Naturopathic Medicine

[amichel]

Sure I hear what you are saying. What I mentioned a couple of times was that these 2 areas can complement each other, and from the NDs I've met, they are not misleading the public or trying to work outside of their knowledge / scope. I think there is a general dislike among western medics for anyone who is "different". I'm all for "do good, do no harm", I'm all for evidence. But I also support other avenues that patients want to explore if it will help improve their lifestyle and quality of life.

 

This used to be the rhetoric towards allied health professions as well. And doctor's nowadays are for some reason still very mistrusting of other health care professionals (be they NDs or others). For instance, there are actually new provincial changes to the management of back pain in Ontario because too many MDs simply ordered useless imaging; whereas other professions PT/ chiro can manually treat back pain but some MDs are still very mistrusting for some reason.

 

I don't want to become this type of MD with a narrow point of view. I think, as a family MD you can advise your patients, but if they want to seek alternative options you need to be open minded to their wishes. Best thing I think is to network and get to know your community providers, find out what they specialize in, how they practice, etc.

 

Let's just all remember that our thoughts and beliefs are all shaped by the context in which we are raised/educated. Be it pro-big pharma (pharma funds a lot of educational institutions and studies which will obviously tip the scales in their favour. Now obviously I realize that pharma is necessary, there are no alternatives for some of the lifesaving drugs we need. But are there alternatives to addicting our population with pain killers?? Some other health care professionals do offer "different" pain management strategies (acupuncture, modalities, manual therapy)...these might not have a multi-hundred billion dollar industry funding a 25 site 100,000 patient research study, but even if a couple of people find benefit, is it not better than giving them not only costly but perhaps harmful/addictive meds??

At the end of the day we should be open minded to at least learning what other community providers offer, and looking at all research studies with open eyes.

 

I do have a friend who is an ND with an interest in skin disorders. There is evidence for instance that some skin conditions can be treated with vitamin D and that there is a relationship between low Vitamin D and skin disorders.

 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25666936

 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25666936

 

I don't think the different professions need to be fighting each other. We need to find ways to work together because patients will seek out alternatives regardless. Again from folks I know in the ND world, they are definitely very respectful of MD's roles and see themselves as an alternative, not with the negative connotation of the word, but more so a complement.

 

There may be some individual cases of NDs working out of their scope, saying something ridiculous etc. But I bet you can find public info / news pieces about any health care professions who do the same.

The problem, as you have illustrated unknowingly, is that whenever MDs disagree with any of this stuff, people can just say "oh they just don't like NDs because big pharma".

 

That may be true in a small (id say a very small minority of cases) number of cases. But most of the time it's because most natropathic treatments are just not evidence based. At all. Lots have been studied. They don't work.

 

Comparing this to PTs (please don't lump them with Chiros, it upsets them, for good reason), is silly, because PT for many conditions (such as lower back pain) has tons of evidence to support it.

 

We were taught to refer to PT for low back pain, absolutely no MR unless there are red flags. I'm pretty sure a good portion of those uncessary MRIs are because patients demand them and many will doctor skip until they get one. It's a patient education issue as well as an ME education one, and has very little to do with naturopathy.

[NLengr]

Essentially naturopaths order unnecessary bloodwork and bogus allergy testing, which they then use to diagnose subclinical or invented diagnoses that have no (or wildly implausible) pathologic correlates. Consider examples such as systemic candida, chronic lyme disease, multiple chemical sensitivity, interstitial cystitis, etc. 

 

Just wanted to point out that Interstitial Cystitis (Bladder Pain Syndrome) is an actual disease, not a fake one. It's managed by Urologists.

 

One of my spouses friends went to a naturopath for some vague, non specific symptoms like mild fatigue. Got a diagnosis of adrenal fatigue. Was told to eat less vegetables from the brassica family and take some very expensive multivitamins that the ND just happened to be selling. Science! Needless to say, she didn't go back.

[makingfetchhappen]

I think that there is a big problem right now with non-evidence based thinking right now, and too many people are drinking the Kool Aid.

 

It sort of drives me nuts. I spend 99% of my time around people who do not have a science background, although they may be very well educated and knowledgeable in whatever field they are in. But, it seems to me like the naturalistic fallacy is the new black. 

 

Everything that is not "natural" is bad. Also, lots of things that are natural are bad too, like wheat and dairy.

People go on and on about how anything that is "unnatural" is bad: artificial sweetener, bug spray, cold medicine, non-narcotic pain killers, antiperspirant, preservatives, household cleaners, cosmetics, etc., etc.

It isn't good for people's mental health to be obsessing over these things all of the time. It also isn't usually good for people to cut out things like wheat and dairy if they are not able to put the effort in to eat a balanced diet without these easy sources of nutrition. 

 

Also, people tend to become obsessed with unimportant details and ignore the big picture. Instead of making time for exercise, proper sleep, etc., people put their energy into juice cleanses while letting the more important common sense things slide. They also tend to resist taking prescription drugs against medical advice because again, they are not "natural".