Dr. Megan Boucher, ND

Dr. Megan Boucher, ND Naturopathic Doctor in Georgetown, ON aiming to help you get the results you want! Passionate about all things thyroid, autoimmune, and hormones

www.meganboucher.com
www.meganboucherblog.wordpress.com

02/23/2023

Experience the benefits of infrared sauna therapy!

Cornerstone Health Centre is pleased to announce that our infrared sauna is once again available for use for our patients. Our sauna is located privately on the second floor of Cornerstone and is bookable during any of our office hours. A shower is available on site.

Sauna therapy is being shown to have promising health benefits including reduced cardiovascular disease risk and reduction of premature death from all causes. In a large Finnish study over 20 years, men who used the sauna frequently had a reduction in all causes mortality by 40% and a 62% decreased risk of stroke! As little as one sauna session per week, of at least 20 min duration also has health benefits. Sauna bathing has been linked to an improvement in pain and symptoms associated with musculoskeletal disorders such as osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and fibromyalgia.

All of our sauna clients are required to be screened for safety purposes by one of our Naturopathic Doctors. Please call us to book or for more information about fees, 905-702-1944.

10/25/2021

Happy to announce a new massage therapist coming to Cornerstone Health Centre! Meagan Crawford, RMT graduated from Sutherland Chan in 2016 and has a degree in Kinesiology. She is accepting new patients and has evening appointments starting November 1.

08/27/2021

Cornerstone Health Centre is the BEST! Voted best #1 Naturopathic Clinic and Best Alternative Medicine/Healing by the readers of the Independent and Free Press. Many thanks to all of our awesome patients and a special thanks to our amazing team: Dr. Nicole Meier, Naturopath, Dr. Megan Boucher, Naturopath, Garry Butwell, Chiropractor, Kristine Freeman, Registered Massage Therapy, Natalie Haynes, Psychotherapist, Nancy Britton, Food Testing and our front desk team Nicole Mashinter, Melissa Loyer, and Tammy Hawes.

Reflecting back on 2020. One thing’s for sure, this is a year we will never forget. I have mixed feelings about it.But g...
12/31/2020

Reflecting back on 2020. One thing’s for sure, this is a year we will never forget. I have mixed feelings about it.

But guess what? You are allowed to be grateful AND grieve at the same time.

Things I’m grateful for about 2020:
✨ It forced the world to slow down
✨ It introduced me to a whole new way of seeing patients with virtual appointments
✨ I’m in a wonderful new apartment in
✨ I created a new exercise routine that has been sustainable and enjoyable. I’m in the best shape of my adult life!
✨ I spent more time with my mom and dad than I normally do due to being home way more
✨ So far, all of my loved ones have stayed safe and free of 🦠

Things I’m grieving:
✨ The loss of some very important people, who I didn’t get to say goodbye to due to lockdowns
✨ Not being able to be spontaneous with trips, going to restaurants, visiting local shops, going on adventures. While I am normally a huge planner, I still like doing things on a whim (or at least knowing I’m able to)
✨ Not being able to spend time with and hug all of my friends and family
✨ Not being able to be as involved in my best friend’s pregnancy as I would like
✨ Seeing all of the health concerns that have popped up since March in my patients. The stress of this mess has had such a huge impact on people’s health!

If there’s one thing 2020 has highlighted, it’s how important our health is. For 2021, let’s focus on prevention and proactive measures, NOT reactive measures.

Goodbye 2020, thanks for coming, but happy to see you go.

