Good Neighbor Podcast South Charlotte
Bringing Together Local Businesses and Neighbors of South Charlotte.
Good Neighbor Podcast South Charlotte
Ep. # 131 Natural Solutions for Modern Health Challenges: A Conversation with Dr. Michelle Tonkin
What happens when conventional medicine can't solve your health problems? For Dr. Michelle Tonkin and her twin sister, this wasn't just a hypothetical question but a life-altering reality that transformed their health and careers.
Dr. Tonkin's journey into naturopathic medicine began with a mysterious onset of neurological issues and allergies in the late 1990s. After visiting approximately 30 different doctors who offered no solutions—or worse, dismissed their symptoms with suggestions to "just go on a date" or accusations of drug use—they found themselves at the doorstep of a naturopath operating out of his garage. This unconventional first step into natural medicine opened their eyes to a whole-body approach to healing that conventional medicine had overlooked.
Now co-owner of Healthy Solutions for All in Charlotte, Dr. Tonkin practices naturopathic medicine with a focus on addressing root causes rather than merely treating symptoms. Her approach encompasses diet, nutrition, herbal remedies, and lifestyle modifications tailored to each individual's unique needs. She works with clients of all ages, from toddlers to nonagenarians, and addresses a wide spectrum of health challenges—particularly autoimmune conditions, which she understands intimately from personal experience. Perhaps most fascinating is her work with frequency medicine through the Onimed Biofeedback machine, which uses pulse electromagnetic frequencies to target specific pathogens in the body, sometimes producing remarkable results in a single session.
Whether you're dealing with chronic fatigue, digestive issues, autoimmune disorders, or simply want to optimize your health, Dr. Tonkin's holistic perspective offers a complementary approach to wellness that bridges traditional natural healing with modern science. Discover more about her practice and pharmaceutical-grade supplement offerings at HealthySolutionsForAll.com or schedule a free 10-minute discovery call to see if naturopathic medicine might be the missing piece in your health puzzle.
Healthy Solutions for All in Charlotte
Michelle Tonkin
1.877.955.HEAL (4325)
contacthealthysolutionsforall@yahoo.com
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Regina Lee.
Speaker 2:Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of the Good Neighbor Podcast. I am here in Charlotte and what I love to do is talk with local business owners and let them share their story. And I'm really excited today to speak with Michelle Tonkin. She is a naturopathic doctor and she and her sister are the owners of Healthy Solutions for All here in Charlotte. Welcome, michelle.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much for having me on the show.
Speaker 2:I appreciate it Absolutely. I had never heard of a naturopathic doctor, so tell us what you do.
Speaker 3:Well, I do a variety of things. So as a naturopath, we specialize in diet and nutrition, as well as herbs, detoxification, lifestyle. Basically, we look at the body and the person as a whole, so it's body, mind, soul and spirit. We try to get to the root cause of some issues that people are dealing with and really it's just a whole approach of looking at the person and just kind of going from there for what they need.
Speaker 2:Well, we all can benefit from that Absolutely. I was on your website and you and your twin sister are identical. I love it. You've gone to the same school, so you guys are partners in this amazing business. Tell us your journey and why and how you got into this.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so I think it started in the late 90s. So I think it started in the late 90s, my sister and I started having neurological issues and we started having allergies and things that we weren't previously allergic to, like almost autoimmune type stuff. We were previously both very healthy, going to college, you know, full time, and it kind of seemed like it kind of hit both of us around the same time, like we were fine one day and weren't fine the next. But that led us on a journey to going to about 30 different doctors in the area at the time and in the late 90s. They didn't really know about Lyme disease back then. So there were a lot of labels that were kind of thrown at us, like you just need to go on a date and you'll be all fine, you know, just go out with a boy, they'll clear all your trouble. Or are you on drugs, you know? Or you know all these, you know crazy things. And basically, at the end of it all, there were no really any solutions. Um, so we end up going to a naturopathic doctor and at the time the person we saw was actually operating out of their garage.
Speaker 3:So if you can imagine coming up in the late 90s to someone's garage and he walks out, he looks like Dr Brown from Back to the Future and you're like, what is this? So that was an introduction into natural mess and I mean, I had no clue what a parasite was. You know, I thought I was eating a healthy diet, which, you know, probably wasn't the best what I was doing at the time, but it really was on a journey especially me personally, of taking control of my health and realizing that this was something that I need to do, not just for myself, but also for other people. And so through that journey, um well, I've been led to, uh, help many, many people over the years, and also my health, um. So, yeah, it's been a journey, um, for me personally and Melissa, and what I've learned is just, everything we go through has a purpose, and so my purpose here, I believe, on the surface, help other people achieve wellness in their life body, mind, soul and spirit.
Speaker 2:Well, tell us about your education and training for this.
