An ever greater proportion of you are familiar with the term Naturopathic Doctor and are looking for the best N.D. for them.  I have been blessed with several local colleagues and am pleased that the profession has advanced to a point where this page has become necessary.

 

Officially we are all still generalists, but every intelligent patient knows we can’t do everything.  So let me explain my strengths and weaknesses as an N.D. 

 

Difference #1:  I do not sell supplements to you. 

 

The standard N.D. model involves making approximately 40% of your income from supplement sales.  I found during my training that having a bottle of supplements around made it too easy to push that supplement even if it was not the right one for the patient.  I also hate the suddenly doubling price tag for the visit.  I do act as a salesperson for Emerson Ecologics, primarily because they have provided patients with next day service.  I also provide patients with brands, exact prescriptions, and often samples in the office.  Overall, I have found patients happier to be able to choose their supplement supplier themselves.  

 

Difference #2:  I do not use high priced supplements and regimes.  

 

I recently had an argument with the president of a company selling a well-researched miracle drug for diabetes.  The product came from China, but the price for a month’s supply was $300 (my cost).  Since the product was for long term use, I really couldn’t see how I could promote the product with a straight face.  I know his cost has to be somewhere in the one to two dollar range, with the rest going to promotion and profit.  

 

So I am very prone to consider cost as part of my treatment program.  I have seen wonderful supplement regimes that give relief.  Typically patients stay on those regimes for one to two years, discontinuing the supplements over time as cost becomes a factor.  My outlook is to generate permanent change rather than expensive, short-term relief.

 

Difference #3:  I want rapid, dramatic, sustainable change.  

 

For this reason alone, I cannot be classified as a classical homeopath or a traditional Naturopath.  Traditionally, homeopathic remedies or naturopathic treatments take time.  The standard answer is one month for every year the illness has persisted.  But I am very impatient to move on and try other things if a treatment program is showing no difference in a week.  (Ok, maybe two weeks.)  As a homeopath, I think it is fair to say that I’d like to see a difference in about sixty seconds.  (Yes, I just saw all the classical homeopaths cringe.)  Since I want rapid change, I will load patients down with multiple treatment strategies at a single visit.   Typically a patient gets two to four different treatment options rather than just one.  

 

Difference #4:  I bury you with evidence–based information.  (BIG DIFFERENCE)

 

I consider this both an asset and a flaw.  I need to feel that I’ve exhausted a subject to speak on it.  When I was in medical school it became a joke that Maloney had something to add to the discussion from some medical journal that contradicted the teacher.  I no longer do a lot of the things I was taught because I cannot find any evidence that they work (from patients or the literature).   I do a number of things that I was not taught because they do work.  When you work with me, we are engaging in constant experimentation using the medical literature as a guide and your body as the judge.  I change constantly and patients who have seen me even a year before are amazed at how much different the treatments are now than they were.  I also do not stop and continue to work on different patients’ cases even when I haven’t seen them in a while because some aspect of their case intrigues me.  I refer you to the discussion on weight-loss for a sense of how much I research. 

 

Difference #5:  Spirituality without mysticism. 

 

Some of my patients come to me for what I would term more spiritual rather than physical complaints.  I do not see my role as directing patients toward any spiritual or religious ideas, but rather toward insight into their own ideas.  Once we have insight, I remind them that insight without action is the booby prize.  I am looking for rapid, profound change (do we sense a theme?) that provides patients with a happier, more fulfilling life as they define it.  Remarkably, this tends to occur with a rapidity that startles me and I give those patients full credit.  

 

Difference #6:  No shots.  No needles. 

 

Patients who ask me know that I have a phobia of needles.  I did do blood draws and get blood drawn for two years.  And yes, I passed out regularly, thank you.  The last time I passed out was as I was taking a blood draw to the centrifuge.  At that point I decided that it would be a very bad idea for me to do either shots or blood draws in the office.  For obvious reasons, I also don’t do I.V. (which isn’t allowed in Maine anyway).

 

In Maine, I recommend Affiliated for all blood draws but locally I use Maine General’s labs.  Parents looking for thimersol free vaccinations I refer elsewhere.

 

Difference #7:  You keep your clothes on. 

