WOMEN’S HEALTH SERVICES
Dr. Elise Schroeder treats every phase of a woman's health. She has a wholistic approach that not only focuses on the symptoms at hand, but looks at the whole body. Her specialities are perimenopause and menopause, fertility, and menstrual irregularities or imbalances.
WORKING WITH ME
In the first visit, I will spend an hour asking questions, listening to your health concerns, and reviewing your health history. Questions will include what your lifestyle is like, your family history, your personal health history, and about every system in your body.
Then, we will talk about testing. Lab testing can be excellent data to have for rounding out the picture of what is going on in your particular health. I look at labs a little differently than your average health care provider. I am looking to find OPTIMAL levels of hormones, nutrients, and markers in your lab work. The standard reference ranges are typically the average of the population in the area where the lab is located.
A good example of this is TSH, a common thyroid marker. TSH is considered normal from 1 - 5 ( or sometimes 6). We know that fertility (for example) is best when TSH is lower than 2.5.
There is another thing I like to point out about testing. Let’s say your tests come back “normal”. I will never send you away telling you that “everything is fine”. If testing looks to be within optimal range, then we dig deeper into your symptoms, systems, and sometimes functional lab testing to get to the root cause of your issues.
Your treatment plan is created from a broad view of your symptoms, lab testing, and your health goals and is personalized to you. I use nutrition, herbs, prescriptions, vitamins, and minerals in my recommendations and most importantly support you in creating the optimal lifestyle choices for your ongoing health (think optimizing sleep, movement, and stress response).
Typically, people consult with me a minimum of 2 times (first office visit and one follow-up), but on average I see people about 4 times for an individual issue.
VITALIZE WELLNESS METHOD
If you are interested in a more comprehensive approach, you can check out my 6-month in-depth wellness program, Vitalize Wellness Method. In this program, we look at multiple systems within the first month, getting a birdseye view on your overall health. From there I walk you through a 6-month health overhaul.
SPECIALTIES
MENSTRUAL IRREGULARITIES
Periods. For some, they are an easy monthly reminder of fertility, and for others, they are unpredictable or riddled with difficulties such as pain, PMS, or heavy bleeding. To those of you in this latter category, I'm here to tell you that it is possible to have easier, more predictable periods! Let's talk!
FERTILITY
A naturopathic approach to fertility includes what I call “broadening the beam”. Like your conventional healthcare providers, I want to make sure that the ovaries and uterus are healthy, but I also want to “broaden the beam” and look at the rest of the body as well. No organ lives in a vacuum. The health of one organ (in this case the ovaries and uterus) is affected by the health of the rest of the body.
Naturopathic fertility care can be effective for natural conception or in combination with acupuncture or assisted reproductive technologies such as IVF and intrauterine insemination.
PERIMENOPAUSE / MENOPAUSE
It can start in the 30’s: changes in sleep patterns, worsening PMS, period changes, difficulty with weight maintenance. It’s the start of perimenopause. Women can live with the symptoms of hormone decline for 10 years or more as they approach menopause. Luckily, I’ve got you covered. Naturopathic approaches to menopause can not only ease the symptoms but help you feel your fully vital self.
HORMONE REPAIR
Hormones are chemical messengers found throughout the body. They affect energy, memory, weight, menstrual cycles, libido, fertility and more. Balancing hormones, can veritably improve your life.
HORMONE IMBALANCE SYMPTOMS
Women’s hormone symptoms and conditions :
- Painful or irregular periods
- PCOS
- Menopause
- Perimenopause
- PMS
- Endometriosis
- Cervical dysplasia / HPV
- Pelvic pain
- Fertility
Adrenal hormone symptoms :
- Fatigue
- Sugar cravings
- Aches and pains
- Sleep problems
- Depression/ anxiety
- Blood sugar imbalance
- Frequent colds
Thyroid hormone symptoms :
- Dry skin
- Constipation
- Fatigue
- Always feels cold
- Menstrual irregularities
- Anxiety/ depression
- Foggy thinking
- Weight changes
HORMONE TESTING
As a clinical consultant for two of the most prominent hormone testing labs, I have consulted on thousands of cases. If you are interested in testing or have results in hand, I can help you decipher your saliva, urine, or blood tests and provide you with a step by step plan to restoring your health and wellbeing.