Prevention, Digestive health, Kidney function, and More
Prevention
- How to stay healthy long-term, and optimize health
Digestive health
- Address gas, bloating, constipation, diarrhea, food sensitivities, bacterial and yeast overgrowth, excessive belching, heartburn, reflux, other bodily symptoms noticed 1-4 hours after eating
Kidney Function
- Stabilize and improve kidney function
- Protect from kidney damage and scarring
- Prevent kidney stones and help them pass more easily
- Address high blood pressure, high blood sugar, an autoimmune disorders that affect the kidneys, and prevent kidney damage in individuals with these conditions
And More…
- Adrenal fatigue, Low blood sugar
- Trouble sleeping, insomnia
- Thyroid imbalances
- Anxiety, Mild Depression
- Preconception Care
- Autoimmune disorders
- Other Gastrointestinal conditions: Overgrowth of bacteria in Small Intestine, Yeast overgrowth / Candida, Fatty Liver, Non-functioning Gallbladder, Gallstones, Hemorrhoids, Heartburn, Gastritis, Indigestion
Prevention
Prevention can serve many different purposes:
- You are someone who feels healthy and you want to know either how to stay healthy or optimize your health
- You are someone who has a family history of certain conditions and you want to know how to keep from getting them
I keep Prevention as a focus of mine because I want people to know that doctors do not become doctors to make money off you being sick. We become doctors because we want to help you. We want to see you be well. My intentions in becoming a doctor were to help people heal and to prevent illness from happening in the first place.
Through my work with prevention, I analyze an individual’s life, their habits, their history, their family’s history, what about their lifestyle is working for them, what about their lifestyle needs to change, what things they see as ‘not a big deal’ but are in fact significant, and what do their genetics say about their health. Through various adjustments to all these areas, a person’s long-term future of health, finances, and choices can be shifted dramatically for the better.
Digestive health
Digestive symptoms include:
- Constipation, Diarrhea, or alternating between the two
- Gas
- Bloating
- Abdominal cramping
- Abdominal pain
- Histamine intolerance and histamine reactions
- Mucus in the stool
- Food sensitivities - you may feel like you are reacting to foods you have never reacted to before
- Brain fog, anxiety, depression, lowered stress tolerance (i.e. getting stressed more easily), and mood swings
You may notice other symptoms outside of your digestive system, especially after eating certain foods. These can include but are not limited to:
- Being tired all the time
- Trouble sleeping
- More prone to injury and injuries seem slower to recover
- Joint pain with exercise
- Muscle tightness or muscle weakness, tight ligaments or ligament laxity
- Skin rashes or itchy skin, acne
- Headaches
- Significant symptoms prior to or during your period
- More severe or stubborn cases of other illnesses or conditions that you may have, and you also have a slight inkling that what you eat aggravates these other conditions too
These symptoms may seem overwhelming, but the good news is that you CAN get your life back and have much better control of your body. Through changes in diet, lifestyle and mindset, natural solutions such as herbs, high dose nutrients, homeopathy, and most importantly, being consistent with giving each of these enough time to work, you can experience a significant reduction in symptoms, transition from feeling powerless and like you don’t know what to do to finally knowing what to do, and have a great blueprint for how to help your body be at its best going forward.
Kidney Function
Compromised kidney function can mean your kidneys are damaged and cannot filter blood and wastes as they normally would.
Symptoms of kidney dysfunction can include:
- Fatigue
- Weakness
- Feeling cold
- Shortness of breath
- Trouble thinking clearly
- Swelling in hands or feet
- Feeling itchy
- Darkening discoloration of lower legs
- Swollen or puffy face
- Foamy urine
- Trouble sleeping
- Feeling the need to urinate more often
- Muscle cramping due to electrolyte imbalances (calcium and phosphorous)
- No symptoms at all, which is why it is so important to monitor your own kidney function through annual check-ups
- Fatigue
- Weakness
- Feeling cold
- Shortness of breath
- Trouble thinking clearly
- Swelling in hands or feet
- Feeling itchy
- Darkening discoloration of lower legs
- Swollen or puffy face
- Foamy urine
- Trouble sleeping
- Feeling the need to urinate more often
- Muscle cramping due to electrolyte imbalances (calcium and phosphorous)
- No symptoms at all, which is why it is so important to monitor your own kidney function through during annual check-ups
Causes of kidney damage include:
- Diabetes
- High Blood Pressure
- Glomerulonephritis
- Polycystic kidney disease (PKD)
- IgA nephropathy
- Lupus nephritis
- Focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS)
- Minimal change disease
- Alport syndrome
- Amyloidosis
- Goodpasture syndrome
- Wegener’s granulomatosis
- Kidney stones if not addressed promptly
Herbs, homeopathy, dietary changes, and addressing the underlying cause can make a huge difference in preserving and restoring kidney function.
