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How We Help

Diagnostic approach at Mountain-River Naturopathic Clinic

If a check engine light comes on in your vehicle, you don’t just unplug it.  Medications or surgeries that simply treat symptoms not only cause potential side-effects, but also mask the body’s warning signs. This ignores nature’s check engine light.  If you don’t want to be on that treadmill of treating symptoms, we are the kind of doctors who look under the hood and will never tell you it’s all in your head. Instead of dividing your body into individual parts, we look at the whole person, addressing the fundamental causes of disease. That’s why our first visit is a longer conversation, where you have time to relay your whole story and paint a complete picture.  ND's are the original functional medicine doctors and we use testing when appropriate, but will not run a cookie-cutter set of expensive labs only to prescribe based off test results. We physically examine you even when the technology exists to take images. We put it all together: the endocrine, gastrointestinal, immunological, reproductive, neurological, cardiovascular, urinary, and see you through a lens that includes mind-body-spirit.

Comprehensive intake

Naturopathic doctors treat people, not diseases, so we take time to get to know every patient as a unique individual. Patients’ history, symptoms, observations and intuition about their health compose the most important diagnostic information. Our initial consultation is two hours, during which time we dive deep, asking many questions and listening carefully to the answers. We then formulate and take time to explain customized treatment plans to our patients. Follow-up appointments, typically within 2-4 weeks, are scheduled for one hour. 

Physical exam

Physical examination can add important information to the details of a verbal intake. We not only measure blood pressure, heart-rate and oxygen levels, but also look carefully for physical signs of issues such as nutritional and digestive deficiencies, hormonal imbalance, infection, allergies and inflammation.

Well-woman exam & Pap test

Women’s annual exams often elicit nervousness or discomfort, so it’s important for us to help women feel safe and comfortable. Dr. Nearpass is gentle in her approach and takes time to educate women about their anatomy and reproductive health.

Functional & Laboratory testing

We incorporate both conventional testing, including blood work and diagnostic imaging (e.g. ultrasound, CT, breast screening and DEXA scans), with functional testing such as comprehensive hormone testing, food sensitivities, digestive health panels, heavy metal and mycotoxin screening. Standard bloodwork can be billed to insurance or cash-paid through our affordable lab companies. We recommend minimal functional testing, only when it will alter our treatment recommendations, since these unconventional tests are usually an out-of-pocket expense for patients.