Medicine Health

Herbal medicine is the oldest form of health care known to mankind, and is also called botanical medicine or herbalism. Herbal medicine began with primitive cultures using different plants for shelter, clothing, and medicine. Herbal medicine is a complementary therapy that uses plants or plant extracts to treat illness, and is an important part of keeping healthy holistically and naturally. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that as many as 4 billion people, or 80 percent of the world's population presently use herbal medicine for some aspects of primary health care.

History of Herbals

Nearly every people, including ancient cultures dating back thousands of years, has used herbs. Medicinal herbs were found in the personal effects of an "Ice man" whose body was frozen in the Swiss Alps for more than 5,300 years. They appear to have been used to treat the parasites found in his intestines. In the written record, the study of herbs dates back over 5,000 years to the Sumerians, who described well-established medicinal uses for such plants as laurel, caraway, and thyme. The continuing importance of herbs for the centuries following the Middle Ages is indicated by the hundreds of pages of information on herbs published after the invention of printing in the fifteenth century.

How To Use Herbs

Herbs can be prepared in a variety of forms depending on their purpose. They have been used in all cultures throughout history to restore balance by nourishing the body and have provided humankind with medicine from the earliest beginnings of civilization. Herbs contain a large number of naturally occurring chemicals that have biological activity. They help the body strengthen its own resistance to infective organisms and throw off illness. Herbs can act on the body as powerfully as pharmaceutical drugs and should be treated with the same caution and respect.

Herbs can also have undesirable side effects just as pharmaceutical products can. Herbs may be harmful if taken for the wrong conditions, used in excessive amounts, combined with prescription drugs or alcohol, or used by persons who don't know what they are doing. Most herbal traditions have accumulated knowledge without modern scientific controls to distinguish between the placebo effect, the body's natural ability to heal itself, and the actual benefits of the herbs themselves.

Who Can Use Herbs

Medicinal plants can be used by anyone, for example as part of a salad, an herbal tea or supplement. Many of the herbs and spices used by humans to season food yield useful medicinal compounds. To use an herbal product as safely as possible consult your doctor or a trained herbalist before you begin. Do not take a bigger dose than the label recommends. Take it under the guidance of someone trained in and experienced with herbal use. Be especially cautious if you are pregnant or nursing.

While herbal medicine is older than any other type of health care, it continues to influence the medicines of today. Herbal medicine has proven to be a huge benefit to mankind and has never been more popular than it is today.

You can improve your health and personal well being as you begin to use complementary herbal medicines confidently and effectively.

We are in the midst of a paradigm shift. Our understanding of health and medicine is broadening, and both practitioners and patients are embracing a holistic, integrated approach. Patients are becoming more informed via the internet, word of mouth, and diligent research that there is something significantly missing from medicine in the current standard of care in the American healthcare system. What they are finding, and flocking to, is a group of physicians that have likewise embraced this broadened approach to medicine. Some of these practitioners adopted a more holistic approach after realizing that there was something missing from their medical training, and sought out post-graduate trainings to complement their understanding of holistic medicine. Other practitioners discovered their passion before entering medical school, and pursued the study of naturopathic medicine.

So this begets the questions, What is Naturopathic Medicine, and where does Naturopathic Medicine fit in the paradigm shift?

What is This field of medicine

Naturopathic doctors (ND) are specialists in integrative medicine, combining extensive education and training in both natural and conventional medicine, emphasizing the use of the safest, least invasive methods to treat disease by restoring health. The education entails a 4-year graduate level program, national board examinations in basic and clinical sciences, and curriculum including basic sciences, clinical sciences, diagnostic techniques and tests, pharmacology, minor surgery, and range of natural therapies including botanical medicine, nutrition and nutritional biochemistry, physical medicine, homeopathy, eastern and Chinese medicine and mind/body medicine.

