Getting tested is not prevention.
Benjamin Franklin authored the famous quote: “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Translated in medical terms, it is easier to inhibit an illness from happening than to reverse or stop it after it has begun. Praevenire, the Latin word for prevention, is the combination of prae, meaning ‘in front of’, and venio, meaning ‘come’ and conveys the sense of getting ahead of something — of anticipating it and preceding it.
Praevenire is one of the six principles of naturopathic medicine. Naturopaths are trained to get in front of a potential illness or imbalance to avoid it or lessen its impact. This is one of the stellar contributions naturopathic medicine makes to our health care system. It fills a gap in the conventional medical model which offers treatment options for a disease once it is diagnosed, but has limited preventive care offerings. For example, getting tested offers potential early identification of disease. This can be life saving and absolutely should be done, but it does not prevent the disease from occurring.
Preventive care can be a game changer for seasonal allergies and winter upper respiratory infections. It can be reassuring when facing big life changes such as menopause and andropause. And it empowers you to walk a different path from the one you found yourself on that was leading to diabetes, high cholesterol or obesity.
Anticipating a potential dis-ease and preceding its debut involves a multi-faceted investigation. Naturopaths are trained to treat the person as unique and whole and to use multi-system thinking in diagnosis and treatment. It starts with your first visit:
The Naturopathic intake is comprehensive delving into not only your personal medical history and family medical history, but also your social history including your occupation, hobbies, diet, exercise, sleep. water intake, alcohol use etc. I also like to look at your environmental exposure.
Post-intake, specialty functional tests can be ordered as needed to look at your nutrient bioavailability, genetics, metabolic pathways, hormone pathways and toxin exposure.
After a thorough analysis, a personalized treatment plan is explained to you. Our naturopathic treatment toolbox is large and diverse enough that we can choose the most effective treatment modalities that also work best for you.
There is a Cherokee Proverb, “Pay attention to the whispers, so we won’t have to listen to the screams”. This proverb can be applied to the body. If you listen to your body whisper, you will never have to hear it scream. If you have been ignoring the whispers, make an appointment to stop in and see how we can prevent them from turning into screams.
Preventive care can be a game changer for seasonal allergies and winter upper respiratory infections. It can be reassuring when facing big life changes such as menopause and andropause. And it empowers you to walk a different path from the one you may have found yourself on that was leading to diabetes, high cholesterol or obesity.
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