Conditions

Naturopathic Gastroenterology

In Naturopathic Medicine we often treat from the inside out and this means starting with the gut.  Many health problems can be attributed to an unhealthy gastrointestinal system.  This includes conditions clearly attributed to a gastrointestinal problem such as Celiac Disease, Crohn’s Disease, GERD, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Leaky Gut Syndrome, and Ulcerative Colitis, as well as conditions you would not normally attribute to the gastrointestinal system, such as headache, body aches or weakened immune system.  Through the immune, nervous and blood communication / circulation systems the health of the gut is often reflected in distant body systems.  To treat these conditions we offer an individualized digestive healing protocol that includes detoxification, gut organism balancing (see Chronic Infection section below), inflammation reduction, tonification (strengthening) and food sensitivity elimination (see Allergies / Sensitivities section directly below) by healing Leaky Gut.  During the digestive tract healing process many people find that not only their digestive symptoms improve, but also distant and seemingly unrelated symptoms and their overall sense of well-being.  This is because as we treat the gut those interconnections affect the rest of the body.

Allergies / Sensitivities

We offer expertise in identifying and treating food and environmental allergies / sensitivities in adults and children.  It is very common for people to not even be aware that they have allergies / sensitives and that it is causing their health problems / symptoms.  We identify allergies based on history, physical exam, targeted food elimination / challenge, as well as the highest quality food and environmental blood IgG / IgE / IgA panel testing.  Once allergies / sensitivities are identified we formulate an individualized treatment protocol (which may include healing leaky gut or calming the immune system).  Many of our patients who have followed our treatment protocol have become completely or mostly free of their reactions to different substances, including food and environmental triggers.  Our goal is for you to have an optimal balance between food / environmental freedom (minimal dietary and lifestyle restrictions) and elimination of food / environmental sensitivity related symptoms.

Autoimmune

We are now specializing in screening for and treating some autoimmune conditions, including autoimmune thyroiditis (Hashimoto's).  The main non-prescription treatments that we offer for autoimmune conditions are food avoidance recommendations and NMT food desensitization (which in our experience is usually the best natural treatment to help calm down the autoimmune process).  We can also make some nutritional/herbal anti-inflammatory recommendations.  For autoimmune thyroiditis (Hashimoto's) we can manage natural or synthetic prescription medications where necessary.  Where applicable we can also work complimentary to the care you are getting from your conventional medicine specialist (rheumatologist etc.). 

POTS / EDS / MCAS Triad

We specialize in screening for and treating these underrecognized and undertreated syndromes that commonly occur together.  For treatment of POTS we offer oral fluid and salt/sodium chloride intake recommendations to attain vascular volume expansion, CranialSacral Therapy and NMT to calm the autonomic nervous system, and nutritional recommendations to stregthen the vasculature.  For treatment of Hypermobile type EDS we offer CranialSacral Therapy and Visceral Manipulation to gently put the body back into alignment (in a gentle way which will reduce instead of increase pain) and nutritional recommendations to strengthen the connective tissues.  For treatment of MCAS we offer diet and environmental avoidance recommendations, homeopathic/nutrient/herbal recommendations to decrease the histamine/inflammatory response, and NMT for food and environmental desensitization.       

Trauma Recovery

Science is just beginning to understand the significant effect that trauma can play in a person's life and their health. The Kaiser ACE study has shown that adverse childhood events (ACES) are linked to chronic health problems, mental illness, and substance use problems in adulthood.  ACEs can also negatively impact education, job opportunities, and earning potential.  These traumatic experiences are imprinted and stored in the brain as well as other cells of the body.  At ONC our goal is to help your body release, reprocess and/or reframe these stored traumatic memories (from both ACEs and trauma experienced in adulthood) to be free of their negative effects on your health as much as possible. The therapies we offer to help achieve this goal include CranialSacral Therapy combined with NMT (to access and address trauma stored on an unconscious or subconscious level), homeopathy, and naturopathic counseling (to access and address trauma recognized on a conscious level).  Please note that when significant ongoing counseling is needed we recommend that you see a separate therapist on a regular basis, preferably one who offers EMDR and/or Neurofeedback in addition to regular "talk" therapy.

For more information about CranialSacral Therapy for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder click on this link here: CST for PTSD

Chronic Infection / CIRS / Mold Illness / Biotoxins 

It is very common for people to harbor chronic low levels of organisms (bacteria, virus, fungi / yeast, parasites) that are making them sick.  Common scenarios include systemic yeast / fungal / candida infection, SIBO, Lyme, Lyme-coinfections, dysbiosis (unbalanced organisms in the digestive tract) and unrelenting skin and upper respiratory infections.  If your body is healthy it should be able to fight off these infections, but if you are compromised (stress, antibiotic over-use, poor nutritional status, toxicity, etc) you may not be able to.  We offer an individualized infection targeting protocol that includes healing and assisting your immune system to fight off the infections and return to a state of well being (while resisting relapse into the same or different infection).  We also replenish beneficial organisms (with physician grade probiotics) that not only fight off infection but have beneficial health effects throughout the body.  

