The increasing role of naturopathic medicine
January 2nd, 2010 | By: Erin Zonta
Chris Robins was desperate for help when she turned to natural medicine one year ago. The eastside executive and mother of two school-aged children didn’t have time to slow down for the disabling headaches that she was experiencing on a weekly basis.
“I was not pleased with the results that I was getting from conventional medicine, so I decided to look elsewhere,” said Robins, who sought help at the NaturoMedica clinic in Sammamish. “My conventional doctor would just put me on pain relievers and muscle relaxants, which didn’t solve the problem.”
Robins says that after being treated by a naturopath, she hasn’t had to fill her prescriptions for headache medication for the past year.
After her own positive experience with natural medicine, Robins took her 8 year old son, who had been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), to see a naturopath. Her son was taking two different ADD drugs during the day, as well as Melatonin to help him sleep at night. At NaturoMedica, her son was diagnosed with food allergies and sensitivities and subsequently changed his diet.
“Now, he takes only one pill a day. He doesn’t take Melatonin before bed and he feels so much better. He is calmer and no longer has emotional mood swings,” Robins said of her son. “Before, it was impossible to go out to dinner with him unless he took a pill to calm down. Now, he doesn’t need medication before dinner and he can sit perfectly still in a restaurant and carry on a conversation.
He is a changed boy! ”Before seeking help for her headaches, Robins had never seen a naturopath and admits that she didn’t even know what a naturopath did. She was simply looking for a different approach to her healthcare and was intrigued by a flyer about naturopathic medicine. Now, Robins uses a naturopath for her primary care and MD specialists for adjunctive care. Robins has embraced the growing trend toward a more natural approach to medical care. Yet, what some people may view as a fad actually has a long and respected history.
Naturopathic medicine originally grew out of the eclectic healing systems of the 18th and 19th centuries. The forefathers of natural medicine believed in using a variety of means to help patients, as long as the medicine caused no harm. They looked for underlying “cause” of disease and attempted to use the body’s own natural healing powers to prevent and treat disease. Treating patients holistically, they took physical, emotional, environmental and genetic factors into account
Naturopathy was popular through the 20th century, actually rivaling conventional medicine in popularity. The medicine flourished until the 1930s, when economic and political factors influenced favoring pharmaceutical companies and conventional medical schools. Post-World War II, advances in medical technology and the invention of sophisticated drugs further diminished the role of Naturopathy. Continuing into the 1960s, Natural medicine began to gain popularity in the 1960s, when research revealed the harmful side effects of modern inventions like DDT and thalidomide.
The NaturoMedica clinic in Sammamish is a result of the resurgence. The clinic was founded by local physicians Naomi Bryant of Issaquah, Tammy McInnis of North Bend, and Jill Monster of Sammamish. The three doctors met at Bastyr University, one of only five accredited naturopathic medical schools in the country.
Naturopath John Nowicki, also a Bastyr graduate, has been practicing in Issaquah for the past eight years. He has observed increasing acceptance of naturopathic medicine over time, but believes that the medicine is still in infancy stage as it relates to public awareness. “There are so many people who do not even know that naturopaths exist or what they do,” comments Dr. Nowicki. Naturopaths spend a great deal of time educating the public about their medicine.
Dr. Nowicki agrees that one of the hallmarks of naturopathic medicine is treating the underlying cause of disease, rather than just the symptoms. “Let’s take headaches for example. My goal is to figure out where the headaches are coming from rather than just saying take ibuprofen, acetaminophen or magnesium. These may relieve the pain. I am not opposed to symptom relief. However, these treatments do not correct the underlying problem. My goal is to figure out where the headaches are coming from and then to treat that cause. If I can figure out and treat the cause of the headaches, medications are no longer necessary. This applies to all symptoms; headaches, fatigue, digestive complaints, etc. The goal is always to determine the cause.”
Today’s naturopaths are trained as primary care physicians. They use traditional therapies such as nutrition, botanical medicine and homeopathy along with conventional therapies. They can write prescriptions for most medications, as well. Naturopathic doctors do not see themselves at odds with MDs.
“We regularly work alongside MDs. We refer back and forth and we work together to do what is best for our patients,” said Dr. Bryant “Our view is that the best medicine is the medicine that works, regardless of who provides it.”
“At our clinic we embrace the history and philosophy of natural medicine, but with a modern approach,” adds Dr. Monster. “We find that people want old-fashioned care, but that they want the benefit of the latest scientific advances in Western medicine along with evidence-based natural therapies. We get to know each of our patients well so that we can offer a highly individualized approach.”
Such individualized care often requires naturopaths to spend a significant amount of time with their patients. With many naturopathic doctors a typical first appointment lasts for two hours and a follow-up visit lasts for about an hour.
“Naturopathic medicine is relationship-based. We are finding that our patients want to take a more participatory role in their healthcare and we enjoy being able to sit down and really listen to what our patients are telling us,” explains Dr. McInnis.
This is quite different from traditional western medicine, where recent research has shown that the average patient-doctor interaction time has fallen steadily to eight minutes.
Rick Johnson of Sammamish has found great benefit in this individualized approach. He originally sought out naturopathic care at the advice of his wife Lori, who had personally experienced the advantages. Johnson went to NaturoMedica with a number of health concerns, including persistent allergies.
He had always believed in the body’s inherent ability to heal itself and wanted to avoid medications, but he found himself relying on allergy shots, daily sinus rinses and ultimately, sinus surgery to minimize discomfort from allergies. In spite of this, Johnson still suffered sinus infections every couple of months.
Through changes in his diet and various supplements advised by his naturopath, Johnson said that he has been able to stop his allergy shots and hasn’t had a sinus infection in over a year. As an added bonus, due to diet and lifestyle changes, he has lost 38 pounds and dropped his cholesterol by over 100 points. He is now working out regularly and running half marathons.
“Naturopathic medicine has turned by life around,” Johnson said.
With clinical success stories like these, it is easy to see why naturopathic medicine is gaining acceptance in our own backyard.
