Our Services

 

Naturopathic Consultations - Adults & Children

 

Initial Consult

 

Initial adult consultations last for 1.5-2 hour with Dr. Lemke or Dr. Arce. During the initial consultation we may review the following aspects of your health:

 

  • Review your current health concerns, previous medical history and family health history
  • Review your current medicines, vitamins and supplements
  • Review your lifestyle habits including diet, exercise, and other elements
  • Use of applied kinesiology, iridology, or acoustic cardiography for health assessment

 

Based on this review of your health history and lifestyle, we will then work with you to develop a personalized natural health plan which may include one or more of the following elements:

 

  • Classical Homeopathic remedy
  • Nutritional supplementation
  • Botanical medicines
  • Whole food-based nutritional plan
  • Personalized exercise/training plan
  • Craniosacral or Reiki Therapy (gentle energy work)
  • Hydrotherapy

 

Please note - if you have copies of any recent laboratory tests (within the last 1-2 years), please bring them in. They can provide helpful information to review and inform appropriate treatment.

 

Follow Up Consult

 

A second appointment in 2-6 weeks is required after the first appointment. Follow up appointments range from half hour to 1 hour visits. This appointment is important whether you feel completely better, unchanged, or worse, in order to make necessary revisions to your treatment. The frequency of ongoing follow-up visits then depends on your progress and the specific health concerns you have, but we will work with you to maximize the value of your visits with us.

 

Homeopathic Consultations - Children

 

Natural care for children focuses primarily on finding the right homeopathic remedy for your child, and secondarily on individualized nutritional and herbal supplementation for your child’s growing needs and to ease any pediatric health complaints.

 

An initial visit will last 1.5 hours during which we will:

  • Review your child’s current health concerns, previous medical history, developmental and birth history, and family health history
  • Learn about what makes your child truly unique – so that we can prescribe an appropriate homeopathic remedy; this includes a detailed interview about current health concerns, which may be more focused on physical, mental, or emotional symptoms depending on the presenting issues.
  • Learn about your child’s diet and if necessary provide supplementation for optimal growth needs
  • Get to know your child and hopefully gain her/his trust
  • In some situations we will have your child perform simple memory or other tests to help us understand your child’s analytical development

 

Follow-up visits usually occur 4-6 weeks after the initial consultation, at which time we assess whether the initial homeopathic prescription has helped and decide whether to continue with the same remedy or change to a different one.

 

Natural healthcare for children is a choice many parents intuitively want to make. We will work together with busy parents to help them make informed, healthy decisions for their children. A natural approach for pediatric complaints is safe, gentle, and effective and can keep parents from exposing their children to pharmaceutical medicines which are often harsh on their young bodies. The good news is that children respond very well to natural medicine – their bodies are smaller and more sensitive to gentle medicines, including botanical, nutritional and homeopathic medicine. The combination of homeopathic and naturopathic treatment is very effective in children’s health concerns ranging from chronic respiratory infections, to acute high fevers and ear infections, to behavioral, developmental, and learning disorders.

 

*We do not provide primary pediatric care. Any emergency pediatric situations should be addressed by your primary care pediatric provider, though we are a good secondary contact for help on acute illnesses, as homeopathic medicines can be very effective in these cases.

 

Acupuncture and Bodywork Consultations - Adults & Children

 

Each adult office visit is approximately one and a half hours and usually includes a combination of Chinese medical bodywork (tui na), craniosacral therapy, and acupuncture. Therapeutic foods and movements often are suggested. Children's visits typically are shorter, with more bodywork and fewer to no needles.

