A question was posed in my professional discussion group this week:
What distinguishes an ND from a functional ND?
Here is what my well spoken colleague, Dr. Gibran Ramos, ND, LAc responded with:
“At times, and with some cases, many NDs have practiced like functional MDs and some functional MDs have practiced like NDs. MDs and NDs, both, in general, want to help their patients.
“We all (MDs and NDs), at times during our practice, look at chemical pathways to address deficiencies and excesses. At other times we (MDs and NDs) look at the whole body and how systems interact addressing the person. We all (MDs and NDs), at times, have used an herb, nutrition, lifestyle, supplement, or pharmaceutical to fix the problem or address the cause.
“What separates functional medicine from Naturopathic medicine is *not* closely examining the physiology, MTHFR defects, finding the cause, or even treating the whole person within the context of their life. Both functional MDs and NDs consider all of these aspects. No, what separates NDs from wholistic MDs, fuctional MDs, integrative practitioners of any sort, is acknowledgement and belief in the Vis Medicatrix Naturae. (the healing power of nature, or, the wisdom of the body to heal itself.)”
In other words, in Naturopathic Medicine we learn to really trust that the body wants to heal and it knows how to heal, we just have to remove the obstacle to cure.
Thank you, Dr. Ramos!
