Naturopathic Approach to Women's Medicine and Hormone Balance
Our practice’s philosophy is to explore a woman’s health from all levels: physical, mental and emotional before drawing any kind of final conclusions.
Just because a woman has a hormonal problem does not mean that she requires a hormonal solution.
Natural Medicine and Holistic Health Care for Women
When we think about women’s health issues and medicine, we think about balance.
Often women’s health issues come down to the idea of balance. Are your hormones in balance? Is your life (work, home, stress, family, etc.) in balance? Is your emotional life in balance? Is your diet in balance?
When one thing is out of balance, the chain reaction can be extensive, leading to physical and emotional symptoms seemingly unrelated to the original imbalance yet vitally connected. Holistic medicine can restore overall balance and lead to a healthier body and life.
Our Personal Approach to Women’s Health and Alternative Medicine
We work with each woman as an individual. When we meet a new patient, we clear our mind of preconceived notions and see her as a unique individual, with a personal story, and a distinct set of issues that require an individualized, holistic health care solution. We don’t have “protocols” for various women’s health issues because each and every woman is different.
Naturopathic Doctors with a Heart for Women’s Medicine
Day after day, women seek the care of our naturopathic doctors due to hormone-related issues.
The conventional approach to many of these hormonal and women’s health issues is a hormonal solution. For younger women conventional medicine suggests the birth control pill; for older women hormone replacement therapy is considered the answer.
For many women, however, these replacement hormones simply suppress the body’s natural cycle and manipulate the body with artificial hormones; they do nothing to address why their symptoms are actually occurring, why the body’s natural hormonal balance is out of balance.
Explore Your Options With Naturopathic Medicine
Many women who seek our care are not comfortable being on these hormones, and are seeking a different approach. They wonder if there might be something more they could try.
As naturopathic doctors we look deeper and delve into what is causing your symptoms in the first place.
Regain Balance Inside and Out With Natural Holistic Medicine
In many women it’s a combination of factors that work together to throw hormones out of balance. This imbalance then leads to further imbalance in other body systems.
Our practice’s philosophy is to explore a woman’s health from all levels: physical, mental and emotional before drawing any kind of final conclusions. Just because a woman has a hormonal problem does not mean that she requires a hormonal solution.
Our naturopathic doctors offer women relief from menopausal symptoms and other health issues without hormone replacement therapy, natural or synthetic.
By restoring balance, you can feel better and prevent disease without irritating symptoms. This natural approach to women’s health issues increases overall quality of life and well-being.
PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome)
Helping women with PCOS is a special passion of both Dr. Eric and Dr. Kristina at Lewis Family Natural Health. We have been fortunate to have helped many women with this complex condition.
At Lewis Family Natural Health, we don’t have a set protocol for PCOS. We work with each woman as an individual.
We know that this condition is very individualized as far as which symptoms a woman is experiencing and what underlying causes are contributing to her PCOS. We create customized, tailored plans for each of our PCOS patients that are constantly adapted and refined as her body responds and heals.
PMS (Premenstrual Syndrome)
Individualized naturopathic therapies can work wonders to restore balance and sanity in women with PMS.
PMS Affects the Health of Many Women
PMS, or Premenstrual Syndrome, affects many menstruating women every month. It can be very distressing for the woman suffering from PMS as well as for those around her.
Symptoms of PMS
There are over 200 symptoms associated with PMS, ranging from physical symptoms to out-of-control mood swings. The most common symptoms are bloating, headaches, food cravings (CHOCOLATE!), uterine cramps, headaches, breast tenderness, mood swings, irritability, and depression. To be considered PMS, these symptoms get worse the week or two before a woman’s period, and improve soon after menstruation begins.
Naturopathic Medicine Can Help You Change the Way You Feel
Did you know if you suffer from severe PMS you don’t have to feel so badly? What so many women and their loved ones don’t realize is that PMS is not something to just suffer through, month after month.
The Many Causes of PMS
PMS is often a complex interplay of several factors that are unique for every woman. The answer to the question, “What causes PMS?” is, “It depends.”
As naturopathic doctors with a specialty in women’s health, we see many women on a daily basis with this condition, and can say with confidence that every woman has a unique story, with individualized obstacles and holistic therapies that work best to restore balance and sanity to her world.
When our naturopathic doctors take an in-depth look at our patients, the most common culprits behind PMS include a poor or imbalanced diet, lifestyle factors (including smoking, stress, and lack of exercise), liver stagnation, less-than-ideal digestion, and hormonal imbalance. Rarely are all of the above present in every patient, and each patient may have a unique presentation of how these obstacles can be mediated.
You Don’t Have to Suffer. We Can Help.
Many of our PMS patients have come to us because they felt overwhelmed and are grateful to have help sorting out all the options. It is essential to develop an individualized, holistic health plan when dealing with a multi-faceted issue like PMS. Individualized therapies such as homeopathy, herbal medicine, and dietary changes can work wonders to restore balance and sanity in women with PMS.
Menopause and Perimenopause
Regain Balance During Menopause and Perimenopause
Menstrual Problems:
Painful Periods, Heavy Periods, Irregular Periods
Menstruation is a normal process for women from puberty until menopause (and with breaks during pregnancy and nursing). A normal menstrual cycle lasts from 28-32 days, with 3-7 days of bleeding that is not too heavy, not too light, and not painful.
Many women, however, find that this is not what their menstrual cycles are like at all! Their periods may cause extreme pain and cramps, may last for longer than a week, may involve a heavy or clotted flow, may be very short or very light, and may arrive too early or too late. Some women skip periods entirely, and others have no set pattern to know when to expect the start of their next period.
Painful or heavy menstruation
If you experience pain or heavy bleeding during your periods, it may be a sign of an underlying issue such as inflammation, hormonal imbalance, emotional stress, uterine fibroids, ovarian cysts, endometriosis, etc.
Once the cause is discovered a variety of natural therapeutics can be employed to relieve pain, and resolve the underlying condition.
Irregular periods
If your periods are not appearing predictably every 28-32 days, it may be due to a wide range of potential underlying imbalances including hormonal imbalance, hypothyroidism, anemia, emotional or physical stress, lack of ovulation (anovulation), or polycystic ovarian syndrome. It may also be due to natural processes such as perimenopause, menopause, or pregnancy.
Natural therapies may be utilized to correct these underlying disorders.
Cervical Dysplasia (HPV) and Abnormal Pap Smears
The most common cause for an abnormal Pap smear is the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV). HPV is a sexually transmitted disease that comes in over 150 different known strains. Some strains of HPV cause the common wart, some cause genital warts, and some are considered “high risk” because they can sometimes cause cervical cancer.
If you have been told after a Pap smear that you have high risk HPV, low risk HPV, or cervical dysplasia, you may be a candidate for naturopathic care.
By supporting your body’s own immune system function, natural medicines may help your body fight off the HPV infection and allow the cells of your cervix to heal. Our naturopathic approach works in combination with continued follow up care by your gynecologist or other women’s healthcare provider.
We often recommend both systemic herbs and therapeutic doses of nutritional supplements, possibly local treatments of herbal vaginal suppositories, and overall body support with homeopathy in working with patients who have had an abnormal Pap smear.
