Naturopathic Treatments & Therapies
Individualized Treatment for Your Health Needs
At Rivercreek Wellness, treatment is individualized to the person rather than based solely on a diagnosis. Your health history, symptoms, laboratory findings, environmental exposures, medications, lifestyle, and personal health goals are considered when developing your treatment plan.
As a licensed naturopathic doctor, Dr. Julie George uses both naturopathic and conventional approaches when appropriate. Treatment may include therapeutic nutrition, nutritional supplements, botanical medicine, lifestyle changes, environmental medicine, prescription medications, and laboratory testing.
Not every patient needs every therapy. Recommendations are based on your individual case and may change as your health improves or new information becomes available.
Therapeutic Nutrition
Nutrition is a cornerstone of naturopathic medicine and can play an important role in digestive health, energy, immune function, metabolic health, inflammation, hormone balance, and overall well-being.
Rather than recommending the same diet to every patient, nutritional recommendations are tailored to your health concerns, laboratory findings, food tolerances, lifestyle, and individual needs.
When appropriate, nutritional therapy may include identifying dietary patterns that could be contributing to symptoms, correcting nutritional deficiencies, modifying foods for specific health conditions, and developing realistic strategies that can be maintained long term.
Nutritional Supplements
Vitamins, minerals, amino acids, fatty acids, antioxidants, herbs, and other nutritional supplements may be incorporated into a treatment plan when appropriate.
Supplement recommendations are selected based on your health history, laboratory findings, medications, existing supplements, and treatment goals. Care is taken to avoid unnecessary supplementation and to consider potential medication and supplement interactions.
Rivercreek Wellness recommends professional-quality nutritional products and provides convenient online ordering for patients.
Botanical Medicine
Botanical medicine uses plants and plant-derived compounds therapeutically. Herbs may be used alone or alongside nutritional therapies, lifestyle changes, supplements, and conventional medical treatments.
Botanical therapies may be considered for digestive, immune, hormonal, metabolic, neurological, inflammatory, and other health concerns.
Because herbs can have significant physiological effects and may interact with medications, botanical recommendations are individualized and monitored as part of your overall treatment plan.
Environmental Medicine & Detoxification Support
Environmental medicine examines how exposures in our homes, workplaces, food, water, and surrounding environment may influence health.
For patients with suspected environmental illness, evaluation begins with a detailed health and exposure history. When appropriate, laboratory testing may be used to investigate environmental factors such as mold and mycotoxins, heavy metals, chemicals, or other toxicants.
Treatment depends on the individual and may include identifying and reducing ongoing exposures, correcting nutritional deficiencies, supporting the body's normal elimination pathways, addressing inflammation and oxidative stress, and treating health problems associated with environmental exposures.
More advanced detoxification therapies are recommended only when clinically appropriate and after the patient's overall health, exposure history, laboratory findings, and ability to tolerate treatment have been evaluated.
Heavy Metal Evaluation & Chelation Therapy
Heavy metals can be evaluated when a patient's symptoms, occupation, lifestyle, environmental history, or previous laboratory findings suggest that testing may be appropriate.
When clinically indicated, treatment for documented heavy metal exposure may include reducing ongoing exposure, nutritional support, and other therapies designed to assist with elimination.
Chelation therapy may be considered in selected cases after appropriate evaluation and testing. Treatment recommendations take into consideration the specific metal involved, degree of exposure, kidney function, nutritional status, medications, and overall health.
Rivercreek Wellness currently offers oral chelation approaches when medically appropriate.
Prescription Medications
Naturopathic medicine does not necessarily mean avoiding conventional medical treatment.
Prescription medications may be recommended when they are medically appropriate and within the scope of care. In some cases, the most effective treatment plan combines prescription medication with nutrition, supplements, botanical medicine, lifestyle changes, or other naturopathic therapies.
The goal is not to choose between "natural" and conventional medicine, but to determine which approaches are most appropriate for the individual patient.
Advanced Laboratory Testing
Laboratory testing can provide valuable information when symptoms are persistent, complex, or have not been fully explained through routine evaluation.
Testing is selected based on your individual health history, symptoms, previous laboratory findings, environmental exposures, and clinical needs.
Depending on the case, testing may include:
Comprehensive blood testing
Thyroid and hormone evaluation
Nutrient testing
Gastrointestinal and digestive testing
Organic acids and metabolic testing
Environmental toxin and heavy metal testing
Mold and mycotoxin-related testing
Immune and inflammatory markers
Food-related testing when appropriate
Lyme disease and other infectious disease testing
Cardiometabolic testing
Other specialized laboratory testing when clinically indicated
Specialty laboratory testing is not automatically ordered for every patient. Testing is recommended when the results are likely to provide useful information that can influence evaluation or treatment.
Lifestyle Medicine
Health is influenced by much more than laboratory values. Sleep, stress, movement, hydration, daily routines, work environment, relationships, and environmental exposures can all affect how a person feels and functions.
Lifestyle recommendations are incorporated into treatment when appropriate and are designed to be realistic for the patient's health, responsibilities, and current level of function.
For patients with significant fatigue or chronic illness, treatment may begin with small, manageable changes rather than an extensive lifestyle program.
A Personalized Treatment Approach
Many patients who come to Rivercreek Wellness have already tried multiple treatments, supplements, diets, or medications without fully understanding why they continue to feel unwell.
The goal is not to simply add more treatments.
The goal is to better understand your health, identify areas that may need attention, determine which therapies are appropriate, and develop a treatment plan that is manageable and specific to you.
Rivercreek Wellness provides limited in-person naturopathic medical care in Spokane Valley, Washington, along with telemedicine care for eligible patients.
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