Great Sex, Naturally (45 page)

Acupressure points of the outer arm and hand.

Acupressure points of the inner arm.

APPENDIX B

How Do You Find a Doctor Who’s
Trained
in Natural Medicine?

Your choice of personal physician is one of your most important and potentially game-changing lifestyle decisions, but if you’re looking for a doctor who offers natural medicine, you may be perplexed by your options. The popularity of natural health care has given rise to many “integrated” clinics that offer combinations of conventional pharmaceutical medicine and natural alternatives. Some may provide useful services, but unfortunately not all are what they seem.

The key question is no longer how you can find a doctor who
offers
natural therapies, but one who was actually
trained
in them. Anyone with a license to practice medicine can offer natural therapies, without ever having taken a single college course in them. Buyer beware: no government agency regulates such offers or protects you from misleading claims about natural health.

To be savvy about this, you need to understand the important distinction between licensed naturopathic physicians and conventional doctors. It’s all about the education: naturopathic medical students study the same basic sciences as conventional medical students, but their education diverges sharply when it comes to the study of therapeutics—methods of treating all types of conditions—reflecting vastly different philosophies of health and disease. While conventional medical students learn to use mainly pharmaceutical drugs and surgery, their naturopathic counterparts study a wide range of natural alternatives that include nutritional science, herbal and botanical medicine, hydrotherapy, massage therapy, counseling, and other therapies.

You might think conventional medical schools have become open to alternative medicine in recent years, but research shows the curricula of most have changed surprisingly little; the focus is still on pharmaceutical treatments, with few if any requirements in alternative medicine. (If alternative courses are offered, they may be only electives.) As a result, no matter how well-intentioned conventional doctors may be, they aren’t adequately trained to provide natural therapies. As Mark Hyman, M.D., concedes, “I, like almost every other doctor in the country, was trained to be a clinical pharmacologist. … I was trained to dispense medication.”

Naturopathic schools continue to stand alone as the only medical programs requiring enormous amounts of coursework—more than 700 hours—in therapeutic nutrition and naturopathic therapeutics. Considered among the most demanding of any type of medical training in the United States, they blend rigorous study of natural therapies with much of the best that Western medical science has to offer. This makes naturopathic physicians—by definition, the only doctors whose
training
is truly “integrated”—uniquely qualified to offer you the full range of alternative therapies, backed by a solid foundation in the sciences.

In the United States, the only way to be sure your doctor had this kind of extensive natural-health training is to find a licensed naturopathic physician. It’s important to verify that your doctor graduated from one of the naturopathic schools listed below, since they’re accredited by the Council on Naturopathic Medical Education—the gold standard when it comes to naturopathic training, recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education as the national accrediting agency for programs leading to the doctor of naturopathy (ND) degree. (In some states, which don’t yet license naturopathic physicians, anyone can claim to be a “naturopath” without legitimate training.)

—
To find a licensed naturopathic physician in your area:
Contact the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians (
www.naturopathic.org
). If you are in North America, make sure your naturopathic doctor graduated from one of these schools:

• Bastyr University, Seattle, WA (
  www.bastyr.edu
  )
  
• Boucher Institute of Naturopathic Medicine, Vancouver, BC (
  www.binm.org
  )
  
• Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine, Toronto, ON (
  www.ccnm.edu
  )
  
• National College of Natural Medicine, Portland, OR (
  www.ncnm.edu
  )
  
• National University of Health Sciences, Chicago, IL (
  www.nuhs.edu
  )
  
• Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine, Tempe, AZ (
  www.scnm.edu
  )
  
• University of Bridgeport College of Naturopathic Medicine, Bridgeport, CT (
  www.bridgeport.edu
  )
  

—
To find a qualified acupuncturist or practitioner of Chinese herbal medicine:
Contact the National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (
www.nccaom.org
), or check your state’s acupuncture board.

APPENDIX C

Resources

Note:
Many of the products listed below, as well as some other products mentioned in this book, are available at:
www.SteelsmithVitamins.com
. Page numbers listed for
NCWH
refer to our previous book,
Natural Choices for Women’s Health
(Three Rivers Press, 2005).

