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What is naturopathic medicine?

Naturopathic medicine balances natural practices with modern science. Relying on age-old health and healing practices, naturopathic medicine concentrates on modalities that tap into your body’s innate healing abilities. These protocols are science-based, measured, and effective. 

Naturopathic medicine focuses on proactive prevention through diet and lifestyle. Rather than treating symptoms, natural medicine doctors search for and treat the underlying cause to restore your body to optimal health.

Working in conjunction with conventional medicine doctors, naturopathic medicine doctors take a whole-body approach that supports your body, mind, and spirit.

What health conditions are treated with naturopathic medicine?

Dr. Barnett is trained as a primary care doctor to care for all aspects of health and wellness. She treats both chronic and acute illnesses. Common conditions treated with naturopathic medicine include:

·       Chronic pain

·       Chronic disease

·       Food allergies

·       Infertility

·       Headaches

·       Candida

·       Skin disorders

·       Fatigue

·       Autoimmune disorders

·       Adrenal fatigue

·       Obesity

·       Hormonal imbalances

·       Insomnia

·       Fibromyalgia

·       Chemotherapy recovery

Dr. Barnett encourages you to seek help when you sense something is not right in your body. Symptoms are your body’s way of letting you know there is an imbalance. Dr. Barnett’s goal is to stop the disease process before it fully develops. Early treatment can prevent a problem from becoming chronic.

What can I expect during an appointment with a naturopath?

At your initial consultation, Dr. Barnett meets with you to learn about your health history, health problems, diet, lifestyle, and health goals. She conducts an in-depth physical examination and lab work to discover the root cause of your condition.

Equipped with this information, Dr. Barnett customizes a treatment plan that addresses your unique needs with an ultimate goal to optimize your health in every way. You’ll return every month or two for follow-up visits to track your progress and update your wellness plan.

Is naturopathic medicine covered by insurance?

Since naturopathic medicine doctors are primary care physicians, many insurance plans do include it. Dr. Barnett contracts with most major health plans, but individual coverage varies widely. To understand your benefits, call your provider and ask about your preventive benefits and if naturopathic medicine is a part of your coverage.

For individualized care that combines the best of conventional and natural medicine, call Dr. Barnett’s office to schedule an appointment or book a consultation online.

What is acupuncture?

Acupuncture is a holistic health protocol that originates from traditional Chinese medicine. A trained practitioner, like Dr. Barnett, inserts ultra-thin needles into designated places, called acupuncture points, on your body.

Stimulation of these acupuncture points floods your body with hormones that decrease pain and boost your immune system function. Dr. Barnett chooses acupuncture points that correspond with your symptoms and pulse and tongue diagnostics.

What conditions does acupuncture treat?

Acupuncture is used to treat a bevy of health conditions, such as:

·       Back problems

·       Chronic pain 

·       Osteoarthritis

·       Digestive disorders

·       Mood swings

·       Nerve pain

·       Migraines

·       Neck pain

·       Anxiety

·       Depression

·       Joint tenderness

·       Insomnia

·       Infertility

Does acupuncture hurt?

It’s critical to choose an acupuncture specialist with the highest training and credentials. With more than 20 years of experience, Dr. Barnett is vigilant about conducting treatments in a safe, clean environment. As a longtime acupuncturist, she skillfully and gently places the needles under your skin.

During the treatment, you may feel tingling or pressure, but most of Dr. Barnett’s patients report feeling no pain during the session. If you do feel a little sore, it’s only temporary and will subside on its own.

Because the protocol triggers the release of endorphins, many men and women say they feel extremely relaxed and have a general sense of wellbeing during and after the session.

How many treatments do I need?

Before your first acupuncture treatment, you’ll know exactly what to expect. Depending on what your needs are, Dr. Barnett tailors a plan that outlines how many sessions it may take for you to get positive results. Most appointments are between 15 and 60 minutes and are spread out over several weeks.

