Investigating the Cause of Disease with Natural Medicine
Why do I still have symptoms? Can anyone give me answers? Is it possible to find a permanent cure?
When we’re sick, we often just want to know what’s wrong with us. But answers can be elusive.
Medical treatments tend to focus on managing symptoms—once they’re under control, that’s where the visits cease with medical doctors. Even when we get a firm diagnosis, there’s often no explanation to tell us why the disease took root in the first place.
But if we don’t understand why it happened, how can we prevent it from happening again?
A naturopath doesn’t stop at the diagnosis. We keep digging until we discover the underlying factors that have allowed disease to thrive. Serving as investigative partners, we help patients peel back the layers of lifestyle factors, environmental conditions and genetic predispositions that comprise their health profile, until we discover the obstacles that are blocking recovery.
People often take a pill, feel better and believe they’ve been cured. But pharmaceuticals may only suppress symptoms; they don’t actually address the root imbalance from which disease has sprouted. So disease continues to linger in the body, causing chronic symptoms or even silent damage to organs and tissue.
In order to find health, wellness and vitality one must keep searching until we’ve uncovered the true source of your symptoms. If we can figure out the ‘why,’ then we’re empowered to remove the obstacles to health—or at least mitigate their effects and work with what we’ve discovered to find wellness.
The 4 Primary Causes of Illness
There are a lot of different factors that can interfere with your body’s ability to heal itself. What you eat, where you live, what you do for a living and how you view the world can all have a significant impact on your health.
In our relentless search for the causes of disease, naturopaths leave no stone uncovered. As health investigators, we often ask a wide range of questions intended help give us a clear picture of who our patients are and how they live from day to day.
Our investigations typically revolve around the four primary underlying causes of disease:
- Deficiency: Our bodies need nourishment to function at full capacity. Without proper support, the system becomes weakened, allowing disease to take hold. Nourishment can refer to the actual nutrients we eat, but it can also apply to other important needs like sleep, exercise, relaxation and even social connections or a sense of meaning in life—all areas where a deficiency can undermine our long-term health.
- Toxicity: Toxicity is the opposite of deficiency; it refers something we have too much of. Over time, the body accumulates toxins that can weigh heavily on the system, suppress its natural healing mechanism and get in the way of recovery. By finding and eliminating them, we can re-open vital pathways that have become clogged and clear the way for deeper healing.
- Genetics: Your genes determine which diseases you’re susceptible to. Genetic testing can help identify whether you’re at risk for a heart attack, stroke, osteoporosis or certain types of cancer. It can even diagnose some conditions, like celiac disease. Naturopaths use genetic testing to help focus your health efforts on preventing the conditions you’re most likely to develop.
- Stressors: The impact of stress on the body has been well documented. A proven factor in a wide range of diseases, stress can come from many different sources: money problems, work overload, difficult relationships and any type of trauma. Even our health problems themselves can become a major source of stress, creating a cycle of disease that’s hard to break without outside help. A naturopath has tools to help you deal with these stressors more effectively and/or they may be able to help you identify how eliminate them when you didn’t think it was possible.
Once the causes of disease have been explored, a naturopath will work with you to eliminate them—or, if they can’t be removed, to minimize their impact on your health.
Looking for Answers?
Visiting a naturopath can set you on the path to finding the answers you seek. But we can’t do it without your teamwork.
The more details about your health you can provide, the more meticulous your investigation will be. Before your first appointment, download your naturopathic clinic’s intake form and complete it as thoroughly as you can. Sending it to your physician ahead of time will help make your first visit as efficient and effective as possible.
Schedule an appointment with a Portland naturopath today, and launch an investigation into how you can turn your health around for good.