I’m a doctor of natural medicine (Naturopathy), and although I’ve been helping thousands to reverse metabolic diseases and other illnesses the medical model says there are no cures for, I am not recognized as a “real” doctor because I’m not an MD and don’t push synthetic drugs on my patients. Naturopaths are not legally recognized or able to practice in many states including Michugan and Florida where I reside. We are not allowed to say we can heal anyone without being sued or told we can be jailed. We get shut down online. I heal using nutrition, supplements and natural modalities that do no harm. I hate that we have to be secretive. We aren’t legally allowed to say we can treat any diseases - even though we do and are successful. I would like to create a policy that allows us equal rights as the drug pushers. I would like to not have to worry about getting thrown in jail for reversing someones diabetes.
I have gone to so many doctors, even specialists who had no idea what was wrong with me. I got fed up and I started doing my own research with home medical books. It was mind blowing!!! I started out with books years before the internet. Now when I go to the doctor, I get treated like I’m not suppose to have any say so with what medicine I take or won’t take. I think that ALL doctors should be required to take courses in Natural Medicine along with regular classes. They shouldn’t be separated.
Thank you, Doctor Carrie. God Bless, you for posting this! I wish YOU could be our Primary Care provider as I need help in the proper dosing of supplements. But, alas, we live in the CORRUPT Communist State of Michigan where attempting to reverse chronic disease is frowned upon.
In my opinion, the medical industrial complex is a malicious, genocidal criminal organization that must be SHUT DOWN immediately.
15 years of Pharmaceutical POISONS, compartmentalized medicine, and unnecessary surgical procedures for profit nearly killed my husband before we realized in January this year it was the “medicine” that caused the original prediabetes diagnosis 15 yrs. ago to become…
Type 2 diabetes, Neuropathy, PAD, CKD, CHD, CHF, COPD, Hypothyroidism, Liver disease, Multiple DFUs resulting in amputations, Depression, Statin induced: Muscle Waste Disease in left arm & heart, and Retinal Detachment.
1000s of hours of research- following doctors that reversed their own chronic diseases, pouring over natural medicine publications and studies in PUB MED and 10 short months of a diet free from ultra processed poison food, sugar replaced with raw local honey, meat and dairy, fruits and vegetables, no supermarkets (our food is ONLY purchased from local farmers that Gov. Witchy Poo was trying to shut down over the bird flu BS) moderate exercise, natural medicines, vitamins, minerals and whole food supplements that work with the body rather than against it has resulted in…
Hospitalizations, formerly every three months for the past 3 years have reduced to ZERO since December of 2023. No need for oxygen, inhalers or nebulizers, return to work part time after 7 years of disability 50% less insulin necessary to control blood sugar, no edema and best of all… for the first time in 10 years, his legs and feet are consistently warm, and he can feel the lightest touch on the bottom of his feet
Despite all of the above, his doctor actually accused me of trying to kill my poor 64 yr. old husband yesterday for taking him off all of his “lifesaving” meds and refusing the stents in January.
He ordered a few tests to prove his point.
The tests compared to 10 months ago revealed …
- Stage 3 kidney disease rapidly nearing failure- reduced to borderline
- Normal thyroid function
- No inflammation of the liver and normal function
- No evidence of congestion around the heart
- Injection fraction increased from 20 to 45
This is not the full list of improvements
Since the tests were not PERFECT, our pill pushing-all knowing-almighty physician, whose education was brought to him by Pfizer, sternly recommended we immediately stop consuming the dangerous non-FDA approved filthy farm food, resume the recommended course of 15 toxic poisons and the Heart Un-Healthy Diet and most importantly of all… stop refusing the seasonal bioweapon injections.
I get to be here because a Functional Medicine doc (a properly trained DC) FINALLY figured out what was wrong with me and saved my life.
(no, not hyperbole, my sister had the same thing and she died of it.)
Functional Medicine, Integrative Medicine, and other natural / integrative / alternative medicines have HUGE opportunties to resolve things that western allopathic medicine isn’t well suited for.
ALL IN for this one.
