Ep. 31: The Napro Difference, with Laura Ducote, F-NP, CFCP

We've talked a lot about Naprotechnology, a reproductive signs that respects how the body was designed to function and seeks to restore that function. But there's nothing like hearing about it directly from a Medical Consultant! Today we talk with Laura Ducote, F-NP, CFCP, who discusses her calling to the napro philosophy, the differences in approaches, and what you can expect when you go to see a Napro medical provider.

NOTE: This episode is appropriate for all audiences.

If you'd like to work with Laura or her clinic, you can schedule an appointment through rhmgyn.com and requesting Laura.

The restorative, procreative approach of Napro or Naprotechnology utilizes Creighton charting to observe, identify, and diagnose underlying reproductive health conditions. If you'd like to begin charting with Creighton, you're welcome to join us! We have a no-commitment, online, group Introductory Session available for you to join each month. You can register at wovenfertility.com/join-us! 

If you enjoyed today's show, we'd greatly appreciate it if you left us a written review on your podcast listening platform of choice! Or, feel free to share directly with a friend who you think would appreciate a specific episode. Thanks! 

Transcript

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Welcome to the woven well podcast. I'm your host, Caitlin Estes. I'm a certified fertility care practitioner with a master divinity degree. Each episode will cover a topic that helps educate and empower you and your fertility while honoring the deep connection your fertility has with your faith. Let's get started Today. I'm excited to talk with a technology medical consultant, as we look at how Napa is different than standard OB GY and care . So if you're new to our podcast or unsure of what NA is, then you have joined on a great episode because we're gonna cover exactly what makes it different than the standard OB GYN care that you've received from most women's health providers. So we've actually heard about the differences from a patient's perspective in previous episodes, like with Ikea, Anna , and others. But today we get to the opportunity to hear about the differences from a medical provider's specific point of view. Of course, all medical providers are going to have a slightly different point of view. But today we get to talk with Laura deco family nurse practitioner at restorative health medicine, and gynecology. Laura's a wife and mother of six children, three in heaven and three on earth, and has had a long time interest in women's health and fertility awareness based methods. She's received training as a fertility care practitioner, nap , technology, medical consultant, and through fertility education and medical management through the reproductive health research Institute. Laura, thanks so much for joining us. Thanks for having me Caitlin . I'm honored and I'm so excited that you're sharing with us. I have referred many a client to you in the past , um, and they've all received excellent care. So I'm excited to, to chat with you and get to some of these differences. So as you pursued working in the women's health field, what initially drew you to become a Napa medical consultant? My parents, I feel like gave me a pretty strong interest in natural family planning. Um, it was something that I was really drawn to because of their witness. I grew up kind of hearing what a blessing it was for their marriage. And so it was something that I knew that I eventually wanted to do once I was married and kind of put it in that pocket, you know, of like, that's something I'll do once I'm married. Sure. One day. Right? Yeah. Um, and so when I was in nursing school, I remember learning like women's health, my OB guy lectures and everything, and , um, was learning all about this and thought, Hmm , maybe one day I'll end up teaching this, but I don't even know it yet. You know, I was like <laugh> . Um, but then when I was in grad school for my NP , I lived with , um, a roommate of mine who had polycystic ovarian syndrome. And she has a sister that is a Creighton fertility care practitioner. And one day telling me all about her charting and her P C O S. And I was like, wait, what? You can use NFP to like, help correct your P C O S like I've already been through nursing school and I'm in nurse practitioner school. And I've never even like, heard about this as an option, like what? Right . Um, so it was like something, this, this desire that I had, this passion that the Lord had put on my heart, you know, early on, it was like, no, there's actually more mm-hmm <affirmative> . And so it opened my eyes to there being this, something that I really felt strongly from a faith perspective, but then that it opened my eyes to there being a medical perspective. And so when the two were blended, I was like, I'm in, yes , this is for me. <laugh> this is for me. Oh, that's great. And you just mentioned that you had been through, you know, schooling to become a registered nurse and your NP program. So how was all of that training, any different from the training you received by going through the Napa technology program? Yes, it's honestly, it's really very different. <laugh> okay . Um, so the, the anatomy physiology and truly the reproductive endocrinology, like I really cannot stress the amount of endocrinology that I learned from my Creighton training and from the R H R I , um, training just blew my mind. I mean, I literally felt like I was sitting at Niagara falls with a bucket, trying to catch what I could, because I was like, I've already been through nursing school and nurse practitioner school. And no one got this detailed with us because truthfully, because many of the treatments out there are not really foundationally teaching us how to understand what's happening in the body. And then this is what's occurring when something's going wrong. So we understand why we're treating it the way we're treating it. It was really just, okay, we're gonna teach you all the different types of birth control out there. Like when I was studying for my nurse practitioner boards, I had a two day course on like what I would need to know for like my boards, like my, everything