 

I do a good deal of bodywork, but all through clothing.  I decided early on that as a man in a world where many women have had problems with men that I wanted to relate to my patients in their clothed state (as close to equal as possible).  Patients with dermatological problems wear loose clothing and I honestly have never had a problem seeing what I needed to in diagnosing.  

 

Difference #8:  I do a wide variety of bodywork. 

 

My smartest patients are the ones who figured out that they can say their back is sore or a rib is out and get me talking while I’m working on them.  I can either monologue (see difference #4) with you in a chair or you on the table.  What I do would be classified as graded mobilization with a lot of patient involvement.  Some patients come exclusively for that, and I have been effective when both D.C.s and osteopaths have not.  

 

Difference #9:  I don’t see you all the time.  

 

At the end of our visit, you will hear the words:  “When do you want to see me again?”  The core of what I do is in giving back to you your power to make health choices.  If pressed, I will tell you what I would do and when I’d like to see you, but I have treated patients successfully in one treatment plan.  (I also have a few that I need to keep seeing regularly).  You decide how often you want to see me. 

 

Difference #10:  I want to see all your family in the office.  

 

I typically give family members a discounted first visit because so often children and partners are integral to my initial patient’s health.  I have seen as many as five patients at the same time, but I prefer to focus on one or two individuals.  I have had four care givers and one child come in, because they all had input into the child’s case.  I have also asked that family members take a walk around the block when patients have seemed uncomfortable.  

 

Difference #11:  I’m actually better with children than with adults.  

 

I base this on the fact that even after a child trashed my waiting room I still can’t wait to see her again.  I treat children with respect and focus on their compliance with a treatment plan rather than talking over their heads at parents.  

 

Difference #12:  I love strange, odd, and peculiar diseases (not just as a homeopath!)

 

Patients typically come with a diagnosis and we discuss the diagnosis.  About the time we need to finish up they tell me a couple of odd symptoms that no one has been able to explain.  Usually I can give a possible connection to their original diagnosis and we can follow up to deal with those as well as the original complaint.  

 

Difference #13:  I am harder to reach (but when you do it’s actually me).

 

When you call me you will get a voicemail.  Typically I return telephone calls by the next day, but emails get sidelined (occasionally for weeks if I’m coming back from my once a year vacation).  

 

Some N.D.s work on pagers and/or have office staff to answer the telephone.  I have found that when I had someone answering the telephone patients were not getting clear answers to their questions.  Since I have an inner control freak I wanted to micromanage even the replies, which meant twice the work and twice the grumpiness.  

 

In a crisis, I truly wouldn’t want an office receptionist fielding your life or death decisions.  I am getting better at discussing any possible crisis and treatment options in the office so that patients are prepared.  But if you have a true emergency, it is better to call 911.  

 

Difference #14:  I have a home life while I practice my calling.   

 

This is both an asset and a flaw.  Patients who want to spend hours on the telephone with me will find that I cannot.  Patients who need me to be available at 3 a.m. for a telephone consult would be better served to work with someone else (I have several names if you’d like them).  

 

I work from an addition on my home, not because I haven’t been offered glass and steel office space, but because one of my goals is that my children would not need to spend a sick day huddled in a corner of a glass and steel office.  I also looked ahead and realized that I didn’t want my children growing up as latch-key children because I was always at work.  

 

What I have seen is that many holistic practitioners lead unsustainable, frantic lives.  I plan to be practicing until I drop at 120+.  But I can only do that by being at least half as good to myself as I ask you to be for yourselves.  

 

Difference #15:  I tell you everything.

 

The practice of alternative medicine is as fraught with patriarchal garbage as standard medicine.  Everything is on the table.  Have a look at my rants page and the discussion of quackery (Better just call me, I pulled the rants page because I decided I don't need it online).  I deal with anything you want to bring me.  I’ll tell you when someone screwed up, I’ll apologize if I screw up (and make sure it never happens again).  We discuss all the options, and I give you my best guess as to what I’d do in your situation.  

 

For patients who want a presentation of all-knowing confidence, I’m not the right choice.  But for anyone who has been burned by an all-knowing confidence man, I’m the perfect choice because I provide you with the ability to decide for yourself, to become your own doctor.  I filter the information, explain the options, and back up my ideas with the best facts available.  Ultimately, it is what will work for you. 

 

I look forward to working with you!