Scotland’s first Naturopathic Doctor – meet the doc who’s changing women’s wellness treatments

Her focus is mainly women going through hormonal transitions such as menopause, but also those with fertility issues, post-partum, undergoing IVF, women who have had failed pregnancies, have endometriosis and PCOS as well as anxiety and depression among other things. She also specialises in ‘mystery illnesses’ – those underlying aches and pains, allergies and chronic fatigue, ones whose causes are so hard to diagnose.

If you’re struggling with brain fog, weight gain, disrupted sleep, increased irritability, ruminating thoughts, low mood, exhaustion, unexplained illnesses, fatigue, pre-diabetes and similar symptoms – often simply passed off as ‘all part of being a woman’ or ‘just getting older’, then Dr Blake may have you thinking differently. She also works with many women struggling to conceive, or go full-term with a pregnancy and with post-partum women too.

A unique health approach for Scotland

The effects of the Covid pandemic, and a quest to find answers to some of the mystery illnesses and long-covid symptoms plaguing the population, meant she got the opportunity when the UK Government granted her an Innovator Visa in 2019 – because nobody else here did what she did. From this she set up the first Naturopathic Medicine clinic in Scotland

In the UK we don’t have Naturopathic Doctors, but in 26 of the United States, there’s the option to be licensed as a MD (Medical Doctor) or an ND (Naturopathic Doctor) which combines the same rigorous training in conventional medical diagnostics with natural, non-invasive therapies to support the body’s self-healing process.

They emphasise personalized care, utilising nutrition, botanical medicine, and lifestyle changes – it’s like having a GP, a herbalist, a dietician and a geneticist all in one holistic medic.

Oh, and she’s extremely down to Earth, pragmatic, and not at all “woo woo”.

“My family would say I am,” she laughs. She grew up in a very political household with staunch Democrats – her mum was a campaigner – but she said it was also quite a conventional household. It gave her a love of politics but also for questioning things and challenging accepted ideas.

“I’m passionate about making the world a better place,” she said. As a child she had severe eczema, and despite conventional medicines it did not clear as she approached adulthood. A chance meeting with a Naturopathic Doctor at a party, who noticed her painfully sore skin and began to question her treatment, was her first introduction to what would become her future.

“Now I work a lot with very busy, highly successful women, with demanding careers – they might be travelling all over the world.

“I’m realistic about what is possible for clients – I just support women where they are in their lives,” said Dr Blake, and she doesn’t just mean geographically. “I work with who they are and their lifestyle.”

She always had a yearning to come to Scotland ever since she set foot on our shores as a teenager. That obsession, since the age of five, with Stonehenge meant she came to the UK as a teen to work, and visit the sacred stones – it’s why her practice is called Solstice – and from there she discovered Scotland.

“I love the energy here,” she said. “Mind you, more witches were burned in Scotland than anywhere else!”

April understands that scepticism that comes with the territory she is in, but says: “It’s a bridge between two worlds. What I do is evidence based and scientifically rigorous. It’s tailored to individual clients as a person based on facts and medical analysis of what’s going on.

“I’m much more pragmatic and scientific than people might think.”

What does a Naturopathic Doctor do?

What this means in practice is starting, like any other doctor, with asking questions and running tests to start to make a clinical diagnosis.

This could include taking blood samples, checking hormone levels, looking at how the gut is working through urine and faecal samples and genetics. From there another layer of analysis – on infections, viral loads and toxins like heavy metals, could be needed.

This will help identify what’s going on, and what is missing in the body, which tells Dr Blake what treatment is needed. For example if infection is present, then herbal antibiotics may be needed; If it’s toxins then certain binders and nutrients are required to flush them out.

In menopause, for example, Dr Blake says oestrogen can often mask underlying issues. Once oestrogen levels start to wane, those joint pains, digestive issues, rashes and night sweats can appear.

“All those underlying issues can come back up, which oestrogen was masking,” she says – whilst HRT might mask the issues, it’s not fixing the problem. “It’s my job to work out what the body is trying to tell us.

“Take pre-diabetes for example. Most women of a certain age will show up as pre-diabetic in blood tests, but I like to discover what that means, what’s going on – because there will be repercussions if that is not dealt with, and it may need more than simply cutting out the sugar in your diet.”

During her training, which took four years and included the same as a medical doctor, she also learned about things like nutrition, vitamins, minerals botanicals and homeopathy. NDs can prescribe conventional drugs or an herbal remedy, antibiotics or vitamins and minerals to address your symptoms.

Do I have to travel to the clinic?

A lot of Dr Blake’s consultations are done virtually – with testing kits sent to your home and, if bloods are needed, a mobile phlebotomist can visit you wherever is convenient.

Having said that there is an infra-red sauna, hyperbaric oxygen chamber and PEMF machine (Pulsed Electromagnetic Field (PEMF) therapy, which uses low-frequency electromagnetic waves to stimulate cells, promoting repair, reducing inflammation, and alleviating pain).

To find out more take a look at Dr Blake’s website and book a free consultation.