Avenues to Healing!
If you’re suffering with a chronic condition, chronic inflammation or chronic fatigue, I encourage you to schedule a Root Cause Exploration with me, free of charge, and we can dive deeper into your health and explore the possibility of us working together. I combine my training in clinical Western Medicine, traditional herbal medicine, functional nutrition, homeopathy, nervous system regulation and “rewiring,” Eastern Medicine philosophy, and energetic medicine to form a uniquely holistic approach (learn more about my approach here) to restore energy, reduce pain, stop inflammation, improve sleep, put autoimmunity in remission, and more. I am trained in Lyme, CIRS (Dr. Shoemaker’s approach to mold), parasitic infections, chronic UTIs and sinus infections, autoimmune conditions, hormones (both male and female), “adrenal fatigue,” skin issues, digestive issues, women’s health, etc.
If you’re looking for a different holistic doctor to have on your care team, I recommend the following:
You can search the ISEAI website or Shoemaker website if you have CIRS, mold illness, severe/advanced autoimmunity, or other stealth infections such as chronic EBV. A few NDs on the AANP ND website are knowledgeable in this area, but not all. Those like myself who are familiar with the Shoemaker protocol will likely mention Dr. Shoemaker somewhere on their website, because it is such important training to have! ISEAI is a great organization but it is open to all practitioners, therefore there is no guarantee the listed providers will be knowledgeable or trained in any certain area.
If you have Lyme disease or other vector-borne infections (coinfections, parasites), you can contact Dr. Horowitz’s office and ask for a practitioner in your area who has done Horowitz’s Lyme training (I have done this training and it’s amazing ). You can also search the ISEAI website or Shoemaker website as many of these practitioners also treat Lyme. ILADS also has a list of Lyme-literate doctors. The degree of training varies—make sure you find a doctor who has more clinical tickborne experience than just the ILADS Fundamentals Training (it’s a great training but very basic).
Always call the provider’s office and make sure your potential future doctor has commonly treated your conditions before making an appointment. If you have a “mystery illness," autoimmunity, or any symptoms that could reflect a hidden chronic infection, then ideally your practitioner will be familiar with the Shoemaker protocol. Although originally designed for mold toxicity, the Shoemaker protocol’s base model is groundbreaking and effective for all types of chronic inflammation. Some doctors can see you virtually. Most who treat chronic complex conditions such as CIRS will not take insurance because insurance does not tend to cover the in-depth treatments or the lengthy visit times required for success.
If you are looking for general holistic support or have mild autoimmunity, I suggest searching the AANP ND website. You will see an option to specifically search for virtual telemedicine if that is your preference. Some ND’s are more in alignment with the Western medicine model and some integrate nervous system regulation, energetic medicine and homeopathy—make sure you ask questions before scheduling to get a fit that’s right for you.
What are the types of providers available?
All types of providers can helpful—it depends on their knowledge level, who they are as a person, and your compatibility levels!
NDs attend a four-year med school that is entirely holistic, with all academics and clinical rotations consisting of multidimensional approaches from Day 1. NDs learn all workup options including functional specialty labs, and all treatment options for each condition, including medication options, herbs, homeopathy, nutrition, nutraceuticals, IV therapy, manual manipulations/physical medicine, hydrotherapy, minor surgery, and more. NDs are taught to see the whole person and treat the person, not their condition.
Functional MDs attend a four-year allopathic (regular) med school, which is disease-specific and geared toward treating the condition, and then take a functional medicine course after graduating.
Integrative MDs attend an allopathic four-year medical school, take an integrative medicine course afterward, and also must do a residency at an integrative clinic.
Functional NPs or PAs attend their respective traditional schools (2 years of graduate school, with NPs requiring a prior nursing degree and PAs requiring only a bachelor’s degree) and then take a functional medicine course after graduating.
While holistic health coaches such as Integrative Health Practitioners and naturopaths can be helpful, be aware that the term “practitioner” is not regulated and these coaches did not undergo clinical training and do not have a medical degree. If someone has undergone an accredited medical program with clinical training (supervised internship, hands-on patient experience, residency) and has a licensable medical degree, they will use their medical degree in their title: MD, DO or ND*, PA, NP (nurse practitioner), etc.
*Note: There are some naturopath health coaches who still use the title Naturopathic Doctor (ND) and are “board-certified” with a health coaching board, but are not doctors. If a naturopathic doctor is a licensable doctor with a 4-year medical school education that is accredited by the US Department of Education, they will say they are licensed or they will share what school they went to—it will be one of the following medical schools listed here or the University of Bridgeport, which has closed.
If you suspect mold illness (I always recommend ruling it out) and you’re wondering where to start, check out my step-by-step outline.
Best of luck and happy healing!