Your treatment plan will most likely be broken down into different parts, each of which will require some kind of action on your part. Some examples of lifestyle steps you could be asked to take are: castor oil packs, deep breathing, meditation, exercise, hygiene changes, saunas, warming socks; on and on. Wait until you hear about the one that helped my teeth!! DISCLAIMER: Because each item could be prescribed for different reasons, or even possibly contraindicated for all I know (I'm not a doc!), please work with a naturopath to find out what will support your own health & healing.
You may be asked to take certain vitamin or mineral supplements, herbal or homeopathic remedies, and to make diet changes. All of this can feel a little overwhelming, especially at first. The most important thing you can do is to review the treatment plan when you get it and ask your doctor right away if there are things that don't make sense or are unfamiliar. I also have a few tips as a fellow patient that I wish I'd known from the start...
When you get home, sit down with your treatment plan &
whatever bottles of stuff you have.
Put them in different groups based on what time of day you are supposed
to take them and whether or not you take them with food; you can even
highlight your plan with different colors. Get yourself a pill box - one of those
daily medication organizers found at any drugstore or
grocery store. If you
associate those things with your great-grandma - don't! You will love them. These little containers are awesome when it
comes to following your treatment plan more easily.
I usually end up with two: an AM/PM pack & a separate one I may keep in my purse for things I need to take at lunch. Or sometimes it's the "away from food" box. However I use it, it's always easier than digging through a drawer for bottles, or worse, forgetting something.
Each week when your pills run out and it's time to re-fill, re-read your treatment plan top to bottom to make sure that you're on track. This review also serves to renew the enthusiasm you came home with after your appointment. (Seriously...I do get a little dorky-eager-excited each new month.)
Then go out to a resale shop or Target or whatever; pick
out some kind of container to leave out on the counter. I have a 6 x 9 basket that perfectly matches my kitchen. It's filled with things that I want out all the time: my treatment plan, apple cider vinegar, undas (more on undas in a future post); things I am using daily. They're visible reminders of
things I need to incorporate without fail.
It's hard for me to develop new habits
around some of the treatment plan items.
I still forget my apple cider vinegar if I'm caught up in some house
drama or maybe I'm just beat. I also
sometimes forget my focus, upon which I'm basing decisions for the month. For instance today, I was baking peanut
butter cookies as a gift and decided to eat one for taste-testing (despite my
new found peanut sensitivity). (Do you like how I call it "taste-testing"
instead of cheating or stupidity?)
Anyhow, I forgot that I am also testing to see if a month without peanut
butter will affect my various menstrual cycle symptoms. Uhg!
Now my test isn't perfectly valid & it will be another 28 days
before I can run an experiment sans peanuts. Having a basket on the counter
and/or easy access to the treatment plan helps prevent peanut butter slip
ups. (Usually...)
Lastly, and you will thank me for this one later: START A
LOG!
Working with a naturopath is addicting. Once you start to have success, you are
very likely to get curious about what else you can fix. You might go in for digestive troubles, find
yourself feeling good, and decide to try fixing your fatigue. Then you might end up with all this extra
energy and decide to see if they can help you with the warts you had since you
were a kid. Then, wartless, you might
decide to see if they can correct your chronic tardiness. (OK I'm kidding - that's gonna
be up to you, but I wanted to see if you were paying attention.) You are likely to see an ND long term.
Over time,
symptoms could pop back up, maybe in a different variation or
intensity, but as the months pass and the seasons change, things
could repeat themselves. Your ND will be keeping track in your chart
of course, but keeping a log allows you to stay connected to your
progress. It also helps you to give even more
accurate info to your doc each month as you recognize patterns.
In my log I have a section
where I write free-form notes, and I have a spreadsheet with the days of the month and corresponding
cycle listed in one column along with different conditions in rows. Then I just mark them with some kind of intensity comments
(no change, better, gone). It's not as organized
or pretty as I'd like, but I use it every
month. I enter some kind of info at least weekly, and then
I review it before my next appointment. But please note...
I'm NOT saying you should bring a spreadsheet to each appointment! Doctors don't want to read your diary. A log helps you know yourself & reminds you of the detail so it's fresh in your mind.
I find these little organizational tools make it easier to handle the extra steps in naturopathic care. Each week and month, things get more automatic and natural. Pill boxes, visual reminders, and a log help. Try them or be inspired to create your own tools. Then share what works for you - drop a comment! I'd love to hear how others do it.
