WHAT DO NATUROPATHS ACTUALLY DO?

Naturopathy aims to restore the ‘balance’ (or ‘homeostasis’) of the body by ensuring it has all the necessary elements to achieve a thriving, healthy state. Naturopaths practice holistically and have a huge emphasis in individualised treatments, working to ascertain the root cause of illness in the individual.

This means that, for example, if you come in for treatment for acne, we will be looking at why and how you personally have developed this symptom - what triggers, imbalances, and deficiencies have caused it - what may be standing in your way to recovery - and what dietary, lifestyle, and potentially supplemental changes we can make in order to get you to reach your health goals (in this instance, vibrant, clear skin). As we look at the case, some example avenues for treatment could be liver support, gut health, and hormonal balancing.

We treat holistically, meaning we look not only at your physical being, but your emotional, mental, and environmental state, taking into account how all of these factors influence one another bidirectionally.

In order to figure all this out, we;

• take a thorough case history, asking questions that give us insight to who you are, what you want to achieve, your medical and personal history, family history, genetic and epigenetic susceptibility, diet, lifestyle, and more

• perform non-invasive physical examinations, such as taking your blood pressure, and examining your tongue and nails

• utilise the information from prior pathology results (so always bring in your recent blood tests - or go and get your bi-yearly checkup before coming in!)

• send for further pathology if and when necessary, such as stool testing, hormone profiling, and thyroid panels

Once we have the information we need, we tailor a treatment for and with you to your own goals, utilising dietary, nutritional, herbal, and lifestyle interventions to get you to where you want to be.

WHAT CAN NATUROPATHY ASSIST?

Naturopathy can help with a broad range of conditions, diagnosed or un. We are trained to treat chronic conditions and complex cases and excel in this area, however also can help with the ‘simpler’ things in health such as weight loss, developing healthy eating habits, and general wellness/'optimising your health’. Conditions that can particularly benefit from naturopathic intervention include;

• Fibromyalgia, CFS/ME

• Eczema, psoriasis, hayfever and allergies

• Irritable bowel syndrome/irritable bowel disease, ulcerative colitis, chrons

• Nonspecific gut symptoms such as bloating, constipation, diarrhoea, food intolerances

• PCOS, endometriosis, painful, heavy, or absent periods

• Perimenopause and menopause

• Male and female fertility

• Anxiety, depression, ADHD

• Fatigue, stress

• Cardiovascular disease, type 2 Diabetes

  Naturopaths can order further pathology testing if indicated, such as blood tests, stool tests, hormonal profiling, food sensitivity and allergen testing, and more.

THE NATUROPATHIC DOCTRINE

• Primum Non Nocere - First, do no harm

• Vis Medicarix Naturae - The healing power of nature

• Tolle Causam - Identify and treat the causes

• Tolle Totum - Treat the whole person

• Docere - Doctor as teacher

• Praevenire - Prevention is better than cure

WHAT MODALITIES DO NATUROPATHS USE FOR TREATMENT?

Naturopaths utilise a range of holistic interventions to help get your health back on track. These may include;

• Dietary treatment - working on fine-tuning and designing an optimal intake/diet for your personal needs by utilising food as medicine, ensuring that your body has the fuel to keep you healthy for life

• Lifestyle treatment - altering your habits to optimise wellness or to enact therapeutic effect. These may include behavioural changes, targeted exercise recommendations, habit modifications, and cross-referrals to other practitioners (eg myotherapy, acupuncture) to ensure you are treated holistically and thoroughly

• Nutritional prescriptions - using nutraceuticals/nutritional supplements to correct acute deficiencies that cannot be rectified by diet alone, or to produce a therapeutic effect using high-quality bioavailable forms of vitamins and minerals

• Herbal prescriptions - using potent herbal extracts in liquid form to blend an individualised tincture that is tailored to your exact health picture and therapeutic goals, or utilising herbal teas and powders for therapeutic effect, herbal medicines are synergistic and strong and will help assist your body in restoring health

Greta utilises a blend of these modalities as appropriate to you personally. No two prescriptions are the same!

DO I NEED TO DO ANYTHING BEFORE A CONSULT?

I request that you bring along your most recent blood test results (preferably any test results you’ve had in the past two years!) - or if you haven’t had any recently, it may be time to get your bi-yearly check up from your GP, testing all the regular things - inclusive of vitamin D, B12, and iron status.