Lyle Hurd: We’re visiting with Dr. Sherrill Sellman, who has written two very important books, What Women Must Know to Protect their Daughters from Breast Cancer and Hormone Heresy: What Women Need to Know about their Hormones. I think as well know as you are for your books and your lectures around the world, would you tell us a little bit about the consultations that you do for people that have questions, as a professional naturopath?
Dr. Sherrill Sellman: Well, as I travel the world, women are really seeking out truthful information out to natural approaches. They really are seeking out a health care provider that can support them in regaining their health. Many women are quite frustrated because they can’t find practitioners who understand this information and are their allies. I see myself, as a naturopathic doctor, as an ally supporting a woman a journey to their proper health, you know, optimal health.
As a result, what I offer is kind of my service to women, an extension of my work, is the ability to have phone consultations. You don’t really need to be sitting across from a practitioner to be able to get the kind of help and assistance and guidance that is required to address the hormonal health issues. There are tests than can be done, that I work with, that are sent to women’s homes, such as saliva testing, that you can do and send off to a lab and I get results.
So there are ways to assess what’s going on and to put a whole plan together that can support a woman in getting healthy, no matter where she is in this world. So it’s a convenient way for women. They can have these consultations in the comfort of their own home and I’m really able to work with a protocol, as well as lifestyle and dietary changes. To get hormonally balanced—certainly from my personal experience—is really working on many levels. We need to address root cause issues. We need to support specific needs and organs and systems of the body. We need to make dietary changes. We need to be making lifestyle changes. We also need to be making emotional and spiritual changes. As a support system for women, as a guide to help women on this journey, a phone consultation is a fantastic way to assist women in getting the information—it’s like being a support person.
So this is more my, I call them my hormone-wise consultations; because it’s helping women to become hormone wise and I’m like a coach, as well as being able to have my experience as a naturopathic doctor; my experience as psychotherapist—to really work in a holistic way to get woman back to that place of ideal health and well-being.
Lyle Hurd: Well, I would suggest to people that are confused by or disappointed in or not helped by the 7 to 8 minutes the well-meaning doctors we go to today are allowed to give us—the doctors who have planned 4 patients for an hour, and by the middle of the day there are 8 people there who need immediate care for some problems that needs to be taken care of—that more and more doctors are even referring their clients to folks like yourself. And with the information that you have, I think it’s a great consideration then. Thank you for explaining.
Dr. Sherrill Sellman: I want to add Lyle, that when I do an initial consultation with a woman, getting her whole health history, it takes a minimum of an hour. I could never conceive of really being able to assist a woman in regaining her health and hormonal well-being without that amount of time to really explore her symptoms, her issues and her history. You can never do that in 8 to 15 minutes. It’s impossible to get the kind of information that is absolutely essential, to get this whole picture of what’s going on, and provide the advice and guidance.
That’s why women are so frustrated with their doctors—because they don’t have time to get their questions answered; and certainly the practitioner in the system that exists must also be terrible frustrated because they can’t fully attend to the needs of that patient. They don’t even have time to gather all the information, much less direct them into what’s required.
Lyle Hurd: Today’s version of what we used to call the house call isn’t it? Thank you.
Dr. Sherrill Sellman: You’re welcome.
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