We have received confirmation that regulated health care practitioners will remain opening during the Province-wide lock...
12/22/2020

We have received confirmation that regulated health care practitioners will remain opening during the Province-wide lockdown
We continue to take all of the necessary precautions to keep our patients safe
I am still offering VIRTUAL APPOINTMENTS to my patients. If you have an appointment scheduled for an in-person visit and you would like to change to virtual, please contact the clinic
The clinic will be closed December 24th-January 4th for the Holidays

✨ THYROID HEALTH ✨⁠⁠Your thyroid requires many different nutrients to function optimally⁠⁠Iodine + proteins are needed a...
10/28/2020

✨ THYROID HEALTH ✨⁠
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Your thyroid requires many different nutrients to function optimally⁠
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Iodine + proteins are needed as the backbone of thyroid hormones. (But too much iodine can be harmful)⁠
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Iron is needed to make the enzymes responsible for thyroid hormone production.⁠
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Selenium + zinc are required for proper conversion of T4 to T3. Selenium is also needed to balance iodine levels.⁠
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Vitamin D deficiency has been linked to an increased risk of developing hypothyroidism + Hashimoto's⁠
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Many of these nutrients are deficient in a standard North American diet. If you have hypothyroidism or Hashimoto's, it's important to make sure you are optimizing your levels and getting the nutrients required for a healthy thyroid, even if you are on medication!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

You CAN influence your PMS symptoms!⁠⁠A few foods have been shown to help IMPROVE symptoms of PMS when consumed in the 2...
10/12/2020

You CAN influence your PMS symptoms!⁠
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A few foods have been shown to help IMPROVE symptoms of PMS when consumed in the 2 weeks leading up to your period:⁠
🌱 Organic soy protein - this can help decrease symptoms such as breast tenderness and support hormonal balance⁠
🥜 Ground flax seeds - 1-2 Tbsp daily can help decrease breast tenderness, hot flashes, and constipation⁠
🍓 Antioxidant-rich foods - colourful fruits and vegetables can help with mood support and digestive changes⁠
🐟 Fatty fish - as a source of Omega-3, these can help decrease menstrual cramps and support a more stable mood⁠
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A few things have also been shown to WORSEN symptoms of PMS:⁠
🍺 Alcohol - can worsen cramps, breast tenderness, and mood changes⁠
☕ Caffeine - may worsen breast tenderness and swelling⁠
🍞 Simple Carbohydrates - swapping these out for whole-grains can improve PMS symptoms and give you some extra fibre⁠
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Have you tried any of these strategies?⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

🍂 Thankful for this guyThe past 7 months have been a hell of a rideOur businesses took a major hit, we lost 3 very speci...
10/11/2020

🍂 Thankful for this guy
The past 7 months have been a hell of a ride
Our businesses took a major hit, we lost 3 very special people in our lives, we miss our friends & families, and our day to day lives look very different from what we expected
But we’ve also gained a lot during this time. And that’s what we are focusing on this weekend and giving thanks for
What are you especially thankful for these days?

In honour of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, let's talk a little about what we can do to help reduce the risk of developi...
10/08/2020

In honour of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, let's talk a little about what we can do to help reduce the risk of developing breast cancer or breast cancer recurrence⁠
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🥦 Eat a diet rich in plants - vegetables, fruits, legumes⁠
☀️ Optimize your vitamin D levels⁠
🥛 Include organic soy milk as a beverage or added into smoothies⁠
🌱 Incorporate ground flax seeds into your diet⁠
🍵 Drink organic green tea (preferably matcha for more antioxidants)⁠
😴 Focus on getting enough good quality sleep⁠
🍽️ Fast for at least 13 hours overnight⁠
🏋🏻‍♀️ Exercise regularly⁠
🍺 Minimize alcohol intake⁠
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How many of these do you do regularly? I need to up my intake of green tea and soy milk!⁠
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Tag the women in your life who need to know this information 👇⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

I talk to my patients a lot about hormonal imbalances⁠⁠There are a few key hormones I'm looking at when someone presents...
10/06/2020

