Naturopathic Medicine

No doctor referral required

Clinic Nutrition and Supplementation:

Nutrition is vital as it provides us with the building blocks for our body. Many nutrients are needed to make sure our biochemical pathways function properly. Conventional medicine uses drugs to affect our body’s natural processes. Nutrition & proper supplementation can be used therapeutically to strengthen and support these same functions.

Dr. Michael offers evidence-based supplement protocols to help improve physiological function, nutritional status and more. Supplementation may include additional vitamins, minerals, adaptogens, botanicals and others to improve function and optimize your health. Supplementation is always individualized depending on presenting symptoms and analysis.

Our clinic utilizes an online dispensary of medical grade supplements which include companies such as Metagenics, NFH, Genestra/Seroyal, Designs for Health, Metagenics, Douglas Labs, Cytomatrix and many more.

Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine:

Acupuncture uses very fine needles to stimulate the energy channels of the body. Oriental herbs can also affect these channels which help to balance and heal the body.

Acupuncture has the ability to help all conditions in the human body because of its affinity for all bodily systems. It restores vital organ function thus allowing the body to heal itself.

Acupuncture can also be combined with electrostimulation. This provides an additional layer of muscle stimulation which leads to decreased hypertonicity, muscle tension and pain.

WHY ACUPUNCTURE?

Acupuncture is a safe and effective therapy that has been used for centuries around the world. Numerous scientific studies have found that it can be used as a primary modality or used in conjunction with other therapies to improve health. Below are common conditions for which acupuncture may be helpful at addressing:

• Digestive system disorders
• Headaches and migraines
• Fertility issues
• Heart conditions
• Chronic pain (back, shoulder, leg etc.)
• Arthritis and inflammatory conditions
• High blood pressure
• Back pain and neck pain
• Anxiety and depression
• Menstrual cramps
• Hormone balance

Lab Testing & Analysis:

Advanced lab analysis on blood can confirm or identify underlying concerns that may have previously gone undetected. Testing and interpretation can prove pivotal in obtaining the right diagnosis and providing the answers that you have been looking for.

Comprehensive lab analysis on blood can help confirm symptoms or identify underlying concerns that may have previously gone undetected. Testing and interpretation can prove pivotal in obtaining the right diagnosis and providing the answers that you have been looking for.

Some of the more common blood tests that are provided by our naturopath at Vivid Health Toronto include:

• Hormone blood tests (LH, FSH, estradiol, testosterone, DHEAs, androstenedione, DHT, progesterone, HCG)
• Liver function tests (ALT, AST, GGT, bilirubin)
• Kidney function tests (urea, creatinine, creatinine clearance)
• Thorough thyroid testing (TSH, free T3, free T4, anti-TPO, anti-thyroglobulin)
• Adrenal function tests (cortisol – am & pm, DHEAs, testosterone)
• Cardiovascular (CK, CK-MB, homocysteine, cholesterol, triglycerides, APO-A1, APO-B)
• Diabetes testing (fasting blood glucose, HbA1c, glucose tolerance test)
• Testing for anemia (iron/ferritin, B12, folic acid)
• Autoimmune (ANA, anti-dsDNA)
• Urine testing for bladder infections

Specialized urine and hair analysis testing is also provided.

• IgG - Food sensitivity testing (FST)
• IBS -SIBO (Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth) breath tests
• Dried urine test for comprehensive hormones (DUTCH)
• Salivary hormone tests
• Digestive/stool analysis tests
• Nutritional assessment tests
• Toxin/heavy metal tests
• Neurotransmitter and neurohormone testing

Food Intolerance, Sensitivity & Allergy Testing:

A “food intolerance” or a “food sensitivity” refers to a delayed immune response, which often makes it very difficult to connect the offending food to a specific symptom! Although careful analysis and using a diet diary can help, it is still often very frustrating to identify causation.

This is the type of situation where blood food intolerance testing can be helpful. Food intolerance testing helps to identify foods that we would not even suspect as a common allergen. For example, papaya is not a common allergen, so no one would think to do a trial elimination of such a nutritious food, but if the test comes back positive to papaya, it has to at least be eliminated for a few months while we heal the leaky or permeable GUT, rebalance the microflora of GUT bacteria, rebalance digestive enzymes, and improve gut motility. The good news is that most patients can often reintroduce some if not all flagged foods once the GUT has healed.

DIGESTIVE INTOLERANCE

This rapid (non-delayed) type of food reaction or a digestive intolerance is a reaction to a specific food that is isolated to the digestive tract. An associated symptom or reaction would be diarrhea or constipation, and is often caused by a deficiency of enzymes required to break down the ingested food. For example, lactose intolerance -which is very common in many populations present this way. Lactose is a sugar in dairy, and most adult humans have low levels of lactase (the enzyme required to break down lactose), and therefore it leads to maldigestion of the dairy, and thus gas, bloating, and sometimes diarrhea.

A different, and more slow, digestive intolerance would be the chronically constipating effect of the protein in dairy (casein). These people are also reacting to the same food group, but manifesting their reaction in a very different way because the mechanism is very different.

HOW DOES FOOD SENSITIVITY CAUSE SYMPTOMS?

When the body’s immune system starts to react to foods, it creates antigen-antibody complexes, these complexes can then circulate in the bloodstream and lodge into tissues. Depending on where the complexes land, food intolerances (or food sensitivities) can manifest in a multitude of ways including:

• Migraines and headaches
• Joint pain
• Weight gain (obesity)
• Hashimoto's thyroiditis (thyroid problems)
• Sjorgen’s and other autoimmune conditions
• Hormone dysregulation
• Inflammatory conditions

Botanical/Herbal Medicine:

Herbal medicine uses specific parts of plants to strengthen, support and nourish the body. Herbs can be used alone or in combination to promote the same pathways that conventional drugs do and therefore may be used to treat disease as well as prevent it.

Botanical (herbal) medicines have been used and evaluated for centuries for the treatment of a plethora of health conditions.

Their effectiveness in treatment of disease has been confirmed by countless scientific studies. Many prescription medications are derived from plants, and in 80% of cases, the use of a plant as a botanical (herbal) medicine is identical to the use of the pharmaceutical derived from that plant. Plants have been confirmed to have various pharmacological actions, including:

• Anti-cancer
• Antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal
• Immune system activity boosting
• Antidepressant
• Anti-anxiety
• Sedative (insomnia)
• Hormonal (increasing or lowering)
• Blood pressure lowering
• Cholesterol lowering
• Blood sugar balance
• Laxative
• Digestion improving
• Liver cleansing
• Wound healing
• Endurance/energy increasing