If you have a chronic condition, it may take two or three sessions a week for a few months to counteract the long-term effects of the problem. If your problem is sudden or acute in nature, Dr. Barnett will likely recommend more frequent appointments to stabilize your health and alleviate your pain.

For more information about the ancient healing art of acupuncture and how it can help you, call the office to book a consultation or book an appointment online.

Digestive Health

What types of digestive issues does Dr. Barnett specialize in?

Dr. Barnett addresses a wide range of digestive issues, including irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO), acid reflux, bloating, constipation, food sensitivities, and leaky gut. The holistic approach looks at the root causes of these issues, such as diet, stress, and lifestyle, to provide personalized treatments.

How does Dr. Barnett diagnose digestive health problems?

Dr. Barnett uses a variety of diagnostic tools to assess digestive health, including detailed health history evaluations, stool tests, food sensitivity testing, breath tests for SIBO, and sometimes functional lab work. These tests help identify imbalances, infections, and sensitivities that may be contributing to digestive symptoms.

What kinds of therapies does Dr. Barnett use to improve gut health?

Treatments are highly individualized and often include dietary changes, the use of supplements and botanical medicine and lifestyle changes. The goal is to restore gut balance, reduce inflammation, and promote overall digestive health naturally.

Does Dr. Barnett address digestive health to help with non-digestive symptoms like fatigue, mental fog, allergies and skin issues?

Yes! There’s a strong link between digestive health and overall wellness, particularly through the gut-brain axis. Improving gut health can lead to improvements in energy levels, mental clarity, skin health and your immune system. Many patients notice reduced anxiety, better sleep, and a general improvement in well-being when digestive issues are properly managed.

How long does it take to see results with naturopathic treatment for digestive issues?

Results vary depending on the severity of the condition and the individual’s response to treatment. Some patients notice improvements in symptoms within a few weeks, while others may take a few months to see significant progress. A naturopathic approach focuses on long-term healing rather than quick fixes, emphasizing sustainable lifestyle changes for lasting results.

What is Facial Rejuvenation Acupuncture?

Facial rejuvenation acupuncture is a comprehensive, effective treatment for improving muscle tone, reducing puffiness, and minimizing fine lines. Acupuncture — the insertion of tiny needles in specific points along your face — also reduces sagging skin and increases blood flow to your face and oxygenates the cells to prevent and combat the signs of aging.

Your body reacts to these tiny punctures by going into “repair mode” and through stimulation of your lymphatic and circulatory systems. Together, these systems attempt to heal your “wounds” from the tiny needles by sending oxygen and other nutrients to nourish your skin from within. The needles also stimulate collagen production to minimize lines and increase elasticity.

As a result of these changes, you may notice a more even skin tone and a brighter outward appearance.

What are the benefits of facial rejuvenation acupuncture?

You may experience numerous benefits after a facial rejuvenation acupuncture session, including:

• Increased collagen production

• Decreased under-eye bags and puffiness

• Reduced appearance of fine lines and wrinkles

• Tighter skin around your jowls and cheeks

• Hormonal balancing for acne or dry skin

• Improved muscle tone

• Tighter pores

• Fewer stress lines

• A fresher, more youthful appearance

• Improved color and more even skin tone

• An energized feeling

What can I expect during my appointment?

Your facial rejuvenation acupuncture session includes a pulse and tongue assessment, plus a highly personalized facial rejuvenation treatment. During your 60-minute treatment session, you relax comfortably as Dr. Barnett inserts tiny 40-70 tiny, painless acupuncture needles in specific areas on your face. She finishes your treatment with a gentle Tuina massage involving specific acupuncture pressure points.

How many acupuncture sessions will I need?

Dr. Barnett typically recommends 12 facial rejuvenation acupuncture sessions a standard course of treatment. Each one lasts about an hour, depending on your age and your specific treatment needs, so she adjusts your sessions accordingly, so you get the maximum benefit.*

If you’re ready to take a natural approach to facial rejuvenation, consider the many benefits of facial rejuvenation acupuncture instead of more invasive techniques or artificial solutions. Call Dr. Barnett’s office or schedule a complimentary consultation using the online booking system.

