I have realized over the past several years (yes, that's years) that a whole lot of people don't understand how natural health solutions work. Many people expect them to work parallel to allopathic treatments, or like magic, and neither is the case. Actually, they might work more closely to "real" magic than to allopathy - stay with me; I'll explain later.In allopathic treatment, there are chemicals, radiation, and surgery for just about everything. In addition, nods are given to diet and exercise, and sometimes hydration and sleep.
In natural wellness solutions, there is an enormous gamut of possible solutions. There are body and energy work; enzymes; essential oils and hydrosols; flower remedies; homeopathic remedies; infusions, extracts, glycerides, and tisanes; lifestyle changes; lasers and light spectrums; meditation and prayer; patches and pills; prebiotics and probiotics; sound and resonance; thought fields and faith; unilateral and bilateral tapping; visualization; vitamins and minerals; waters; Western and Eastern herbs; and that list is by no means exhaustive.
Too often, potential clients call and want to know what herb to take for their broken toe (comfrey and boneset come to mind, but those are not the only helpful herbs, nor do they encompass any whole solution). Or they take a single whiff of one of the eucalyptus essential oils, are delighted to have their sinuses almost immediately clear, and then throw the whole idea of natural solutions for congested sinuses out the window in favor of an antibiotic and Mucinex (which are sometimes needed) when their sinus congestion returns a little while later.
In allopathy, symptoms reign supreme. Have a rash? Try a steroid! (which are sometimes needed). Heart is fluttering? Go to an ER (seriously, if your heart is fluttering, go to an ER! - preferably by squad). Have a headache? Take a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID, like ibuprofen or acetaminophen). Have an upset stomach? Take a protein pump inhibitor (PPI, like Prevacid - for the rest of your life). Cholesterols high? Take a statin (like Lipitor - for the rest of your life). Quitting smoking? Take a norepinephrine-dopamine reuptake inhibitor (NDRI; like Zyban) and a cholinergic agonist (like Chantix) or nicotine replacement therapy NRT (like Nicorette). Medication causing tremors? Take an anticholinergic medication (like Cogentin - for the rest of your life). A person can start out with one medication for a symptom and end up on half a dozen medications to control various side effects of the first, second, third, and fourth medications, and they must usually be taken indefinitely. It happens.
I received a phone call purportedly from my insurance company this afternoon wanting to discuss my medication home-delivery service. According to their information, I am taking at least 5 or 6 different medications and they would like to set me up for their medication home-delivery services. Yeah... well... if they were really my insurance company they would know I am not taking 5 or 6 different medications, and I seriously have no need for their medication home-delivery services. Even though this was a scam call, it supports the point that in allopathy, we're all expected to be on continuous dosing of multiple synthetic medications. Every problem is fixed with a pill, or a half dozen pills, that control our symptoms by suppressing our bodies' own efforts to manage underlying causes, while continuously pumping chemical toxins that create new symptoms (called side effects) into our bodies.
In naturopathy, we don't focus on symptoms. Symptoms are important, but we focus on underlying causes, and underlying causes often occur in layers. The bottom layer is an imbalance in lifeforce or energy, and there are underlying causes even of that. Solutions need to be individualized to the person, and to what is going on with the person in general and at that moment in time. People are dynamic, they change, so solutions need to change as people change.
How frustrating is it to be told to take one type of calcium at a specific dose, and two weeks later be told to take a different type of calcium at a different specific dose? Well, that depends. If a person is expecting one steadfast solution to continuously control their symptoms, as in allopathy, then it might be frustrating. If people realize they are dynamic, they change, their bodies have different needs at different times, even at different times of the day, then change has the potential to be encouraging - "Oh, look, my body is changing! Things are moving! That's awesome!" (Don't throw out the first calcium, by the way, the body might well return to needing it - calciums are minerals; minerals don't "expire," although they might change marginally if exposed to things such as moisture.)
Allopathic medications force change in body physiology (sometimes, this is necessary). Natural solutions encourage the body to make its own changes by giving it the building blocks and open channels it needs for these changes to occur. The concepts and functions are as dissimilar as night and day. Both take time. Allopathic interventions might bring about rapid positive change - such as killing off infectious agents; or they might take time to slowly build up to a stable, working blood level of something - such as increases in serotonin; or they might slow down certain normal body functions to the point of discomfort - such as constipated bowel movements from opioids. Natural solutions might take longer to do some things - such as herbs that create a hostile environment for microorganism; or they might offer immediate but relatively short-lived relief - such as essential oils that alleviate feelings of anxiety; or they might cause a temporary increase in symptoms - such as homeopathic remedies that trigger the body to detox through the skin resulting in temporary worsening of a rash. In modern times, both allopathy and naturopathy address lifestyle, but differently. In allopathy, lifestyle tends to be secondary, and recommendations are pretty global. In naturopathy, lifestyle is primary, and recommendations are usually individualized.
The two disciplines have different paradigms, their interventions work differently, they have different goals. The goal of allopathic medicine is to suppress symptoms. The goal of natural wellness is to clear the body of imbalances and toxins that result in illness, and replace those with things the body can use to heal itself.
Let me talk a little bit about "magic" healing. I can't claim to be an expert in this field; I'm not. I do know some people who make and use "magic" potions to address health concerns. They are essentially practicing a type of natural healing. They use herbs, and parts of animals or insects, and tiny chips of rock (minerals). Essentially none of their healing potions have full, instantaneous, restorative effects. They take time. What is different about naturopathy and magic are the spiritual dimensions, and spiritual dimensions do impact the activity of all living things. "Magic" isn't magic in the sense of having immediate, profound effects on anyone's wellbeing. That is rare in all healing modalities. None of the practitioners of magic I know twinkle their noses, or flick their wands, and immediately change princes into toads, apples into toadstools, coal into diamonds, or a messy kitchen into a suddenly clean one. Samantha and Harry aside, life just doesn't work that way.
So how does natural healing work? It works through honesty with oneself and one's practitioner so real issues can be addressed, patience in giving the body the time it needs to clear out what is toxic and replace what is toxic with what is clean and pure, diligence in creating a wellness-friendly bodily terrain, careful stacking of synergistic modalities to produce better-to-excellent effectiveness (because there seriously are no magic bullets in wellness), and flexibility to accept that as the dynamic living body changes, so do the most effective solutions to the issues at hand - which may also change in the process.
And to be honest, it also takes some financial resources. Unfortunately, most states do not allow naturopaths to bill insurance, although specific natural services might be covered if a referral is made by a patient's primary care provider (PCP). Most insurance policies do not cover multi-level-marketing (MLM) brands of supplements, which are, honestly, some of the best supplements available, but many over-the-counter (OTC) supplements may be covered by flexible spending accounts (FSA) or health savings accounts (HSA) within specific plans. Some self-funded wellness plans reimburse out-of-pocket expenditures made to naturopaths or supplements bought from specific manufacturers. O'na (if it still exists) and Young Living have been two of them. There might be others.
So, how does natural wellness work? There's a 12-step recovery slogan that goes like this: It works if you work it, but you have to work it every day. That describes how natural wellness works very well: It works if you work it, but you have to work it every day.
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