10 Reasons To See A Naturopathic Doctor
But wait, first, what IS a Naturopathic Doctor? I often receive this question from people who don’t know what we do. We are a small profession, but we have a lot of passion, skill, and resources to offer. Most simply put, a Naturopathic Doctor is a primary care physician with the high level of education necessary to deeply understand the body from a biomedical perspective, who focuses on natural and alternative methods of treatment. The best of both worlds. Why is this important? What can we offer you? This is my list of ten reasons to see an ND:
You need complementary or adjunctive care. You may wish to see an ND if you are struggling with a health concern and have not been satisfied by your treatment in the conventional system. For example, we excel at treating chronic and autoimmune disease, conditions that often fall through the cracks of conventional medicine.
We are trained to do primary care, which means an ND can also be your primary doctor. We see and treat patients who, for whatever reason (be it their value system, their past experiences, or something else) are simply not interested in seeking treatment in the conventional system.
We provide a bridge between conventional and alternative medicine. We can work collaboratively with your medical doctor to support your healing in conjunction to your conventional treatment. We strive for conscientious use of the tools offered by both worlds. When necessary we ourselves have the ability to conscientiously and appropriately prescribe pharmaceutical drugs, or we may be able to offer support and supervision for you to safely reduce your medications.
An ND is the professional expert in alternative healthcare - there is no one more highly educated in the health and wellness field. We can help you sort through the trends and masses of misinformation available in this area. What type of vitamin supplementation is best for you? How do you safely and effectively do a detox? Do you even need either of these things? And what’s the deal with the ketogenic diet? We are able to offer professional advice and guidance.
We understand the body on a physical as well as mental/emotional level. On the physical plane we can, for example, analyze your thyroid function, address your long-standing digestive challenges, as well as alleviate your body’s aches and pains. Equally as important, we will connect with you emotionally and spiritually. We offer an attentive ear, a safe space, and in-depth counselling if you choose. We recognize that all these factors are profoundly important in an individual’s health.
We have a wide variety of treatment tools at our disposal, including nutrition, herbs, drugs, acupuncture, body work, among many other techniques. This varies widely from ND to ND. We focus on therapies that gently yet powerfully stimulate your body’s own healing process. We will co-create a treatment plan with you, incorporating whichever combination of these tools is best suited to your health condition and preferences.
We can order labs. We use both conventional labs (ex. cholesterol, blood glucose, lipids) as well as more specialized lab testing that is not covered by MSP. This may include month-long female hormone testing (so you can see the pattern of how your hormones change over time), genetic testing, SIBO testing, in-depth analyses of gut flora, and food sensitivity testing. These tools open the door to a powerful depth of understanding about what is going on in your body.
We take the time to get to know who you are. We offer consistency and a long-term relationship. We listen to all aspects of your story and take a comprehensive health history that allows us to make bigger causal connections and recognize how your different symptoms may actually be related. We seek simple and elegant solutions that address poor health and dis-ease at their most fundamental causes.
We see ourselves as facilitators, there to offer guidance and support to you on your personal healing path. It isn’t up to us. We adapt our treatment goals to your priorities, helping you achieve your definition of optimal health. We focus on education, and teach you about your health condition and treatment plan so that you understand exactly what is going on and why. We want to empower you. We share with you our own insights about your state of health, but ultimately our aim is to help you understand yourself better.
Finally, and most of all, see an ND because we connect with you from our hearts. When we ask you how you are doing we will look you in the eye and truly mean it. We will work with you so you feel well, not just not bad. We provide a caring, supportive, and safe space for healing.
