Dr. Joan Water

Let me count the ways... First, we identify and treat the cause of your symptoms. We use natural substances that the body recognizes and can metabolize. Quite often, different parts of a plant will work synergistically with each other to bring about more complete healing. Herbal extracts are usually given in either capsular or liquid form. The naturopathic doctor teaches you how your body is unique and what it needs to function optimally. He/she will teach you how to prevent illness, taking into account both your personal and family history. The naturopathic doctor understands physiology and will treat the whole person, not just one part of the body. He/she will likely teach you how one part of your body interacts with another part. Naturopathic doctors take the time to do a thorough history, physical exam, etc to determine what started off your descent in health, and to then draw up a comprehensive treatment plan to resolve your health issues and to prevent new health issues. This type of approach is not possible for medical doctors who are given an average of 7 minutes for each patient visit. I definitely think that naturopathic medicine is a vital part of a complete healthcare system. If you need surgery, go to a surgeon. If you have a life-threatening accident, go to an emergency room as soon as possible. If you want to avoid surgery and the need for other medical interventions, naturopathic medicine would be a good choice. Many of my patients see both me, a naturopathic doctor, and a medical doctor. Best wishes for vibrant health. Sincerely, Dr Joan D Waters

Acid reflux is usually caused by something that inflames the valve between the stomach and the esophagus. When a patient comes in complaining of acid reflux, I take a thorough history and may do some testing to determine what is causing the inflammation. You can have acid reflux with either low, normal or elevated levels of hydrochloric acid in your stomach, so acid blockers are not always the best solutions, especially long-term.
If you want to do some experimenting on your own, you can try avoiding different foods to see if you can lessen the symptoms. Elevating the head of your bed, eating more, smaller meals and not eating for 3 hours before you lie down are all helpful strategies to try to resolve your symptoms. Eventually, though, you will likely need to see a naturopathic or functional medicine doc who knows how to identify the common causes of inflammation that cause reflux.

Best wishes for vibrant health,

Dr Joan D Waters

Rashes are typically due to a deeper, internal problem, so it would be best to have a thorough workup by a naturopathic or functional medicine doctor to identify and treat the cause. With that being said, you could start by cutting all the inflammatory foods out of your diet: junk food, fast food, processed food, refined sugars, and begin to eat mostly organic, whole foods. Limit your fluid intake to pure water, green tea, and herbal teas. Avoid any food to which you know you react adversely. If you are allergic to cats, stay away from them. If you are allergic to dust mites, keep your house well-dusted on a regular basis. Drink half your body weight in ounces of water (a 140# person would need to drink 70 ounces of water). Sometimes, after the first visit, before we have test results back, patients will notice that their symptoms improve just by cleaning up the diet and drinking more water. This lessens the stress on the liver, and since liver congestion is often present when people develop rashes, the rashes may improve with just a cleaner environment and cleaner diet. Best wishes for vibrant health.

A naturopathic doctor would always seek to identify the cause of the diarrhea. This is especially important because if a person takes pepto bismol or something to stop the diarrhea, they could be working against the body's need to expell an infection, if that would be the cause of the diarrhea. I would do a blood test and a stool test to determine what is going on. I may give herbs and nutrients while we await test results. Then adjust the plan as needed based on the test results. It is important to be sure the person is hydrating well and, if they can't keep food down or don't eat a lot of vegetables, then supplementing with an electrolyte drink or supplement would likely be helpful. Children can dehydrate very rapidly so if it is a child who has diarrhea, give fluids in any form they will take them - water, 100% juice popsicles (I usually recommend whole fruits rather than fruit juices, but since the risk of dehydration is high in kids, it may be necessary to give fruit juices until they are better), etc

Naturopathic medicine is very effective in putting IBD in remission. We naturopathic doctors seek to identify and then treat the cause of health complaints. When people go into an IBD flare, they usually have something else that triggered it like an infection or toxic exposure. We test to find out what set it off, often will put the patient on an individualized anti-inflammatory diet, and replete any nutrients they are deficient in (and tell them how to obtain those nutrients in their diet). Once the trigger is addressed, the symptoms usually resolve. So far, we don't have antimicrobial resistance to our herbs, so they are a good option for treating infections, IBD,etc.

If the hair loss is caused by something like a nutrient deficiency, you might be able to resolve it by taking a good multi-vitamin that contains biotin. In my clinical experience, there is usually something more going on such as a chronic infection, thyroid issues, etc. As a naturopathic doctor, my goal is to identify the cause (this usually requires that we do some testing) of the hair loss and then treat the cause. Once I do that, the body heals itself.
Best wishes for vibrant health.

