Many people wonder how a naturopathic physician fits with their other doctors and whether they will need to leave their trusted primary care physician to work with Third Stone Integrative Health Center. If you have a trusted doctor or other providers, we encourage you to maintain your relationship with those providers. You are the captain of your healthcare team and you get to call the shots. We will help you build the right team for you, because you never have to choose between pharmaceutical/conventional medicine and natural medicine. Integrative medicine means bringing together the best of all worlds of medicine.
Integrative Healthcare Focused on Collaboration
A critical principle of integrative medicine is collaboration. No doctor can specialize in everything, and people with complex medical issues usually require care from multiple specialists. As specialists in functional medicine, the doctors at Third Stone Health will determine the underlying causes for your health issues, and the best ways to treat those underlying causes. When either diagnosis or treatment requires other kinds of expertise as well, we work with those specialists to give you the best, most comprehensive medicine available.
The role we play can be different for different people. As experts in natural, functional medicine, we offer interventions your other specialists may not be aware of. We get referrals from cardiologists who have patients that have bad reactions to statins, from psychiatrists who have patients who “have tried everything” for their depression and from gynecologists for patients who have pelvic floor pain. Typically, the patient will continue to see the specialist for monitoring while they are undergoing treatment with natural medicine.
Some of our patients have some conditions that are well managed with medication and other issues that have not responded to prior treatments. Pharmaceutical medications and natural therapies are not mutually exclusive: integrative medicine means applying the right therapy to the situation.
Integrative Healthcare Team at Third Stone Health
For many people, we also act as a primary care doctor. We do wellness care, including annual exams and standard screening tests. We also provide acute care when needed for illness or injury. Treating with functional medicine first can often avoid the need for pharmaceutical drugs or more invasive treatments. But if or when necessary, we will refer you to specialists and then work with them to develop the best, most comprehensive, holistic treatment plan. We will also check for interactions between any herbs, nutrients, and medications, the same way a primary care doctor should check for interactions between medications.
Whichever role we play on your team, we work with your other doctors, and you, to ensure you understand the big picture and get the best possible treatment available. Contact our office today to learn how we can be a part of your good health team.
Dr. Anne Procyk and Dr. Aylah Clark
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