Speaker 3:So we did Trinity School of Natural Health. We did Trinity School of Natural Health and at the time it was so now school. A lot of schools are doing like Canvas and online and all that kind of stuff. But back then it was kind of almost like they sent you the work and then you sent back the work to them. So it was kind of like the pre-online days. I remember I'd be listening to like tapes, like like you need to put in the old recorder tapes. You know you press the play button.
Speaker 2:You must be from the same generation.
Speaker 3:Yeah, like okay, you know this is a little antiquated, but it was really a good. I would say there was probably at least 30 or 40 courses for naturopathic doctorate degree that I did. So it was entailing everything from anatomy to biology and chemistry. They just they approach everything diet, nutrition, herbs. I also got degrees in urology from them nutrition what else did I get them? As a naturopath, I basically got all the degrees they had because they all built on each other and so I had like five or six things from them. But yeah, it was just a process of learning and getting all that information that I could and and I'm always learning now. I'm always learning new things now as I progress. You know there's always more information to learn, new technologies, new supplements. So being able to weed through all of that and be like you know that supplement looks good and you look at it and you're like, oh, that's just a bunch of hype, you know, and just and just you know myself, other people kind of weed through all that.
Speaker 2:There's so much information it's like ridiculous well, I think we're all so much more aware these days. Yeah, this is definitely so. Talk to us about the process. If someone calls you, you know how do you get to know what's going on and then how do you approach treating them yeah.
Speaker 3:So I send them like a consultation form to fill out, which is pretty, I don't say too extensive.
Speaker 3:It goes into their case history, symptoms, kind of what they're taking now diet, nutrition, lifestyle and then we set the time to talk. I also have a free 10-minute consult as well available for people, like a discovery type call if they want to just see if we're a good fit, and after that it's 30 minutes and we really talk about, you know, kind of what they've experienced in the past and what's going on now, and we kind of go through, you know I said, case history diet, symptoms, lifestyle and I give suggestions to them and then from there they can uh touch on our tom talk or, you know, they can go look at all the things I've suggested like supplement, things like that, and see if that's going to work for them. So it really is individualized and customized to the person for what they're needing, what they're wanting. And I also have a home office too where people can actually come see me if they want to talk to me in person or if they want to get some therapies that I have here.
Speaker 2:So how do you know if you're a candidate for this type of treatment naturopathic?
Speaker 3:I think anybody's a candidate. If you're living and breathing, you're a candidate. Our world is just, you know, it's not a pristine environment. So we're all exposed to a variety of things on a daily basis. So even if you are in what you consider good health, we always want to be in that prevention mode, preventing disease process and especially with you know COVID and you know viral conditions and all these things. You know those things you can do to help kind of help your immunity and, you know, reduce exposure and all that kind of stuff. So I would highly recommend coming to person someone like me or someone in the same field that could really help you to not only improve your health but also to kind of you know, help maybe mitigate problems that could potentially be there in the future that you may not be aware of yet.
Speaker 2:Well, what are some of the most common conditions, feelings that people have that come to you looking for some help?
Speaker 3:So I would say a lot of people are autoimmune. Just because of my own personal journey and it relates, I feel like I can relate to them in that way. So a lot of them autoimmune, Lyme disease, people with chronic conditions I do see a lot of people where they're kind of like, you know, on their last stop, basically, and they're kind of like, okay, we'll try everything else. But I've also seen ages like three to like, you know, late 80s, 90s. So, yeah, I mean, there's no, you know, there's no age range. So it's just basically, you know, whatever you have going on, we work together, Doesn't matter if it's chronic or not.
Speaker 3:I have some people who just have some digestive issues and they're just, you know, getting bloated all the time or having a hard time with allergies or whatnot, and need help, and so they might come to me, you know, a couple times and you know they're good. So I mean it just depends where you're at. How about fatigue? Oh for sure, yeah, we've dealt with Crop Teak Syndrome and trying to figure out again it's not just about symptoms, but actually you know what's kind of going on beneath the surface, what's the root cause of your fatigue, you know, is it stress, Is it diet, Is it nutrition?
Speaker 3:Is it viral, bacterial, Is it parasitical? Is everything combined? Is it emotional? You know there's things that we, you know typically Western medicine doesn't really go to that. But again, as a naturopath we're taught to look at the whole body as a whole, because everything affects everything. Look at the whole body as a whole because everything affects everything, and so when you put it all to pieces together you really get a better picture of kind of what's going on in the person, right? I?
Speaker 2:would assume there are a lot of misconceptions in your industry. You know like I'm just thinking oh, this is going to take a long time, you know, for me to start feeling better. So what are those misconceptions you run up against?
Speaker 3:I think that, well, I'll just serve my personal experience.
Speaker 3:When I first started in natural medicine to experience, like I mentioned, the doctor that came out of his garage my experience was that anybody who did natural medicine was kind of you knowuggers and everyone's kind of out there in woo-woo land and there are extremes.
