Why Choose Integrative Healthcare vs. Conventional Medicine?
Modern medicine has paved the way for countless discoveries, cures and technological advances that have saved millions of lives. There’s no question that the advances of modern medicine have re-shaped the trajectory of our human experience and are desperately needed in some circumstances. But conventional modern medicine has lost sight of one, very important thing: the person being treated. Conventional medicine aims to treat a symptom, cure a disease, or heal an injury, but it doesn’t look at the person as a whole or aim to find the root cause of a disease.
How is Integrative Healthcare Different?
Integrative healthcare uses holistic and natural treatments to heal discomfort by honoring what the body truly needs. It takes a whole-body approach in order to find the root cause of a disease and work to re-balance the body. Why is this important? Take thyroid disfunction for example. Here are two different scenarios of a person with symptoms of low thyroid and the different experiences they might have with conventional medicine and with an integrative health practitioner.
Conventional Medicine
A 30-year old woman visits her doctor for her yearly checkup and complains of low energy, brain fog, weight gain and cold hands and feet. Her doctor recognizes these as classic symptoms of low thyroid function, or hypothyroidism, and orders lab work. The TSH comes back slightly elevated, but still within “normal” ranges so her doctor tells her to start exercising and go on a diet to help with low energy levels and weight gain and to check back with him at her next yearly visit.
The woman tries to exercise more and eat better, but has a hard time keeping up with it because of her low energy levels. In addition, she’s extremely stressed from keeping up with her family and her demanding job and doesn’t have the time or energy to devote to joining a gym or planning healthy meals.
A year later at her annual checkup, she is still complaining of low energy, brain fog, weight gain and cold hands and feet, but now has also developed anxiety, gastrointestinal issues and joint pain. Her doctor again runs TSH labs, which come back slightly elevated outside of “normal” ranges so he prescribes thyroid medication. The thyroid medication helps a little bit for a short time, but her symptoms don’t completely go away and gradually get worse again over time.
She visits a few different doctors about her thyroid as well as specialists for her GI issues, anxiety and joint pain. They all tell her that her symptoms and lab work are in the “normal” range and don’t have a definitive diagnosis for any of those individual complaints. They give her superficial advice on how to “manage” her symptoms, but she is left feeling alone and wondering if she is crazy or making it all up.
It takes her 5 years of visiting doctor after doctor to finally find one who will run the appropriate tests and take her symptoms seriously. At this point, her symptoms have worsened to the point of being debilitating on a daily basis and her recovery is long and difficult. She deals with hypothyroidism throughout her life and also develops other chronic conditions later on in life that leave her dependent on medications to help alleviate her symptoms.
Integrative Healthcare
Let’s imagine now that this woman had decided to see an integrative healthcare practitioner for her symptoms at the beginning. Her appointment was detailed and thorough. The practitioner asked her a lot of questions, not only about her symptoms of low thyroid, but also about her lifestyle, stress levels, eating habits and daily life. The integrative healthcare practitioner ordered a comprehensive thyroid panel including TSH, Free T4, Free T3, Reverse T3, Thyroglobulin Antibodies (TgAb), and Thyroid Peroxidase Antibodies (TPOAb) in order to get a full picture of what is going on with her thyroid.
In this comprehensive lab work, it was discovered that her thyroid antibodies were elevated, which pointed to an autoimmune thyroid condition called Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis. The integrative healthcare practitioner educated her on this condition, what typically causes it, and provided a treatment plan that would address the autoimmunity itself rather than simply treating the symptoms of low thyroid.
They worked together on identifying food intolerances, stress triggers, and other lifestyle factors that may be contributing to or worsening the autoimmune condition. The integrative healthcare practitioner helped her get started on an anti-inflammatory diet and provided meal plans and education on healthy, quick foods to choose when she’s on the go. They also worked together on a plan to help her reduce her stress and find time for more self-care.
The woman followed up with the integrative healthcare practitioner regularly for the first few months until her symptoms started to decrease and eventually went away all together. When she started feeling herself falling back into poor lifestyle patterns, she visited the integrative healthcare provider again and they worked together to help get her wellness back on track. She now lives a full and healthy life and is more in-tune with herself and her body’s messages. She takes time to care for herself and her family and now has the tools to achieve whole-body wellness for the rest of her life.
The Whole-Body Approach
While this is a fictional scenario, situations like this happens all too frequently in our society with conventional medicine. Patients often spend many years treating surface level symptoms and bouncing from doctor to doctor in order to find one that will understand their needs and help them achieve actual wellness.
Integrative healthcare is different. It begins by looking at the whole body, not just the symptoms, to find the root cause of disease and discomfort. Integrative healthcare works with the patient to heal the body through holistic and natural treatments, as well as lifestyle changes and supplementation or medication. It focuses on maximizing health and wellness, minimizing toxins and imbalances and prioritizing a person’s needs.
A Healthcare Clinic That Prioritizes YOU
Wellness begins here.
Tru Wellness is an integrative healthcare clinic that uses holistic and natural treatments to heal discomfort by honoring what the body truly needs. We take a whole-body approach to care to find the root cause of disease and work to rebalance the body.
Sierra Weight, Family Nurse Practitioner and Owner of Tru Wellness, began her career in conventional medicine. She quickly realized that there had to be a better way to provide care and soon opened Tru Wellness where she could use a whole-body approach with her patients.
Tru Wellness sees patients with a variety of discomforts and diseases including, but not limited to:
Anxiety & Depression
Chronic Fatigue
Thyroid Disease
Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis
Metabolic Syndrome and Insulin Resistance
Inflammatory Bowel Disorders
Gut Health
Food Sensitivities
Autoimmune Conditions
Headaches & Migraines
Hormone Imbalances
ADHD
If you’re struggling with any of those conditions, or something else, schedule a free consultation with Tru Wellness to see if we can help you. Talk with our experienced provider about all of your healthcare concerns and learn about how a whole-body approach can help you achieve optimal wellness.