The right tool for your health goals

Many patients will come to me because they’ve been prescribed a medication and are looking for other options.  Because people think of Naturopathic Medicine as ‘natural’, they’re surprised when I recommend taking a medication.

But the truth is, we need to look at the whole picture of your concerns.

How are they impacting your quality of life?

What are the risks that come with it?

Are we understanding the underlying factors that are contributing?

I do NOT like to just slap a medication on something and call it a day without diving deeper, but in many situations, a medication can be a very safe and effective option as PART of the whole treatment plan.

If your depression is impacting your ability to live a good quality life and have the capacity to get outside, and make nourishing meals; medication can be a very effective part of the plan to improve your capacity to put other pieces in place. It can help to take off that heavy backpack weighing you down. Medication ALONE is not typically that effective long-term, we want to make sure we’re not missing underlying nutrient deficiencies, we want to arm you with tools from a counseling perspective, but medication can start that process!

For some young women, I’ll recommend the oral contraceptive. It’s a VERY effective birth control which is sometimes the most important thing for young women. If we’re using it to “regulate” your cycles - that’s a concern - we want to dive deeper to UNDERSTAND why you’re having irregular periods at some point, but it doesn’t NEED to be now if you’re not in a life position to explore or make changes.

Menstrual pain and PMDD can be debilitating for some women.  And medication can help for some to live a better quality of life. Again, we’re not JUST going to do this, but it can be part of the whole plan.

Diet and lifestyle and nutrient supplementation can be SO helpful for so many things. But they take time, energy, and resources, which not everyone has at all times. 

There is a time and a place to solely lean on these tools, and there’s a time and a place for medication to take off some of the burden of your symptoms to allow you to feel more like yourself, and to decrease the risk of more significant disease!  

Please be gentle with yourself and proud of yourself if you’re needing and choosing to take medication as part of your health plan!

Interested in discussing tools to achieve your health goals, click the link below to book a call!