Who takes care of your family? MD or ND?
I'm still not savvy enough to figure out how to link through on these posts, but I recently posted a question about putting tubes in my happy baby's ears. Lots of you responded, thank you! At our first visit with the ENT a month ago, Henrik's ears definitely had fluid in them, and his hearing was down 10-15%...we knew this was not a problem we could ignore just because of his happy demeanor but I felt strongly we were not going to do tubes without trying other avenues first. So in the last month, we have had 3 visits with a chiropractor who specializes in treating babies and mamas (Dr. Amy Watson at Whole Mama, Whole Child) and we've visited with our naturopath friend (Dr. Michelle Sturm at Blue Sky Wellness) who has been checking his ears and giving us lots of other things to try like herbs, probiotics, massage and hydrotherapy to get that fluid moving. We just had our follow up visit with our ENT, and after literally months of fluid filled ears, we were thrilled to learn that Henrik's ears are now totally clear!
As a mama, I have an instinct to FIX things and when my kids are sick or in pain, I want to DO something and I believe that knowledge is power so when I dont have the answers, I go out and I LEARN something. I like our pediatrician, and I feel that she has given us sound advice on how to take care of our boys. When I wanted to take a conservative approach on administering antibiotics to Henrik, she was very supportive but she did not have anything else for us to try beyond the antibiotics and tubes surgery. When I left her office and the ENT's office, I felt pretty helpless--either wait and hope, or do the surgery. On the other hand, I left the naturopath's office with herbs, oils, lotions and some strategy and a much more empowered feeling that maybe we could DO something to give his body a little kick in the pants to heal itself. Not to mention the time that each of these doctors have spent with us...the pediatrician and ENT are pretty much 30 minute, "in-and-out" visits with talk about symptoms and medications. The chiropractor and naturopath on the other hand, both spent an hour+ with us, asking tons of questions about diet, home environment, personality, etc. and I cant help but feel that these doctors are taking a much more comprehensive approach, trying to get at the root of the matter rather than just treating the symptoms. And they bill our insurance a fraction of what our pediatrician does.
I'm convinced that it's the combination of our collective efforts that did the trick, but I'll also acknowledge that it's possible that it was simply a matter of time too. But my experiences with the naturopath and chiropractor have gotten me thinking...is it in my best interest to consult our naturopath prior to our pediatrician the next time we come down with a bug? Should I consider switching to the naturopath as our primary care physician all together? What are the benefits to staying with our pediatrician? Is it cheating if I try to maintain relationships with both?
So I'm curious, mamas...Who takes care of your family? Do you see a pediatrician? Do you see a family practice provider? Do you see a Naturopath? If you see a pediatrician, is he or she proactive about sharing alternative therapies in addition to conventional or pharmaceutical approaches? If you see a naturopath, is there anything they have not been able to help you with? We've chosen to vaccinate our kids, do naturopaths do vaccinations?
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