Natural medicine is recognized, as long as there’s the right trial for it
RCTs are absolutely critical, whether it’s for natural medicine or some new drug
The placebo effect is incredibly powerful
Prescribing something which hasn’t passed through a double-blind RCT is no better than prescribing sugar pills
(part of the problem with the COVID vaccine, some of the RCTs were crap)
Another component to this should address insurance coverage.
I think the same as you (in spite your thumbs down on what I said about RCTs), that we should prefer the natural approach
Good diets, healthy living, avoid antibiotics, avoid drugs unless absolutely necessary, etc.
But there needs to be a litmus, because going down “it worked for me” is a very dangerous path [for the government], because that’s where snake oil salesmen come in
Take, for instance, ketosis & cancer:
A lot of potential there - but it can’t just be any random thing, it needs to be verifiable, something which is actually proven to do good
@iBringBalance when you put everything through trials, you build in a number of fatal errors.
- Requiring trials and prescriptions for natural and traditional substances like herbs, use of food and lifestyle, etc. removes them from what people already have access to, and have used successfully for hundreds of years. It’s a step in the direction of loss of freedom, loss of autonomy, loss of rights, and loss of access to things things that may help an individual but we don’t yet understand why.
- Western medical trials are not ideal methods for evaluating things where subtle or synergistic effect is all or part of what creates an effect. Western medicine style trials are useful for looking at substances and situations in isolation.
- Natural and alternative medicines are often poor money makers, so there’s no incentive to do extensive and complicated trials that could suss out the subtle effects, or the synergistic ones.
- While I underestand the noble intent of protecting people from scams and such, government needs to get out of the nanny state business. Especially where it interferes with people seeking alternate, innovative, or traditional models of regainning or maintaining their health.
- The alopathic model, and the trials methods that go with it, see the human body as a collection of parts that can be addressed, to large degree, independently. They see drugs, medicines, chemicals in essentially the same way. That’s a probem because the human body is an integrated system in which changing one thing affects all others. You cannot drop in a drug (or anything else) without affecting the whole thing. You cannot isolate a substance from it’s complex matrix and expect to get the same effect as when applying it whole. It’s a significantly flawed foundation for understanding the impact of complex compounds on complex systems.
- Using a flawed assumption and foundation for evaluating anything will give you invalid or bad results, significant misunderstandings, and harm.
- The RCT model has failed a LOT. Just look at the evolution of understanding of things like salt, sugar, dietary and blood cholesterol, saturated fats, and MANY withdrawn prescription drugs and therapies. Those all were declared “settled science” at one point based on RCTs and other trials and analysis, and they were WRONG.
- RCTs are not magic and are only as good as the state-of-science, capacity and tools for accurate observation, correct identification of what to observe, skill of the designer, extended follow up times, on-point foundation theories, and honest uncorrupted unbiased observation skills of the people doing them and reviewing them. And frankly, that’s very uneven ground. Consider that more than 10,000 peer-reviewed and pubished scientific and medical papers were withdrawn in 2023 alone. That’s an astronomical indightment of the process.
- Adverse drug reactions resulted in north of 100,000 people dead in 2023. Those would all be from RCT’d prescription drugs, making prescribed use of FDA-cleared drugs the 4th leading cause of death. Only heart disease, cancer, and accidents (not even a disease) rank higher. When adverse effects of the treatment … vetted by RCT… is killing more people than all but 2 diseases, I have to say the model itself is significantly suspect.
Let me put it bluntly and in context.
My sister and I shared near-identical health issues. Both of us were significantly ill and failing. We both sought help from western medical professionals, and got worse. Western alopathic medicine failed us both.
My sister is DEAD because of it.
After her death, I found a functional medicine provider and he diagnosed the root cause, and we worked out solutions using natural medicine and ZERO drugs.
Basically my RCT-drug treated sister is dead.
My natural medicine treated self is not.
So the moral of my story is while RCTs have their place, I want the alopathic medicine rules, theories, and models kept far FAR away from natural medicine. The model doesn’t work that well in many cases, and is especially unsuitable for assessing the value of natural / integrative / alternative medicine.
BTW, all my medical care is self-funded. Insurace won’t cover it because it doesn’t follow the alopathic model. And yet she’s dead and I’m not.
