Is Working With a Naturopath Right for Me?

Let me save you reading the whole article and just jump to the answer - yes.  

Naturopathic medicine is considered “alternative” but if you ask me it should be mainstream. It should be the thing that all doctors do first before whipping out their prescription pad.  Naturopathic medicine seeks to treat the whole human being - the mind, the body, the spirit.  They use herbs and nutrition to treat, and heal as well as recommend other modalities like exercise, acupuncture, chiropractic and massage.  The biggest difference between a naturopathic doc and a regular doc is that a naturopathic doc will work to find the root cause and treat that where a regular doc is going to treat your symptoms.  Meaning, if you have heartburn your regular doc will prescribe something to lessen your heartburn symptoms.  Your naturopathic doc is going to work to find the root cause of the heart burn and eradicate the heartburn altogether.

I first went to the naturopathic doctor in 2020.  I was fed up with doctors who looked at me, assumed I was healthy because I am a normal weight and I exercise regularly and eat better than 95% of the people that they see.  Listen, just because I look healthy and make healthy choices doesn’t mean that there are not areas of my body that need help!  To illustrate this point, I love to tell people this story.  It was several years before I actually went to the naturopath.  I went to the doctor for a physical.  While I was there I told her I was struggling with gas fairly often and that it was embarrassing.  She laughed and said well, you are probably eating too much broccoli.  You guys, this is NOT okay.  Because of her reaction and comments I went years longer suffering than what was necessary.  And suffering, I was.  I had severe gas, my stools were not ideal (I will just leave it at that) and I had a lot of bloat every single day.

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I spent a long time trying to narrow down foods that I might have a sensitivity to that might be causing my symptoms.  I did an at home food sensitivity test which confirmed that EVERYTHING I was eating was causing a reaction.  Finally, I went to a naturopathic doctor.  Immediately, she had me complete a stool test.  When the results came back she was SHOCKED.  She couldn’t believe that I was functioning as well as I was because I had such severe bacterial overgrowth, leaky gut and two infections in different parts of my intestines.  So, when a doctor dismisses your concerns, don’t you dare stop fighting for answers.  Don’t you dare think that there is no one that can help you.  Don’t do what I did and suffer for years because a doctor made an off handed comment without actually looking into what might be going on.

The jury is out on how all this happened inside my intestines, but I did have a couple of rounds of antibiotics in the years leading up to my first symptoms and I believe these were contributors.  It is very interesting because something that was happening but I hadn’t realized it could be connected to my GI symptoms - I was getting sick a couple of times a year.  This was unusual for me.  I later learned that about 70% of your immune system lives in your gut, so if your gut health is not good, your immune system will not be functioning well and therefore leaves you susceptible to illness.  My naturopath said she could treat me with an antibiotic but then we would have to follow up with 6 months of treatment with supplements to get the microbiome back to health or we could treat with supplements. I chose the supplement only route and we spent the better part of a year slowly getting me back to normal.  I learned pretty quick how to swallow capsules, so there’s that!

Following the healing of my gut, we worked on my hormones which were a bit out of whack and she got me completely off of hormonal birth control.  Full disclosure, I was terrified of this because I have had such bad periods for my whole life.  Come to find out from my naturopath gut health also impacts a woman’s cycle and hormones.  So by healing my gut, I should see an improvement in my period symptoms.  AND YOU GUYS!!  I barely have ANY “period symptoms”!!  To be specific, my headaches are basically gone; my cramps are basically gone and I tend to have more energy than I previously had leading up to my period.  So now when I get my period, it is not a big deal at ALL! And sometimes I forget I even have it (really!).

I have told you all of this very personal information to help you understand power that lives in naturopathic medicine. There is a whole world of amazing things to help you, including food and natural supplements.  My naturopath even helped me to determine some foods that may increase GI symptoms and to avoid those foods.  She taught me how to get through a sinus infection (or any cold) without antibiotics.  This is all stuff that a regular doctor just doesn’t know.  Although it is frustrating, it is also not their fault.  They are not taught this stuff because most of the funding for their educational institutions comes from pharmaceutical companies.  And those companies need doctors well trained to prescribe.  This is also why you aren’t going to see insurance covering supplements.

And this leads me to the number one objection or fear around working with a naturopath - money.  Yes, I paid a lot out of pocket, but it wasn’t thousands at a time.  And they were WONDERFUL about telling me how much things would cost and allowing me to make the decision on whether I would follow the recommendation or whether we needed to look at a less expensive option.  This was contrary to the experience I had at the dermatologist when they recommended a test and I couldn’t find a single person willing to tell me how much it cost.  So, I declined.  I am not willy-nilly doing things without knowing how much money it will cost me.  If money is a concern for you here is my recommendation - A. Take my get out of debt course so you can get out of debt, learn how to make a budget and have more freedom with your money.  B. Talk to a naturopath and see if they accept your insurance.  My insurance did pay for some of my visits and lab tests, but not all.  C. You need to evaluate what is most important.  To me, health is my absolute top priority and I didn’t mind shifting some money in my budget to focus on getting this right.  I was in a very tough place when I went to her the first time, frustrated and emotional not knowing what was wrong with me.

I believe everyone can benefit from seeing a naturopathic doctor.  If you already have a diagnosed disease, they will know the best way to treat you and help you to reduce symptoms of that disease or perhaps rid the disease altogether.  If you are considering a naturopath already, then YES jump - go now, set up the appointment.  If you are still unsure, I would do an assessment.  What ailments are you struggling with currently? How many times a day/week/month does this impact you?  In what way does it impact you?  Are you willing to continue living with the ailments?  Would you rather just cover up the symptoms with pharmaceuticals than find and cure the root cause?  How does all this make you feel?

I am a believer that there is help out there for us that is SO much greater than what the traditional “healthcare system” is doing.  But we have to dig into this ourselves.  There is a lot of money and power that is going to continue to push the latest, greatest drug on us and our doctors.  We have to take back the power and take our health into our own hands.  We have to be our greatest advocate.  Don’t give up on getting the answers you want and need to live a life that is truly, deeply healthy in every way!