Integral to this medicine is a unifying philosophical approach to health summed up in The Principals of Naturopathic Medicine, which recognizes the body's innate wisdom and healing capacity (Vis Medicatrix Naturae) and the physician's role to treat disease by restoring the body to its natural and balanced state (Tolle Causum). Treatment programs integrate multiple modalities, which may include nutrition and lifestyle modification, homeopathy, botanical medicine, nutraceuticals, IV nutrient therapy, and when warranted, pharmaceutical intervention. ND's begin with the least invasive therapies and proceed to higher levels of intervention only as necessary. This approach is outlined in what is called "The Therapeutic Order"

The Principles Of Naturopathic Medicine:

1. First Do No Harm, Primum Non Nocere - this principle is at the basis of any medical professional. ND's follow a therapeutic order which emphasizes the use of least force necessary to restore health, using the least toxic and minimally invasive interventions and only proceeding to more toxic and invasive interventions when necessary

2. The Healing Power of Nature, Vis Medicatrix Naturae - First described by Hippocrates as the healing power of nature. It is a person's vital force within that allows an individual to overcome disease. Naturopathic Medicine recognizes an inherent ordered and intelligent self-healing process in each person. ND's act to identify and remove obstacles to healing and recovery, and to facilitate and augment this inherent self-healing process.

3. Identify and Treat the Cause, Tolle Causam - The physician seeks to identify and remove the underlying causes of illness rather than to merely eliminate or suppress symptoms the patient is experiencing.

4. Doctor As Teacher, Docere -ND's educate their patients and encourage self-responsibility for health. They also recognize and employ the therapeutic potential of the doctor/patient relationship.

5. Treat the Whole Person - ND's treat each patient by taking into account an individual's physical, mental, emotional, genetic, environmental, social, spiritual, and other factors that contribute to one's health.

6. Prevention - ND's emphasize the prevention of disease-assessing factors, heredity, and susceptibility to disease, and work towards making the appropriate decisions in partnership with their patients to prevent illness.

Naturopathic Therapeutic Order

1. Establish the conditions for health - Identify and remove disturbing factors - Institute a more healthful regimen

2. Stimulate the healing power of nature (vis medicatrix naturae): the self-healing processes, through low force methods such as constitutional hydrotherapy, homeopathy, acupuncture

3. Address weakened or damaged systems or organs (via botanical medicine, homeopathy, orthomolecular nutrients, glandulars, homeopathy, and other minimally invasive, safe, natural therapies)

• Strengthen the immune system
• Decrease toxicity
• Normalize inflammatory function
• Optimize metabolic function
• Balance regulatory systems
• Enhance regeneration
• Harmonize life force

4. Correct structural integrity

5. Address pathology:

a. use specific natural substances, modalities, or interventions

b. use specific pharmacologic or synthetic substances

6. Suppress or surgically remove pathology

Why Naturopathy?

As Gandhi said, we must "be the change you wish to see in the world."ND's practice the change they want to see in medicine. Despite the fact that it has not gained universal acceptance within the United States healthcare system, These doctors have taken a 'leap of faith', knowing that integrative medicine is the best medicine and will eventually gain not only parity, but prominence. Naturopathy extends beyond just integrating multiple therapies and modalities in treatment. It incorporates an integrative approach to all aspects of health and wellness. Starting from day one of an ND's medical education and continuing throughout practice, every body system, function, disease, and treatment is viewed from a holistic perspective. It is very likely that almost every integrative medical practitioner shares at least some of these philosophical tenants, regardless of whether it is called "naturopathic" or "holistic" or "alternative". It is also likely that many integrative practitioners differ on some philosophies, treatments and approaches. Having an underlying shared philosophical approach combined with different styles, opinions, ideas and discoveries fuel evolution, progress and change. As such, the philosophy and practice of Naturopathic Medicine is a part of the evolving consciousness and paradigm shift towards a more holistic and integrative approach to healthcare that will soon become the new standard for conventional medicine.

- Dr. Stacey Kupperman, ND