Treatment Grounded in Personalized Holistic Healing

I looked for a naturopathic doctor near me (NY) to get to the bottom of my GI issues (the usual nasty GI symptoms which I won't go into detail about, but for anyone who's had them, you know what I mean), which were also causing some serious secondary issues--namely food sensitivities (swollen face, itchy skin rashes, ugh). I I know a lot about conventional doctors because I've often seen elderly family members go to doctors & hospitals who prescribe too many prescription drugs. From their experiences, I learned a lot about the limitations and downside of conventional medicine.That's why I did not want to go to a conventional doctor because they know next to nothing about nutrition (they only receive 4 hours of training in nutrition during their entire medical education), and they usually know nothing at all about natural healing (because they've been programed to push pharmaceuticals). When I found Dr. Patel (the GI specialist in Dr. Maura's practice), right away in our first consultation (1 full hour), I had a good impression. Dr. Patel is eloquent and has an easygoing manner. He explained everything to me clearly and succinctly, answered all of my MANY questions, and then told me how to proceed. His office staff (Shellie) is delightfully easy to reach by phone. She is refreshingly efficient and has always responded to my calls and emails immediately and always to my complete satisfaction. Awesome! She gets 5 stars from me, too! So she sent me the kits for the 2 tests he prescribed (the poop test and saliva test, both which I could do from home), as well as all the materials I needed to send the tests to the various labs (packaging & mailing labels, which made it really easy for me). She also sent me the requisition for the blood test--for that I had to find and go to a lab--Dr. Patel recommended 3, and I used the one that was the least expensive). After he got the test results (after about 1 week), we had another consultation (1/2 hour) in which he identified and described the problems I had--I won't go into detail except to say that one of the issues was microbial parasites (yikes!), which I've since learned is quite common, maybe 50% of Americans have them, without knowing it--you can get them from contaminated food or water, so if you eat out a lot (like I used to) and you've got GI issues, you've probably got parasites! If you have any GI issues (such as frequent loose bowels), the FIRST thing you should do is to check for parasites. Conventional doctors rarely test for parasites. Go figure. I followed Dr. Patel's advice STRICTLY and felt much better within one week (i.e., no more GI distress). After one month, I felt completely cured, and after 3 months I felt great! Everyone tells me I look great, too! I keep getting compliments. His program is easy: he prescribed several natural supplements and a diet plan--that's all. Painless and without pharmaceuticals (prescription drugs always have nasty side effects, which is why I don't want to use them). Plus, from the test results (he's an experienced "lab guy" and interpreted those lab reports like Derek Jeter played shortstop--For those of you who don't know baseball, that means he's not just good, he's great at it), he identified OTHER potential health issues which up until then I had NO idea about (thyroid & blood sugar levels, yikes!), which I feel I've nipped in the bud, thanks to Dr. Patel! Another plus: Consultations were always very conveniently held via Zoom and on time--I absolutely despise having to waste my time in conventional doctors' waiting rooms--they never see you at at the scheduled time, but only when they're ready to see you. The only downside about any naturopathic doctor is that your health insurance provider may not pay for all or perhaps any of it. My advice: If you have the money, IT'S WORTH IT. You'll only have to do the program once. You heal, and you also learn about how to stay healthy. That is invaluable.