you need to know as a nurse practitioner. And I had three hours worth of birth control type options. Like basically how you don't wanna kill someone. You , you wanna make sure if you have a smoking patient that they're not on estrogen, if you have have, you know, basically like the blood clotting components of estrogen therapy, you know, different things like that. And it wasn't even getting like, they very, very briefly did have like a paragraph on natural family planning, but it essentially was talking about the rhythm method. And I was like, you guys you're so behind, I know we so far, that's a hundred years in the past, literally. Yes. So, so to me, I just feel like it is not, it's just not out there in medical school and maybe it is in certain schools, but I feel like both of the programs that I went through are highly esteemed programs. And it's just that they're unaware of how much more is out there in this realm of therapy. Yeah. And hopefully we will see those changes. We're getting the word out there, but it's sort of a grassroots effort at this point. Um , so now that you've served in that capacity as a Napa medical consultant for a while now, what would you say it is that makes this medical approach so different from just the standard OB GYN care? I really think the biggest thing is that we really try to have a restorative approach versus what I would consider maybe a suppressive approach or bandaid approach in our approach being more restorative. Like we're trying to look, you know , very holistically at the person and try to restore their health to the way the Lord has designed it to work. So if something's not working properly, we're trying to one, you know, really look into that, you know, and sometimes we can find it very easily and sometimes it takes a lot more essentially research mm-hmm <affirmative> on what's happening in their body, because if we don't actually understand what's happening incorrectly in their body, then we're not gonna be able to appropriately restore the function. If we don't know which piece of the puzzle we're trying to correct. When I work with clients and they say, oh , this in my charting, this doesn't look like it's supposed to, or this looks different. I say , you know what? That's a clue. Yes , we're in an investigation right now. And that's a clue we need that clue. So it's important. And it's so good that you charted it because you're NA medical provider is going to look for those clues. So it , it is important. So it's good to hear that you are actually using all of those clues. <laugh> exactly to figure out what's going on underneath. Yeah, exactly. And I mean, I think the other thing that's huge is we know how to read their charts. They are putting in all of this effort to track things. And some of them haven't even learned a system as, as wonderful as Creighton is, you know, some of them have just been using an app for years, but they still have notes mean mm-hmm , <affirmative> , you know, I do have a lot of patients that really do try to understand their body and try to, to document what's going on or what kind of symptoms they're having. Yes. And we really look at those because the other part is, you know, when we're looking for a root cause, like we really try to have this perspective that these are symptoms of an underlying diagnosis, versus it being that the actual symptom is the diagnosis. Absolutely . That can sometimes be a big difference. So say I have somebody that comes in with painful periods, abnormal bleeding, infertility acne, sometimes migraines. If it's in a cyclical pattern, anxiety, depression, kind of same thing. If it's in a cyclical pattern, you know, those can all be symptoms of an underlying cause. But many times they're given just as a diagnosis. And so then it's just treated just point blank. Well, if you have a painful period, then we do this. Mm-hmm <affirmative>, it's not, why do you have the painful period? Or why do you have the acne? And so many women I'll hear them say, I know this isn't right for me, you know, I know this isn't normal. I know there's something going on. And so it can be so encouraging to have a medical provider that re responds to that, validates that and says, yeah, let's take all of the things that you think are maybe not exactly. Right. And let's see what they point to exactly. Um , the other piece, I think that would be a little bit different, you know, I can't speak for every provider out there. Sure . But that we really do try to have a unique blend of options. As far as treatment goes, especially for our practice. We really do use, you know, mainstream medicine, like what research is out there. That's actually restoring function, not gonna suppress so many times, like we're not prescribing birth control because we know that that suppresses the natural hormone function of our patients. And what we're wanting is to actually restore their natural hormone function or restore their hormone balance. So if we're just giving them fake ones and suppressing their own, we're actually not really fixing the problem. We're not even understanding the problem many times. Um, and so we're utilizing what is out there in mainstream medicine, but then we also are looking at, you know, what's happening in integrative medicine and functional medicine, herbal supplements, vitamins, like what are these treatments that are actually being helpful and researched right now? What are the lifestyle components? So I really do think we have a pretty unique blend of the way that we approach treatment. It's not just like, you know, stuck in this box of like, okay, we only use prescription medicines or we only use lifestyle. We really try to utilize, honestly, whatever is gonna be the most helpful for our patient. Sounds like a unique approach to each unique individual. Exactly. <laugh>, that's really that's goal . We , we are uniquely and wonderfully made, you know, I mean, I think that's right . That that really is our perspective. You know, each, each woman deserves unique treatment because there may be unique things happening. And what about in pregnancy? Is there a difference when you look at maybe early pregnancy mm-hmm <affirmative> than standard OB care ? Yeah. So we do a lot of pregnancy hormone