And I emerge into this New Year after 6 months of being ‘home’ with my baby boy.
Happy 2014!
After several months of a very different routine than my norm, I’ve been reminded at various times of the availability of health care and information relating to it. We really do have a breadth of access to supports and health care services where we live. From primary care, emergency services (both telephone and walk-in) to various health and wellness learning groups and clinics (including Naturopathic of course). I know I’ve accessed several points of services along this spectrum in the last 6 months with a new baby in the house!
How we choose these services and work them into our busy lives, however, that’s another matter.
In my opinion, having one or more primary care providers in your corner is a must!
An MD, Nurse Practitioner, Naturopathic Doctor etc. available to assess and treat a wide variety of health concerns – this is paramount! The additional supports (massage therapy, acupuncture, osteopathy, counselling, physical or athletic therapy etc.) can then be added like spokes on a wheel…creating the well-rounded approach for your body and family’s wellness plan.
As busy people with even busier families, choosing the care that is right for you seems crucial.
Are we going to see the ‘right’ professionals for the matching health concern? Are we asking questions of those that have spent time studying the answers?
As a Naturopathic Doctor (ND), knowing how to assess & treat a patient’s current health concerns, and then prescribe a plan for preventing illness is central to my work. When you’re feeling tired, is it due to nutrition or deficiencies? Are your hormones working appropriately? How about your digestion of food and its absorption? In this vein, sending patients for appropriate tests to discern these differences is often the start. Maybe it’s a simple blood test for vitamin B12 or D. Maybe you need a hormonal health workup via blood or saliva. Or perhaps it’s something a little less commonly pursued like digestive function or toxin build-up in the body.
Once appropriately assessed, the correct treatment is, again, so important. How good is a diagnosis without an appropriate plan to work at correcting the problem? I hear many sides of this ‘diagnosis’ dilemma. For example, after being to the doctor, you’ve been given a diagnosis, but there are few if any treatment options available (or ones that you’re not keen on pursuing). Or, you’ve researched some great resources online and have a laundry list of treatment ‘To Do’s’. But, where do you start? Which treatment is most effective or are they all safe for you?
At this point, we then need that primary care support. Someone (like an ND;) to guide some of these questions and work with you to take the next steps. From a personal perspective, even as an ND, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and stalled when it comes to taking action for my own health. Having an external professional available to assess, recommend and track my body’s progress is so helpful.
Again, we have so many resources and information available to us. But they are only as good as how much we utilize them. So, I encourage you to find your primary care ‘person’, and then begin building the spokes of your ‘health wheel’. I’m sure the layering of treatment care will not only treat the concern at hand, but build a new level of wellness you may not have expected!
For more information about Naturopathic Medicine, or to book an appointment with Dr. Janzen (or Dr. Jasper), see my contact page.