The foods you consume make a big difference in your skin’s health. In fact, some foods are so powerfully reflected in your skin that they either work toward a healthy or unhealthy outcome. The foods you eat (or don’t eat) can:

• Affect your hormones and cause acne

• Increase or decrease inflammation

• Increase or decrease the appearance of wrinkles

• Protect against the damaging effect of the sun

• Hydrate your skin

• Improve circulation

• Decrease your risk of certain skin cancers

• Increase collagen and elastin for firm skin

One of the best ways to discover how the foods you regularly eat are affecting your skin is to eliminate them for six weeks during a dietary detoxification program.

What is dietary detoxification?

Since the foods you regularly eat can make such an impact on your skin, Dr. Barnett often recommends embarking on a six-week dietary detox program that she customizes specifically for you.

When you eliminate the unhealthy foods you typically eat and replace them with nutrient-rich fruits, vegetables, lean meats, and good fats, for example, you may see a difference in your skin’s outward appearance. Acne may clear up while you detox, or a chronic rash may disappear, or your skin may become smoother and less scaly.

Dr. Barnett also combines acupuncture with healthy eating and dietary detox because acupuncture enhances the detoxification process, allowing your body to more easily eliminate toxins from your system. The less toxic buildup you have, the more benefits you may notice in your skin’s appearance.

How does acupuncture create healthy skin?

Acupuncture has so many benefits, and healthier, more hydrated skin is one of them. When Dr. Barnett uses tiny needles to penetrate your skin during an acupuncture treatment session, your skin goes into repair mode. This generates a response in which your body renews and hydrates your skin by sending more oxygen and blood flow to the surface of your skin as well as stimulating collagen production.

After several acupuncture sessions, you may notice a difference in the appearance of lines, wrinkles, and puffiness that once used to be a regular part of your appearance.

Along with dietary detox, acupuncture, and healthy eating programs, Dr. Barnett also partners with a dermatology practice to ensure that you get the best possible skin care in the Seattle area. When you take a holistic approach to healthier skin and help to create it from within, you’ll see the benefits each time you look in the mirror.

Call the office or schedule a consultation online to learn more about promoting healthier skin at any age.

What is anti-aging medicine?

Anti-aging medicine refers to the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of age-related health conditions. Anti-aging medicine often includes therapeutic protocols, complementary or functional medicine techniques, and preventive, proactive methods and lifestyle changes. Dr. Barnett takes a holistic, balanced approach to treating health conditions associated with the aging process.

As a naturopathic physician and acupuncturist, Dr. Barnett educates patients of all ages on the anti-aging benefits of acupuncture and dietary detox as part of a whole-person approach to not only the aging process itself, but also for your overall health and well-being.

How does acupuncture help with the aging process?

Acupuncture, a 3,000-year-old integral part of traditional Chinese medicine, has many benefits that help prevent the numerous adverse effects of aging.

Acupuncture can:

• Promote your body’s natural ability to heal itself from disease or health conditions

• Improve the function of your endocrine, immune, cardiovascular, and nervous systems

• Improve digestion

• Improve blood flow

• Hydrate your skin and diminish wrinkles

• Relieve age-related painful conditions, such as arthritis, knee pain, and low back pain

How is dietary detox a part of anti-aging medicine?

Eating the right foods for your body is an essential factor in preventing disease and slowing down the aging process. One basic tenet of an anti-aging plan is that antioxidant-rich foods, such as fruits and vegetables, can help fight wrinkles and keep your skin hydrated.

Dr. Barnett’s dietary detoxification is a six-week cleansing program that helps your body “take a break” from any unhealthy foods you normally eat, so you can introduce healthy nutrients found in real, whole foods. She designs a customized detox diet with your lifestyle in mind, so you can balance your diet and eat the health-promoting foods that work best with your system and slow the effects of aging on your body.

