What to expect from Naturopathic care

Visiting a Naturopathic Doctor is a unique healing experience. Whether your concern is acute or chronic, your Naturopath will care for you in a thorough and holistic manner. Though you may be new to our profession we have been in existence for many years.  Many patients eventually come to rely on us as their primary health care provider.

We work from a ‘wellness’ perspective, which means that our goal is to help you achieve and maintain your ideal level of health.  To that end we will endeavour to help you make some basic lifestyle changes that are necessary to achieve that level of good health.  This may involve dietary changes, developing a regular form of exercise and using vitamin supplements as needed.  We may also recommend certain herbs, homeopathic remedies, acupuncture or body work such as spinal manipulation or Bowen therapy depending on your needs. Body-mind issues are an integral part of the healing process and we will utilize relaxation tools as needed to help in the healing process.  Each prescription is as unique as the person walking in our door.

Since people come to us in various states of wellness, we will try to structure a plan that works best for you.  Some people will respond quickly and others may make small incremental steps over longer periods of time.  Symptoms may be easily suppressed or masked with medications, but the restoration of health is generally a time consuming process, especially for patients who have been suffering for many years.  Stressful lifestyles often impede progress, so helping you deal with those stresses is also part of what we do.

On your first visit expect to be here from one and a half hours to two hours.  Our intake is quite thorough as our job is to collect information to help determine the cause of your suffering and how to help you to fix it.  We will be doing a screening physical examination as well.  Any relevant blood tests or screening reports should be brought along with you on the first visit if they are available.  We may refer you for further testing if warranted.  Some problems are complex enough to require further investigation before a treatment plan can be formulated.

The frequency of follow up visits is again an individual prescription.  In general the second visit is usually 10 days to 2 weeks later to see how things are progressing.  These visits are usually 30 to 45 minutes in length and are necessary to fine tune our recommendations.  Patients requiring acupuncture, Bowen therapy or spinal manipulation are generally followed on a weekly basis until a great improvement is seen.

Once you have seen a significant improvement in your health and achieve an understanding of how to prevent future occurrences we recommend periodic check ups.  This will help keep you on track and trouble shoot any issues that may be coming up for you.  You may also request a follow up visit for an acute situation such as colds, flu’s, back pain etc.

We encourage people to ask questions if they are uncertain about any of our recommendations.  In order to achieve your maximal health it is important that you understand the process.  So a big part of our job is to educate you.

The following is a brief description of naturopathic therapies:

Clinical Nutrition

Clinical nutrition examines the relationship between diet and health. Special diets may be recommended according to the individual need of the patients and treatment may include nutritional supplements such as vitamins, minerals, and enzymes.

Botanical (herbal) Medicine

The uses of plants for healing dates back to the beginnings of civilization and are the foundation of modern pharmacology. Plant substances from around world are used for their healing effects and nutritional value.

Homeopathic Medicine

Based on the principle of like cures like, homeopathy utilizes minute amounts of natural substances to stimulate the body to heal itself. It is a very safe and gentle therapy, especially for children and pregnant women.

Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine

Based on balancing the flow of Qi (energy) through the meridian pathways, Oriental medicine includes the use of herbs and acupuncture to nourish the body and balance the body’s Qi.

Lifestyle counseling / preventive Medicine

Physical, emotional, nutritional, and environmental factors affect health. NDs help patients to make effective lifestyle choices to promote health.

Bowen Therapy

Bowen Therapy consists of gentle “moves” over muscle and other soft tissue. It stimulates healing by balancing the nervous system. It is extremely effective in treatment of pain.

Visceral manipulation

VM assists functional and structural imbalances throughout the body including musculoskeletal, vascular, nervous, urogenital, respiratory, digestive and lymphatic dysfunction. It evaluates and treats the dynamics of motion and suspension in relation to organs, membranes, fascia and ligaments. VM increases proprioceptive communication within the body, reduce adhesion and scar tissue thereby revitalizing a person and relieving symptoms of pain, dysfunction, and poor posture.

Clinic tests

We ofter a comprehensive list of blood test, Breath H.Pylori, Dutch Urine and Saliva test for hormones, adrenal function, melatonin levels, organic acid and lyme testing. We also offer complete stool analysis, neurotransmitter test, Urine Iodine Plus, Urine Thyroid test, Food Sensitivity and Hair Analysis.