I talk to my patients a lot about hormonal imbalances⁠
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There are a few key hormones I'm looking at when someone presents to my clinic with signs of a hormone imbalance:⁠
✔️ Estrogen⁠
✔️ Progesterone⁠
✔️ LH⁠
✔️ FSH⁠
✔️ Testosterone⁠
✔️ DHEAS⁠
✔️ Cortisol⁠
✔️ Insulin (fasted)⁠
✔️ Thyroid Hormones (TSH, free T4, free T3)⁠
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These can all be tested with some simple blood work. It's important when having bloodwork done to 1️⃣ Test it at the correct time, and 2️⃣ Interpret it properly⁠
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Many times, women come in having had their estrogen and progesterone levels checked at the WRONG time of their cycle. This leads to incorrect diagnoses if not interpreted properly. It also means the information is potentially useless. For example, your progesterone is MEANT to be low in the first half of your cycle - this doesn't mean you have a progesterone deficiency⁠
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It is very rare that your hormone levels will actually come back flagged on blood work. This is because the reference ranges are set to look for a frank deficiency, or a hormone-producing tumour. They don't take in to account what may be normal for YOU at the time you tested.⁠
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Work with someone who understands the intricacies of hormones and helps you get the PROPER testing done. Have you ever had your hormones tested and were told "everything is normal"?⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Thyroid dysfunction goes underdiagnosed when we are only testing TSH⁠⁠If you experience a number of the symptoms in eith...
10/02/2020

Thyroid dysfunction goes underdiagnosed when we are only testing TSH⁠
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If you experience a number of the symptoms in either category, our investigation needs to be more thorough. This includes testing TSH, free T4, free T3, TPO, anti-thyroglobulin, and sometimes thyroid receptor antibodies⁠
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A common time for thyroid dysfunction to present itself is after giving birth. This is known as postpartum thyroiditis, and can contribute to:⁠
✔️ Postpartum depression + anxiety⁠
✔️ Difficulty breastfeeding⁠
✔️ Insomnia⁠
✔️ Fatigue⁠
⁠
Is being a new mom tiring? Yes! Is it stressful? Yes! Will there be sleepless nights? Absolutely! But your concerns should not just be brushed off as "being a new mom"⁠
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Women who develop postpartum thyroiditis have a 25-30% risk of hypothyroidism in the future. This means these women require more frequent screening. We shouldn't just "wait until your thyroid stops functioning" (actual words from a patient's family doctor) to address high antibodies and suboptimal thyroid levels⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

TSH is a brain hormone, not a thyroid hormone⁠⁠A patient came to me recently after struggling to get pregnant for over 6...
09/30/2020

TSH is a brain hormone, not a thyroid hormone⁠
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A patient came to me recently after struggling to get pregnant for over 6 months. She had already had 2 miscarriages, but her doctor didn't want to refer her to a fertility clinic until she had a third (whyyyy is this the standard?!)⁠
⁠
She came to me wanting to investigate a little further before trying to conceive again. Every test she had through her doctor "came back normal" (story of my career)⁠, but we got a copy just to be sure⁠
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⁠The first thing that stood out to me was her TSH was 3.54 uIU/mL. Yes, this falls within the normal reference range, but we know that a TSH less than 2.5 uIU/mL results in a higher chance of conceiving⁠
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We ran a full thyroid panel (she told me it's the best $70 she's ever spent) and found low-normal levels of free T4 and free T3, and a high TPO⁠
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The presence of high TPO (thyroperoxidase antibody) increases the risk of recurrent miscarriage. Up to date research shows that medicating women with a high TPO with levothyroxine improves their chance of pregnancy and live birth⁠
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Two months after being medicated with levothyroxine, she got pregnant again. She's going to be welcoming her baby girl into the world in just a few weeks⁠
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If you're not getting answers, find someone who will help you get there. If you're looking to get pregnant in the next year, we can do screening tests to make sure we reduce the risk of concerns like this in the future. You deserve better health care⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

"I've been on the pill since I was 14 because I had [irregular cycles, heavy periods, painful cramps, bad acne]"⁠⁠Can th...
09/28/2020