Speaker 3:I will say there are extremes in this, but nowadays there's a lot more science there and people are looking to help because you're not getting the root problem solved. A lot of times You're just seeing Band-Aids for what's going on in their life, and so the misconception I see is that you know natural medicine is kind of out there and you know it's kind of like a last resort, but you know there's nothing science about it and I would say that's not true. Before Western medicine even came on the scene, natural medicine was what was primarily used herbs and all that kind of diet and so I believe it all had its place. I still definitely believe in Western medicine has its place in the world, but I think there needs to be more of an integrative approach in it all and there's definitely signs now to back up you know the diet, nutrition, herbs and and lifestyle changes and we're all hearing it more and more so there's a lot more science there now for sure?
Speaker 2:Well, your website's amazing and you have just a wonderful list of supplements and things. Talk to us a little bit about all of that, what you offer.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so we offer, I think, tons and tons of brands, anything you can think of, you know, enzymes per box, digestive things, nutritional things, immune stuff, stuff for all ages. Basically it supplements whatever you need where you're at. And so you can go on the site healthysolutionsforallcom. You can go check on a condition. It'll give you recommendations. You can type in if you know a certain brand you can look at and try to find if you know. It's easy to find and search part whatever you need and you can always add something if you need it. But you can just go on their order. Our prices are pretty and then also there's free shipping on all orders $50 and over.
Speaker 3:We have coupons, as I mentioned. You can do a free 10-minute consult with me. There's articles in there I've written, there's videos. That's all free. I'm just trying to educate people and so, yeah, I mean check it out. You know it's all there. Um, yeah, it's, it's also. The supplements are also all pharmaceutical grade. I try to get the best stuff I can for people and so most of the stuff you're not going to find at your typical uh, gmc or you know health food store, right can you share some examples of maybe an aha moment that some of your patients have had after working with you?
Speaker 3:Um, yeah, so I've had a variety of, like I said, a treat all ages. Um, I do remember. So this is a person that and this is actually used with a machine I have called the Onimed Biofeedback. So this is a machine that's from Germany and I've had it for a number of years, but it actually uses what's called PEMF technology, which is pulse, electromagnetic frequencies and sound waves. Pemf technology, which is pulse, electromagnetic frequencies and sound waves, and so what the machine does is it? It's called biofeedback, because I am using the patient's pulse to determine what frequencies to use.
Speaker 3:And so this client came to me with a UTI that was pretty severe and that they were basically crawling through my office door in such pain, and so with the machine, so it's and I'll go a little bit more on how you know how the frequencies kind of work but I was using the pulse to dial in and the machine kind of showed me that it was a type of bacteria that was affecting him. So I put that into the machine, kind of showed me that it was a type of bacteria that was affecting him. So I put that into the machine, treated the client and I would say by the end of the session. He was walking out the door so it actually went after the bacteria that was causing the UTI.
Speaker 1:So I think the aha moment for them was that it works.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so frequency medicine has been around for a long time, since probably the 1920s or before, and it started with Reif machines. He was, I think his name was royal rife. Uh, he did a lot of experimentation and he would see how a frequency would affect, like cancer cells or bacteria and virus.
Speaker 3:and I've actually seen excuse me I've actually seen um under a microscope. Um I I did this before to test it. Make sure that you know these things are true, like like the frequencies medicine years ago, before I even got on the med, and I actually had a sample of my blood taken and looked under a microscope and I could see the stratococci bacteria there, and then I treated myself with a Rife-type machine and the bacteria was completely exploded after like I took a sample after and the bacteria was completely exploded after like it took a sample after Like it had totally like destroyed it. So in frequency medicine, everything has, everything vibrates at a certain frequency. So an example would be like an opera singer that sings and they shatter the glass.
Speaker 3:So if you think of that, with that, with like a microorganism, if you get the specific frequency for that, you're able to actually go in there and and help the body eliminate that, and so that's kind of one of the things that OnMed does, besides helping the body to heal at the cell level, with you know regeneration and healing and all that. So I've seen a lot of clients do really well, especially people with you know autoimmune conditions and all sorts of that. So that's a therapy too. If you look on the website called on the med biofeedback, and that's those sessions start about the first first one usually an hour and a half and then after that's about an hour per session. Um, but, yeah, so those are. So that's a great tool too that I have here as well this is fascinating stuff.
Speaker 2:I could talk to you all day. Well, I think it's really, really cool and I recommend everyone go to your website. Share again how to find you online and how to reach out to you guys. Yeah, sure.
Speaker 3:So the website is HealthySolutionsForAll. com and we also have a number, 1-877-955-heal, and you can go on there and call me and we'll get you scheduled either for a consult or to come see me in person. And yeah, love to meet you, love to talk with you and see how I can help absolutely well.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much for your time, michelle. Very, very interesting stuff you're working on and doing thank you, regina.
Speaker 3:I appreciate the time.