General Patient Information

We look forward to providing you thoughtful and effective holistic medical care. This introduction is designed to give you the patient, a clear understanding of what to expect in your experience here.

Dr. Harris, as a naturopathic physician and Chinese medicine practitioner is trained to treat most health problems. All treatments are based on holistic principles of healing and or Chinese medicine pattern differentiation. Referrals to other heath care providers are pursued when necessary and appropriate. We like to encourage patients to consider proactive, preventative health care.

Along with taking a detailed history of your case, we use other methods of information gathering to assess the factors influencing your current state of health. These include laboratory testing, physical examination, and muscle response testing. The combination of these things is helpful in developing an understanding what factors contribute to imbalance in your individual circumstances.

Recommendations are specifically designed to address not only your current symptoms, but the underlying patterns that are causing the symptoms to develop in the first place. This is a very different approach to health care in that we are taking fundamental steps to improve your overall health and physiology. The strategies we're implementing are designed to support and stimulate your body's inherent ability to heal itself. These methods take a little longer than superficially treating your signs and symptoms. Signs and symptoms are actually alarms that the body uses to alert us that some type of imbalance or dysregulation exists. When you consider a medical treatment whose sole purpose is to silence these alarms without attempting to address the underlying problems that contribute to them, you begin to question the long term safety and usefulness of this type of an approach.

Sometimes the lifestyle recommendations come as a challenge to new patients. This is not uncommon. I stress these changes for patients in circumstances where there are certain dietary and lifestyle habits that simply don't support good health and are often obstacles to cure. Please realize that this may be challenging for you, especially at first. Be patient, and don't be critical of yourself if you goof up! This is very important for you to remember. Just simply do the best you can. If you continue to struggle staying on the course, please talk to me about it. I may have some helpful suggestions.

There are no quick fixes, but these methods do work if given time. They are intended to provide lasting and meaningful relief of symptoms while improving your overall health and well being.

The First Visit:
This is dedicated to information gathering and developing an initial treatment plan.

The 1 month follow-up visit (30-45 minutes):
I discuss with you a Review of Findings that helps you to understand your case from these perspectives:

1. An assessment of the underlying patterns or imbalances that contribute to the symptoms
2. Principle of Treatment: the therapeutic strategies aimed at reconciling these imbalances

You will receive a copy of this for your own health records, and to refer back to when you have questions about the course of your care.

These visits involve a review your progress, modifying the treatment plan as necessary based on what you are reporting and results of testing. Follow-up consultations follow a similar agenda and appointment time.

Treatment Modules

These were created so that patients can develop a greater understanding and awareness of the most common functional disturbances in illness, as well as typical therapeutic strategies needed to correct their individual health problems. More detailed information about each module will be given to your Review of Findings, or discussion in your consultation as they pertain to your specific challenges. These modules are intended to be applied to any illness because it is because of dysregulation represented by each module that disease or dysfunction develops in the first place. The emphasis on any particular group of modules is of course based on your particular pattern. Any therapy I suggest can be applied to one or more of these modules. If you have a question about how a particular recommendation fits into your overall treatment plan (in other words “What is this stuff for again?” or “Why have you asked me to do this?”) I can simply tell you what module(s) that therapy functions in. You can get some understanding of how the modules are involved in the illness process by seeing the “Progression of Toxicity” (link) hand-out.

Fundamentals of Treating Chronic Illness: The Gastrointestinal System

The health of the gastrointestinal system is a primary initial focus in my practice in treating anyone with chronic health complaints. Imbalances in gut function can lead to many disturbances in normal physiological function in numerous systems in the body. These disturbances are so vast that few people in our modern society are free from the effects of some degree of gastrointestinal imbalance. Aside from obvious digestive symptoms such as gas, bloating, diarrhea or constipation, there are many other symptoms and conditions that are now thought to be influenced by gut health. The lining of the intestines comprises a key barrier that divides the inside of the body from the outside of the body. When this barrier is compromised through localized irritation, it loses its ability to be selective in what it allows to pass through it. We have very few pain receptors here so we don’t sense this irritation. A poor functioning intestinal barrier can allow for the passage into the body of larger food molecules and other by-products of enzyme and microbial metabolism that it shouldn’t. The body is then presented with substances it has never seen before that it must metabolize, mount an immune response to, or deal with the effects from through the binding at cell receptor sites. The influx of these foreign substances puts added stress on detoxification systems and the immune system. Systemic symptoms can manifest as joint or muscle pain, chronic rashes, insomnia, headaches, sinusitis, prostititis, chemical sensitivities, allergies, fatigue, neurological symptoms such as depression or “brain fog”, and many others. Delicate hormonal balances can be influenced as well. Breakdown in the barrier can often prevent necessary nutrients from absorption, setting the stage for potential nutritional deficiencies.

There are several things that can contribute to the low-level inflammation of the gut wall lining:

1. Intake of foods that are not efficiently and completely digested
2. Increased transit time (longer periods of time between when a food is eaten and when it is eliminated through the stool).
3. Insufficient fiber in the diet.
4. Regular use of non-steroidal or cortisone based anti-inflammatories.
5. Higher levels of stress and its related hormones which have a negative influence on a “first defense” component of the immune system in the gut as well as dampening important nervous system input.
6. Dysbiosis: an imbalance of the normal flora (microorganisms) of the gut. This might be bacterial overgrowth, yeast/fungal overgrowth, parasites, or a deficiency of “friendly bacteria”. Dysbiosis can result from any of the things listed above (#1-5)

Treatment measures are initially directed toward food desensitization, correction of dysbiosis and nutritional deficiencies, and dietary adjustments that promote gastrointestinal integrity.

If you are educated about this process you are much more likely to comply and succeed in achieving vital health. I encourage you to get involved and participate in this process as much as your energy and time allows. You are the ultimate decision maker about your health care. Your progress on your path to vibrant health is of course, ultimately up to you.