Chronic infections can result in accumulation of biotoxins which can remain in the body even after the infection is gone.  In addition, biotoxins can also accumulate in the body from external (environmental) sources.  Common external sources include biotoxins from water damaged buildings, such as mycotoxins from mold.  These biotoxins inflame the body and result in a constellation of symptoms that when severe enough result in the condition known as Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (CIRS). To rid the body of the biotoxins that contribute to this illness we offer targeted detoxification protocols.  

Chronic Pain

We offer several pain eliminating / reducing treatments for many chronic pain conditions.  Many of our patients have experienced pain relief when no other conventional or alternative treatment helped.  Please note that our clinic has chosen not to prescribe DEA controlled substances (although we do occasionally prescribe non-DEA regulated pharmaceuticals for pain relief, such as compounded topicals) so if you need a DEA controlled substance to manage your pain condition you must be managed by another provider who offers that service.

Fatigue

Many people today are just completely wiped out and they can’t enjoy life to it’s fullest.  This can be due to many factors including Adrenal Fatigue (i.e. overwork, trauma and stress burnout), Anemia, Chronic Infection (see Chronic Infection section above), Depression, Hypothyroidism, Nutritional depletion, and Toxic Body Burden (see Environment al Detoxification on our Treatment page ).  It doesn’t have to be this way.  We can help you sort out the contributing factors and prioritize treatment towards those that are having the biggest impact.  Most people who follow the treatment protocol we prescribe for them get their energy back, even if fatigue is not their primary complaint.  Often times the first thing our patients report is that they have more energy, even after just one visit.

Naturopathic Pediatrics

We support loving parents in their best efforts to raise and protect children in today's very challenging world.  We can help guide parents in making safe and reasonable health care choices for their children.  We focus on safe and effective natural treatment options, but can use conventional treatment options if necessary and refer out to other specialists when needed.   Please note we are no longer doing well-child checks or primary care for children, but can see and treat them for certain specific conditions as a naturopathic specialist.   

Behavioral and Developmental Disorders

We offer gentle and natural therapies for children (and adults) with behavioral and developmental disorders such as ADHD and Autism Spectrum.  Our goal is to improve the quality of life as much as possible for children (and adults) with these disorders (and the quality of life for their families).  As individuals with these disorders often need lots of support (physically, behaviorally and emotionally), we use an individualized multi-modality approach.  This may include addressing one or more of the following areas: allergies/sensitives (see above), healing the digestive tract (see above), treating chronic infection (see above), individualized nutritional recommendations based on current physical and/or gene status (see Methyl Genetic section on our Treatment page), gentle detoxification (see Environmental Detoxification section on our Treatment page) and calming the nervous system.   We know that treatments, lifestyle changes, and going to health care appointments can be challenging (or even daunting) for individuals with these disorders and their families, so please tell us what your needs are and we will work with you to the best of our ability.

Medical Freedom and Vaccine Choice

We believe in the right to medical privacy, being able to make medical choices without coercion and with informed consent.  

Vaccines: While our clinic believes vaccines have value as a medical procedure, we welcome all patients regardless of vaccine status or beliefs.  We can answer your questions about the benefits / risks of vaccines and refer you to additional resources for information.  We do not currently administer vaccines at our clinic but they are available at the public health department, 4J Wellness Clinic, and some pharmacies.  We also will not write letters in support of medical vaccine exemptions unless you are an established patient, we are thoroughly familiar with your medical history, and there is a well documented contraindication according to the CDC criteria.  

Alternative Medical Choices: In some cases* we can support competent adult patients who are choosing to forgo standard of care treatments, as long as they have been informed of all the risks of that decision.  In some cases we will require that you continue to see your other specialists on a regular basis (e.g. we will not see patients who have active cancer unless they are seeing an oncologist).  

*In cases where substitute/alternative treatment is being requested and we feel it is clearly harmful, we reserve the right to refuse providing that treatment.

Family Medicine

We treat individuals but we also treat entire families.  We approach treating the family with the belief that strengthening the whole family helps each individual family member and inversely that strengthening each individual family member helps the whole family.  It's a beautiful system.     

We are particularly motivated to work with families (and individuals) who have experienced foster care trauma and this beautiful system being disrupted.  If you have experienced this kind of trauma please see our FAQ page to see how we can make our services accessible to you.  

Please note we are no longer offering primary care for families (children or adults) but can work with your family as a naturopathic specialist.

Other Conditions

Along with treating you as an individual and improving your health and well being, Oregon Naturopathic Clinic treats many other acute and chronic health conditions.  If you would like to know if we treat a condition not listed above please contact our office and we will let you know if we can help you.