As a financial (not a medical) model, if natural medicine were forced into an RCT-controlled methodology, it would definitely be a win for the drug companies, and potentially for the insurance companies as well. Overall, it appears the medical insurance system wins on this one… they didn’t have to pay for my medical care, and since she’s dead, they don’t have to pay for my sister’s either.
I think you may have too much faith in our current system 
Peer reviewed & published does not mean an RCT - it could be, and frequently is, an observational study
The key is, coming back to the snake oil salesman (again considering the fact that the placebo effect is immensely powerful):
How do you know who to trust?
If someone claiming to be a “natural and traditional substances expert” comes to you and tells you that if you just rub on this snake oil once a month, all your ailments will be cured - why do you trust them?
Who verifies that what they’re saying actually works?
I’m glad you were able to find something that works for you, and I’m terribly sorry about your sister.
But do you realize how many people go & trust a “natural health expert” who really had no idea what they were doing & end up dead?
Steve Jobs is a great example of this
RENAME stop calling it natural medicine - natural caring, care, treatment. Medicine is pharma. Herbs, oils, alternative modalities are treatments, supplements, natural remedies!
Understandable that someone needs to be qualified, but same thing with MDs, PAs and Nurses with licenses who are beyound grossly unqualified, have no idea what they are doing. At the end of the day, people need to do their own research and “snake oil” salesmen need to be addressed, agreed. But grandmas knew what they were doing giving hot lemon and honey to kids who were sick - a lot of basic sense and instinct.
Agree on that point - but if those MDs, PAs, and nurses prescribe something to you that isn’t authorized by FDA/USDA/etc. (like literal snake oil), they’d lose their license - so it’s more than just their certification, it’s that their certification requires them to only sell you what’s passed the bar
So how do you set that bar for natural medicine?
What is your leverage if someone starts selling snake oil?
Now don’t get me wrong, a lot of stuff that’s approved is also placebo (e.g. sudafed) - so the process does fail & definitely needs to be better
But objective testing through RCT is the only way you get to a better place
Natural medicine goes way beyond just “this for that”. It’s the getting to know you phase of “western medicine” that is gone. In my world, I get to know the person, their constitution, their energetics, find that root cause and together, with the person, we find the right course of action and medicine(s). I would love to see herbalists and naturopathy come into the main scene! And of course you’ll have “snake oil” salesmen…humans are corrupt able. But at least give the choice back to the person. Just my 2 cents. 
You don’t think it’s worthwhile to strive for an objective system (like RCT) which differentiates the snake oil from the stuff that actually works?
Again emphasizing that “stuff that actually works” doesn’t have to be drugs, see my post above about cancer & ketosis.
Please change the name from medicine to remedies! Medicine is pharma, cure/remedy is natural. Need to make largest distinction.
no, i don’t. and that’s the whole point of natural remedies. you don’t treat the ailment…you treat the person. not everyone is the same, so one remedy that works on this person won’t work on that person even though the symptoms may be the same. that’s where western medicine has failed. it has taken the PERSON out of the equation. you have to know the person’s temperament, their energetics, and constitution, in order to find the right remedy. all of that has to be taken into consideration. yes, cayenne pepper salve is awesome for arthritis…but not on a naturally hot person, you’ll just inflame them more and cause more flare ups. there is a perfect match, but in order to find it you have to KNOW the person. how does one get to know a person in a random trial?
Again, how do you tell the difference between someone who “knows the person” & someone selling you snake oil?
How does one get to know the person in a random trial: take 2000 people, assign half to “natural medicine healers who get to know the person”, assign the other half to just go get a sugar pill from a rando (placebo)
Compare their health after a year (or whatever time frame)
the difference between them, in my opinion, would be the someone selling snake oil is simply pushing their snake oil. they don’t care about your energetics, or constitution. they won’t ask the deep questions, they’ll keep it “in general”. like most of the snake oil they push on the boob tube…“do you have this?” “tired of feeling this?” “then you need this!!” they give the spiel, hook you in, take your money and call it a day. then comes the auctioneer at the end…“do not take if…” “may cause…” see what i’m saying? lol the world is FULL of snake oil salesmen!