monitoring in our clinic. Um, this is one thing that, that nap care has really learned to standardize , um, is especially progesterone support in pregnancy. And so where that's not really as well recognized in mainstream OB care , we are usually, as soon as we have a patient that's telling us they're pregnant, we'll like, be like, okay, let's go ahead and find out what your hormones are looking like standard OB care is, okay, we'll see you at your first OB appointment at eight weeks, or sometimes they'll even go to 12 weeks. Um , and so that many times, especially if we've had patients that have had losses in the past many times, they've already miscarried by that initial appointment. And so one thing that can be very different is that we really focus on those early weeks if it's needed. And that is so important because it can feel uncertain in those early weeks. Yes. To not know, is everything okay? Is it not? Do I need support now? Of course, if they've been charting their cycles, then they already have a , an initial education on things like progesterone. And maybe if their chart points to them having low progesterone or not, but you would still recommend they get that testing as early as possible in pregnancy, because it could be different right. Than what they saw in their charting. Right. If they, maybe if they had great progesterone cyclically, maybe it could still be low in early pregnancy or no, it is possible. Um, I never, I never rule it out , uh, especially when it comes to babies. <laugh> , um, especially when it comes to life, I just am always gonna err on the side of caution and say, let's just go ahead and check it. If it looks beautiful, no need to worry, go for that eight week appointment and you're all set, but then if it is low, there's something we can do. Exactly. Exactly. Well, I think this has been a wonderful summary of the big picture differences. And some of the differences that you mentioned are the reasons that I prefer to send my clients specifically to Napa medical consultants. I know I can trust them to view that client as a whole person and a person who is valuable and who has dignity and who is worthy of full holistic care regardless of their pregnancy intentions. Um, but if they are pregnant that their baby also deserves that same treatment as well. Mm-hmm <affirmative> and these are important things. These are important things. So a few just really practical questions for anyone who may be interested in working with a nap provider, do NA medical professionals typically take standard insurance, many of them do. I know for sure our practice does take standard insurance. And we really also do try to code for , um, many of the things that we're doing so that it is covered. You know, I know that sometimes people get, you know, infertility, maybe they may not get good coverage, but because again, we're looking at symptoms and not looking at it as a diagnosis, many times we won't code anything under infertility, it's coded under whatever problems we're trying to identify. So we really do try to get everything as covered under your insurance as much as we can. That's such a good point. Yes. You use insurance and maybe there's even more coverage that with that different perspective, that's good. So if someone doesn't have a NaPro provider that's close to them, what would you recommend to them as their options? I really think that there's a lot of options. Even if somebody is not close to a NaPro provider, it used to be that you would have to go in person for the very first visit. So even if they were a state away or, you know, several hours away, you'd have to go in person for the first visit to establish care. And then from there you could continue doing telemedicine remotely, you know, unless there was a particular need for a physical exam, many times though , um, we're able to order lab testing or imaging or whatever is needed for you to have locally done. So say you're a few hours away. You can have that done in your city. They'll just send us the results. And honestly, no problem. We do a ton of telemedicine, but the interesting thing right now is that that first initial visit actually can be telemedicine right now. I should say, this is being recorded July of 2022. <laugh> yes . For whatever you're listening, it may be slightly different, but, and I always encourage people, ask your fertility care practitioner where the closest nap providers are. They will know, they'll be able to tell you, and even if it is a state or two away , you may have this telehealth option. And if you don't, there may be some other opportunities too. So I think that's great for you to mention that. And if somebody wanted to work with you specifically, what would be the best way for them to schedule that with you? So I work for RHM gynecology. We have two different offices. One is in Norcross, Georgia , um, kind of Northeast of Atlanta. And then Gardendale, Alabama is our satellite location, which is just north of Birmingham. So either option, you know, again, the telehealth is a very real option. So really just going through our website or calling our office is the easiest way to go ahead and get scheduled. RM G Y n.com . Wonderful. Well, Laura, thank you so much for being on today's episode and for sharing some of these differences and your experience in those differences. I really appreciate it. Thanks Caitlin . As Laura mentioned, the best way to get scheduled with her is to contact her office@rhmgyn.com or you can follow them on Facebook or Instagram at RHM GYN to learn more. I hope this episode has been clarifying as to what makes Napa a little bit different. Of course, you're gonna have a different experience with every doctor, including NA doctors, but in my opinion, at least with Napa , you start with a little bit of an advantage. And one of those advantages is the fact that they love and use your Creighton charting. So if you are interested in beginning learning how to chart your cycles with the Creighton method, then I would love for you to join us for this month's online group introductory session. You can learn more in register@wovenfertility.com slash join us as always. Thanks for listening. As we continue to explore together what it means to be woven well.