Dr. Christina Carew is a functional medical investigator who approaches health with an out-of-the-box problem solving attitude. Her patients love that she breaks what seems like complicated mumbo-jumbo into humorous stories, and digestible information nuggets. She witnesses that empowering patients to better understand their own health leads to better outcomes and healthier lives. Christina became a naturopathic doctor after experiencing her own complex heath journey. Her passion is to make health “easy to understand” for everyone. She is a forever learner, especially around the role our environment on health, how our gut really is the center of many health concerns and how our mental wellness affects our daily living.
I want to share my naturopathic medicine story with you, because I want you to understand that I am human too. I’ve made mistakes, fallen down, gotten hurt, and most certainly make bad food choices. I don’t know everything there is to know about medicine, but I will work very hard to explore your path with you. Each day an opportunity to learn from my patients, grow and create change in our world together.
My path to exploring naturopathic medicine came as a last ditch effort to save my own health.
I’ll admit I started out on the journey to a new career because I was tired. Really tired. A patch of the hair on my right side had fallen completely out receding my hairline. Acne lined the ridge of my jaw and was ever present, despite never experiencing it during teenage years. I couldn’t lose weight. In fact exercise actually resulted in me gaining weight with no changes to food intake. I was always starving and there wasn’t enough sleep in the world to get me feeling recharged. My menstrual cycle at times lasted 2 hours.
Naturpathic Medicine
One year prior to total breakdown.
I saw several health professionals, had tests run on my blood and urine as well as kept temperature charts. It seemed regardless of their specialty or approach it was generally concluded that I looked good on paper. Looking good on paper sucked. No one wanted to help you because they had no idea where to start. I knew that the struggles I faced to move forward each day were beginning to seem insurmountable. This wasn’t someone who was just tired.
Persistence Was the Key to Success
It was my fourth naturopathic medicine doctor who cracked the code. While she didn’t get me back to 100% on the first go, she did however get me back on the upswing. But before that happened I crashed, hard. My husband recounts it as the sleepy year. The crash came just after moving in with him in a new province, new house and at the time he was a new boyfriend. I was awake between the hours of 8am – 5pm, and that was about it. He tells stories at our dinner parties of times when 5:05pm hit and I would be asleep in my dinner as though I was a watch that someone forgot to wind up.
The climb back to health was slow, and it took almost three years before I started to feel really good again. It took baby steps, multiple approaches and time. The underlying tale connecting my treatments together was that I needed to prioritize myself. Through a combination of supportive nutrients, diet and sleep (a lot of sleep), I became a whole person again.
My Journey Brought Me to You
Today, I am now ready to help people in the same way someone helped me. I learned from my own journey that the time to listen to the patient in front of you was the most critical thing in cracking the code. That from that journey you could develop a plan that would work for them, something that was specific to what they needed. I had someone that gave me hope that there could be brighter days ahead that she would be by my side to find them.
So, what was my diagnosis? I’m not sure it was a single condition, or even one that we would be able to put into a tiny therapeutic box. I ran a lot of tests on every fluid that could come from my body. Some of them identified areas of concern – low adrenals, high stores of lead and mercury in the body, a body that lacked regular exercise (not simply weekend warrior stuff), a diet high in whatever someone else made, a lack of feeling loved by the people around me, a stressful job, and even the lack of love for myself.
Was it the combined recipe that had me headed for disaster, or was it simply one culprit that was bringing the others along for a ride. I don’t know that we will ever know, but I also don’t know that I need to know. Each of the contributors was affecting my health on some level.
Naturopathic Medicine Saved Me…
So, how did things turn around? I tried a lot of things but it was one naturopathic medicine doctor in particular who came along and just said the right things at the right time. There are days still days I don’t feel amazing, but those days are few and far between. I simply consider myself a work in progress.
I know that in coming across this page you have read a lot about your condition, you have tried ample treatments and you have talked to every health professional under the sun.
But yet, something drew you here and for that I am grateful. I can’t promise you a miracle recovery (I wish I could) but I can promise to provide the same listening, support and care that someone gave to me. To provide you with hope, to become an expert in everything about you and to never give up on you, even if there are times that you want to give up on yourself.
I look forward to meeting you, and beginning our journey together.
If you are looking for local services or treatment in the office with your Naturopathic Doctor or hospital from a to inquire if they are accepting patients or you need a referral. Phone number to book an appointment 416 220 3622 ( Dr. Christina Carew) is in good standing with the Canadian Association of Naturopathic Doctors ( Dr. Christina Carew) is in good standing with the American Society of Regenerative Medicine ( Dr. Christina Carew) is in good standing with the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians
The speaker in the video may have no association with may talk about some of the conditions and some of the treatment options shown on the videos. Always talk with your Naturopathic Doctor about the information you learnt from the videos in regards to treatments and procedures the naturopathic Doctor healthcare practitioner could perform and if they would be appropriate for you. Remember good information is the corner stone to understanding your condition or disease.
Please contact ( Dr. Christina Carew, Naturopathic Doctor Toronto, ON ) to enquire if this health care provider is accepting new patients.
One of the most common conditions women experience during their first trimester of their pregnancy is nausea and vomiting and although it is quite normal, it can cause women a lot of stress and fatigue as well as a loss of a lot of nutrients and fluids.
The cause isn’t fully understood. However, it’s mainly due to the increase – the exponential increase of hormones experienced during this time, mainly HCG, estrogen, and progesterone. These hormones have effects on all other cells in the body as well which can cause some of these gastrointestinal symptoms women feel.
Although nausea can be very frustrating and tiring for women, there are a lot of treatment options to help. Simple things like changing your diet and your lifestyle can make a huge impact, like having regular exercise or ensuring that there’s always food in your stomach. Having an empty stomach can actually make the nauseating symptoms much more severe. So keeping a snack in your purse or in your car will help alleviate some of these symptoms.
Dehydration is common in women with increased nausea and vomiting so it’s really important to find ways to replenish fluid in the body. If you’re not able to keep water down or have trouble taking in water, intravenous vitamin therapy is a great alternative.
With this treatment, your naturopathic doctor can also infuse vitamins directly into your blood stream. Vitamins such as B6 and B12 will help decrease the nauseous feeling as well as increase energy throughout your pregnancy. Again, it depends on the patient. And we often will design very specific treatment plans in terms of supplements and dietary change to help with these symptoms. Lab tests, of course, play a big role in diagnosing digestive issues. So, we would look at systemic levels of inflammation. We can also measure hydrogen and methane on the breath to determine if there are any microorganisms contributing to these symptoms. If you’re experiencing digestive issues of any kind and you’d like to learn more about what’s causing these symptoms, see your local naturopathic doctor.