It is unfortunate that most of the people who contact me about Kidney Disease are not finding out they have Kidney Disease until they are at Stage 4 or 5 (Stage 5 is End Stage Renal Disease, or ESRD). I make sure that anyone who comes to see me who is at high risk for kidney disease knows going forward how to monitor their own kidney function and I provide therapeutic long-term protection to their kidneys. Anyone with kidney disease who comes to see me will have someone who is engaged in working with them to prevent the continuation of kidney function decline, and if they are on dialysis, I also provide support for the possible effects of dialysis on blood vessels.
What is Naturopathic Medicine?
Naturopathic medicine emphasizes prevention and achievement of optimal health through the use of traditional therapeutic and modern scientific methods to encourage a person’s innate ability to heal. The principles of Naturopathic Medicine are:
- The Healing Power of Nature (Vis Medicatrix Naturae): Naturopathic medicine recognizes an inherent self-healing process in people that is ordered and intelligent. Naturopathic doctors act to identify and remove obstacles to healing and recovery, and to facilitate and augment this inherent self-healing process.
- Identify and Treat the Causes (Tolle Causam): The naturopathic doctor seeks to identify and remove the underlying causes of illness rather than to merely eliminate or suppress symptoms.
- First Do No Harm (Primum Non Nocere): Naturopathic doctors follow three guidelines to avoid harming the client: Utilize methods and medicinal substances which minimize the risk of harmful side effects, using the least force necessary to diagnose and treat; avoid when possible the harmful suppression of symptoms; and acknowledge, respect, and work with individuals’ self-healing process.
- Doctor as Teacher (Docere): Naturopathic doctors educate their clients and encourage self-responsibility for health.
- Treat the Whole Person: Naturopathic doctors take into account individual physical, mental, emotional, genetic, environmental, social, and other factors. Since total health also includes spiritual health, Naturopathic doctors encourage individuals to pursue their personal spiritual development.
- Prevention: Naturopathic doctors emphasize the prevention of disease by assessing risk factors, heredity and susceptibility to disease, and by making appropriate interventions in partnership with their clients to prevent illness.
Available Therapies
Botanical Medicine
Herbal remedies have been used by many cultures since ancient times and to the present day for medicinal purposes. They are more natural and gentle to the body while still demonstrating effectiveness. Herbs still have the potential to work despite acquired tolerance to medications.
Environmental Detoxification
Most people have several toxins stored in their bodies through food, air, water, cosmetics, and even their homes. When the body is overloaded, illness can manifest. Removing these toxins from the body will help improve the immune system, the body's own detoxification mechanisms, the processing of hormones, as well as bring the body back into balance.
Nutrition
Our food no longer has the same amount of nutrients it had before due to poor farming practices. Supplying the body with the proper nutrients and the right amount is key to optimal functioning on all levels.
Hydrotherapy
Alternating hot and cold applications of water helps to improve circulation, thus enabling the body to more adequately deliver oxygen and other nutrients to and remove wastes from the cells. It also helps reduce inflammation and is very useful for injury recovery. You can learn how to use this powerful therapy at home.
Mind-Body
The mind affects the health of the rest of the body, and the state of the rest of the body affects an individual's mental and emotional disposition. Using gentle techniques to help one cope with various stressors can help reduce physical stress to the body.
Homeopathy
The premise behind homeopathy is 'like affects like.’ A remedy's unique symptom picture must match an individual’s unique expression of illness. It addresses a person's spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical state.