Tolle Causam

Central to treating the whole patient is the principle “Identify and Treat the Causes” (Tolle Causam). As a naturopath, symptom-based treatment is not my main concern, rather, I use these symptoms to find and treat the root cause. I treat each patient by incorporating their vast causes of disease, including a unique environment, genes, lifestyle, attitude and diet. I had a patient recently who really challenged me in this concept. She was a rheumatoid arthritis patient suffering from mild cognitive impairment, her baseline MOCA and MMSE indicated signs of dementia but the previous students she had worked with improved both those scores to be “normal”…and yet the patient that sat in front of me could not remember what she ate for lunch earlier (the appointment was an hour after her lunch). She was anxious, fidgety, in a pronounced brain fog despite being on several high quality nootropic botanical and fungal supplements. Her neurologist had diagnosed her with mild cognitive impairment based on her clinical symptoms despite clear MRI scans of her brain. She would get in car accidents because she did not remember green meant drive and red lights meant stop. She was worried she was going to lose her job at work because she was having trouble writing and mixing up numbers in accounts. Based on my intake and PE with her, I started treating her for adrenal fatigue in addition to a few other deficiencies. Fast forward and the only remaining cognitive problem she has is her writing is not at clear as she would like. Working through the cause of her MCI has made a world of difference in her life.