One of my classmates from NUNM has been arrested in California for selling homeopathic "immunizations". According to the article she also instructed patients to fill out vaccination cards to say that they'd had a vaccine when they took the pellets. This makes me so sad. I am not proud of my classmate or my field, in which so many practitioners don't adhere to science or even common sense.
Ever since I was forced to study homeopathy during my studies at NCNM in Portland, I've been working on a book about the lessons that we can take from the field of homeopathy. There are many. Some of them are good and true, for example that we should give the minimum amount of a medicine that is effective, rather than blasting a patient with too much medicine. Some of it is sad, like the way homeopaths can reassure people that they are immune to something when in reality they are not.
The field of naturopathic medicine is due for a housecleaning. Using diet and lifestyle to prevent disease and reverse chronic disease processes is a useful and obvious approach, and something that naturopaths are well trained in. Using herbs and hydrotherapy to address injuries and illness is another area where we excel. We are also really good at understanding medical labs and knowing how to help people without using drugs. Furthermore, physical examination is becoming ever more perfunctory and even rare in conventional settings, and naturopaths are well trained in palpation and clinical physical diagnosis.
If only naturopaths would stick to these skills instead of falling prey to the public desire for a one pill miracle cure. People will pay huge amounts for you to promise them the impossible. It is not worth it.
Ever since I was forced to study homeopathy during my studies at NCNM in Portland, I've been working on a book about the lessons that we can take from the field of homeopathy. There are many. Some of them are good and true, for example that we should give the minimum amount of a medicine that is effective, rather than blasting a patient with too much medicine. Some of it is sad, like the way homeopaths can reassure people that they are immune to something when in reality they are not.
The field of naturopathic medicine is due for a housecleaning. Using diet and lifestyle to prevent disease and reverse chronic disease processes is a useful and obvious approach, and something that naturopaths are well trained in. Using herbs and hydrotherapy to address injuries and illness is another area where we excel. We are also really good at understanding medical labs and knowing how to help people without using drugs. Furthermore, physical examination is becoming ever more perfunctory and even rare in conventional settings, and naturopaths are well trained in palpation and clinical physical diagnosis.
If only naturopaths would stick to these skills instead of falling prey to the public desire for a one pill miracle cure. People will pay huge amounts for you to promise them the impossible. It is not worth it.
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