"I've been on the pill since I was 14 because I had [irregular cycles, heavy periods, painful cramps, bad acne]"⁠
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Can the pill help with these symptoms? Sure!⁠
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But women are put on the pill at a young age for these symptoms (without a work-up), kept on it for 10+ years, go off it in their 20s/30s in hopes of getting pregnant, and then find out there is something going on with their hormones.⁠
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If your periods were irregular, were you ever assessed for PCOS? The pill is going to make them seem regular, so you may not know this until you come off it.⁠
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If they were painful, were you ever assessed for endometriosis? The pill can make periods less painful, but won't necessarily stop the inflammation that is occurring from endometriosis.⁠
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If they were heavy, were you ever assessed for fibroids/polyps, thyroid dysfunction, clotting disorders, or PCOS? The pill can significantly lighten your flow, but once again does not address the real CAUSE.⁠
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If you had cystic acne, were you ever assessed for PCOS? The pill can decrease testosterone levels while you were on it, improving acne. But once you go off the pill, PCOS-related acne is likely to come back⁠
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If the birth control pill is your best option at the time for controlling your symptoms, that's fine. But we are doing young women a huge disservice by putting them on the pill without exploring WHY their period is dysfunctional⁠
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Moms: This PSA is for you. If your daughter has concerns with her period at a young age, push for further investigation to figure out why. She'll thank you in the future. If you need help navigating this, please reach out.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

It's like learning to ride a bike⁠⁠Remember how hard it was to get the hang of riding a two-wheeler? We started on tricy...
09/27/2020

It's like learning to ride a bike⁠
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Remember how hard it was to get the hang of riding a two-wheeler? We started on tricycles, then moved to training wheels, then had someone run behind us holding on to the seat of our two-wheeler. We probably fell a few (okay, many) times. There were tears, scraped knees, moments you just wanted to give up⁠
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This is pretty much the story of every health journey⁠
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We can't be expected to go from not riding a bike at all to riding a two-wheeler over night⁠
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You are going to need a lot of support initially. Sometimes you'll scrape your knee, but we'll get you back on that bike. Sometimes you'll need a few extra tips to learn to stay on your bike. You'll probably need someone to hold the back of your seat.⁠
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I find so many people are patient with themselves when they are learning a new skill, but expect that they will be able to make health changes and see results immediately. When they can't make the changes or don't see results quickly, I never see them again. These people are at the tricycle stage still, but are trying to ride a two-wheeler without relying on support along the way⁠
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Be patient with yourself, ask for help. If something isn't working for you, let's troubleshoot - it doesn't mean you'll never get there, we just need to figure out new ways to support you⁠
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Let's get you on that two-wheeler⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Your period does not have to suck⁠⁠Normalizing all these sh*tty symptoms means that women may be missing out on getting ...
09/26/2020

Your period does not have to suck⁠
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Normalizing all these sh*tty symptoms means that women may be missing out on getting an important diagnosis.⁠
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Periods should NOT be a 10/10 on the pain scale. They shouldn't make you vomit, or miss out on social events/work/school because you're in so much pain. If you're told this is normal without investigating, we might be missing something like endometriosis⁠
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If your periods are so heavy you bleed through everything, we might be missing a clotting disorder, anovulatory cycles, inflammation, or thyroid dysfunction if you are simply put on the pill or have an ablation to stop the bleeding⁠
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If young women are put on the pill to "regulate their cycles" before their body even has a chance to actually figure it out, we might miss out on diagnosing PCOS until they are older and want to get pregnant⁠
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If severe moodiness is laughed off and seen as a woman just "PMSing", we might miss out on diagnosing PMDD⁠
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Do we wonder why women go on suffering for years? Their concerns are often dismissed or masked, and they are told this is NORMAL. I'm here to tell you it's not⁠
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When you come to me with concerns, I promise I will listen⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

How to Get Long Luscious Locks⁠⁠Step 1: Have parents and grandparents with beautiful heads of hair (Genetics will absolu...
09/25/2020

