Naturopathic Medicine

• A Detailed Health History:
  • You will be asked about your current symptoms, past medical history, family history, lifestyle factors, stressors and more. Functional medicine practitioners often spend more time on this aspect compared to conventional medicine and most of our clients comment on how comprehensive this truly is – people often tell us things like “no doctor has ever spent this much time with me before”.
• Lifestyle Assessment:
  • Expect questions about your diet, exercise routine, sleep patterns, stress levels, bowel movements (yes, we talk about poop!) and other lifestyle factors. Functional medicine takes a holistic approach and looks at how these factors may be influencing your health. We also talk about what you have already tried if those things were successful or not.
• In-Depth Discussion:
  • You will engage in a detailed discussion about your symptoms as your practitioner works get to the root cause of your health concerns. Again, we may explore many factors such as genetics, diet, environment, lifestyle, stress and more.
• Physical Evaluation:
  • A a physical evaluation may be conducted to assess your overall health.  This could include standard measurements like blood pressure, heart rate and body mass index, as well as more specialized assessments based on your specific health concerns.
• Functional Testing:
  • Functional medicine often involves specialized testing to assess various aspects of your health, such as hormone levels, nutrient deficiencies, food sensitivities, toxicities, gut health and much more. Sometime these are blood labs, finger sticks, urine samples, hair analysis, stool sample, etc. We don’t complete all of these tests on every person but rather we let their symptoms and their history guide us to the right testing.
  • These tests can provide additional insights into the underlying causes of your symptoms and also give a yardstick so we have something other than just symptom improvement/resolution to measure our progress.
• Conventional Lab Testing:
  • We often use conventional lab testing as well (think CBC, comprehensive metabolic panel, A1c, fasting glucose, fasting insulin, Vitamin D levels, cholesterol panels, thyroid markers, etc.). The difference is that conventional medicine typically uses reference ranges that are based on the average values found in a large, supposedly “healthy” population.  These conventional lab ranges are designed to identify outliers or extreme values that may indicate pathology (i.e. disease). The reference ranges are often quite broad and may have included many individuals with suboptimal health.
  • So, what if we could identify trends happening in conventional lab testing BEFORE any pathology/disease is present by using a narrower range from healthy people?  Wouldn’t that almost be the definition of preventive care? That’s exactly what we DO and we call it functional lab ranges. From there, we come up with a plan to help avoid those markers from ever drifting over to the side of pathology/disease.
  • Functional Lab Ranges: In functional medicine, as mentioned, we tend to use narrower, more optimal ranges that are based on the concept of optimal health and function rather than just the absence of disease.  Functional lab ranges take into account a more nuanced understanding of health and wellness, aiming to identify imbalances or deviations from the optimal range that may contribute to symptoms or indicate potential future health issues.
• Personalized Health Plan:
  • Everything we do in our office through functional medicine is based on individualized care – nothing comes from protocols or canned treatment plans. Our healing plans are based on the information gathered throughout the appointment as well as the result of the functional testing. Our practitioners will work with you to develop a personalized healing plan which often includes specific dietary recommendations based on your personal situation, lifestyle changes, supplements, and more depending on your specific needs.
• Education:
  • Our practitioners really want clients to understand the why behind the recommendations we make as we find people often stick to the plan better when they know why the changes are necessary. You may receive information about the importance of nutrition, stress management, environmental toxicants and other lifestyle factors in maintaining or restoring health.
• Follow-Up Plan:
  • Functional medicine can be an ongoing process for some. Typically once a person decides to visit a functional medicine provider, they have been through the wringer already and often have seen many different providers and specialists without resolution – or sometimes without even any improvement in their symptoms. Our practitioners will discuss a follow-up plan, which may include regular check-ins, additional testing and other adjustments to your treatment plan based on your progress.
• Collaborative Approach:
  • Functional medicine often involves a collaborative approach between the provider and the client. You will be encouraged to take an active role in your health, implementing lifestyle changes and adhering to the treatment plan…some of these changes are usually only for a short period of time while others are hopefully a new way of life.

Your First Appointment…

Your first consultation with a naturopathic doctor will be approximately 75-90 minutes. The client is encouraged to bring along any lab test results they may have as well as any supplements or medications that they may be taking to the visit for review. During the visit, we will discuss various natural health options with the client and together the best health plan will be created making the client an active part of the healthcare team. At the end of your visit, your practitioner will create a health plan that often includes further testing as well as dietary, supplemental and lifestyle changes that they feel will be helpful for your specific health concerns. T

Follow-up Appointments…

Your next visit, scheduled 3-4 weeks after the initial consultation, will be approximately 45-60 minutes long. During this visit, your practitioner will discuss the results of your laboratory testing and evaluate your response to any dietary, supplemental and lifestyle changes that were made at the initial visit. A detailed health plan will be discussed and all of your questions will be answered. You will be encouraged to contact the office if you have any questions that come up after your visit.

Your next office visit will depend on the complexity of the healing plan that was developed for you. Typically the third visit will be 8-12 weeks from the second visit. The first year of care often requires more frequent visits to make adjustments to your plan and find what works best for you.