Our Naturopathic Doctor can provide a personalized approach to the treatment and prevention of disease.

What Do Naturopathic Doctors Treat?

Naturopathic Doctors treat anything you would see your family physician for.

What is the Difference Between a Naturopathic Doctor and a Family Physician?

A Family physician is trained to efficiently address your health condition. This is typically done by prescribing pharmaceutical medications, lifestyle modifications or sending you to a specialist if a referral is needed.

A Naturopathic Doctor is trained to address the “root cause” of your symptoms. This is generally a slower, more organic process where the Naturopath analyzes all aspects of your health and looks to see what caused the symptoms in the first place. Focus is not placed on addressing the one specific symptom or one area of the body. A Naturopath looks at how all aspects of your health fit together to discover how your system became unbalanced in the first place. Once the cause for your condition is identified, the Naturopath will use the modalities they are trained in to address your individual biological systems and bring them back into balance.

If you have gone to your physician and different specialists and you are not finding the relief you were hoping for, it may be a great time to see if Naturopathic care is the answer you are looking for.

What Sort of Training Does a Licensed Naturopathic Doctor Have?

A Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine is regulated and licensed by the provincial government. A Licensed Naturopath has completed extensive education, training and certifying examinations in order to be eligible to practice in Ontario. Therefore, a Naturopath has a minimum of 7 years of university study (at least 3 pre-med and 4 at an accredited college such as the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine). Naturopathic Doctors in Ontario are regulated and licensed by The College of Naturopaths of Ontario (CONO) (Tel: 416-583-6010). Doctor Gudrun Welder, ND is a committee chair for CONO and is also a member of the Ontario Association of Naturopathic Doctors (OAND) and the Canadian Association of Naturopathic Doctors (CAND).

What to Expect From a Naturopath?

A Naturopathic Doctor can complete physical exams and send you for blood tests similar to a medical doctor. As well she has been educated in pharmacology and therefore understands how natural medicines can interact with any prescription medications you may be taking. In addition, a Naturopathic Doctor also has completed 4 years of studies in clinical nutrition, nutraceuticals (vitamins and minerals), herbal medicines, homeopathy, Traditional Asian Medicine including acupuncture, lifestyle counseling and physical therapies (exercise, stress reduction etc.).

What to Expect as a Patient of Dr. Gudrun Welder, ND.

Your first appointment is 90 minutes long. Dr. Gudrun, ND will ask you to fill out an intake form ahead of time. It is helpful if you bring in any medications and supplements you may be taking as well as any blood work or diagnostic results from previous medical tests.  You can expect Dr. Gudrun, ND to ask you many in depth questions about different biological systems in your body, your diet, daily schedule and lifestyle. She may also perform a complaint oriented physical exam.  Dr. Gudrun, ND may be able to provide some suggestions at the end of the first visit.

In the second visit Dr. Gudrun, ND will give you a review of her findings and sit down with you to begin a health plan.  When you leave the second visit you will have a plan that lists each item you have agreed to try, why you are implementing it, how you are implementing it and how long to continue.  Follow up visits from here work like stepping stones.  When you successfully complete the agreed upon plan, you will be able to move onto the next step.  Occasionally the plan is more challenging to implement than expected. Dr. Gudrun then reviews the specific challenges the patient is facing. The plan is then re-assessed and modified to fit your lifestyle to provide every opportunity for success.  The main ingredients to feeling better are persistence and patience. If you can be honest about your process, continue to do your best and have patience with your progress, you will almost always see results.   In the beginning, follow up visits will typically be an hour long and a week or two apart and as you progress you will need less time. Follow ups will become half hour long and a month or two apart.

How Long Does it Take to Get Better?

This really depends on you. Some patients only need one visit. Patients who are motivated, organized and relaxed tend to get great results. Occasionally patients are too motivated and organized, they push themselves too hard and their stress or schedule prevents them from being able to implement the agreed upon plans. This results in slower progress, so improvements are less noticeable at the beginning. Slow steady sustainable changes over time tend to have the best results that last a lifetime.

What Modalities/Tools Does Dr. Gudrun, ND Use to Treat Her Patients?

Dr. Gudrun usually starts out with general lifestyle and diet modifications.  If nutrient deficiencies are suspected she will often recommend taking specific vitamins and nutrients at therapeutic doses in order to correct the nutrient deficiency.  Some nutrient levels can be detected in blood work and some are shown through patient history and symptoms.  Dr. Gudrun does not typically prescribe more than one or two nutrients at a visit so that it is easy to see what is helping and whether it is necessary.

Dr. Gudrun has access to many comprehensive testing laboratories, but she does not typically utilize these tests unless progress is slower than expected.  She does use the same blood tests and diagnostics your family physician uses to assess your health (blood work, ultrasound, CT, MRI specialist assessments, etc.).  You can bring in these same tests for her to review or she can order them for you.  When a family physician orders a test, it is typically covered by OHIP, when Dr. Gudrun, ND orders a test, you will have to pay out of pocket which is why she often suggests you order the test with your family physician first.

Sometimes nutrient deficiencies, lifestyle and diet gaps are all that need to be addressed and other times additional help from herbal medicine or acupuncture treatments are recommended.  Dr. Gudrun will sometimes suggest using gentle detoxification/drainage protocols to address difficult to treat chronic conditions.  Most patients start out focusing on nutrients lifestyle and diet modifications for the first 2-6 visits, then when the plan is steady and working well and the patient feels better, patients will “graduate” to coming in for regular monthly or bi-weekly acupuncture or body work appointments where small tweaks are made to the treatment plan.

Every patient is unique, and every patient’s preferences and requests are respected. If you don’t like acupuncture or homeopathy, it is easy for Dr. Gudrun to find a different solution that can help you. If your schedule is so busy, you cannot incorporate any lifestyle changes or regularly take any supplements, then acupuncture or homeopathy may be a great solution for you.

If everyone was identical with a ‘one solution fits all’ approach, then Dr. Gudrun would not love her job.  She delights in the art of finding an individual solution that works for each original person she treats.  Whoever you are and whatever you are dealing with, Dr. Gudrun would love to join you in your search to improve your health.