Joan Waters, ND

Yes, naturopathic medicine can definitely help to minimize your sinus symptoms related to allergies to pollen. While we won't ever claim to resolve an allergy, we identify and treat sources of inflammation in your body. Once we do this, your immune system is able to respond more-normally to allergens, rather than produce a highly exaggerated immune response. Naturopathic doctors make a distinction between true allergies and sensitivities. A person usually reacts very quickly to a true allergen. The symptoms of a food or other environmental sensitivity may not show up for 2 to 4 days after exposure to the substance, so it is harder to identify what the stressor is. There is testing available to naturopathic doctors to distinguish between a true allergy and a sensitivity. Since sensitivities are often reversible, it is very helpful to differentiate between allergies and sensitivities and to treat accordingly.

One relatively safe practice to use is a neti-pot. It is important that you NEVER use tap water or well water in your neti-pot. Distilled or reverse osmosis water is best for use in a neti-pot. The neti-pot is a ceramic or plastic container with a narrow spout that you can place into the end of your nose and pour salt water through it. If you want to use water that is the same salinity of your body's water, add 1/8 teaspoon neti-salt to each 8 ounces of water. If you want it hypertonic (so that it dehydrates organisms which kills them), then add 1/4 teaspoon per 8 ounces of pure water.

Your nose is designed to catch dust, pollen, bacteria, viruses, etc. Using a neti-pot can wash these out of the nose, leaving the immune system with less antigen (something that the immune system reacts to) to deal with. Don't be surprised if your ears pop or you feel like you got water in your eustachian tubes. This is a normal sensation. Your body has a lot of water in it and a little more salt water won't harm you.

If you prefer to use a nasal irrigation squirt bottle, then be sure to rinse each nostril out two times with a neti-pot before you squirt water up into your sinuses with the squirt bottle. If you use only a squirt bottle, you could potentially push bacteria, viruses, dust, etc up into your sinuses and possibly cause an infection. For this reason, I recommend that you use the neti-pot first to clean out your nose and then follow it up with the squirt bottle. In my opinion, this would be a good practice when using electric nasal irrigators as well.

If you have a deviated septum, then it may take more time to open up the nasal passages, but, based on my clinical experience, the neti-pot can still open them up.

If I could (I wish I could) give everyone in the world only one item to improve the world's health, I would choose to give each person a neti-pot. It is an inexpensive way to treat sinus issues, regardless of the cause. Since I am a naturopathic doctor, I always seek to identify and treat the cause of the congestion or infection as well.

Best wishes for vibrant health,

Joan Waters, ND

Curcumin supplements have an anti-inflammatory effect and can significantly reduce pain. Since you are taking medications, it is essential that an interaction check be done prior to starting on a supplement. Curcumin is absorbed best when taken with fats or fatty foods.

Since I am a naturopathic doctor, my main goal would be to identify and treat the cause. Since you mention diabetes, the ulcer may be due to poor circulation and/or poor wound healing related to diabetes. One would need to obtain a thorough history, and possibly do more testing, to determine the cause.

Best wishes for vibrant health,

Dr. Joan Waters

First, be sure that you are drinking enough water. A rule of thumb is to drink half your weight in ounces of water (140# person would need about 70 ounces of water each day). This would correct for headaches caused by dehydration. If this doesn't help, then touch the earth. We are being bombarded, day and night, by electromagnetic fields, microwave radiation and radiation of all wavelengths. While some of these are necessary, our bodies don't always tolerate them. Touching the earth grounds you by allowing electrons from the earth to neutralize the free radicals in your body. The study I read supporting this practice had the test participants touch the earth for 90 minutes. In my experience, people receive benefit after just a few minutes, but an hour or so would be better. If neither of those help, then go on an elimination diet or get tested for food sensitivities. It may be a food which is inflammatory to you that is
causing the headaches.
Hope this has been helpful.

Dr. Joan D. Waters

There is no one naturopathic diet, so I would need to know what kind of diet you are referring to, in order to respond most accurately. If the diet was prescribed by a doctorate degree level naturopathic doctor, then it is likely a therapeutic diet. We typically recommend that patients eat plenty of vegetables (organic is preferred), some meat, fish and some whole grains. Some patients prefer to follow a strict plant-based diet, and in those cases, we recommend high-protein plant source proteins. An individualized therapeutic diet is unlikely to cause increased acidity in the body.

High intake of processed foods, sugars, grains and meats is what causes acidity in the body. If, by acidity, you are referring to acid reflux, that can be caused by either eating a food to which you are allergic or intolerant or from an environmental exposure such as toxic mold.
I hope this helps.

Joan Waters, ND

Naturopathic medicine would be a good choice. We identify and seek the cause of the dysfunction of the body - and significant menstrual pain suggests that her body is not functioning optimally. Once we identify and treat the cause, other systems of the body often respond to the positive shift as well. Rather than adding an unnatural substance to the body, we support the body with lifestyle modifications and/or natural substances so that it can heal itself, and the pain typically resolves when we do this.

Joan Waters, ND

Naturopathic medicine is definitely worth a shot. Naturopathic doctors seek and treat the cause if migraines, psoriasis and other conditions, rather than just treat symptoms. We remove the obstacles to cure and provide anything that is missing (nutrients you may be deficient in) so the body can heal itself.

Dr. Joan Waters