consider the alternativeThe Case for Naturopathic Medicineby Shannon Kelley Gould
This time a year ago, Kitty Larsen, 57, suffered chronic fatigue so extreme she was going to bed for the night at 2 p.m. She told herself she’d worn herself out planning a retreat for her church, but a month after the retreat was successfully wrapped, Larsen was still exhausted and spending up to 18 hours a day in bed. She went to see her doctor, who advised her to stop drinking wine, even though Larsen was the definition of a light drinker, consuming two or three glasses of wine per week. The change had no effect on her midday bedtime, and Larsen became desperate.
Then a friend recommended she go see Dr. Trevor Holly Cates, a naturopathic doctor. Dr. Cates assessed Larsen’s symptoms, her complete medical history, and the medications and supplements she was taking.
“We even discussed my skincare products,” Larsen recalled.
Dr. Cates diagnosed her as B-complex anemic, a condition Larsen’s medical doctor had either not considered or simply missed. Larsen began taking vitamin B supplements and within a couple of weeks, her energy returned.
“I was back to normal,” she said.
Going NaturalNaturopathic doctors follow six principles: Do no harm; work with the healing power of nature; find the cause; treat the whole person; focus on preventative medicine; and finally, doctor as teacher.
If you think it all sounds a little, or a lot, outside the realm of the mainstream, you’re not alone. But whatever you do, don’t call these doctors “alternative.” They are quick to remind you that naturopathic medicine has a head start of hundreds, maybe thousands, of years on the conventional alternative, and they’re not going anywhere.
“It’s a consumer-driven revolution in healthcare,” said Susan Hunter, spokesperson for the National College of Natural Medicine in Portland, Oregon. “More than two-thirds of Americans have used alternative medicine. People want wellness, and that’s why we’re seeing natural medicine staging a return.”
Although the roots of naturopathic medicine go back hundreds of years, the growth of “technological medicine” in the mid 20th century and increased use of quick-fix “miracle drugs” caused a decline in its popularity. But the pendulum is swinging back again. According to the California Naturopathic Doctors Association (canp.org), the 1990s saw several milestones for the field: Several states received licensure, and enrollment in naturopathic medical programs more than doubled; two new naturopathic medical programs were started; the first publicly funded natural healthcare clinic was initiated; a naturopathic institution was designated as a National Institute of Health (NIH) Office of Alternative Medicine research center; and two naturopathic physicians were appointed by the federal Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services to the NIH’s Alternative Program Advisory Council.
Although California lags behind the naturopathic curve when compared to its neighbors (Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Arizona, and Utah all beat the Golden State to the punch), in 2003 the state Legislature passed (SB) 907, which established the Bureau of Naturopathic Medicine within the Department of Consumer Affairs. The bureau was tasked with implementing the Naturopathic Doctors Act, which specified the regulations (education and exams) for the licensure of Naturopathic Doctors and went into effect in November of 2004. However, prior to that, in California anyone could call himself or herself a naturopath, and they still can, so we’ve a significant caveat emptor: Be sure to check that your doctor is a licensed ND (a list is available at the Bureau of Naturopathic Medicine’s Web site, naturopathic.ca.gov). According to the site, there are currently 120 licensed NDs in the state, eight of them in Santa Barbara.
The Patient PathIn the first two years of naturopathic medical school, the course work is very comparable to that of an MD program: students take classes in anatomy, physiology, pathology, microbiology, immunology, clinical and physical diagnosis, laboratory diagnosis, cardiology, gastroenterology, gynecology, and minor surgery. The last two years are where the two fields diverge: ND students spend the second half of their training being schooled in holistic medicine, diet, nutrition, homeopathy (wherein small, highly diluted quantities of medicinal substances are given to cure symptoms, when the same substances given at higher or more concentrated doses would actually cause those same symptoms in a healthy patient), herbal medicine, hydrotherapy, and naturopathic manipulation therapy (similar to chiropractic therapy). But the difference between an MD and an ND really lies in the philosophy that underlies their approach, the “holistic” part of the equation. Whereas medical doctors tend to treat disease, as opposed to health, naturopathic doctors look for the root of a problem and address that, rather than just treating its symptoms.
“We recognize that the body is an integrated whole,” said Dr. Thaddeus Jacobs, naturopathic doctor, acupuncturist, and husband to the aforementioned Dr. Cates. Together, the two founded the Santa Barbara Center for Natural Medicine. “So, if you have a digestive problem it’s probably connected to the arthritis problem you’re having, and so on. We don’t treat them as separate things; we treat them simultaneously, and, as a result, the effect is much better.”
