She didn't know anyone directly in Chicago. However, she recommended Southwest College and Bastyr University as schools to look for practitioners from.
You will find some naturopaths who refuse to do any lab work at all or who require your conventional doctor to order the lab work for you. I had forgotten about your needle phobia, but considering how challenging you've found it to radically alter your diet and eating habits at home, I think that the short term squick of a couple of blood draws (I hate it too, and get nauseous and panicky) would do a lot to bolster your own confidence and resolve, and also goad your family into supporting your efforts.
We are waiting on the results of the allergen panel, which are delayed because I got the draw done over the holidays. However, here is the paper that describes the allergen panel I just took (I included the vegetable, inhalant, and environemntal allergen add-ons). At the end it has a web site and phone number where you can find out about ordering the test. They offer a separate Celiac panel that just tests for wheat and gluten allergies, but I think especially if you'd rather not do things over and over again, the single draw with all of these results is far more useful.
They also offer an intestinal permeability test. It is hard on the system but a potential alternative if you just want to know whether you are really dealing with leaky gut.
I'm going to post exactly what I'm doing food-wise, and what some of my coping mechanisms and references have been, and you can take a look at it and see if you think you can do it. There's nothing I'm doing or taking that requires a prescription, so you could tackle it on your own and look for empirical results. The challenge, of course, is that you might have allergens that I don't, and also that doing it halfway is largely pointless (if intestinal permeability is the problem and you are seeking a cure).
no subject
You will find some naturopaths who refuse to do any lab work at all or who require your conventional doctor to order the lab work for you. I had forgotten about your needle phobia, but considering how challenging you've found it to radically alter your diet and eating habits at home, I think that the short term squick of a couple of blood draws (I hate it too, and get nauseous and panicky) would do a lot to bolster your own confidence and resolve, and also goad your family into supporting your efforts.
We are waiting on the results of the allergen panel, which are delayed because I got the draw done over the holidays. However, here is the paper that describes the allergen panel I just took (I included the vegetable, inhalant, and environemntal allergen add-ons). At the end it has a web site and phone number where you can find out about ordering the test. They offer a separate Celiac panel that just tests for wheat and gluten allergies, but I think especially if you'd rather not do things over and over again, the single draw with all of these results is far more useful.
They also offer an intestinal permeability test. It is hard on the system but a potential alternative if you just want to know whether you are really dealing with leaky gut.
I'm going to post exactly what I'm doing food-wise, and what some of my coping mechanisms and references have been, and you can take a look at it and see if you think you can do it. There's nothing I'm doing or taking that requires a prescription, so you could tackle it on your own and look for empirical results. The challenge, of course, is that you might have allergens that I don't, and also that doing it halfway is largely pointless (if intestinal permeability is the problem and you are seeking a cure).