Elysia Humphries Adv. Dip. HSc (Naturopathy) ACNM

Naturopath & Nutritionist

Adv.Dip Applied Science – Naturopathy ATMS member 14209

Health fund rebates apply

Elysia has a special interest in health education, regularly presenting corporate health seminars on women’s and men’s health issues and presents the 12 Week Challenge nutrition seminars for the Bardon Goodlife Gym.

Your Naturopath will give you the opportunity to participate in your health care and be in control of your health, by giving you practical and easy tools to improve your energy levels and overall physical and emotional fitness.

How will a Naturopath help my health?

Naturopathy uses Nutrition, Herbal Medicine, Lifestyle Coaching and if needed, functional pathology testing to find long lasting solutions to improve your health. Most problems you would consult a GP about can also be supported with Naturopathic treatment.

What problems do you treat?

Many people come to see a Naturopath with a specific problem, like tiredness or poor digestion and get effective help to ease those symptoms. Other people come to a Naturopath because they want to improve their health by learning what foods best suit their body’s needs and learn how to prevent illness to stay as well and as energetic as possible. You may find yourself saying “I just don’t feel quite right” or “I know I could feel better than I do.” Elysia will help you to understand your body’s signals and become more healthy, inside and out.

Your Naturopath may help with:

• digestive problems : bloating, constipation, irritable bowel
• allergies & sinus (including food intolerance testing)
• weight loss (including hormone testing)
• fatigue/ feeling 'not quite right'
• menopause, period pain and menstrual problems
• healthy eating plans to suit your lifestyle
• fertility and preconception planning
• managing stress
• acne and eczema
• anxiety and depression (including herbs that are safe if on antidepressants)
• headaches, pain and muscle soreness
• detox programs
• improved resistance to colds / flus

What if I’m already seeing a Doctor, Psychologist, or on medication?

Elysia is experienced in working with GP’s, Psychologists, Physiotherapists and other health care providers and believes that you will receive the best healthcare if you have a team of health care practitioners looking after your health. Regular health checkups and blood tests from your GP will assist Elysia to treat your health and you are welcome to bring copies of recent blood tests to your consultation. If you are on prescription medication, there are many dietary and herbal options for you that won’t interfere with these medications. Elysia is experienced with drug/ herb interactions and takes care to ensure your herbal medicine is safe and effective and won’t interfere with your prescription medications.

What testing can you do?

The best way to understand the cause of dysfunction in the body is to take a comprehensive health history. Elysia will spend an hour with you at your first consultation asking many questions about all the systems in your body – this gives us the framework in which to understand which areas of your body are working well and which areas need help.

Elysia will give you an evaluation of your health and then ask you in which order of priority you would like to treat your health issues. Other health evaluations which may be used are:

TESTS INCLUDED WITH YOUR CONSULT FEE:

• Iridology

Analysis of your eyes, discovering genetic strengths and weaknesses in you organs and body systems.

• Zinc status test

Zinc is a mineral essential for health hormone function, metabolism, immune health and hair skin and nail repair.

• Urinary Indican Test

Simple urine test to measure levels of bad gut bacteria, which may cause bloating, sluggish bowels, weight around the abdomen and tiredness.

 

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TESTS WHICH INCUR EXTRA COSTS:

The following tests can be performed for those who need them. They are sent to accredited pathology laboratories and incur lab test fees.

• Food Allergy Testing
• 96 Food Test
  

Find out which foods are causing irritation to your body with food intolerance testing. A food intolerance is different to an allergy. Food allergies are quick, with obvious reactions such as peanut allergy. Intolerances can irritate the digestive tract and can take a few hours/ days for you to notice the symptoms. This makes them tricky to diagnose, so testing removes the guesswork.


This test gives you a comprehensive report on your reactions to 96 common foods. Results list if there is no immune reaction or a low, medium or high reaction so you can tell how much the body is affected by each food tested.

Helpful for digestive problems like bloating, constipation, irritable bowel, sinus, hayfever, recurrent colds/ flus, headaches, fluid retention, skin rashes, eczema and general tiredness.

