Beginning of the Journey with Naturopathic Medicine

I am no stranger to alternative approaches to medicine. If you have not seen my video on my experience with exploring Functional Medicine, you can watch it here.

For a quick recap for the new readers and those who are just joining the Sunnah Living journey, let me get you up-to-date on my health situation in as little words as possible before we continue. If you are looking for more detailed information, you will find numerous posts where I discuss my experience with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis diagnosis that I received two years ago. I started the treatment protocol with an herbalist which worked exceptionally well until it did not, continued with Functional Medicine and is now onto Naturopathic medicine.

What about Functional Medicine?

I think it is important to detail why I slowed down on the Functional Medicine approach. Just about a year ago now, I packed up a weekend bag and headed three hours away towards the city of Scottsdale, right outside of Phoenix, to have my first appointment with a Functional Medicine Practitioner (FMP). Although it worked very well, the expense of it begin to weight heavily on our wallet as a family. Each appointment, whether in person or on the phone, was very expensive in addition to the vitamins that had to be purchased. I did feel very well, however, and saw marked improvements in the way things were going in my body.

There was something missing, still. My body was not what it had been when I was working with the herbalist alone – I had been normal. If I had not crashed like I did, I would have happily continued. My energy was optimal, I had applied for a very physically demanding job and even passed all of the physically intensive interview processes. I remember going to my herbalist and sharing how I wish there could be a combination of FMP and her approach. She, once again, directed me towards a naturopath in Surprise, AZ, which is right on the outskirts of Phoenix. I looked at our finances, pocketed her advice, and continued with the FMP remnant, Synthroid medication, herbalist medication, and herbal infusions on my own. Still, I was nowhere near the normal that I had reached before.

Then, we moved to the city of Buckeye. Everything changed. Apart from the expected change of a new home and a new place, the biggest change was that we were right next to the big city of Phoenix. And about 20 minutes away from the city of Surprise, AZ, where the same naturopathic office resides. After going through the daily struggle of my post-moving-stressed body and feeling defeated, I decided to do something different and make an appointment with the naturopath after being continuously disappointment with the western medicine model over and over again.

The Appointment

There I was, sitting in the office which looked surprisingly like any physician’s office would with the jars of cotton, the reclining bed, and the scent of a just sanitized place. It looked too normal. I held back my expectations as two years of battling Hashimoto’s has taught me and begin listing out my health journey in the first hour and a half introductory appointment with Dr. Takaki. Alternative medicine always looks at a person’s history with physical and emotional health – what are the pervasive issues, how did the diagnosis came about (if there was one), what were the issues surrounding it, how did it all start, how has it continued, and where in life are you in now. Stress being the main factor in thyroid dysfunction, she asked me everything related to that. My current dip within my illness has appeared through and after the move, which is not a surprise as it was an unbelievably stressful situation for me. I label it as traumatic and feel confident in that it is the right label for it.

My doctor listened to everything in stages and divided my health concerns into different categories. First being the thyroid condition, the other underlying mood issues, which I have struggled with for years, and then the menstrual issues. In her opinion, and in mine, all of it is always interconnected. In our appointment together, I heard something for the first time: It is nowhere indicated through my blood test that I absolutely have Hashimoto’s. Undoubtedly I have an underactive thyroid, but there is no indication through bloodwork alone that I have the autoimmune factor of Hashimoto’s. She explained that this is normal for the physicians to not test for those specific indicators because it does not effect their default treatment method. She, on the other hand, would like to know more to see exactly what my thyroid was doing with the hormones. Unfortunately, I can only remember Thyroglobulin test that she ordered while the other one’s name escapes me. She could not find those tests anywhere in my medical history that I had requested before moving here and brought with me to this appointment.

The very same day, I took the newly requested blood tests which were thankfully covered by my insurance.

What to Expect

According to what we discussed during the appointment, Dr. Takaki is now waiting for my blood results which will give her the details that she is looking for. She informed me that Synthroid is the hormone T4 and I may need to add in T3 as well. She recommended me to switch over to Armor Thyroid which addresses both of those and told me in advance that it is a bovine derived medicine. Thank you, hijab. I explained to her that if it is necessary for medicine, both alcohol and animal derived products are okay. If there are alternatives, however, then I will be choosing those. She explained how she can make the medicine herself with T4 and T3 and add them into the compounds that she was planning to make for me anyway. I opted for this option. Now that I think about it, I will have to see how much it adds to the price of the medication since armor thyroid will be covered with insurance while her medicine is not.

She was going to look at my adrenals and support those with herbal medicine, see if the Hashimoto’s diagnosis is correct with the bloodwork then support the immune system, address the gut, and focus on nourishing and supporting the thyroid. After that is stabilized and if the mood issues are not resolved, then she will come in and support the depression and anxiety. Then, if my current menstruation issues do not resolve themselves naturally as she suspects that they came as the result of the stressful move, then she will address those. The first thing she wants to address is the thyroid.

I actually got to tour the facility where she took me to the back end where all of the herbal medication was stored. It seems that I will be getting capsules to begin with, but I am not sure about that. She may include glycerites and tinctures in there as she feels needed. Additionally, I am to resume taking the Digestive Enzymes, Omega 3’s, Vitamin D3, and Iron. She is going to add amino acids (L-Glutamine +) into the compounds.

Final Thoughts on this Beginning

I often return to the moment where I spoke with my herbalist in Yuma and wondered aloud if there was a possibility to combine the FMP approach and her herbalist one. After leaving the appointment, I felt that this was it. This Naturopathic Doctor was combining both of them guided with bloodwork and how my body is right now. I love that she can order blood tests herself and I can take it to where my insurance is accepted. I also love that the medicine is made right at their practice and can be tweaked around as needed. Also, I love that she said that I should be able to get back to my fasting in Ramadan sometime in the near future. Further, I am glad that her fees are not as exorbitant as the FMP’s were.

Alhumdulillah.

I went into the appointment with low expectations, with a body that was beat down and barely able to walk. My periods had just started that day and I was experiencing cramps and weakness that I had not experienced in a long, long time – moving stress. yay. Needless to say, my morale was low and I was not expecting any miracles. As I left, I felt better but not high due to being given false sense of hope. I felt that I was heard and that my concerns are going to be dealt with from all different angles through an approach that can be traced back to centuries. I personally believe in herbal medicine – why wouldn’t anyone really, but I digress – and know herbs can be powerful if used by trained hands. While the FMP was giving my body tools to heal itself, it was not giving me anything to help that healing along. I know herbal medicine provides that – it has healed my cold, infections, acidity, to name a few – and that is proof enough.

Through it all, the only thing that is an undoubted truth is that healing comes only from Allah (swt), He is the One Who Heals. I am hoping and positive that this Naturopath is where healing is waiting for me, insha’Allah.