—
Antioxidant formula:
Steelsmith Antioxidant Formula.

—
Black-cohosh and wild-yam suppositories:
Cimicifuga-Dioscorea and Vitamin E Vaginal Suppositories by Earth’s Botanical Harvest (available through natural-health-care practitioners who carry them).

—
Bone formula:
Steelsmith Bone Formula.

—
Chinese herbal wash:
Yincare by Yao Company (
www.yincare.com
).

—
Chlorella:
BioImmersion, Inc. (
www.bioimmersion.com
), or Chlorella by Sun Chlorella (
www.sunchlorellausa.com
). Chlorella is also available from other companies at many health-food stores.

—
Eating an
alkaline-forming diet:
in
NCWH
.

—
Flax and Fish Oils:
Barlean’s (
www.barleans.com
)
carries both flax and fish oils, and oil blends specifically for women and men.

—
Friendly bacteria (for dietary cleansing):
Theralac by the company of the same name (
www.theralac.com
; also available at some health-food stores).

—
Friendly bacteria vaginal suppositories:
Earth’s Botanical Harvest Acidophilus Vaginal Suppositories by Earth’s Botanical Harvest (available through natural health-care practitioners who carry them), or Gy-na-tren, over-the-counter vaginal acidophilus suppositories by Natren (
www.natrenpro.com
).

—
Herbal aphrodisiacs:
Hot Plants for Her and Hot Plants for Him by Enzymatic Therapy (
www.enzymatictherapy.com
), or Women’s Libido and Male Libido by Gaia Herbs (
www.gaiaherbs.com
). These herbal aphrodisiacs are also available at some health-food stores. Libido Booster for Her and Libido Booster for Him are available through Pacific Herbs (
www.pacherbs.com
).

—
Laboratory testing:
Genova Diagnostics (
www.gdx.net
) and Meridian Valley Lab (
www.MeridianValleyLab.com
) for comprehensive hormone tests.

—
Liver lipotropic formula:
Lipotropic Complex by Integrative Therapeutics (
www.integrativeinc.com
), or Vita Lipotropic by Eclectic Institute (
www.eclecticherb.com
). Vita Lipotropic is also available at some health-food stores.

—
Making castor oil packs:
Pages 319–320 in
NCWH
.

—
Multivitamin:
Steelsmith MultiVitamin.

—
Other herbal products:

• Crane Herb Company: Products by various other companies, including Two Immortals; Ba Zhen Wan (“Women’s Precious Pills”) under the names Women’s Treasure by Jade Dragon or Eight Treasure Tea pills by Herbal Times; Free and Easy Wanderer; Antler 8 by Seven Forests; and Man’s Treasure (Nan Bao Pian) by Seven Forests (
  www.craneherb.com
  ). Products carried by Crane Herb Company are available through licensed natural-health-care practitioners.
  
• Dr Kang Formulas: Male Function (
  www.drkangformulas.com
  ).
  
• Health Concerns: Great Yin (
  www.healthconcerns.com
  ). Products carried by Health Concerns are sold directly to health-care practitioners, but they can also be purchased through other websites.
  
• JHS Natural Products: A variety of medicinal mushrooms, including reishi and a hot-water extract of cordyceps (
  www.jhsnp.com
  ).
  
• Pacific Herbs: Chinese herbal products, including PMS Relief and Menopause Relief (
  www.pacherbs.com
  ).
  
• Whole World Botanicals: A number of maca products (
  www.wholeworldbotanicals.com
  ).
  

—
Pelvic self-massage:
Ending Female Pain
, Isa Herrera (BookSurge Publishing, 2009).

—
Rice-based protein powder:
ClearVite by Apex Energetics (
www.apexenergetics.com
).

—
Treating UTIs naturally:
in
NCWH
.

—
Vaginal douche powder:
Tanafem by Intensive Nutrition (
www.intensivenutrition.com
).

—
Vitamin E vaginal suppositories:
Vitamin E Vaginal Suppositories by Earth’s Botanical Harvest (available through natural-health-care practitioners who carry them).

APPENDIX D