How Can Dr. Sahni Help Me?

How can naturopathic medicine help me?

If you’re looking to find out why you have the symptoms you do and want a long-term solution to fix them, rather than a temporary fix that will just cover up symptoms, then Dr. Sahni is the doctor for you.

If you are sick of taking prescription drugs and are looking for more natural options, then Dr. Sahni is the doctor for you. If you would like a more holistic and integrative healthcare approach with a treatment plan created specifically for you to work with your body’s individual needs, then Dr. Sahni is the doctor is for you.

What makes Dr. Sahni different from other doctors?

Dr. Sahni utilizes naturopathic medicine and applied kinesiology muscle testing to create individualized treatment plans for her patients. She focuses on treating each patient, not just their symptoms. While health symptoms may look similar in multiple patients, the root cause can be very different which means that the treatment plan for each patient is very different. Medicine is not always a one size fits all approach and that is what makes Dr. Sahni so different – she recognizes this and makes sure to come in to each patient appointment ready to address your individual needs, not just your symptoms.

For example, if two different patients come in with abdominal bloating, we automatically think of digestion, right? But what about those patients whose bloating is also a symptom of stress (and maybe even anxiety) and not just diet and digestion? If we took a one size fits all approach, we would address digestion and diet in both of these patients, but only one of them would get completely better. While this approach may somewhat help both people, it is definitely not going to clear up the underlying issue in the person whose bloating is due to stress, and the bloating won’t fully resolve until the stress piece is addressed. Their individual treatment plan may include working on their stress hormones, their body’s response to stress, or treating the emotions directly, but until we look at the patient’s individual case and not just their symptom, we won’t know which path to take. Complete resolution of symptoms is possible, but we need to treat the person and their individual needs in order to do so.

One of the things I hear very often from new patients is that they have been told they are fine because all their tests are normal, but they still have symptoms regardless of what their tests say. This is very common and as a Naturopathic physician, we have so many options for you, regardless of whether your test results are normal or not! I have also had patients with abnormal labs who have been told by specialists that there is nothing they can do to help. This is so frustrating to be told as a patient and a Naturopathic doctor can offer additional treatment options.

You may have heard about naturopathic doctors (or maybe this is the first time you are hearing about them!) and are wondering how we can help you. Maybe you have health issues that aren’t being resolved with conventional medicine and are looking for other options, or you’re tired of being offered pharmaceuticals, with very limited options beyond that. Naturopathic medicine has multiple modalities that work in different ways so we can contour your treatment plan to your specific health situation and needs.

Naturopathic medicine focuses on prevention, treating the whole person and finding the root cause of ailments in order to fully resolve them, while doing the least amount of harm. We aim to educate our patients so that they can make healthier choices that will support their body’s ability to heal itself. The following principles of naturopathic medicine are the basis of why our medicine works and explain why it is so powerful.

1) Prevention. Most of us would agree that we would much rather do what we can to prevent ourselves from getting sick, instead of waiting until we get sick and then feeling terrible while trying to figure out how to treat our sickness. Unfortunately, most of us don’t actually do this.

Proactively seeing your naturopathic doctor regularly (whether that’s monthly or 1-2x/year) can help keep you healthy year round and avoid getting sick. We work with you on lifestyle so that you can persistently keep your body healthy and prevent illness before it even begins.

2) Treat the whole person. Our bodies work as a whole system with each organ and part working collectively. Often times dividing it up by body system dismisses the huge effect that each body system can have on one another. Naturopathic doctors are trained to examine and investigate until we find the root cause of the issues at hand, and often times it is not as obvious as it seems. By only looking at a single organ system at a time (such as only seeing a gastroenterologist for diarrhea or constipation) limits the ability to find the deeper cause, which may not actually have anything to do with the gastrointestinal system but a different organ system altogether. Digestive symptoms are sometimes caused by emotions, including stress and anxiety, but if you’re only looking at the digestive system, this could be missed entirely. Of course there is always a time and a place for specialists and ND’s are more than willing to refer you to a specialist as needed, and work together with them on your care, to make sure that all of your health needs are being taken care of.

3) Identify and Treat the causes. While pharmaceuticals definitely have a time and a place, (and are used by Naturopathic doctors, often in conjunction with other modalities), they are not typically getting to the root cause of the issue. Naturopathic medicine looks to the root cause in order to fully heal a person. Without getting to the cause, resolution of problems can prove very difficult, and those that do resolve are likely to return. If we can identify and treat the cause of any health problems, there is a much better chance for full resolution.

Identifying the cause can mean more investigating too- if your labs all come back “normal” but you still have symptoms, then we take a deeper look. Were your “normal values” on the far end of the normal spectrum or were they in what we call the optimal range? (Within that range of normal, there is a smaller range of what is considered optimal, which means that even if you’re in the normal range, you may be out of the optimal range which can explain some of your symptoms.) There also may be more underlying issues beyond what basic labs and imaging can detect. Are there underlying emotional issues or high levels of stress that are impacting your life and contributing to your current health state? These kinds of things can be harder to assess using conventional methods, but are just as important in your treatment. Investigating all areas of your health, including the physical, biochemical, and emotional levels, allows us to gain a deeper understanding of the root cause of your symptoms. By identifying the cause of your symptoms, we can create an individual treatment plan that will heal what’s truly causing your issues.

4) Do no harm. The least invasive, and most effective approach is always first line in naturopathic medicine. Our goal is to do the least amount of harm to your body. This involves avoiding unnecessary surgeries and pharmaceuticals with side effects, and providing other ways for you, including nutrition and supplements, in addition to physical medicine and lifestyle modifications, to help heal your body naturally. There are certain conditions and ailments that surgery and pharmaceuticals are the best option for and when those arise, that is what is prescribed without hesitation.

5) Doctor as Teacher. Doctors have extensive education so that they can efficiently figure out what is going on with their patients and treat them accordingly. Wouldn’t it be nice if your doctor could impart some of that knowledge on you so that you can help treat yourself and keep yourself healthy without waiting to get sick and then going in for help? With naturopathic medicine, that’s exactly what we do. Naturopathic doctors often spend 30-60 minutes with each patient at a single visit which not only allows them to get to know their patients and gain a better understanding of what is really going on in their lives and their health, but provides them with time to teach their patients how to improve their own health.

6) The healing power of nature. Our bodies have an innate ability to heal. Naturopathic medicine helps support your body’s ability to heal by creating better working conditions for your body. If your body is under constant stress from lifestyle, diet, or generally not being taken care of, then it can’t work the way it is supposed to. A Naturopathic Physician can help create a plan for your body’s specific needs to create more ideal conditions for healing. With lifestyle modifications to nutrition and physical intervention, your body can help heal itself.

The ability to figure out the underlying cause of your current ailments is the key to your health. By addressing the different levels of your health including the physical, the emotional, and the structural, we gain a deeper understanding of what is going on and what is contributing to your health (and what isn’t). Make your appointment with Dr. Sahni to get your individualized health plan and start feeling better so you can live your best and healthiest life.