Hey everyone, I've been doing a lot of browsing around lately (the internet can be a dangerous thing ) and have found LOTS of hate/distrust in naturopathic medicine. Now I've seen plenty of this before but its starting to get to me now. You can imagine how nerve racking it is for someone studying to become a naturopath to see all of this. I wanted to get the opinions of everyone here. Reading other forums and articles, most all are biased and generally degrading towards naturopathic medicine. Saying things like its nothing but placebo effect and a pseudoscience.

I have personally never been to a naturopath, although that is the career I am aiming for. It might sound strange, but my decision in this career was made because of my interest in the human body, and the dislike of harsh conventional methods of medicine. I can't stand the idea of naturopathic medicine being a quack! Many things on the internet are not helping either. For example, not only does naturopathic medicine have a bad rap already, but there are a lot of "fake" colleges of natural medicine which do not give out legitimate licenses to practice medicine. And when these impersonators are put under the same category of legitimate naturopaths, it makes it seem as though the legitimate naturopaths are hurting people. Some things on the internet make it seem as though its a cult as well.

Being an atheist makes things even harder for me. When I see the ties with god and religion in Naturopathic medicine, it makes me even more vulnerable to the attacks from the allopathic field.

Any opinions on the matter would be greatly appreciated. Do you know it to be true or do you see naturopathic medicine as a falsity?

Some info about me:

I am going to a community college right now to acquire prerequisites for Bastyr University in Bothell Washington. Once I transfer there, I will get a Bachelors in Nutrition, and then continue to get a graduate in Naturopathic Medicine.
Or so the plan was.

I hope some of you can understand my dilemma. My goal is not to make lots of money, I want to help people in a way that allopathic medicine cannot. If Naturopathic medicine turns out to be a half working medical system "created" to earn money, I don't want to become a Naturopath. My passion is to help people, the way Naturopathic Medicine(or so I thought) does. So if not allopathic or naturopathic, I don't know where to turn.

Don't get me wrong, I still love the idea of healing naturally and using the naturopathic principles, but in order to continue loving it, I need to prove to myself once and for that it is in fact the way to go.

I understand that posting this on a natural medicine forum will most likely give me only one side of the story, but posting anywhere else will get me flamed with allopathic attacks.

I do not lean one way or another when it comes to medicine. I use what works, wherever it comes from.

My only experience with nateropathic medicine is concerning my hayfever symptoms. I get bad in the fall, and usually have had to use Sudafed to keep symptoms bearable.

My chiropractor muscle tested me, which I am skeptical of to begin with, and said I had a mold allergy. This was contrary to a skin pin prick test I had done before, which indicated ragweed.

She gave me some Mold Mix homeopathic remedy. I have used it for a couple of years now, and so has my son, who is even worse than myself. My symptoms are non existent as long as I use it once in a while. It did not cure it, as I have to still use it, but it is far better than the Sudafed, as it does not dry me up so severely.

My son is much better also, so we both will be using this method in the future.

It is not a matter of whether it works or not for me. It works in this application, so it may work in others also.

There is also a much higher standard applied to anything non-standard. Pharmaceutical products often do not work for everyone, and anyone that has used them knows this.

When someone tries something outside the box, and it does not work, it is often condemned as fraudulent. There is a big double standard, nothing works 100% of the time, including non standard treatments. It is a matter of finding what works for that person.

Dan

In the 70s, I had become very interested in natural healing, for the benefits of my own health problems that were not being helped by any mainstream doctor or medicine. My career was in computers, so any info, of the naturopathic world had to be gleaned from books or other interested people. I knew a lot of chiropractic students who had become friends with me. I lived in a city with 2 of the more prestigious colleges, Sherman and Palmer. They had the exact same concerns as you now have. Mainstream hated them. The allopathic world did everything they could to "shut them down". It was very difficult for many of the graduating students to start a practice. Several went outside of the country where chiropractic was very well accepted. In Ecuador, the hospitals had separate wings for patients of chiropractors. That changed as more students got into the field. Now, insurance companies accept the practice and will cover it.

