Naturopathy helps the body to heal itself by using non-invasive treatments such as nutrition, massage, aromatherapy and herbal medicine. Many of the basic beliefs of naturopathy, such as the importance of diet and exercise, have become increasingly important in conventional medicine also. Although each naturopath may work a little differently we all follow the same philosophy:

• First, do no harm. For example, no strong chemical medicines, with strong side effects or invasive surgery.
• Treat the person not the disease. Your high cholesterol levels may be treated very differently to your neighbour’s even though you have the same readings on a blood test.
• Treat the cause not the symptoms. Unless you get to the root cause of your symptoms, you will be faced with a lifetime of medication. Most people don?t relish that prospect.
• Use the healing power of nature. Naturopaths look to herbs, vitamins, minerals and lifestyle changes as potent tools against poor health.

Functional Medicine

Conventional medical testing will usually only produce a result when you have developed an actual disease. Often you may feel ill long before there is a “measurable pathology” – you know something is wrong but your tests come back clear.

Naturopathy involves investigating the efficiency of the body’s functioning –

For example.

“Is you liver working well and efficiently?”. You do not need to have liver disease to get headaches, mild nausea, and feel awful when you wake up.

or

“Is your bone metabolism edging towards osteoporosis?”, (If osteoporosis runs in your family you want to know how well you bones are holding up long before any bone density scans show the damage already done).

The risk of small but significant swings in your metabolism developing into a full blown illness can be significantly reduced. Also, some gut infections can be missed in orthodox testing.

Rhaya is able to organise one of the most comprehensive screening for digestion and gut function available. It can also help people with illnesses requiring long term treatment, to get the best from their medication, by insuring their absorption pathways are in fine working order. Testing your working metabolism, rather than testing for actual disease is a real strength in naturopathy and is known as “functional medicine”. It is an excellent complement to orthodox medicine’s battery of screening for actual disease.