Naturopathic medicine is a type of health care offered by licensed physicians that focuses on prevention and treatment with the use of natural methods and resources. These can include homeopathy, herbal medicine, nutrition, and ancient medical practices.

If you have a chronic illness and traditional treatments have been unsuccessful or you are a healthy person and want to learn methods about how to stay healthy and prevent illness, naturopathy just may be the area of medicine for you to explore. Below are 4 reasons to consider naturopathic medicine and ways they may be able to help you.

1. No side effects from medication

One main reason that people have chosen naturopathy over prescription drugs is either because they have had terrible side effects from them in the past or they have recently been prescribed them and they cannot take the effects of them anymore.

Instead of suffering from these side effects or taking additional medications to counter them, naturopathy should definitely be considered. While prescriptions are sometimes necessary in fighting an illness, naturopathy can assist with minimizing side effects that they cause in addition to addressing the underlying causes of the illness itself.

For example, people with cancer often visit naturopaths to be treated for the negative effects often caused by chemotherapy. Naturopathic medicine is often successful in this process and in the off-chance that it is not, all treatments are natural and cannot harm your body so you still stand to benefit with nothing lost.

2. It is a holistic approach

Naturopathic doctors believe that the body is able to heal itself with support and removing the obstacles that prevent healing. In naturopathic medicine, this is called the vis and it has six basic principles. One of these principles is that naturopathy is meant to treat the whole person, addressing physical, mental, emotional, genetic, environmental, and social factors.

While prescription medications main goal is to treat one ailment, naturopathic treatments are capable of treating more than one part of the body. A naturopath will develop a comprehensive treatment plan based on your needs and aim to get to the root of your illness through a variety of different treatments with a wrap-around approach.

3. It is effective with many different illnesses

Naturopathy has grown significantly in popularity especially when traditional treatments have provided satisfactory results or none at all. Treatments have proven successful in addressing conditions such as skin irritations, high blood pressure, digestive problems, depression, constipation, allergies, and chronic fatigue. While cancer patients have utilized naturopathy in the past, it is more to treat side effects and used in conjunction with other medications rather than to cure the illness. These treatment are natural, safe, and based on the individual needs of each client.

A naturopath has many tools in their repertoire including intravenous therapy, lifestyle counselling, acupuncture, homeopathic medicine, and botanical medicine. They will work hard to get to the root of your illness and can recommend a treatment that will be effective and match your comfort level.

4. Prevention

You do not have to wait until you are unwell to use naturopathic medicine. Many patients of naturopathy state that they are glad that they followed through with treatment because they were unaware of any issues with their bodies until treatments made them feel better.

A primary focus in this area of medicine is preventing illness from occurring in the first place and allowing a patient to enjoy a good quality of life. A naturopathic doctor can recommend a treatment that will allow a patient to receive natural nutrients that will play a role in fighting an infection before it begins to take a toll on the body.