We were lucky to catch up with Joyce Knieff recently and have shared our conversation below.

Joyce, appreciate you joining us today. Is there a heartwarming story from your career that you look back on?

One of my first patients, let’s call her Anne for the purposes of this story. Anne was a medical mystery in many ways, but the most significant of which was that she had what looked like grand mal seizures multiple times a day. I say “looked like,” because she had been thoroughly worked up by conventional neurology, and they could find nothing wrong with her. She was eventually discharged with the diagnosis of “psychogenic seizures” and left with no way to manage her symptoms. I worked with Anne for close to 8 months. To be totally honest, as a new doctor, I did not always know what things would be the most effective, and I always communicated this to Anne. In those 8 months we worked through herbs, supplements, acupuncture, and biofeedback. I think it is a real testament to this medicine, that even though I was inexperienced at that point in time, Anne showed incredible improvement across the time we worked together.
At the end of our time together, I was going on maternity leave and ultimately decided to leave the clinic I was working at. But at this point, Anne no longer had frequent seizures and was able to work successfully as a vet tech. During our last session, she told me, in tears, that I gave her her life back. I will never forget those words, and I strive to make it my mission to find people like her, who have been given up by the conventional medical system, and help them “get their lives back.”

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

No one likes going to the doctor year after year, only to keep adding to the number of medications in the pill box. At Yggdrasil Naturopathic Medicine, we correct your health using all natural therapeutics, so you can be confident that your health issues aren’t just getting masked and suppressed with lifetime medications. They’re getting treated for good.

I was first drawn to naturopathic medicine as a pre-med college student aiming to become a rheumatologist. Long story short, I shadowed many active rheumatologists and was absolutely disheartened by the lack of hope in the field. Many patients were in an unimaginable amount of pain, and many of the medications had very unfortunate side effects. That was when I happened to decide to shadow a naturopathic doctor for a change, and was absolutely floored by the amount of hope that doctor was able to bring to her patients. There were “miracle cases” almost every day there. That’s when I dove head-first into this medicine, and haven’t looked back since.

The thing that I am the most proud of what I do, is that more often than not, I get people well for good. As a naturopathic doctor, I take a functional, whole-body approach, and my goal is always to get people back into balance, so that their bodies no longer have to rely on medications or supplements.

If you could go back in time, do you think you would have chosen a different profession or specialty?

Absolutely. I remember there being a lot of anxiety when I first made the decision to go to naturopathic medical school instead of a conventional medical school, I think partly because I was used to the amount of prestige and respect I got from being a pre-med student in a cut-throat program. I remember getting disparaging comments about how I was wasting my talent or “choosing a cop-out.” But knowing what I can do now- especially for those patients who’ve been through the ringer of the medical system- I would absolutely choose the training and expertise that I have now. Do I still get disparaging comments about my credentials? Yes. But also, none of my old classmates would be able to achieve the results that I do for my patients now.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

The most effective piece has been word-of-mouth from my patients. I’ve been fortunate to have many patients who have no problem talking to others about the results they’ve achieved with me, and I am very grateful for that!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.yggdrasilnaturopathic.com/
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