As a teenager, Dr. Aaron Henkel suffered from abdominal pain, bloody stools, and fainting. His doctor prescribed antibiotics, steroids, and anti-inflammatories for ulcerative colitis. Despite this, the 6-foot-4 Henkel, who weighed 185 pounds, dropped to 111 pounds.
“My condition just kept getting worse and worse and they just kept telling me to take more,” he said.
His parents took him to a naturopathic doctor in Madison, where he was told to stop the medication and only drink water for seven days. He started taking fish oil, probiotics, vitamin D, the amino acid glutamine, and the herb Aslipari elm.
“It was amazing,” said Henkel, who immediately felt better and eventually earned her certification as a naturopathic doctor, focusing on natural remedies such as herbs and supplements. “Then I realized how much better my body works when I start getting what it needs.”
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Dr. Aaron Henkel, who runs the Natural Medicine Family Clinic on Madison’s East Side, talks to patients Iwona Majuska and her husband, Tom Sulz, about their urine test results.
John Hurt, State Journal
More than 20 years after the first naturopathic doctors were licensed in Wisconsin, Gov. Tony Evers signed bipartisan legislation last month to license and regulate naturopathic doctors. Wisconsin became the 23rd state to do so.
The move comes as Henkel and other naturopathic doctors (NDs) are gaining attention for supporting natural immunity rather than vaccinating against COVID-19, a position that has become mainstream. He is against most of medical science. Other NDs support COVID-19 vaccination.
About 30 naturopaths, including Henkel, who has run Natural Medicine Family Clinic in Madison since 2009, work in the state, most of whom are licensed in other states. In addition to herbs and supplements, many NDs incorporate acupuncture, massage therapy, nutritional counseling, and other approaches into their practices with the goal of promoting self-healing.
The new law distinguishes between naturopathic doctors who have earned a doctorate from an accredited naturopathic medical school and naturopathic doctors who have not received that training. It also makes clear that NDs can diagnose and treat patients, perform minor procedures, and order laboratory and imaging tests.
In order to get the Wisconsin Medical Association to drop its opposition to the bill, it agreed that NDs would not have the authority to prescribe drugs. Still, they say the measures, which include the creation of a seven-member naturopathic medical review board, mark a major change for their profession.

At Family Clinic of Natural Medicine, we carry a variety of herbs and supplements commonly used by naturopathic doctors.
John Hurt, State Journal
“This license makes Wisconsin a state where NDs can confidently practice as primary care providers, and patients can be confident that NDs are medically trained and safe,” Evansville ND said. said in a statement.
skills and pills
Dr. David Keefer, MD, medical director of Wisconsin Health’s Integrative Health Consultation Clinic, said NDs will help fill an unmet medical need in the state. Kiefer trained in family medicine in the Seattle area and served on the faculty at Bastyr University, the naturopathic medical school that Henkel attended.
Kiefer said he and his naturopaths jointly manage patients, and he hopes to see more of the same in Wisconsin now that the state licenses naturopaths. Told.
“I think the more experts can get involved in natural medicine and let people know what’s safe and what’s not, the better,” Kiefer said.
The South Central Wisconsin Group Health Cooperative employs Dr. Rady, an ND physician who goes by one name, as is common in his native Indonesia. After graduating from the University of California, Madison with a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering, she worked as a lab researcher and yoga instructor before attending Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine in Tempe, Arizona.
A serious injury to his back changed his career. He didn’t want to have surgery or take the opioid painkillers prescribed by his doctor. After discovering that yoga relieved his pain, he pursued naturopathic medicine to help people with a holistic approach, he said.

Ladi
At Group Health, Rudy works with patients with pain, mood disorders, gastrointestinal disorders, and other conditions, teaching them about herbs, supplements, lifestyle changes, mind-body practices, and even “Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers.” We recommend books. Robert Sapolsky.
“I tend to value skill more than medicine,” Rudy says.
Wisconsin’s new law will likely bring more NDs to the state, says Sara Achtell, one of three NDs at Lakeside Natural Medicine in Shorewood, a suburb of Milwaukee. the doctor said.
In testimony before the bill’s passage, Axel said he wants to hire more NDs, but the lack of licensing is an obstacle. “Newly graduated naturopathic doctors are reluctant to practice in states where they are unlicensed due to limited scope of practice, inability to participate in loan forgiveness programs, and fear of being “dropped and discontinued” at any time. “I’m hesitant,” she says.

