TLDR: I think naturopathic medicine is generally a scammy mess and it horrifies me that "naturopathic doctors" can prescribe high level narcotics. They are usually grossly incompetent with the actual medicine but are happy to tell you that you need to buy X vitamin from them for $90 a month. I met one that was a diamond in the rough, and actually really really knew her stuff. I think she's worth checking out in the Seattle area for HRT. I spent a few weeks training her and she's legit good. I can't believe I'm endorsing an ND, but here we are, and honestly, she really impressed me.

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Anyone that knows me knows that I have a very high standard for professional competence. Patients put an enormous degree of trust in their providers and nearly every day, I hear from patients about the apathy and poor care they previously received.

As a general rule, I am not a fan of “naturopathic physicians”, largely because, at best, I think many supplements on the market shilled by them are a scam and at worst, supplements can not only harm a patient’s pocketbook, but their health. While I completely believe that patients need to take action steps to improve their health, most of the naturopathic physicians I have met are gimmicky at best and woefully inept at actual medicine at the worst.

I was rather surprised a few years ago when a Seattle based naturopathic doctor started hitting me up via email, asking me really complex biochemistry based questions about transgender HRT that revealed an already deep understanding of the mechanisms. Normally, I wouldn't engage with these kind of people (I literally got a Naturopathic Physician in Nevada's license pulled once after I caught her doing some illicit things by seeing absurd narcotics show up on my Michigan patient's maps report).

Basically, I am not a fan of Naturopathic Doctors or "Supplement Chiropractors". I'm generally not a fan of any sort of completely hokey "alternative medicine" therapies. The fact that Henry Ford has a Reiki clinic legitimately makes me question sending patients to the hospital itself. I have a general rule of thumb that if a provider has a bunch of products in their lobby that are for sale that they try to push on you at any visit, they are to be avoided like the plague. I rent my brain and its experience to people for 15 minutes at a time, that's all I sell at PFM. For as much as I get berated for not being formally published, at least I base my treatments on prior studies and evidenced based medicine. Its not just coming from nowhere (which is why I get so infuriated when people say there is no evidence for my methods. There is TONS of it, its just all in cisgender people). So someone telling me I need my chakras aligned by their crystals actually makes me physically ill (the opposite of their claims, and for all the damn crystals and mineral specimens I have in my house/office, I should be super aligned right?!)

Regardless, you can imagine my mindset when a Seattle-based naturopathic physician started emailing me a little over two years ago, asking really thoughtful and complex biochemistry questions about trans gender health. I am very dedicated to physician education, I take med students and residents (and sometimes even attendings) from anywhere on the planet who want to come and learn, and I do so without any fee whatsoever (as is ordered in the Hippocratic oath). Because of the complex nature of her questions, I knew this was not your average naturopathic physician. I decided it couldn't hurt to answer them, and I was continually pleasantly surprised by her fund of knowledge. It was admittedly superior to that of many endocrinologists I've corresponded with who at times I have found somewhat alarming with their demonstrated lack of understanding of sex hormone biochemistry.

Fast forward to this past Fall, and this ND asked me if she could come learn from me in person for a few weeks just like I train MD/DO students. I felt like she earned it and was clearly not like most of her peers, and I was delighted to allow Dr. Lauren Gresham to shadow me and observe directly from patient visits. Spending the week with her confirmed that not all naturopathic physicians are inept. Honestly, she literally changed my opinion about them somewhat. Some of them in fact appear to be quite smart, and if you're lucky, you might find one like this. I still am not sold on the need for their degree to exist, but regardless, this doctor appears quite educated and competent, and I feel very confident she could do HRT on par with what me and my providers do at PFM.

We also got to have some really frank discussions, and I did learn about some natural products which actually have some solid research behind them to support their use (like Berberine for DM2, or Saw Palmetto. which I wrote for today for a patient who couldn't tolerate Dutasteride)

The reality is that I am out of space at my current office. I am actively searching for a building to buy and expand into. I have a new provider coming online in June/July, but until then, movement of the wait list is mostly going to be limited to Sommer and maybe a few going to Dayna. I have zero capacity for more humans. In short, If you live in Washington state, you really might want to save yourself some time and go see her. She consults with me regularly, understands her biochemistry, is extremely passionate about working with the LGBTQ community and overall, is a pretty quirky, nerdy and fun human.

I generally really enjoyed having her, and I really do believe she could provide competent HRT care despite her minor disability of being an ND =p

I also am fairly sure she's doing telehealth now as well.

Her website is totallylovablenaturopathic.com (I cannot claim she isn’t a hippy, though this hippy really knows her molecular biochem, you'll see what I mean on her website.) Her office phone is 425-286-6341. You can tell her Dr. Powers sent you!

Anyway, good luck to people in Seattle seeing her, but I don't think you'll need it, I really honestly think she'll do a solid job of taking care of you.

- Dr. P