07/20/2025
On Friday, I had a thoughtful conversation with someone who was referred to me by the woman who altered my wedding dress five years ago. He scheduled a complimentary appointment to explore what working with a naturopathic doctor might look like.
He was recently diagnosed with low-grade prostate cancer after a TURP procedure and is currently in a phase called active surveillance, where his PSA levels are monitored every few months to track any changes.
He was upfront—he didn’t know much about naturopathic medicine, was a little skeptical, and kept referring to it as alternative medicine.
I paused him and explained: Naturopathic medicine isn’t alternative—it’s complementary.
I don’t replace your urologist or oncology team. I work alongside them. My role is to support your body through every phase of care—prevention, monitoring, treatment, and recovery.
In his case, the goal is to keep PSA stable and delay—or even avoid—the need for surgery. But if surgery becomes necessary, there’s still so much we can do to reduce risks and improve outcomes.
We can talk about:
Nutrition strategies, like pre-surgical protein and carb loading
Correcting nutrient deficiencies known to worsen surgical outcomes, like vitamin D or iron
Evidence-informed supplements, such as omega-3s, that impact inflammation and recovery
And the things that often go unspoken in preoperative and postoperative care: sleep, stress, and digestion.
These are conversations that often don’t happen in conventional care, not because they’re unimportant, but because there simply isn’t enough time to cover everything. Your surgeon’s expertise is in the procedure. Your oncologist’s lane is treatment.
But these other things, they matter too. They help you stack the deck in your favour.