The problem with naturopathic careers is that it is so broad, that insurance companies cannot spend the time to discern which doctor or practice is legitimate. It has been around for centuries. However, people want instant results from their symptoms. Naturopathic protocols do not provide this. Herbology, homeopathy, acupuncture, etc, are just not going to provide instant cure of symptoms, but the difference between natural healing and allopathic is that allopathic only wants to cure the symptom when naturopathic want to cure the cause. Huge difference there. And that is why naturopathic is not instant, but is more powerful.

I believe you are making the right decision, but it will be difficult to establish that career upon graduation. So many people have become disillusioned with mainstream meds, that they are actively searching for naturopathic doctors, including me. As I said, the field is so large, I don't even know where to begin.

I don't think you should worry about religion. Most patients don't even ask. Naturopathic deals with nature. God is Mother Nature. I can't imagine not believing in God at all. I don't mean believing in religion. That would be understandable. It is easier for me to understand that someone is at least a Diest, like Thomas Jefferson and John Adams and Benjamin Franklin etc. But that would not stop me from wanting services from a naturopathic doctor or acupuncturist. The very first natural healers where religious, from what we read of history. Early human ancestral tribes apparently had healers that were also considered spiritual leaders. But once again, someone who is open minded enough to look outside of mainstream for a cure, is not likely to care about their practitioner's religion or non-religion.

__________________
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- Jim

Love is a serious mental disease. -Plato

Fukuruo, I suspect you have been visiting the wrong websites on the net.. and finally you have landed on a right one!

Nautropathic medicine is growing my leaps and bounds.. and you are choosing a very good profession because every day more and more people are getting fed up with conventional medicine.

In naturopathic school you will learn a lot on how to cure things but you will also learn how to prevent serious conditions and more and more people are leaning this way of approach to their health and seek help.... as the increase in chronic disease is really worrisome to more and more people.

At Bastyr you will start reading the studies that back their work with natural medicines... and I do believe that they do some research in that school also. Such studies in alternative medicine are not easy for a lay person to find but I assure you, they will present more than you will be able to absorb... as the research keeps coming and coming.. there is no end to it.


When I first went to a naturopath I had to wait a month for my first appointment she was so busy.. her waitng room was busy. If you locate yourself in a good place you will do well. The naturopats I currently use are also chiropractors and one is also a licensed acupuncturist. They do amazing things for people and their waiting room is filled with notebooks with testimonials from their patients with labe work, xrays etc all with permisson from their patients who may of which were in seriouse conditon when they walked in thier door.

so continue with your dream is my advice. When you come out of Bastyr you will also be able to prescribe drugs... but always seek other ways first.. using the drugs only in dire situations. Some states do not allow Natuopaths from the 4 year post grad natuopathic schools to prescribe drugs even though they are qualified to do so. (but most states do). Idaho is one of those states... and regardless of that the naturopaths I go to know how to cure the Lyme disease, without drugs!

To perk your interests I suggest that you subscribe to a magazine for professional alternative healers called The Townsend Letter.... it is the equilivant to the Journal of American Medicine that medical doctors read... although the magazine is not as well funded, and hence not as facny or large... of course, there are no adds for drugs in it. This magazine will broaden your perception and provide good intenet links for you over time too.

This website will introduce you to the medical use of vitamin C, which is a huge topic for the naturopath and I do believe you will find studies mentioned on it. www.vitamincfoundation.org

I really disagree that naturopathic treatment is slow. I have seen things cure with homeopathy very very quickly, like overnight in some cases where the medical doctor would still be scratching his head a year later.

I have seen signficant pain eliminated in two or three days with enzyme therapy without the use of drugs at all in patienst who have been suffering a long time

I have recently had a medical condition myself that has given me lots of worrisome pain for the past 3 months. I dinked around with medical doctors here close to home, had all kinds of tests done, and they basically dismissed me... they could not diagnoses nor treat the problem... so I took the 400 mile trip back to Salt Lake to my old medical doctor who practices alternative medicine. She had it diagnosed in one visit and pain reduced 50% in two days, and 100% in 2 weeks...

the naturopaths I know cure joint degeneration in 4 to 6 months avoiding the prescriped knee replacements. and Im talking about bone on bone here.. is this slow? it is not! considering that medical doctors offer a lift time of no cure for this condition.

