients, and people are getting fed up with allopathys' short falls).

I'm still not sure if I want to go to medical school (so much work :|), but if I did, I would go to a naturopath college.

2010-12-21 00:59:22 UTC

I just read about a brand new study today that came back with results proving that Echinaecia has barely any effect on the common cold at all. Shortening it's duration and severity only slightly. The amount was so small that it could be accounted for by chance. I.E. Echinaecea does not work. There is a reason naturopathy isn't medically proven. It doesn't work. (generally speaking, although some of it probably does because of pure chance and also people's observations over the centuries). Nothing can compare with the scientific method. Science doesn't know everything yet, far be it from me to claim it doesn't make mistakes and have very incomplete knowledge etc. But, that's better than the supersitious folklore of naturopathy. I'm not very against naturopathy if you have a lot of money, b/c it probably can't hurt, or can't hurt much. But, for most of us with limited funds, I decry it as a waste of money. Hope the the doctors are able to fix your body, have a good one :)

maddocks

2017-01-25 14:15:26 UTC

1

angrydoc

2010-12-21 04:13:44 UTC

A doctor will always have the courage to tell you that there's nothing wrong with you. He (or she) does this because he/she has your best interests at heart and it is against your interests to keep looking for and paying for something that is not there. You will get mad at the doctor and accuse him of not listening but the truth is, he did listen and he did do his best to find out what's bothering you and in the end, he found nothing is really wrong with you.

Your symptoms are vague and very very nonspecific and I fully agree with the tests that were done on you. However, since nothing was found, it's probably that. Nothing. You're as healthy as an ox but you worry too much over things that others would not give a second thought.

An alt med practitioner on the other hand will tell you anything to keep you happy and to keep you coming back. I bet that somehow, a naturopath will find something wrong and make you buy all sorts of herbs and supplements. Then you'll take them and then the placebo effect will kick in and you'll feel better because you felt like you did something even though it didn't really matter if you did or didn't.

There's nothing wrong with you but wait for the ECG results. Don't waste your money on naturopaths.

thenoseknows

2010-12-21 05:03:44 UTC

People like yourself would not be looking for other medical modalities if they were happy with the status quo of conventional medicine. It's not health care but rather managed disease care. Because conventional medicine fails to address the cause of health problems and merely treats symptoms, it's bound to fail.

Natural health professions such as Naturopathy study the causes and triggers of health problems and address those instead of just trying to suppress symptoms. In jurisdictions where Naturopathy is a regulated health profession only practitioners who have graduated from a comprehensive educational program and are registered with their respective governing body are legally able to use the designation "Naturopath". Same for Homeopath, Osteopath, Chiropractor, Dental Hygeinist, Registered Nurse, Physiotherapist, Registered Massage Therapist, MD, Dentist, etc.

Where professions are "unregulated" there are Professional Associations that maintain a register of members who are required to meet educational and professional standards that reflect the highest goals of that profession and it's self regulating. (eg. the Professional Association of Diving Instructors PADI is not government regulated, and you don't hear about Scuba divers dropping like flies from incompetent diving instructors killing off their students.)

Natural health practitioners usually go that route because they initially started off as satisfied customers. They were in the same boat as you at one point.

Bottom line is make sure that the practitioner you choose is registered with their respective regulatory body, whether it's a college or professional association.

Hawthorne is an herb that's used in Naturopathy and Homeopathy to regulate heartbeat. It's usually taken as a tincture. Acid reflux can be caused by not having enough stomach acid (not too little as conventional medicine would like you to believe). A Naturopath will be able to determine whether you need betaine hcl or digestive enzymes to clear up your problem. An MD would prescribe acid reducers which will just make you worse in the long run and you'll never be able to ditch the drugs.

Naturopathy is about restoring your health in a balanced way. It's not just a bandaid treatment for your symptoms.

Gary K

2010-12-21 02:11:11 UTC

Naturopathy is alternative medicine. Alternative medicine is only alternative because it hasn't been proved to work, or it has been proved not to work. It is in total conflict with evidence based medicine and is often described as pseudoscience and quackery. The majority of it's treatments are placebos, helped by lengthy and caring consultations; so if you think that may help, go for it.

But stay skeptical and ask for evidence of efficacy and safety - especially if you get offered herbal drugs. And if they offer homeopathy - RUN. The alternative medicine industry is riddled with scams and fraud - homeopathy is the ultimate.

