Each month we will feature a new topic of interest to parents. Dr. Smith, from Carolina’s Natural Health, will provide information on a topic and you will have the opportunity to submit questions for him to answer.
Michael T. Smith, N.D. is a Naturopathic Physician who specializes in classical homeopathy and clinical nutrition. He received his Doctorate of Naturopathic Medicine from the Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine in Arizona. He was selected for a family practice residency position at the Southwest Naturopathic Medical Center in Scottsdale, AZ. There he received advanced training in homeopathy and clinical nutrition.
Dr. Smith is an expert in homeopathy, using it to treat most chronic and acute conditions. "Homeopathy works at a much deeper level to stimulate the body's innate ability to heal. Homeopathy is by far one of the most effective and safest forms of medicine." Dr. Smith also has extensive experience using nutrition to treat various conditions, most notably diabetes. "Through using nutrition and lifestyle modifications I have been able to help people normalize their blood sugars and prevent complications from diabetes. There is no reason that anyone should suffer complications from this disease - they are completely preventable." Dr. Smith takes a very individualized approach to your health. "I take the time to understand you as a person."
To learn more about how naturopathic medicine can help you, call 704-708-4404 to schedule a complimentary 15 minute consultation.
At age 23, after being perfectly healthy my entire life, I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis, an autoimmune disease that causes my immune system to attack my intestines. Even though my intestines had not improved, at age 28 my husband and I had decided to start a family. I had been through all the conventional medicines my gastroenterologist could provide (aside from Remicade, which I wanted to avoid, after considering all the potential side effects). I decided to seek out a natural approach, and was referred to Dr. Smith of Carolina's Natural Health. The approach we ended up taking was to nutritionally repair and heal my body, and use homeopathy to try and make by body work properly.
In just 24hrs of taking the homeopathic remedies he provided I felt a huge improvement, and in days I was nearly symptom free!! Within a month my husband and I were able to conceive. The first 10 weeks went great. I had no Ulcerative Colitis symptoms. However, at week 10 my symptoms came back strong, threatening my health and the baby inside me. The homeopathic remedies would need to be changed because my body chemistry was changing due to the pregnancy, but there was no time. I ended up in the hospital for 8 days, and after 100mg of Prednisone failed to help at all, I was faced with going on Remicade.
I was very nervous, but as far as I can tell my son and I are both fine from the Remicade. I continued my Remicade I.V. infusions after my pregnancy and had some minor reactions. During my 4th treatment I suddenly became nauseous and flushed. The nurse quickly stopped the infusion, as I was close to passing out. After being given Phenergan for the nausea we continued the infusion after about 20 minutes with no further problems. On my 6th infusion I started to have trouble breathing, so the treatment was stopped for a few minutes and then resumed with no problems. A couple days after this infusion I did have intense pain in my shoulders and hips that lasted for 2 days and then stopped. By my 7th treatment the healing effects of the Remicade started to wear off after just one week of administering it, but the closest you can have the infusions is every 6 weeks.
I had received allergy shots for mold when I was 23 and always wondered if there was a link between my allergy shots for mold and my ulcerative colitis. I decided to go back to the allergist after reading about a potential link between allergies and Ulcerative Colitis. I had food allergy testing done, and the mold allergens retested. I was NOT allergic to any foods, but am allergic to a wide array of molds. My allergist suggested trying a mold elimination diet. I had previously purchased a book for a yeast free diet that is very similar, and the book contains many recipes and cooking tips, so I decided to try it. The book is Feast Without Yeast by Bruce Semon, M.D., Ph.D. and Lori Kornblum, and has been a wonderful guide for me. The diet has worked tremendously!!! When I have the discipline to follow it pretty strictly, I show no symptoms!! Since then I have found it has other benefits. It is a healthy diet, my body feels better on it, and I have more energy! I always knew there would be something natural that could help me.
Homeopathy and nutrition helped me tremendously, not to say that conventional medicine didn't have its place, but in the end it just wasn't enough for my Ulcerative Colitis, and certainly not the safest or healthiest.