Mecial doctors treated both of my sons for infection for a year. Homeopathy had them cured in one to two weeks... read the story here:
https://www.healthsalon.org/417/chron...nd-homeopathy/

Arrowwind, the recommendation regarding the Townsend Letter is excellent. I had completely forgotten about that.

I have yet to find an homeopthic solution that works at all for any of my symptoms. Three days of pain, while using enzyme therapy, is too long to wait when people can use pharmaceuticals for quick relief. I'm certainly not pushing such and would not use such, but that's one of the reasons for my opinion. People use mainstream for the quick symptom cures. The only herbs that seem to work quickly are the ones for laxative. The best supplement, I've found for sinus and headache pain, is nattokinase. Other than that, the patient must have patience when using alternative and naturopathic solutions.

It would seem to me that naturopathic may or may not be slower then allopathic depending on a lot of different things, but naturopathic is a little more labor intensive for the patient. Its always a little tougher to go against the grain and not do the mainstream thing, as the system is set up that way. I would also say that naturopathic seems to take a little more disipline from ones self. Many treatments require temporary, if not permanent, life changes in regards to diet, excersise, mental state and so on. Allopathic is more convenient in a sence, as usually all that is required is to take a little pill so many times a day. The side effects however can become quite inconvenient.

Thank you everyone for posting! I have gained some great insight from reading your answers and have been able to straighten my delusional head a little bit since yesterday. They made me realize why I chose natural medicine over conventional medicine in the first place. My biggest fear was that there are/will be methods in naturopathy that even I as a naturopath wouldn't be able to agree with in the future, but I have since realized that there could be division even among naturopaths. I assume not all naturopaths use the same methods, therefore in my profession I would be able to pick and choose methods which I find to be appropriate. And I assume if worst comes to worst, I will not go into practice as a naturopath, but continue research at Bastyr university to create breakthroughs in naturopathic medicine.

I thank you all for your replies once more, and I will definitely look into "The Townsend Letter"! You were all a great help, and I think I have decided that I will pursue my passion as a naturopath!

By the way, muscle testing does work. I've used it numerous times to see if a product or even a food
is/will be good or bad for me.

Whenever you try to do something that goes counter to �conventional� wisdom the naysayers will come out of the woodwork in droves and denouncing you as uninformed, delusional, etc. etc. or just simply an idiot to be ignored. Because if everyone does not follow their lead that might cause them to question their protocols and we certainly can�t have that, can we?

The only ignoring that needs to be done is by you of them.
By now you obviously know that naturopathic medicine works. Maybe not in every case or as fast as some might like, but then its aim is to cure a problem not just treat the symptoms and or worse create new problems. This is an area where you will actually be trying to help people.

I totally agree, thanks

Here's a series of factual videos on training and what ND's actually do in practice. If you are really interested you should contact the ND Association and check out what the prospects and salaries are before spending a load of money on training.

They might recommend an ND you can speak to in your area about what its really like to be an ND before you start training.

https://www.naturopathic.org/content.asp?contentid=56

I wish there was an NO here in Northern Ky. I'd visit them.
Anything but Allopathics!
I can handle something that takes time; just not Big Pharma meds - EVER!

I have had major sinus infection with head pain cured in just a couple of hours with homeoapthy... but you do need to know how to properly select a remedy

I don't know if you ever consulted with a really ace homeopath or not. That could make a difference in the outcome.

Some homoepaths have told me that they have come across patients that seem to be incurable for uncertain reasons, they could only guess why but uesually realated to years of drug use and diseases that have so fully manipulated and repressed the disease that he vital force of the patient is so incredibley damaged that they can not find the right remedy.. Sometimes with chronic disease pererverance is requried to find the right remedy or the right potency.