Cates agreed, adding, “If somebody comes in with headaches, we ask: ‘Why do they have headaches?’ It’s more than just giving them an herb to get rid of their headache, but let’s find out what’s causing it. Is it an allergy, is it a tension headache, do you have a buildup of environmental toxins? If we can figure out the underlying problem and address it, rather than just suppress the headaches, then the cure is much more significant.”
Cates speaks from experience. Growing up in Virginia, she and her father both suffered from horrible allergies. The two made a career out of seeing doctors, specialists, allergists, you name it, and were put on lots of different medications. Nothing seemed to be helping, and one doctor eventually told her that she was just allergic to the environment, and advised her to move. Frustrated, the young Cates and her father went to see a homeopath, began taking some homeopathic remedies, and immediately began improving. Cates said she pretty much got over her allergies completely, while her father, who’d been scheduled to have surgery to remove polyps from his nose, was told that the polyps were gone, and that the surgery was unnecessary. Needless to say, Cates was impressed, and after finishing her undergrad at Tulane University, she followed her calling, attending the National College of Naturopathic Medicine in Portland, Oregon.
Jacobs also found his path to natural medicine in his upbringing. “I rarely went to the doctor for my ailments, just used a lot of home remedies,” he said. “My mother was trained as a nurse way back when, and rather than working as a nurse, she became a mother, and the things she learned in terms of taking care of people she used in a practical way while raising us.”
When he started college, Jacobs intended to become a medical doctor. But he said he was disappointed by some of what he learned, particularly when it came to the use of medications. Perhaps most disturbing, Jacobs said, were the side effects and horror stories that came with so many drugs. He wound up going into physical and occupational therapy, where he began hearing about naturopathic medicine. The more he learned, the more he knew it was for him.
Drug WarsThe tension between conventional and naturopathic medicine is centered squarely on the billion-dollar battlefield of prescription drugs. According to a report in the 2005 book Death by Medicine, by Carolyn Dean, MD, ND, and rights advocate Trueman Tuck, 783,900 deaths are attributed each year to conventional medical mistakes, give or take a few. Of those, 106,000 are the result of prescription drugs misused or wrongly prescribed. And because the reporting system is completely voluntary—physicians, hospitals, and drug companies in the U.S. are not required to report to the FDA deaths caused by adverse drug reactions—those numbers are likely conservative. And it’s hardly reassuring that pharmaceutical companies are required to pay the FDA to review their drugs; the Mercks, Amgens, Bristol-Myers Squibbs, and GlaxoSmithKlines of the world are essentially customers of the FDA. One can only hope that when it comes to heart medication, pain killers, antidepressants—the customer is not always right. Direct-to-consumer advertising by pharmaceutical companies, made legal in 1997, only adds fuel to the fire. When you consider the cash involved, it’s no surprise that the FDA hasn’t been a huge cheerleader for the “alternatives”: medicines such as herbs, nutritional supplements, vitamins, homeopathy—coincidentally, all modalities that don’t turn a profit for the pharmaceutical industry.
Though it’s undeniably a quick-fix, double-click, instant-gratification kind of culture we’re living in, the trend toward throwing pills, or even herbs, at every problem is alarming, and runs contrary to the holistic approach favored by NDs. “We want to find out what the cause of the problem is,” said Dr. Cates, “rather than just say, ‘Here, you have a symptom, take this herb.’ It doesn’t work like that. So much of it is common-sense stuff like taking care of yourself with lifestyle, exercise, and diet, and then also some herbs perhaps, or some nutritional supplements, some homeopathy—and then, if that’s not working or if it’s not enough, then there’s always room for surgery and drugs.”
More often than not, naturopathic doctors are able to help their patients heal without the use of drugs, although they acknowledge that, in certain cases, they are useful, even necessary, and they are working to establish some prescriptive rights. Currently, naturopathic doctors in California can prescribe hormones; otherwise, they have no prescriptive rights. The advisory council to the naturopathic bureau is compiling its list of recommendations regarding prescriptive rights, to be presented to the bureau by January 1, 2006. The advisory council includes three medical doctors, three public members, and three naturopathic doctors, including Dr. Cates. Until some kind of prescriptive rights are established, naturopathic doctors must work in conjunction with a medical doctor if they want to treat a patient with prescription drugs. Or, if they want to advise that patient to stop taking a certain drug and switch to another, more natural path.
[4·1·1]The Santa Barbara Center for Natural Medicine will host an open house on Sat., Oct. 1, from 1-4 p.m. at 34 E. Sola St. Call 966-3003 for info.