Dietary detox also incorporates acupuncture as a way to get the maximum benefit from the detoxification process. Acupuncture stimulates the movement of toxins that have accumulated in your tissues and organs, so your body can flush them out more easily. Acupuncture treatments may also help curb food cravings and stabilize blood sugar levels while you undergo the detoxification program.

Dr. Barnett’s detox and acupuncture treatment plan helps you achieve your health goals and addresses your overall wellness and anti-aging concerns. You’ll feel empowered with the knowledge of what to add and subtract from your diet to get the nutrients your body needs to stay young and vibrant.

Call the office or schedule your complimentary consultation using the online booking tool.

Why is fitness so important to health?

When you’re fit and healthy, you can live life to the fullest at every age. Fitness and wellness include being physically and mentally fit -- mind, body, and soul. The foods you eat, the amount of exercise you get, and your mental well-being contribute to your overall state of fitness and wellness.

When you keep your body and mind healthy, you’re also better able to stay free from disease, chronic pain, and other age and lifestyle-related conditions. When you maintain the best fitness level you can, every system in your body works better.

As a Seattle naturopath and acupuncturist, Dr. Barnett helps patients of all ages achieve their optimal fitness levels. She educates individuals regarding lifestyle changes, sports nutrition, and exercise and movement options for patients who are ready to make a commitment toward better health and wellness. Dr. Barnett also recommends sports acupuncture for its additional health benefits.

What are the benefits of acupuncture for fitness and wellness?

• Ease muscle fatigue and decrease inflammation. Increase blood flow to every area of your body, including vital organs, and help prevent exercise-related injuries.

• Enhance your energy levels and increase your endurance. Crucial during a session at the gym, a long bike ride, or a yoga class.

• Help with recovery time after a sports injury. Minimizes pain by increasing the production of endorphins (your body’s natural painkillers). It also activates your immune system to help your body heal and fight off illness.

• Helps you get deeper, more restful sleep. Letting your muscles have time to recover and rebuild after a particularly challenging physical workout, such as running a half marathon.

Anyone who wants to optimize their overall fitness and wellness is a candidate for acupuncture sessions. It’s not necessary to have a chronic condition or an injury to benefit from acupuncture. Many patients report feeling a deep sense of relaxation during and after treatment, as well as decreased feelings of anxiety and lower stress levels -- all of which allow your body to rejuvenate using its natural healing abilities.

How does sports nutrition help with fitness and wellness?

Sports nutrition helps athletes get the fuel they need for maximum energy during workouts, but sports nutrition isn’t just for athletes. Anyone can benefit from eating whole, nutrient-rich foods that provide a healthy balance of protein, carbs, and fats. Depending on your fitness goals, Dr. Barnett helps you find the nutritional balance that’s the best fuel for your body.

Whether your workouts include walking the dog or weight-training at the gym, you need different foods at different times of the day to refuel and rehydrate your body before and after exercise. Dr. Barnett works with your individual goals in mind and creates a nutrition plan that can help optimize your workouts, both for sports and for recreation.

Learn more about achieving your optimal wellness and fitness. Call the office, email admin@drclara.com or click to schedule a consultation online.

What causes infertility?

Dr. Barnett uses functional fertility testing and diagnostics to understand the causes of infertility. A variety of issues with both men and women can interfere with fertility, including:

• Thyroid disease

• Fallopian tube blockages

• Polycystic ovary syndrome

• Hormone imbalance

• Low-quality eggs or sperm

• Sperm motility problems

• Low sperm count

• Uterine abnormalities

Other specific infertility issues acupuncture addresses include luteal phase defect, hyperprolactinemia, and sperm DNA fragmentation.

How does acupuncture help with fertility?

Both conventional and natural doctors recognize the benefits of acupuncture for fertility. Fertility clinics often combine acupuncture with in-vitro fertilization treatments.