 

The first part of each visit, including any followup appointments, consists of the following Chinese medical diagnostic techniques:

  • A review of your current health concerns, symptoms, previous medical history and family health history
  • Questions about your general health from the perspective of Eastern Medicine; e.g. about sleep, diet, hunger, thirst, energy level, cold and heat tolerance
  • Pulse-taking (Eastern medicine recognizes more than 12 distinct pulse areas related to blood and qi, organ and channel function)
  • Tongue Diagnois (a window to various disharmonies in the bodymind)
  • Gentle palpation along acupuncture channels and in areas of discomfort

 

Specific symptoms are treated based on your presentation at each clinic visit. Each treatment usually consists of one or multiple of the following treatment techniques:

  • Acupuncture – careful placement of very fine needles in acupoints
  • Tui Na – Chinese medical massage restoring proper function, blood and qi flow; often critical for sports injuries and pain. Can be used in place of acupuncture for young children.
  • Craniosacral Work – gentle bodywork developed by osteopathic medicine; craniosacral therapy frees restrictions in soft tissues throughout the body. Often focused on the skull, spine and sacrum, but extremely useful for many conditions characterized by fascial (connective tissue) restrictions and misalignment.

 

Other possible traditional Chinese medical modalities employed are:

  • Moxibustion – a heating therapy; small amounts of moxa (the herb Artemisia vulgarias) are burned near or on protected skin; highly beneficial for cold or deficient conditions
  • Cupping – a technique of applying special cups with gentle suction to increase local circulation and stop pain
  • Gua Sha – a unique skin-scrapping method effective at increasing local circulation, stopping pain and stimulating the immune system
  • Qigong – literally "qi practice;" used in Chinese medicine both as a directed energy method to harmonize patient qi and as gentle exercises for patients to cultivate their own health
  • Meditation – simple techniques to cultivate mindfulness, allowing a person the space to experience more ease and happiness.
  • Breathing instruction - often producing dramatic results by itself; fundamental to health.
  • Dietary Therapy – education in healthy nutrition and specific foods for certain conditions from the Eastern perspective.

 

Common Conditions We Can Help With

 

Naturopathic Care is based on strengthening and bringing balance to the main systems of the body, including the systems of: immunity, digestion, elimination, and neuro-endocrine signaling. Overall naturopathic medicines will optimize metabolic function so an individual can perform to their highest potential in life. Also known as functional medicine, this is done by understanding which systems of the body are overstressed and overburdened and then building them up with safe and effective natural medicines, thus treating underlying causes instead of just symptoms. Naturopathic medicine has a particular focus on the following general approaches to building health and improving the body's natural ability to recover from illness:

 

  • Detoxification
  • Balancing and rebuilding the GI tract
  • Balancing and supporting the hormonal system
  • Support for stressed out patients by strengthening the adrenal system
  • Reducing allergies and the inflammatory load
  • Building up and supporting the immune system
  • Working on proper nutrition and well-being through a whole food based diet and appropriate exercise
  • Emotional support and balance

 

The following list provides a look at the range of medical conditions for which we can provide supporting natural medical care. This list is not exhaustive, and because the goal of the natural medicine modalities we practice is to increase the ability of one's body to respond effectively to disease and ill health, we can actually aid in a wide range of disease and health concerns, from psychiatric issues to chronic physical illness to cognitive problems.

 

Mental/Emotional Disorders

  • Depression/Bipolar
  • Anxiety and Panic Disorder
  • Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

 

Women's Health

  • Fatigue
  • Menopause
  • PMS
  • Post Partum Depression

 

Children's Health

  • Chronic Upper Respiratory Infections, allergies, and asthma

 

Chronic Physical Disorders

  • Gastrointestinal inflammatory disorders including IBS, Crohn's Disease, and Colitis
  • Chronic respiratory infections/cough
  • Chronic Migraine headaches
  • Lyme's disease, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia
  • Neurological disease including multiple sclerosis
  • Cognitive and Emotional sequelae from trauma (head trauma, surgical trauma, accidents etc)
  • Autoimmune diseases, Rheumatoid arthritis

 

Musculoskeletal Complaints

  • Trauma & injuries; sprains, strains, tears, support with surgery, car accidents, etc.
  • Chronic inflammation and pain; lower back pain, sciatic pain, frozen shoulder, etc.
  • Recurrent use injuries; Carpal tunnel syndrome, repetitive motion injuries, etc

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If you have questions about particular health concerns and how we might help you with them, please contact us and we can help you pick the best service to fit your needs.