Really, if proper doctors haven't found anything wrong with you, no alternative medicine practitioner will. Though they may tell you otherwise.

Red flag BS terms to be aware of:

allopathy

detox/toxins

colon cleanse

flush

miraculous

magical

suppressed by modern medicine

energy/life force energies/chi

chakras

meridians

immune boosting

studies prove

Big Pharma

testimonials

holistic

See: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/alternative-medicine/SA00078

dave

2010-12-21 03:40:31 UTC

Your answer won't come from someone who hasn't been to medical school and is just guessing, there's plenty of crackpots like that (take a look at RA's post to see that).

If there's an answer to your problem then it'll come from educated professionals with multi-million dollar diagnostics at their disposal.

It can be tempting to try any number of whacko treatments out there, but stick to advanced medicine, not outdated myths and old wive's tales.

theoregonartist

2010-12-21 02:11:49 UTC

Daniel?.....Uh I rather think that you're gonna have more waiting to do,..I don't know where you live but I guarantee you that it has alot to do with your treatment. Your age is also a factor here, I've myself, just in the past 5 years had to learn about "the system" from age 47 to now at age 52" in so much that "waiting is all the rage"......you damn near have to die before anyone will tell you what is wrong and even then it's entirely possible that you'll get a wrong diagnosis. So unless you're a Native American who's related to a Shaman, you're not gonna get close to "Naturopathy" that's wholesome and real......."Naturopathy" isn't an understood science, in fact it isn't a science at all, it's a semi-spiritual,mis-interpreted,whitewashed,guruish,nonsensical, tub of nothing.....I have only seen one instance of Naturopathy in the native American population that was "Real" and made sense and it didn't relate to medicine except for diabetes and that drug only came from the "Juniper tree"....and only one instance from which a drug came from a tree recently that related to cancer " Taxol" which comes from the bark of a conifer from America......newly controled. Naturopathy isn't anything practiced by anyoine who "actually knows" anything about it unless you trust a chiropractor, a hands on healor like "Rieki" or a person who understands acctupressure or puncture.....that's about as close as you can get......or just begin eating a gluten free diet....I can tell you that "Diabetes" type 2...can seemingly come and go in people between the ages of 35 and 55....it sounds wierd I know.....but it happens.......I moved to Oregon from Texas 6 years ago this Feb....in November after I moved here, I had a severe episode, passed out and injurred myself badly, I was hauled to the hospital and was put in a room for 5 days and when I came to, I was told I had a heart attack,,,, then the next day, I was told I had a stroke, the day after that I was told it wasn't either of those, it was a siezure of some kind....then I was told I had "Epilepsy".....for the next 4 and a half years I had 7 more sever siezures that required hospitalization and about 200 smaller siezures and then last october I had one really bad siezure and was choppered to Portland Oregon where I was in the hospital for a week at a "Learning hospital" called OSHU.....supposedly one of the best hospitals in the country for this type of thing.......they found out that my doctors had been over medicating me for 4 and a half years.....OMG...I wanted to sue them but they made me sign a waiver. So, now my doctors understand what is going on(supposedly) and they give me my meds. one of my main problems is "severe insomnia".....stopping breathing in my sleep which makes me wake up in the middle of the night....so I have what is known as "sleep anxiety" and I take a dose of xanax for it and I sleep better at night now.........So, waiting has been a learning curve for me....the heart problem?....well, my doctor swears I still have one.....I have Diabetes too, Epilepsy for sure, Dr.Pepper habit, smoker,...I'll die one day for certain but I will never resort to Naturopathy. I live damn near in the middle of the forrest, it snows, it gets hot, it changes from day to day and hour to hour and a person can get lost in minutes,.....you could live off the land if you had to but you'd most likely die if you did because you wouldn't know what to eat and what was poisonous.....things look alot alike here...nature and all it's "pathy"....is really nonsense even if people resort to it and I've seen several examples right here in this little town. It can get serious. So, all the people who tought things like Echinacea and natural healing, herbs ( I've been guilty myself ) are fools. Medicine, when practiced right and recieved well will always work well......you just have to go to the lengths and do the waiting....I'm sorry for your situation man, you may have to do some searching but if it works, do the searching.....

Nathan.