Questions to Ask Your Allopathic Doctor

Before you give your doctor complete authority over your treatment selection, please keep in mind that most doctors only know about pharmaceuticals and not about natural therapies.

Many parts of modern medicine are complicated, but treatment selection is not. Ask your doctor the following six questions about the treatment he or she is recommending, and you will know enough to make an informed decision. will know enough to make an informed decision.

1. What’s the evidence this specific treatment helps with my specific condition? Ask for the source — a controlled trial, a case series, or clinical experience alone — and ask which one you’re getting. 

2. What’s the known risk, and how is it tracked? Not “have you seen problems,” but how would you know if there was one. 

3. How exactly does this work in my body? A specific, falsifiable mechanism is different from one that just sounds reasonable. 

4. How will we know if it’s working, and by when? Get a concrete marker and a date to reassess it. 

5. How many patients have you personally treated with this exact approach for this exact condition? Ask for the number, not the resume. 

6. Are you in direct communication with my other treating providers about this plan — not just aware they exist? 

Questions to Ask Your Naturopathic Doctor

Before you give your doctor complete authority over your treatment selection, please keep in mind that most Naturopaths are aware of Allopathic treatments but may be biased against them on principle. While it’s true that many Allopaths are dismissive of alternative therapies without examining the evidence, a good Naturopath should hold the opposite standard — that is the way of the true scientist. 

Make sure your Naturopath gives you information based on facts and not opinions about both Allopathic and Naturopathic treatments. Ask him or her the following six questions: 

1. What’s the evidence this specific treatment helps with my specific condition? Same standard as above — trial, case series, or experience, named honestly. 

2. What’s the known risk, and how is it tracked here? Ask specifically how adverse events at this practice get recorded and reviewed. 

3. How exactly does this work in my body? Ask for the mechanism in detail, and what would prove it wrong. 

4. How will we know if it’s working, and by when? A concrete marker, not just “you’ll feel it.” 

5. How many patients have you personally treated with this exact approach for this exact condition, and what happened to them? Numbers, not testimonials. 

Are you willing to be in direct communication with my conventional doctor if he/she agrees, about this plan? This is the one question every naturopathic visit should open with.