As students and practitioners of naturopathic medicine, we approach diagnosis and treatment of illness under the six tenants.  That said, I find that the average naturopathic physician falls into one of two camps: (1) One who treats the patient's disease with natural substances; (2) One who treats the patient - regardless of diagnosis - with natural substances.  No matter how much naturopathic and 'nature cure' philosophy we get in school, we still seem to migrate back to this paradigm where medicines, whether natural or synthetic, treat diseases.  People who care to educate themselves independently of the mainstream corporate-owned media have a pretty clear understanding that pharmaceuticals don't really eradicate disease from the body, rather allowing the disease to continue masked deeper in the body indefinitely or until the drug is stopped.  I don't think everyone is fully aware that naturopathic therapies, when chosen to palliate symptoms, can also suppress disease in a very similar way.

So, what's the difference between a symptom and a disease?  It's easy to fall into the trap that something, say, like hypertension is a disease that should be treated.  In actuality, it is a symptom, a dysregulation that has a separate cause.  If I prescribe an herbal tincture, some diet changes, and exercise, am I actually addressing the cause of this person's hypertension?  Doesn't this therapy sound an awful lot like the standard allopathic treatment plan of ACE inhibitors, diet and exercise or b blockers, diet and exercise, or "insert drug names here", diet and exercise?  What about herbal escharotic therapy for CIN or even cervical manipulation for neck pain?  We've all done it.  When someone says cancer, we think green tea extract and IV therapy.  When someone says diabetes, we have a great formula in mind.  UTI?  Oh yeah, we've got a nice tea and tincture for that one, too.  I do think in many cases, it is appropriate to treat in this way as long as the whole person is treated naturopathically subsequent to their acute presentation.

Once we’ve successfully treated or palliated the acute presentation, how do we get at the cause?  Being able to retrograde through the physiological processes that led to the symptoms may not get us to the actual cause.  And the “cause” is sometimes not really the cause.  I mean, what “causes” human conception?  I will venture to say it’s not fertilization and chromosome separation.  It's worth considering that all life AND disease stems from energetics.  It's mind-boggling to try to imagine how many systems are intertwined in our bodies.  It's got to be millions and millions.  It's even more mind-boggling to imagine the hundreds of processes altered by swallowing one pill and absorbing its contents into one cell.  It almost seems silly to try to fiddle with these processes toward a goal that’s in any way predictably positive for the entire body.  We’re back to these basics: First, do no harm.  Find and treat the cause.  Treat the whole person.  Use the Vis Medicatrix Naturae.  Teach.  Prevent.

With that said, I think we need to find and study those medicines that affect the energetics of the body, the ion balance, the bioelectric magnetic fields, the emunctories.  Our roots.  More and more energetic therapies are available to us as naturopathic physicians with seminars and trainings to help us hone our skills and shift our collective paradigm.  That’s where it’s at.  We can deny it, say we need to fit into the current medical model, co-manage patients with physicians who work in a completely different paradigm while we try desperately to minimize side effects and improve quality of life of patients slowly withering away on polypharmacy, and accept insurance checks for treating diseases.  There IS a place for that, certainly, but I hope we don’t all get bogged down in that bloody mess.  Our medicine is worth so much more than that.  Let’s not forget Father Kniepp and Benedict Lust were cured of tuberculosis with hydrotherapy alone.  We can do this and we do it well.  You may not agree with me.  I may not agree with myself in 20 years.  Right now, though, this seems like the way to strive; for perfection, for wellness, for quality of life, for profound health