Have you been struggling with your health concerns for a long time—maybe weeks, months or even years? You’ve talked to many doctors, done a lot of testing, received some answers, but nothing you’ve tried has really made you feel well again? This experience is common, and also very frustrating.

The approach taken in conventional medicine usually looks for one reason why you’re not in good health, like a virus, a broken bone, high blood pressure, cancer growth, or a faulty gene. Your doctor then decides to fix this issue with a pharmaceutical drug or surgery. Either can be an appropriate choice depending on the circumstances. Both entail the potential for side-effects, some serious, and neither is focused on healing.

That’s where we at Poughkeepsie Integrative Health come in. We help you find out what’s out of balance by taking a detailed look at your whole health, including your mental-emotional well-being and social circumstances. This is why we call it wholistic medicine. We also describe our approach as integrative medicine because pursuing healing often requires collaboration, an all-hands-on-deck approach with you at the center.

East Asian medicine and Western naturopathic medicine have at their core the belief that we are endowed with a life force that promotes health and healing naturally. Often though, we get thrown off course and need help restoring balance. Body and mind need to be immersed in an environment that helps prevent disease and fosters good health. Finding out what causes this impairment of the life force, also called a pattern of disharmony in East Asian medicine, is the focus of our diagnostic process. This approach provides a solid foundation for the therapeutic and lifestyle recommendations you will receive. You will ultimately decide what makes sense to you, and for you. We will support you in your choices and help you implement appropriate therapies and lifestyle changes using a wellness coaching approach.

Good health doesn’t come about in a vacuum, and neither does our work. We work with you and your conventional physicians, leveraging their diagnostic knowledge and therapeutic skill. Often, you already received laboratory or imaging work-ups that we can take into consideration. Your physicians may also be able to help you obtain additional conventional diagnostics if any important questions remain unanswered. Treatment choices depend on your diagnosis and may call for pharmaceutical therapy or surgery (which your physicians will provide) and support through natural therapies to alleviate side-effects and help restore your vitality. In some cases, these natural therapies can be a true alternative, especially if your health condition is non-life-threatening, persistent, or not responding well to conventional medical treatment.

Our goal is to be a dependable, supportive partner on your journey to good health.