as far as random trials…i guess i honestly don’t see a need for them! now, peer to peer conferences/forums where practitioners can come together and compare notes on certain things, i would be into that. but i just don’t see the need to use people as guinea pigs to prove anything. i don’t know how else to explain it, really! haha, i’m sorry if i’m still being unclear! but to me healthcare is a one on one, very personal (as it should be) thing. catered specifically to the one individual you happen to be working with. there should be accountability on both sides…discernment from the “patient” on if the practitioner is a good match for them, and also from the practitioner to get as much info so a proper treatment can be found.
i guess, if you do a random trial on say…ivermectin. pill or paste? something that won’t harm or cause adverse effects. but to do a random trial on like, white willow bark vs. tylenol. that would make me very uncomfortable, simply because…tylenol. i’d personally have a problem pushing the tylenol. lol but again, not every person responds the same way to certain remedies! it all circles back to knowing who you are working with!
RE: “how do you tell the difference between someone who “knows the person” & someone selling you snake oil?”
How do you tell the difference between an MD who “knows the person” and an MD who is selling you what the AMA says is per-protocol?
Snake oil salesmen are not excluded from the ranks of doctors.
That is, a doctor who just follows directions, without regard for the individual’s condition, is still a snake oil salesman.
Case in point: My mom has afib so she’s on blood thinners. 6 weeks ago, my mom took a header down the stairs and had a significant brain bleed. She’s in the ICU. They took her off blood thinners (risking clots) because of the bleed. The “protocol” says back on blood thinners in 2 weeks. So they put her back on blood thinners and immediately caused a new brain bleed.
However, when the one doc who knows her condition thoroughly came back on duty he hit the roof because it’s clear from her CT scans that she has an issue with microbleeds.
Tell me how the doc that prescribed the restart of blood thinners per the notes on the bottle is not a snake oil salesman.
The point is that the RCT/western alopathic model is good for some things and not others, and it should be applied where it’s useful and OTHER methods should be applied where it’s not. If you can’t tell where it’s useful from where its not, you will get a whole lot of bad data and lose a whole lot of good data.
A hammer is a fine tool.
Just because you have a hammer, it doesn’t mean every problem is a nail.
@iBringBalance you presume too much about who I trust - I don’t 
The point of the 10,000 withdrawn reviews isn’t to prove that the un-withdrawn papers are right, only to point out that the system by which we vet what’s reliable is significantly broken. The process doesn’t work as it has been intended to, so esentially the published papers can’t be trusted at face value either.
I think you think “snake oil salesmen” are limited to those in the alternative medicine biz. I’m contending that they are fully represented in the AMA-vetted pupblished-paper MD biz as well. There has been a WHOLE lot of damage done in the name of Medicine because of since the beginning of medicine. So no, I don’t trust the system. Either the medicine or the publishing.
Just to put another point on it… estimates, depending on the criteria used to define “medical errors,” place the range between 210,000 and 440,000 deaths annually. That’s not a great track record for Medicine in terms of confidence.
I can’t find any stats on alternative medicine that give death rates, so … I’m going to go with it’s less that that, or they’d be tracking it.
I challenge you to defend this statement “But do you realize how many people go & trust a “natural health expert” who really had no idea what they were doing & end up dead?” - No I don’t know. And there’s no stats I can find. If you’ve got stats and sources, do bring them.
How do I know who to trust? I read the papers. I do the dig. I interview those I know who are better trained or experienced in this. I try things and see what works. I listen to my intuition, my body, and the net collection of all that data and opinions. That’s how I determine who to trust.
For reference, my local data set:
1 sister dead - straight up AMA care
Me not dead - alternative and integrative medicine care for the same thing that killed my sister.
My husband not dead 8 years post-heart attack - I caught at least 3 potential medical errors while he was in ICU, plus a medication error since.
My mom not dead currently in ICU - my sister and I identified one of several root causes to her current condition missed by the doctor, and have repeatedly redirected the direction of her care through medical protocol discussions with her docs vs. “standard” protocols.
So trust? yeah, not so much.
The point is there are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your RCT medical philosophy.