How to Get Long Luscious Locks⁠⁠
Step 1: Have parents and grandparents with beautiful heads of hair (Genetics will absolutely play a role here, sorry)⁠
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Step 2: Get enough protein - it's what your hair is made of⁠
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Step 3: Optimize nutrients like iron and vitamin D (get these tested so you know where you're at!), make sure you're getting enough B vitamins⁠
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Step 4: Rule out hormonal concerns, such as high TSH and low thyroid hormones, high testosterone, high DHEA, high DHT, high or low cortisol, high insulin. Optimize anything that is out of range with the help of a Naturopathic Doctor⁠
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Step 5: Switch to low-chemical products and stop over-processing your hair⁠
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Step 6: Stop stressing your body with processed foods, alcohol, limited sleep, over-exercising, under-nourishing, over-working, always worrying⁠
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Step 7: Allow at least 6 months to notice a difference!⁠⁠⁠⁠

Fatigue is one of the most common things I see women for. Unfortunately it is such a non-specific symptom, so often we n...
09/24/2020

Fatigue is one of the most common things I see women for. Unfortunately it is such a non-specific symptom, so often we need to do some exploring.⁠
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If you tell me "everything came back normal", but all the doctor has checked is a Complete Blood Count, your cholesterol, and TSH, we're missing a heck of a lot.⁠
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Some of the most common causes I see:⁠
✔️ Low Iron - Yes, even if your ferritin falls within the reference range and you're not anemic, your iron can still be low⁠
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✔️ Low Vitamin B12 - Once again, we're looking for an ⁠
optimal level here, not just "within the reference range"⁠
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✔️ Low Vitamin D Levels - It's always amazing to see how many people are still deficient even when they are supplementing with the typical 1000IU daily (or sometimes higher). GET YOUR LEVELS TESTED PEOPLE!!⁠
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✔️ Low Thyroid Function - Ruling this in/out requires MORE than just your TSH level⁠
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✔️ Low Protein Intake/High Carb Intake - Not getting enough of the slower burning macros while getting too many quick-acting macros can lead to some crashes throughout the day⁠
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✔️ Burn-out/HPA Axis Dysfunction - High stress, saying "yes" to too many things, not taking breaks, not nourishing yourself... Moms, I'm looking at you⁠
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✔️ Dehydration - This is for the ladies in the back there - DRINK YOUR DAMN WATER⁠
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Do you rely on multiple cups of coffee to get you through the day? Do you feel like you need a nap in the middle of the afternoon? Where my fatigued ladies at 🙋🏻‍♀️! Let's get to the bottom of it⁠⁠⁠⁠

Life is shortThis weekend I lost one of my biggest supporters. Words can’t describe how much he will be missed by everyo...
09/21/2020

Life is short
This weekend I lost one of my biggest supporters. Words can’t describe how much he will be missed by everyone who knew him, but we were lucky enough to be left with some important life lessons:
✈️ Use your aeroplan miles whenever you can - don’t let them go to waste. Go on trips, share them with others, but also take trips just to get more points
🎼 Make a career out of something you’re passionate about and genuinely love doing. Don’t waste your days doing something you hate
🍰 Have that Kool-Aid Jammer, piece of cheesecake, or extra cream in your coffee
❣️ Support your friends and loved ones - show them how proud you are, even if liking their Instagram posts about periods makes you uncomfortable
🧩 Never stop being a kid. Play games, even if you lose - it’s the fun that counts
💕 Be selfless, give big hugs, sing along to your favourite songs, and spread laughter wherever you go (this might include taking a few jabs at your friends and loved ones)
Most importantly, it’s not blood that makes you family - it’s the ones you choose
You will be forever missed Roly

Address

6 Guelph Street
Georgetown, ON
L7G3Y9

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 1pm - 8pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 1pm - 8pm
Friday 9am - 3pm

Telephone

+19057021944

Website

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Dr. Megan Boucher, ND

I am a Naturopathic Doctor in Georgetown, Ontario practicing at Cornerstone Health Centre. I strive to help all of my patients reach their health goals and get results.

Learn more by visiting www.meganbouchernd.com