Dr. Aaron Henkel, who was in the supplement room at Family Clinic of Natural Medicine in Madison, said herbs and supplements helped him overcome ulcerative colitis as a teenager. This experience inspired him to become a naturopathic doctor.
John Hurt, State Journal
Another hurdle was malpractice insurance, and NDs were not eligible for insurance without a license, said Dr. Dawn Lee of Full Circle Natural Medicine in Madison. “This bill protects ND in the event of a lawsuit,” she said.
COVID-19 vaccine
In January, Henkel testified in support of another bill that would require employers to count natural immunity from coronavirus infection as an alternative to vaccinations and testing.
He said COVID-19 vaccines may have a risk of causing autoimmune diseases, but this is not among the adverse events reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He also showed that virus levels in some vaccinated people who contracted COVID-19 last year were as high as in unvaccinated people who were newly infected, and could spread the infection. It also pointed to research from UW-Madison and the CDC.
“I will never vaccinate my children,” Henkel, a father of seven, said of the coronavirus. He said people over 80 and those with medical conditions may want to get vaccinated, but younger, healthier people are likely better off “getting the coronavirus and dealing with it.” Stated.
Medical groups opposed the bill, but at least one Minocqua resident, Dr. Fernando Riveron, supported it. The Republican-controlled Congress passed the bill last month, but Evers, a Democrat, is almost certain to veto it.
The American Association of Naturopathic Physicians said it “strongly advocates for naturopathic physicians to be able to access and administer the COVID-19 vaccine within their scope of practice.”
Henkel, 46, said in an interview that more than half of his patients likely have not received the coronavirus vaccine. Neither does he. He has not been tested for active COVID-19 or any signs of previous infection, but believes he contracted the disease in November 2020, when two members of his family tested positive. There is.
After three days where he “really didn’t want to do much,” he recovered, but “I can tell I’m still not 100% back to my sense of smell,” he said this month. Late last year, when more family members tested positive, he briefly experienced mild symptoms, which he said were likely due to exposure to or infection with another COVID-19 infection.
Henkel said he is “not anti-vaxxer,” noting that his children have been vaccinated against tetanus. “It’s in the soil, and it’s common in Wisconsin,” he says. Henkel said the children have not received the chickenpox vaccine. He declined to discuss the family’s decisions regarding other vaccines, saying what is appropriate for the family may not be appropriate for the patient.

Naturopathic Family Clinics are: 3205 E. Washington Ave.
John Hurt, State Journal
When asked about December data from the state health department, people who are not fully vaccinated against COVID-19 are three times more likely to get infected and more likely to be hospitalized than those with COVID-19. They have been shown to be 10 times more likely to die and 14 times more likely to die. Henkel said such information is only part of the picture for people who have been fully vaccinated. He said it did not take into account vaccine-related complications, some of which may not develop for a long time.
“We don’t think about what’s going to happen to them in 10 years,” he said.
ND clinic
The Natural Medicine Family Clinic that Henkel started in Monona, which moved to Madison’s East Side about 10 years ago, has two other doctors. One is Dr. Rebecca Georgia, who has worked with Henkel for more than 10 years. Dr. Robert Coleman joined the clinic in 2018 and specializes in Lyme disease patients.
The clinic also includes Dr. Jonathan Cotter, a physician who oversees prescribing and treating treatments such as parenteral nutrition therapy and vitamins, minerals and amino acids delivered directly into the bloodstream.
Henkel said he recommends zinc, vitamin D, fish oil and other supplements to many of the clinic’s roughly 2,000 regular patients. For people with thyroid disorders, natural thyroid hormones may be suggested as an alternative to traditional thyroid medications. For people with joint pain, “give them turmeric, which has anti-inflammatory properties, instead of ibuprofen, which can damage the liver,” he said.
If a patient has extremely high blood pressure or a lump that may be cancerous, they will be referred to a doctor.
“If I broke my leg, I would go to my GP for emergency treatment,” he said. “But if I have anxiety, I’m going to first think about how I can help my body (through natural medicine) and what my body is trying to tell me.”
One day last week, Henkel reviewed urine test results with patient Iwona Majuska, who lives near Baraboo. She is seeing him to improve her immune system after breast cancer surgery and radiation therapy, she said.
With guidance from Henkel, Majuska is taking chelating agents to lower levels of lead, mercury, and other metals. “He tested (me) for very specific things, like hormones,” she said. “This kind of test had never been done at any hospital I went to.”

Jim Snider, a patient at Family Clinic of Natural Medicine, brought a nutritionally balanced, prepared meal to his IV appointment.
John Hurt, State Journal
Jim Snyder went to the clinic to receive an IV drip of magnesium, vitamin C, B vitamins and other nutrients. Snyder, the strength and conditioning coach for the University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team, said energy levels can be tested this time of year, especially while traveling to tournaments.
“It’s a little boost to keep your immune system going,” Snyder, 44, said of the two-hour infusion.
Kim Conrad, 61, of Madison, said she has been going to Henkel for more than 10 years.
Before that, she had abdominal pain. Her doctors prescribed antibiotics and painkillers and eventually removed part of her colon. But her problems continue, she said.
At Henkel, she said her abdominal pain disappeared with dietary changes and supplements. Conrad said she used to have frequent sinus infections, but now she rarely gets sick.
“I have a lot more energy now than I did in my 40s,” she says.