What I Wish I'd Had For Healing: Major Benefits of Naturopathic Medicine

One thing that I love is that I have so much in common with the people that I work with as a naturopathic doctor. Part of that is because I have intentionally created a space to provide the support that I feel like I needed when I was first feeling sick. There are so many things I know now through naturopathic medicine that I wish I’d known to ask for back then. Now, I want to share them with you so that you can make the most informed decisions for yourself and your health.

My Doctor Should Listen to My Intuition

There is an underlying theme to people’s experience with the conventional medical system. When I was really sick, I felt like everything that was being suggested felt very sterile, very clinical. The rooms had very white walls and I had this buzzing feeling that everything I was doing had a kind of uneasy, kind of jarring feeling.

I know now that was my intuition. We all have this intuitive sense to tap into. We innately know if something is a good idea or not. So now when I work with people, I want to make sure that what we're doing feels good on a gut level, because if it's not, it's not going to be healing. It's going to be forced. We’re going to be working uphill. 

I always ask people, how are you feeling about this? Do you feel drawn to one way or the other?  When I outline different options or recommend something, I explain what exactly it's doing and what my reasoning is for it so that you can process and make an informed decision. 

This is exactly what I wish I’d had from my doctors. Because it’s a totally different nervous system processing process to just be told what to do. What if you feel uneasy about the treatment options presented to you? I always want you to feel like you have a say in your treatment plan, because that’s also important to me.

Not Everyone Fits into a Medical Algorithm

I also know now that I'm a very highly sensitive person. Not only do I feel things really strongly, but my body is also more sensitive than maybe the average person's. If there's a side effect for a medication, I feel like I'm more likely to experience it even at a low dose of the medication. It's really hard to be a sensitive person and get slotted into an existing algorithm in the medical system, because that algorithm does not account for sensitivity. That's why individualized and thorough care is so important.

I remember trying to remind my doctors that I previously had [this reaction] to this or I tend to get [this symptom] and things like that. I was, unfortunately, just a number. This isn’t my doctor’s fault, but really is a byproduct of the healthcare system that we're in. I knew that they didn't have a really familiar grasp with me and my health and how I reacted to things. Always having to remind them put an extra burden on me as the patient because I felt like I had to constantly be advocating for myself. 

Healthcare Coordination and Support is Very Helpful

While advocacy does have a place in medical care, I think there can still be a primary provider that can coordinate everything and also knows your health the best. I wish I’d had someone to guide me through the medical system.

For example, let’s say one of my patients has a sensitive stomach but is experiencing allergy symptoms. I might tell them something like, “your allergist is probably going to recommend this nasal spray because this is the first line, but it’s known to cause stomach upset. You’ll want to remind your doctor that your stomach gets easily upset. You can take the nasal spray with food or ask for an alternative if it doesn’t work.”

An unfortunate yet common byproduct of chronic illness is medical trauma. So many people get put through the ringer with invasive tests, multiple medications with harmful side effects, and a lot of scary symptoms. So it’s nice to have that primary provider available to say things like, “if they're going to recommend this certain ultrasound and that's too invasive, this is the alternative. Here's the pros and cons of doing the alternative instead of the first line recommended ultrasound imaging.” 

I Require Information to Make an Informed Decision

It's so helpful to know your options and have the time to talk through these things.  I used to think I just had really severe autoimmunity, but I now know that in the mix were also mold toxicity, Lyme disease, and a little bit of POTS and mast cell activation syndrome. A lot of times people who have really severe autoimmunity that’s not simply responding to the main medications usually have other things going on as well that are all contributing to that autoimmune picture. This is where naturopathic medicine can really help.

I wish someone had told me about the herbs I could use safely. Or about some alternative medication options that aren't going to have side effects. Or how to counter the increased cancer risk that's going to come with temporarily using a biologic as a band aid. 

I wanted someone to lay everything out for me because I'm someone who, if given the resources, will take the time to fully try to optimize everything in my health. I know some people would just rather take a pill. However, the people I work with tend to be highly sensitive or intuitive people. People who are really motivated by their health and would rather have all the information and all the options and then make their own decisions. They aren’t deterred from spending the time, even if it's going to take an extra 10 minutes a day to fully address all the parts of their health. Because they know that's what's going to optimize their health the most. 

I Need Functional Medicine as well as a Wellness Perspective

It was really hard for me to find a doctor with the kind of approach that I wanted. Someone who had in depth knowledge of the biochemistry and functioning of the body. Someone that isn’t going to just follow an algorithm. What does it truly mean for the body to have, say, fatigue that shows up in a very particular pattern? Or what does it mean that this one marker on a lab is elevated? This other one on a pairing lab is low, and this other one has been trending high. Together, what does that mean is happening in a patient’s cells, metabolism, and/or biochemistry?

Also, someone who looks at the wellness perspective. Yes, we need to address these negative barriers to healing, but we also need to add in positive assists to healing. What are some lifestyle factors that may be affecting the patient? What's the diet and nutrition that we can be doing? What are supplements that are going to build up and fortify their organs and nerves, their brain, all the tissues in their body? And how can we not just kill any infection that might be there if we're having, say, interstitial cystitis? How can we actually give the bladder support to heal its lining so that it can repair itself? 

So it's really blending all of these things together, I think, that has the best efficacy. It's the most likely to be successful. And the big part that I see left out of most protocols.

How to Work With Me

If naturopathic medicine is calling to you, let me be for you the doctor I wish I had when I was sick. I form really deep relationships with the people I work with because I think that's really important. That's part of the healing. We need to spend time together. We both need to fully be an expert on your health and what's happening so that we're not going to give you something that you're going to have a bad reaction to.

So it takes a lot of time and it takes a little bit of effort. With me you won’t just take a magic pill, a silver bullet. We truly get to the root cause of your symptoms and illnesses. Because if you address the root cause when you do a healing approach, you have a much higher chance of staying fully, permanently in remission or your symptoms completely going away.

All types of medicine have a time and place. I want to give you the options so that you can choose. Do you want to just try to shift this with diet? Do you want to try to take a supplement? Do you want to learn more about the pharmaceutical options that might be a little more heavy handed but give you more symptom relief while we work on things? There's no wrong way as long as it's tailored to you. 

So if you’re ready to get started, schedule a complimentary consultation with me. I would love to talk with you!