Naturopathic Medicine

In Oregon, naturopathic physicians are licensed primary care providers with the right to order laboratory tests, diagnose and treat disease and prescribe pharmaceutical medicines. Licensed naturopathic physicians are clinically trained in the latest science and evidence-based medicine as well as traditional natural therapeutics, giving them the ability to choose between many treatment tools when addressing your unique state of health. This has proven helpful in both chronic and acute cases. Naturopathic treatment options include physical manipulation, clinical nutrition, herbal medicine, homeopathy, counseling, hydrotherapy and many others. These treatment options are applied based on the basic philosophical tenets of naturopathic medicine, which are:

Primum Non Nocere ­ First Do No Harm Part of the oath of both naturopathic and allopathic physicians, we have vowed to use treatments that are safe and do not cause damage to the patient. To this end, we are guided by the therapeutic order, a set of guidelines which directs us to use the least interventional force necessary while not restricting the use of all potentially beneficial therapeutics.

Vis Medicatrix Naturae ­ The Healing Power of Nature
Sometimes this tenet is misunderstood to mean using only natural substances – while we do use natural substances, this tenet refers more to the innate healing power of your own body! The human body is always working on itself to restore health and correct imbalances. Naturopathic physicians remove obstacles that prevent the body from healing and add materials that facilitate the innate healing process each of us possesses.

Tolle Causum ­ Discover and Treat the Cause
Many of the symptoms a patient experiences are actually the body’s attempts to heal itself. Naturopathic physicians work with the body’s processes to treat the causes of disease and do not focus solely on treating symptoms. And there may be layers of cause to be uncovered – naturopathic physicians work to get the deepest layers of cause, which is why naturopathic medicine is often called “root cause medicine.”

Tolle Totum ­ Treat the Whole Person
An individual’s state of health and healing is influenced by many factors in their life ­ diet, work, environment, exposures, family life. Naturopathic physicians take these factors into account in finding the causes of disease and obstacles to cure and in developing treatment plans the patient is able to follow.

Docere ­ The Doctor is a Teacher
The main function of the physician is to educate and empower patients to understand their bodies and make informed, responsible choices in their everyday lives.

Prevention is the Best Cure
Naturopathic physicians take the long view and work with you to develop lifestyle habits and treatment plans to reduce risk and prevent illness before it occurs.

These tenets of naturopathic philosophy are the reason that Doctor Bijana became a naturopathic physician. Because there are so many treatment options available, different naturopathic physicians may practice differently and/or prefer to see certain groups of conditions, much like a specialist. Click here to learn more about my services and if I may be a good fit for you.