By Dr. Nicole Sundene, NMD
Female Hormone Specialist
Chronic disease management often is related to imbalanced female hormones in my Women's Health practice, and thus it is imperative that women are working with a female hormone specialist to help connect the dots between their various symptoms.
Did you know that seven out of the ten leading causes of death in the United States are some form of chronic disease? When I worked in prescription family medicine as a nurse for eight years I never saw my chronic disease patients improving. Often they would continue to get worse and worse each year as their medication list became longer and longer.
While Family Medicine and Urgent Care were great for broken bones sore throats and stitches it often would fail patients challenged by high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, weight gain, depression, chronic pain and anxiety disorder.
As a Naturopathic Doctor it is imperative to me that we do not just attempt to stop the chronic disease symptoms with a medication but instead take the time to investigate and treat the root cause of the patient's disease so that they can feel optimal without relying on prescription drugs. Over the past fourteen years I have successfully treated many women with the following chronic diseases without medications!
While I have the skill set to prescribe and manage the medications often I am using these skills to taper the patient off the medication as their Naturopathic treatment plan takes effect. While I am grateful for the experience I have from working in prescription Family Medicine it never truly made sense to me. The joy of practicing Naturopathy is helping patients achieve balance and restore health without relying on prescription drugs.
Common forms of chronic diseases improved by Naturopathy:
- Arthritis
- Hypertension
- Parkinson’s Disease
- Asthma
- Chron’s Disease
- Hyper/Hypothyroidism
- Multiple Sclerosis
- Hypothyroidism
- Hashimotos Thyroiditis
- Graves’ Disease
- Autoimmune conditions such as Lupus, Raynauds
- Menopause
- Perimenopause
- POTS
- High Cholesterol
- Diabetes
- Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
- Leaky Gut Syndrome
- Eczema, Psoriasis, Dermatitis
- Heartburn and GERD
- Chronic urological and gynecological conditions
- Bladder Pain
- Recurrent UTI
- Recurrent Yeast Infections
- Gall bladder Disease
- Depression
- Anxiety Disorder
- Panic Attacks
- Premenstrual Disorder (PMS)
- PCOS
- Anemia
- Amenorrhea
- Heavy Menstrual Bleeding or Menorrhagia
- ADHD
- Memory Issues
- Weight Gain or Obesity
- Chronic Fatigue
- Chronic Pain
- Acne
These are all long-term conditions that can have a lasting negative impact on a woman's life. The body carries the burden of chronic diseases for years, all the while reducing quality of life.
Chronic diseases can be complex and difficult to manage. Treating them takes time and effort, as a lot of time is taken to get to the root cause of the disease and correct it instead of just addressing the symptoms. When I worked in regular family medicine the doctor only needed a few minutes to listen to the patient's symptoms to prescribe the correct medicine. As a Naturopathic Women's Health Doctor it is my goal to understand the cause of the symptoms so that we can address and treat the symptoms at the root cause.
This is how we can listen to the body when we have chronic disease symptoms and help women address these chronic symptoms without relying on medications. While I love being able to prescribe medications in certain instances because it saves my patient from having to visit with a variety of specialists I also see the practice of prescribing a medicine for each symptoms as somewhat "lazy" and instead the best doctor will determine the cause of the symptoms so that we can provide permanent relief without the reliance upon prescription medication.
