Have you ever felt limited by traditional medicine? Perhaps you seek a more holistic approach to health, one that addresses the root cause of your concerns. Naturopathic medicine offers a unique blend of natural therapies and scientific principles.
In this article, Mystic Mag interviewed Dennis Godby, a Naturopathic Doctor. We explored what Naturopathic medicine offers, how it differs from conventional medicine, and the exciting range of services available to help you achieve true wellness. Let’s discover a path to health that empowers you to thrive!
When did you first know that being a Naturopathic Doctor was your calling and how did it come about?
I have been interested in living preventively since high school. I studied exercise physiology in college at Oregon State University, then ran solo from Corvallis to Calgary, Canada, to promote exercise and healthy nutrition. It wasn’t until I was a social justice religious studies teacher at a Catholic high school in Portland, Oregon, 1996 or so that I first heard of Naturopathic Medicine. After thinking about attending the oldest Naturopathic school for several years, I finally made the leap, with the encouragement of my wife to pursue a career as a Naturopathic Doctor.
What services do you offer?
We offer Consultations, Lifestyle change, Detoxification, Extensive blood testing with software report, food sensitivity testing, hundreds of functional medicine labs, Bio-Identical Hormones, Hyperbaric Oxygen, Intravenous (IV) nutritional therapies, chiropractic, physical medicine, PRP, Prolotherapy, ozone, nutrition, exercise, botanical medicine.
What are the differences and similarities between Naturopathic Medicine and conventional medicine?
Naturopathic and conventional training are identical in the sense that ND schools, for their students to be eligible for licensure, must take the exact same classes as MD. ND students take about 25 more classes than MDs because they have to know the natural medicine: homeopathy, clinical nutrition, exercise therapeutics, Chinese Medicine, Botanical medicine, physical medicine. NDs treat mostly with natural medicine after finding the cause, rather than merely treating the symptoms. In some states where NDs can prescribe pharmaceutical drugs, some NDs will also prescribe pharmaceuticals. NDs know that lifestyle is extremely important in why people are dis-eased or healthy, including exercise, nutrition, stress reduction, sleep, etc.
Do you also treat psychological problems, or do you solely focus on the physical body?
We treat the whole person. We treat anxiety, depression, OCD, Autism, ADHD, etc. We first seek to find any physical causes of psych problems, such as low vitamin D, thyroid imbalance, omega 3 deficiency, MTHFR mutation for folic acid, neurotransmitter imbalances, adrenal cortisol problems, hormone imbalances, etc.
What do you love most about your profession?
I love that we help patients to thrive, we can help to slow the aging process, we seek to find and treat the cause of dis-ease, we treat with natural medicine with rare side effects, we have to be medical detectives. I love my sister and brother NDs who are willing to be part of the minority that leads the majority to true health, not just minus a disease.
