Finding a Natural Health Care Provider

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How to Find a Natural Health-Care Provider

From Mother Earth Living, by Jaclyn Chasse

 

If you aspire to live a natural lifestyle, it makes sense to find a health-care practitioner who understands, supports and prescribes in line with your values and practices. While providers of alternative medicine used to be considered on the fringes of the health-care system, times have changed. Today, nearly 40 percent of Americans report using some form of complementary medicine, and integrative, natural health-care providers can be found in almost every locale, offering effective care to help you stay healthy and address many conditions.

 

As a naturopathic physician, I have the pleasure of working directly with practitioners from many backgrounds. Each offers a unique perspective. But the growing popularity of complementary medicine means more and more practitioners have appeared on the market. Your biggest challenge when choosing natural medicine is identifying a trustworthy, experienced provider you want to work with. The best choice depends upon your health needs and what you’re looking for from your provider.

 

Questions to Ask Any Natural Health-Care Provider

When interviewing any potential natural medicine practitioner, start by analyzing these three important factors.

 

1. Ask about their training and credentials. Most fields of natural medicine have associated degrees, licenses or accrediting organizations. Ask where and how a practitioner was trained and for how long, as well as about her professional experience, particularly with the medical issues you face. I recommend choosing practitioners with a minimum of three years’ experience. If you ever sense a practitioner isn’t being straight with you or is inflating her experience, move on.

 

2. Determine which level of medical expertise you need. If you’re looking for someone to manage your medical care, diagnose disease or treat an advanced condition, you will want a naturopathic physician or medical doctor who specializes in integrative medicine. Such professionals can manage drugs if needed and make referrals to specialists more seamlessly. If you’re looking for suggestions for how to improve your health (for example, to lose weight); manage less-serious conditions; or want to seek a second opinion while retaining your relationship with your primary-care doctor, you may consider a provider with less medical training but more training in specific modalities. (I think of this difference as medical care versus consultative advice.)

 

3. Find someone you can partner with. Many patients come to me because they say they aren’t feeling heard or understood by their original doctor. They may feel their symptoms haven’t been taken seriously, that they don’t get the time they need with their doctor, or that their doctor talks down to them. No matter what type of natural health-care provider you choose, find someone who inspires you to live healthier and who can help you find the path to get there.

 

Naturopathic physicians

Naturopathic physicians (NDs) are the natural medicine equivalent of family doctors. They can provide standard exams, order lab tests and treat illnesses with natural medicines as well as pharmaceutical drugs.

 

What do they treat? NDs typically act as primary-care providers for those oriented toward natural medicine — they can handle health care from birth through adulthood, from annual exams to disease care. They often use a combination of natural therapies to treat health conditions. NDs are most commonly seen for digestive complaints, fatigue, thyroid imbalance and women’s health concerns, but they can treat many conditions.

 

What should I ask? Ask your ND whether she is licensed by the state, as NDs are required to train in four-year medical schools where they study both conventional and natural medicine. They are also extensively trained in nutrition, herbal medicine, physical medicine (including spinal manipulations), conventional medicine (including pharmaceutical drugs) and counseling techniques, so ask whether she has experience treating your condition. If you’re looking for a specific treatment, ask in advance whether she offers this treatment when appropriate. Many NDs take standard health insurance.

 

Author’s note: It’s nearly impossible to encompass the breadth of health-care practitioners. Just because I didn’t detail Ayurveda, massage or any other modality doesn’t mean these practitioners can’t potentially offer value to you.

 

Excerpted from Mother Earth Living, a national magazine devoted to living wisely and living well.  Please visit www.MotherEarthLiving.com or call (800) 340-5846 to subscribe. Copyright 2013 by Ogden Publications Inc.

 

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