Environmental Medicine:
To help people overcome toxic chemical exposure and build up, which are a cause of many modern illnesses, naturopaths specialize in cleansing the body from these toxins and restoring the immune system.
Minor Surgery:
Naturopaths are trained to do minor office surgery such as stitches, cyst removal and other superficial injuries.
“John Kaiser M.D., developed a program of diet, exercise, vitamins, herbs and stress reduction that has shown promise in stopping the progression of Aids. Using a combination of natural therapies with a very small use of western drugs, 89 percent of 139 HIV positive patients in his practice have remained stable or improved their diagnosis during a five year period.” It has been found that women whose diets were around the average intake of Vitamins A and C.
Naturopaths’ best function is in primary care and general practice medicine with non-toxic, non-invasive methods. Their greatest strengths are well to other medical traditions. Another strength is in natural childbirth where the needed for a caesarean section is much lower than in conventional care. Their practitioners are not trained in major surgery or acute trauma care and it is illegal for them to treat cancer.
Homeopathy
“ Fundamentally, homeopathy states that everything that happens to people, everything they think and feel, everything that is physically wrong with them, is connected. To a homeopathy, a symptom means any characteristic from any aspect of the person.” Therefore, symptoms are all the complaints from the body, emotions, thoughts, and reactions to different conditions, sleep patterns, foods, family and work. Where a chronic illness is diagnosed, it can take up to two hours to collect enough information before proper prescriptions can be made. This individualized attention is the key feature of homeopathy.
The homeopathy principle is fundamentally opposite from that of western medicine’s where symptoms represent a malfunction and must be suppresses. In homeopathy, symptoms are created by the body during its process of protecting itself. The remedies naturally activate the body’s own ability for self-healing. They help eliminate the reason the body developed the symptoms in the first place. Prescribing is based on a biological principle called the Law of Similars that states that when a physician gives a healthy person a particular substance, certain distinct symptoms will appear. If the physician sees these symptoms in a sick person, then that same substance will cure them. “A homeopathic remedy gives the body a little more of what it needs to fight the disease.”
Homeopathic remedies are made from minerals, botanical and zoological substances. The remedies are prepared and shaken by multiple dilutions of 1 to 10 to 1 or to 100. According to the laws of chemistry, there is a limit to the dilution that can be made without losing the original substance altogether. The homeopathic dilutions do lose all the molecules of the original substance but the vigorous shaking with each dilution leaves a spirit-like essence which cures by reviving the body’s “vital force.” The “vital force” refers to a force that can be aroused to a higher level thereby helping the body to use its own inner resources to alleviate the symptoms.
“Out of 487 patients with an influenza-like syndrome, the patients treated with a single remedy that was not individualized, were 70 percent more likely to have recovered within 48 hours compared to those receiving the placebo. Twenty-eight patients with allergic asthma were randomly assigned to either the experimental group or placebo group. Those receiving the homeopathic remedy had significantly reduced symptoms and better respiratory functioning over the next eight weeks compared to those received the placebo.”
Homeopathy is able to treat anything capable of being helped by the patient’s own host resistance (natural defences) or vital force. Its strengths lie in treatment of acute and chronic illnesses, particularly in the early stages or where there is no severe tissue damage. Migraines, headaches, immune related illnesses (allergies) as well as viral and bacterial infections are especially helped by homeopathy.
The major strength of homeopathy is its lack of side effects. Since the remedies are given in such minute doses, there is not enough of the substances to cause toxic reactions or side effects in the body as often happens with conventional drugs.
Homeopathy does not treat broken bones although it may be used to speed the healing process once the bone is set. Homeopathy is also not generally considered a form of treatment for advanced cancer, syphilis, gonorrhea or advanced or advanced stages of other diseases such as long standing arthritis. It cannot repair a defective valve in the heart or stroke damage to the brain. However, a homeopath who is licensed to practice western medicine can combine both types to help strengthen the patient’s overall resistance.
The era when Rudyard Kipling wrote “ East is east and west is west, and never the twain shall meet” is over. Since the late nineteenth century, the western tradition of medicine has shown us that once hopeless diseases can now be cured. The advanced technologies in drug production and surgical techniques have certainly prolonged life. These successes of conventional medicine have affected lives. However, with the many advancements of western medicine, new problems have arisen. For instance, society is living longer and with that new problems are created. Modern or conventional medicine is in a period of change. Alternative medical treatments from other of the world, which were once viewed with skepticism by professionals and society, are now being by viewed by many as a complement to modern medical techniques.
The herbal revolution has made people more aware that they must be responsible
for their own health care. Although the benefits of man-made drugs are indisputable, they have also produced side affects. This is where herbal and other types of alternative medicine step in and reduce or eliminate the side effects of modern medicine. Given all of the information, it is possible for society to separate the need for conventional or alternative medical care depending on the condition. Research has proven that conventional medicine is the clear leader in infectious diseases, cancer and heart disease. However, for the common everyday aches and pains of life, alternative medicine is the definite leader. In turn, alternative medicine cannot stand alone. Research has proven successful when alternative medicine is used in conjunction with conventional techniques.
Traditional medicine is certainly important but it sometimes ignores certain issues of healing. This may be caused in part by the shrinking health care dollar, the lack of time or even the lack of awareness by the physician. Before the advent of synthetic drugs, our ancestors used many home remedies that are being used again today by both traditional and alternative physicians.
Now that physicians are learning and accepting more about alternative treatments and integrating them into their practices, the outlook is hopeful that in the future these two types of treatments will thrive and complement one another. The result of this co-operation can only benefit society and enhance the total health care system.
American Association of Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine
Journal Article, Washington, D.C., 1994.
Collinge, William, Alternative Medicine.
NewYork, N.Y., Warner Books, 1996.
Cummings, S. & Ullman, D., Everybody’s Guide to Homeopathic Medicines.
NewYork, N.Y., Putnam Books, 1997.
Dachman, K., and Kinnan, J.P., The Self Health Handbook.
NewYork, N.Y., Facts on File, Inc., 1996]
Grossman, Richard, The Other Medicines.
Garden City, N.Y., Doubleday & Co., 1995
Helms, J., Physicians & Acupuncture in the 1990’s: A Report for the Subcommitee on Labour, Health & Human Services & Education of the Appropriations Committee,
Washington, D.C., 1994
Hoffman, David, Holistic Herbal.
Shaftesbury, Eng., Element Books, 1996
Jainger, Oscar and Golberg, P, A Different Kind of Healing,
NewYork, N.Y., Putnam Books, 1994.
Lytle, C.D., An Overview of Acupuncture,
U.S. Dept. Of Health & Human Science, Public Health, F&D Adminstration.
Washington, D.C., 1993.
Zwicky, John, Hafner, A., Barrett, S. & Jarvis, W.,
Readers Guide to Alternative Health Methods.
Milwaukee, Wi., American Medical Association, 1993.