Natural Primary Healthcare: Top Conditions Treated

Naturopathic medicine treats the whole person: mind, body, and soul. This holistic form of healthcare utilizes and encourages the body’s self-healing process through natural therapies and lifestyle changes. Through evidence-based techniques and modalities, naturopathic doctors strive to improve the lives of their patients. 

Naturopathic doctors form judgement-free, collaborative relationships with their patients, teaching and guiding them along their wellness journeys. Your ND wants to provide you with a safe space in which to share any and all concerns, without feeling guilt, shame, or anxiety about the visit. Trust is an important factor in this relationship. Naturopathic Doctors passionately want to empower their patients to take control of their own health and wellness, in all areas. 

NDs are trained to be primary care physicians. We treat conditions like acute and chronic pain, adrenal fatigue, cardiac and respiratory conditions, diabetes, digestive issues such as GERD, IBS, and IBD, infertility, fibromyalgia, obesity, menopause, thyroid hormonal imbalances, and mental health complications like anxiety, depression, and trauma. We are well versed in drug/herb and drug/nutrient interactions. We use a combination of holistic and conventional approaches to enable our patients to live the most natural and healthy lifestyle possible.

According to the AANMC*, the most commonly treated conditions based on areas of focus by naturopathic physicians are:

• Immune support (40%)
• Herbal medicine (45%)
• Mental health/Mind and body medicine (45%)
• Endocrinology (47%)
• Fatigue/Fibromyalgia/Insomnia (47%)
• Women’s health matters (51%)
• Nutritional concerns (57%)
• Digestive and GI disorders (64%)

You’ll notice, in looking back through our past articles, that many of the aforementioned conditions overlap, or affect, one another. For example, hormones can affect many other areas of wellness including sleep, appetite, immune response, mental health, fatigue, and fertility—only to name a few. So, chances are that if you and your doctor are discussing hormonal imbalance during your visit, he or she will ask you about how you are feeling in these other areas in order to best devise a plan for recovery and healing.

In practice, NDs are guided by six naturopathic principles to ensure the optimal wellness of their patients:

1. Do no harm. We utilize treatments that are generally non-invasive and rarely have harmful side-effects; we consider the short-term and long-term health goals of our patients. Before we turn to pharmaceuticals, we explore gentle, effective, holistic alternatives.
2. Identify and treat the cause. Our goal is to discover and address the root causes of your symptoms in order to reduce or eliminate them. We strive to discover why you feel the way you feel. Why cover up a symptom when we could eliminate it?
3. Healing power of nature. Your body has a powerful ability to self-heal. Your ND wants to empower you to encourage your body’s innate healing ability through gentle interventions and changes in lifestyle and diet.
4. Doctors as teachers. Your ND will give you tools to be healthy and answer your questions so you can feel confident in your care. Together, you will keep the conversation going so you can live your healthiest, happiest life. 
5. Treat the whole person. Body systems interplay and each individual has unique circumstances: emotional, genetic, mental, physical, social, sexual…your ND will evaluate these factors and consider each of them when tailoring a specific protocol just for you.
6. Focus on prevention. By proactively preventing chronic disease and reducing risk of acute illness, you will live a longer and happier life. You’ll be intentionally promoting health and wellness, rather than waiting for problems to arise. 

Patients often come into our office seeking safer alternatives and treatments for chronic or long-term issues, for which they’ve been given medication to take indefinitely. Many patients find us along their search for a more natural, organic lifestyle. And finally, patients with multiple health issues come to us for help with identifying the root cause of their difficulties, in the hopes that we can provide therapies and adjust some habits and routines to positively affect all those interconnected symptoms. 

Whatever the reason, whatever the symptoms, we welcome our patients with an eagerness to teach and empower them to discover their optimal state of health and wellbeing.

Build Health. Live Well