3 Reasons To Visit a Naturopath

Disclaimer: I did not start seeing a naturopath because I don’t believe in western medicine. I wholeheartedly agree with traditional medicinal practices, I take medicine when I need to, and I have a PCP and OBGYN I see for yearly physicals. However, something was lacking. Alix urged me to see a naturopath a couple of years ago when she was trying to conceive. I was done having babies but I knew something was amiss with my hormones. I was always tired. Lethargic. Had to get in bed at 3 pm every day for a nap. My head was foggy. I was holding on to weight. Like I could literally eat nothing and the scale would go up. I had constant headaches. I felt like shit to be honest. Was it the fact that I had three kids under 5? Partially. Was it the pandemic and over indulging in wine every night to cope? A little. But my kids sleep through the night, I get 8+ hours of sleep a night, workout regularly, get 12k+ steps a day and while I am a busy mom of 3, I felt like I should have more energy. Enter: a naturopath. It has been life changing and here’s 3 reasons why:

Feeling tired, brain fog, having headaches, your skin is out of whack, and generally feel unwell?

Even if you only have one of these symptoms, see someone! No, it is not normal. I had all of these symptoms and more. My PMS was insane. I had wild mood swings and just wanted to RAGE at times. Not normal. But guess what? The baseline blood panel that you get at your annual physical won’t dive into ANY of this. My bloodwork says I am a specimen of health. Nothing elevated or low. I am your average 36 year old female. You want to know how frustrating that can be for someone with all of the above mentioned symptoms? I desperately wanted something to be wrong to explain the way I was feeling so that I could fix it. My regular doctor shushed me out the door. A naturopath ordered a full blood panel that dove DEEP. I don’t know the specifics of everything that I got but a naturopath will know. She also recently ordered me a Dutch hormone test (it’s around $200 and worth every penny in my opinion) and that is where all of my answers appeared. My estrogen is soaring off the chart. My progesterone is basically zero. This likely all happened after my pregnancies as it would have been impossible to get pregnant with the numbers she reviewed with me. This would explain a number of my issues. Gaining or holding on to weight, check. PMS, check. Mood swings, check. My naturopath reviewed the results and put me on a supplement regimen that has since been a game changer. I am so much calmer and level-headed. My kids still drive me to the brink on some days but overall, I don’t feel the urge to explode like I did in the past. My husband has even noticed it. He’s like whatever you’re doing, it’s working and I recognize it. So that makes me feel good because I feel a change in myself and the people closest to me see it too.

You want to treat your body as a whole and not just illness to illness

I see my PCP and OGBYN for my annual physicals or when I have a very specific issue but that’s sometimes the problem with traditional practices. They are taught to treat the illness and not everything else that might be going on. They push an antibiotic to get something moving along but sometimes, the issue is so much deeper. My baseline blood panel tells my doctor that I am perfectly healthy. Nothing to see here! But in reality, my naturopath took one look at some very basic numbers and knew my iron was low and my T3 free was borderline putting me in a hypothyroid category. She’s keeping an eye on those numbers for me as I start a new supplement plan but it 100% explains my sluggishness and oftentimes lightheadedness. While I know there is a time and a place for my doctors, I also know when I need to supplement with my naturopath, which leads me to my third reason why I see her.

You want more time with your doctor

I have had some wonderful doctors over the years and luckily I have been healthy my whole life. However, I have rarely felt like the doctor in the room is fully present. They always feel rushed, moving from patient to patient. I had an ectopic pregnancy after my first born and I will never forget the experience I had in the doctor’s office and emergency room. It felt sterile, robotic, and matter of fact in an otherwise very emotional and traumatic situation. I didn’t know what questions to be asking. I could barely hear or see the doctor when he was telling me the options. But I was whisked away to the emergency room by myself for a shot that terminated the pregnancy and it was horrific. It happened in a matter of MINUTES, I kid you not. Obviously I went on to have healthy pregnancies and babies and I loved the woman who delivered them but that OBGYN was a factory, man. I am so grateful I never had serious issues or questions during my appointments (hence why I was always in and out) but I think therein lies a fundamental problem. I didn’t even know what questions to ask half the time. So I was pushed out to the door. I still don’t know what I should be asking.. how should I know?! I just know I feel like shit, doc. Help a girl out. My naturopath doesn’t expect me to know the questions or the answers because she helps walk me through it all without feeling rushed, unimportant, or dumb lol. And she does it in layman’s terms and gives me all the time in the world to say, ”Hang on, let’s go back I don’t think I understood that part.” So all this to say, they give you the time of day and make you feel like your issues matter. Because they do.

So now I am on a whole new supplement regimen and feeling better by the day. I know it will take at least 3 months to feel the full effects of these additions to my routine but so far, so good. I am down some pounds, my workouts don’t feel futile, I am sleeping better, I don’t feel the NEED to crawl into bed at 3 (sometimes I still do but not because I need to sleep), and I am just cooler and calmer with my kids and husband. They still push me to the brink some days, don’t. get. it. twisted. But instead of going all Hulk Hogan on their asses, I can calmly express myself lol. Most days 😉

Hope this helps someone feeling the way I have been these past couple of years. Everyone deserves to feel their best for themselves and for their family.

(I see Dr. Ashley Cooper with Waterfront Wellness in Bellevue for my locals)

Xx, Heather