Acupuncture can help decrease the severity of the causes of infertility and build a more fertile environment to enhance your ability to conceive by:

• Reducing inflammation, stress, and pain

• Improving circulation

• Stabilizing hormones

• Facilitating healthy ovulation

• Bolstering sperm quality

• Optimizing immune function

In women, acupuncture stimulates blood flow to the pelvis and reproductive organs, which facilitates a thicker endometrial lining to boost chances that the fertilized egg will implant.

What can I expect during an acupuncture fertility session?

Before you begin your acupuncture treatments, Dr. Barnett conducts an in-depth evaluation of your fertility history and uses natural and conventional testing to discover possible reasons you’re not getting pregnant.

Equipped with your test results and health history, she offers a multidisciplinary approach that expands on your acupuncture treatments with detox and nutrition programs, naturopathic protocols, stress reduction techniques, sleep quality enhancements, menstrual cycle and ovulation monitoring, and herbal supplementation.

Then, during each 30-minute session, Dr. Barnett gently places the thin acupuncture needles under the skin in areas that are known to be completely safe. In her comfortable office, men and women relax while Dr. Barnett uses the acupuncture protocols to release blockages in your energy flow. Ultimately, the sessions improve circulation and promote whole-body healing.

How many sessions do I need to improve my fertility?

Each patient’s treatment schedule will be different as Dr. Barnett designs an individualized acupuncture plan based on your needs. As you move along through your course of treatment, the frequency of acupuncture appointments you need will most likely decrease.

To learn more about how Dr. Barnett can help improve your overall health and support your fertility, call to reserve a time for a complimentary 15-minute meeting in the office or book an appointment using the online scheduling button.

How does food affect health?

If you have chronic health issues or suddenly get sick, you may not consider the impact that food has on how you feel. Not only does your diet impact you physically, but it also has mental and emotional ramifications as well.

If you aren’t eating well, your food choices can lead to fatigue and stress. The lack of nutrients over many years can cause increased risk for serious health problems, such as:

• IBS (irritable bowel syndrome)

• Weight gain

• Water retention

• Skin problems

• High blood pressure

• Obesity

• Osteoporosis

• Diabetes

• Heart disease

• Alopecia

What health conditions can be helped with dietary analysis, detoxification and proper nutrition?

There’s really no health problem that won’t benefit from regular consumption of delicious, vibrant, whole foods. A custom dietary detox and good nutrition helps with a variety of health concerns, such as:

• Weight loss and management

• Fibromyalgia

• Insomnia

• Digestive disorders (including IBS, SIBO and Candida overgrowth)

• Cancer

• Diabetes

• Chronic pain and disease

• Arthritis, including gout

• Hormone imbalances

• Systemic inflammation

• Insulin resistance

What is included in the custom detox?

One of the best ways to significantly improve your health is with a custom detox and nutritious food plan. Even if you consider yourself a healthy eater, Dr. Barnett recommends the detox as a thorough way to identify and eliminate troublesome foods and hit the reset button on your health.

The custom cleanse program lasts for six weeks and has three main components:

Consultation

Dr. Barnett meets with you for an hour to listen to your health goals and concerns. It’s a great time for you to ask questions and learn more about how she individualizes suggestions to help meet your objectives.

LAB TESTING

Dr. Barnett will help you target potential food allergies with advanced lab testing. Identify issues in your usual food plan and better understand how to improve your diet.

Personalized menu

At the end of your consultation, Dr. Barnett develops your custom meal plan. She’s passionate about your success and offers her contact information, so you have access to regular support and an accountability partner throughout the cleanse.

Acupuncture

To augment and enhance the detoxification process, Dr. Barnett uses acupuncture to speed the movement and removal of toxins from your tissues and organs. Among its many notable benefits, acupuncture can balance blood sugar and extinguish sugar cravings.

For more information about how a detox and improved nutrition can improve your health and restore your vibrancy, call the office to book an appointment or email us at admin@drclara.com.