Is anyone here a naturopath or homeopath? Or use their services?

I've never been to either. And really, only recently have I learned that these can be a career.

I'm thinking about studying holistic medicine.

I'm imagining they work like a "standard" doctor, but maybe no lab tests, injections, and bloodwork. And prescribing herbal medicine rather than pharmacetical chemicals. Do they have to perform colonics?

If anyone can enlighten me, I'd greatly appreciate it. Thank you!

I have many friends who are students at [www.ncnm.edu] , they love it. They say it was the best career choice they have made. I would love to attend the school. They don't have to perform colonics. Some of the teachers there are raw vegan.

One of the NCNM grads is Dr. Ariel, the Live Food Doctor in Tucson:
[doctorariel.blogspot.com]

A teacher at NCNM is Dr. Bailey, who teaches juice fasting:
[www.nwnclinic.com]

I go to a naturopath who is a graduate of Bastyr University, one of the accredited schools of naturopathic medicine. In Washington DC, where I live, naturopaths are licensed and can be consulted just like a 'regular' MD. She doesn't prescribe pharmaceuticals (naturopaths don't do that); rather she makes suggestions about diet and supplements. For bloodwork, she sends me to a LabCorp office nearby and they send her the results. She's fine with my raw diet, which is not often the case with 'regular' doctors.

This is just my opinion, but if you do go to a naturopath, I would make sure that the person is a graduate of one of the accredited schools of naturopathy in N. America (I'm assuming you live in the US or Canada):

[www.aanmc.org]

The reason is that you can be assured that the doctor went thru a rigorous program, including lab work, patient rounds, etc. These schools are 4 year post-graduate programs, like 'regular' medical schools. They are also accredited by the U.S. Dept. of Education, which means that students who qualify for financial aid can get it. This is not true of diploma mills--there are 'schools' out there that will give you a naturopathic 'degree' via the Internet, and aside from not getting the kind of education that the accredited schools provide, students of these schools can't get financial aid either.

I don't know much about homeopathy, but I did find a list of schools of homeopathy:

[nationalcenterforhomeopathy.org]

Hope this helps.

Thanks guys! I actually learned that homeopaths work on dilutions of herbs and also use stuff like crystals and energy healing. I think that naturopathy is the way I'd like to go. Only I read that some of them do minor surgery, such as removing stuff from your skin. Needles and blood kind of freak me out, so if I learn that I have to do that than it's not right for me.

I thought about Oriental medicine (ugh, being asian I hate that name!) but not if I also have to do accupuncture. I'm thinking about maybe just studying botanical medicine to be an herbalist, but I don't know how steady a career choice that would be.

It seems like there are so many wonderful options and choices for you.

Good luck.

Thank you!

satori,

Thanks for starting this thread. I have been seriously pondering doing this myself since my mother's cancer journey proved to me how very unhelpful allopathic medical protocols are. It is so important that those that are interested in healing get good, standardized, non-allopathic educations, because people with health problems really need to have a medical choice that's better than this insanity of "managed care." I'd probably look into Bastyr University in WA; great reputation, or Baylor in Waco, TX; communicates with TX medical schools. You'd be assured of getting good clinical training at both of these schools. Good luck with your decision!

P.S. try not to be upset by the use of the word "Oriental," as it's meant geographically--the opposite of Occidental

Ohh... that explains it. I was thinking "why are they still using an outdated, politically offensive term?"

Tamukha, do you know if naturopaths are required to do the minor surgeries or any injections?

I didn't know that Baylor had a program. I saw that there is a program at Columbia, which is closer to me, but they only accept M.D.'s into the program. Plus, being an Ivy league, it would probably be super expensive. I also saw that there's a botanical medicine program up in the catskills. Good luck to you as well.

And thank you everyone, for your input.