Naturopathic medicine has a unique approach to your health and blends modern
scientific knowledge with traditional and natural forms of medicine, all-the-while
being a partner to conventional medicine.
The goal is to:

• Explore the gentlest approaches to treatment for any given individual and
  condition
• Address the root cause rather than symptoms management whenever possible
• Always minimize the risks of side effects

To do this, Naturopathic Doctors (NDs) focus on a personalized patient experience with a
lot more time allotted to meeting the individual, listening, researching and
understanding.

The naturopathic philosophy is to first stimulate and support the body’s innate health
mechanisms.

For example:

• Is your sleep still restorative?
• What is your stress resilience like?
•  Is your metabolism active or are you gaining weight despite a reasonable diet and
  physical activity? And if yes, NDs may consider the following investigations:
• Are we dealing with insulin resistance?
•  Subclinical hypothyroid dysfunction?
• Early perimenopause?
• Or is this weight gain triggered by chronic stress and changes in stress
  hormones like cortisol and DHEA?
• Are your detoxification pathways efficient? We are living in the 21st century and
  these mechanisms are critical in handling well many ubiquitous toxins
• What is your nutritional status, are there deficiencies? Are we overnourished or
  undernourished? (surprisingly, some of us can be overnourished and
  undernourished at the same time)
•  What is the status of your digestive function? Are there signs of poor absorption
  or assimilation of nutrients?  Signs of microbiome unbalance? Is there chronic
  conditions like IBS, bloating, constipation, loose stools?
• How about your liver health? The National Institute of Health explained that
  according to researchers as many as a 1/4 of us could be living with a “fatty
  liver”, also known as Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD).  And most of
  us do not know it.

This approach to assess and focus on the body’s innate health mechanisms first can help
improve the individual’s health and wellbeing sometimes despite different specific
diseases and conditions, while minimizing the side-effects.

This is why NDs do well with a variety of chronic conditions but also with helping
people who are not feeling like themselves without being officially “sick”.

As an example, in the case of insomnia, a Naturopathic Doctor is likely to start with a
thorough exploration of deficiencies like Magnesium, Vit B6, Selenium, Omega 3s, Vit D
Vit C and Iron or by addressing an overstimulated nervous system by elements like stress,
caffeine, lifestyle choices, or by assessing for hormonal imbalances like perimenopause
or by assessing for imbalances in gut microbiome which in turn can negatively impact
our brain and our sleep.

Naturopathic medicine relies heavily on lifestyle and nutritional medicine, but it also uses
herbs, supplements, acupuncture and sometimes more medically inclined approaches like
injections, intravenous therapies and even some prescribing.  When you work with a
naturopathic doctor, you will notice that blood work and testing is often key.

Naturopathic medicine can be used in conjunction with conventional medical therapies to
support the body’s healing processes—an approach referred to as “integrative medicine.”
In some clinics and hospitals, NDs work in collaboration with MDs, nurses, DCs, DOs,
acupuncturists, and other healthcare practitioners, and they refer patients for emergencies
and other situations when necessary.