• Hormone Testing
  
• Stress Hormone testing (saliva test)

Saliva hormone testing is an easy way to test your hormones without blood tests. Hormones tested in the blood are both active hormones ready to be used by your cells and inactive, bound hormones. Blood test readings list active and inactive hormones.

Saliva tests can give you an accurate picture of your active hormones because only the active hormones travel into saliva. So if you’ve been suspecting a hormone imbalance and not felt right about your body then this test may be helpful.

Issues which may be helped by this test: weight gain, infertility, period problems, polycystic ovaries, endometriosis, menopause, hormonal headaches, tiredness, mood swings.

Test your cortisol and DHEA levels to measure the effect that stress has taken on your body. Melatonin can also be tested for those with insomnia

DO YOU FEEL DOG TIRED? Hit the wall?

You may have adrenal fatigue

When the adrenal glands are not functioning optimally, you can have a condition that is known as adrenal fatigue, or adrenal exhaustion. Adrenal fatigue often develops after periods of intense or lengthy physical or emotional stress, when overstimulation if the glands leave them unable to meet your body's needs.  

Symptoms include:

• excessive fatigue and exhaustion
• non-refreshing sleep (you get enough hours of sleep, but wake fatigued)
• overwhelmed by or unable to cope with stressors
• feeling rundown or overwhelmed
• craving salty and sweet foods
• you feel most energetic in the evening
• having disturbed sleep/ insomnia/ waking during the night
• low stamina, slow to recover from exercise
• slow to recover from injury, illness or stress
• difficulty concentrating, brain fog
• poor digestion
• low immune function
• food or environmental allergies
• premenstrual syndrome or difficulties that develop during menopause
• consistent low blood pressure
• extreme sensitivity to cold

The adrenals produce hormones that help to balance your blood sugar, which helps your body to manage your daily ebbs and flows of energy. When blood sugar drops, the adrenals release hormones that cause the blood sugar to rise, and increases energy. The adrenals also release hormones when we're under stress, releasing energy. It's the "fight or flight" response from the days when we needed to run away from wild animals, which now kicks in for everyday stressors, such as traffic jams, arguments, and work pressures.  

But being consistently under stress takes a toll on the adrenal glands, and eventually, they run out of steam, and stop producing sufficient hormones.  

Elysia can do a saliva cortisol test to evaluate your adrenal function, however, to diagnose more subtle dysfunctions in your adrenal glands.

• Low thyroid function/ menopause

It’s very important for women approaching or experiencing menopause to check your adrenal and thyroid function. Low functioning adrenal glands can contribute to trouble losing weight and low energy/ concentration.

• Fatigue from increased exercise

Good adrenal function improves your body’s stamina and ability to recover from exercise. If after exercising you are finding that you’re overly fatigued/ tired at work and needing a boost, you may need to check your adrenal function.

• Liver Function Testing

The Functional Liver Detoxification Profile (FLDP) challenges the liver’s Phase I and Phase II detoxification capacity with low doses of Caffeine, Aspirin and Paracetamol. Saliva and urine specimens, collected at timed intervals, are then analysed for metabolites of the three compounds to determine the efficiency of the liver in their conversion and clearance from the body.

The results of this test will accurately identify the way your liver’s detox pathways are working and give your Naturopath the best information on which part of the liver’s detox process to treat.

Useful for those who suffer from food allergies, multiple chemical sensitivities, chronic fatigue syndrome, “leaky gut” and hormonal imbalance eg. premenstrual syndrome and menopausal symptoms.

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HEALTH QUESTIONNAIRE

If you answer yes to 3 or more of the following questions you may need some help with your health:

Have you felt stressed for a long time?

Do you have trouble getting the results you want from exercise?

Do you experience sluggish digestion, bloating or constipation?

Do you rely on coffee, red bull or sugary foods for energy?

Do you wake up tired or experience trouble sleeping?

Do you get 3.30 itis? Tired or cloudy during the day?

Do you always come down with colds and flus?

Do you have sinus, allergies, asthma or eczema?

Do you have high blood pressure or high cholesterol?

Do you eat dinner late (less than 3 hours before you go to sleep?)

Do you have depression or anxiety or mood swings?

Have you gained weight recently that is hard to shift?

If you have any questions before you book in, please email Elysia directly : This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Call reception on 3254 3834 to book an appointment.