Announcing the Men's Elite Health Program at Northern Lights Medicine!
by Dr. Jonathan Otten
I am very excited to announce that Northern Lights Medicine is now offering a men’s health optimization program.
For many years, one of my greatest passions has been to optimize health and aging by using the tools of naturopathic and functional medicine. While it was never my intention, I have become skilled at dealing with rather complex illnesses that often go undiagnosed or misdiagnosed for years. Patients with complex health issues, including Lyme and other tick-borne diseases, currently make up the majority of our practice. While helping individuals recover from these diseases has been rewarding, I want to make room in our practice for something that I have been passionate about for years - true preventative medicine.
In the United States we spend a whopping $4.3 trillion on “healthcare” (really “disease-care”) and over 80% of these dollars are spent treating chronic diseases. Now, according to the CDC, 60% of adult Americans have at least 1 chronic disease! And yet, it is entirely possible to live a life free of chronic, degenerative diseases.
There are areas of the world where people are functional and healthy in body and mind, basically up until the day that they die. This is what I desire for every patient of mine. There’s an engaging Netflix documentary about those places in the world where people are routinely living to 100 with good vitality. Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones
So, today I’m very excited to announce our new Men’s Elite Health Program.
Why a men’s health program?
While this is arguably a stereotype, it’s particularly common for men to ignore their health. I often joke with my patients that the average guy needs to have serious bleeding from more than one part of the body before seeking medical help. And even then, it’s often his wife, partner or mother that ends up making the medical appointment for him!
It is disheartening to me, but even if a guy is proactive about his health - he diligently sees his primary care provider and does his annual physical with some basic blood work - there is SO MUCH MORE that can be done to optimize his health and aging that is simply overlooked.
We eventually will launch a similar program for women. To date, we have largely referred our women's health patients to our amazing colleague, Julie Tebben, CNP www.julietebbencnp.com.
“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” - Benjamin Franklin
At Northern Lights Medicine, we are offering a very extensive, in-depth analysis using numerous lab tests (biomarkers) that give us valuable information as to how we can optimize your health. Many of these markers are not routinely assessed in primary care, in part because there is no drug treatment to correct many of them and insurance companies dictate which labs they will cover.
The target patient for this Men’s Elite Health Program is men aged 30 to 100 who want to optimize their vitality and age well. (Sorry to exclude the 100+ year-olds - I think you've already figured out how to age well, but perhaps you can teach US a thing or two!)
The bottom line is that our health is our #1 resource. Without good health, it’s tough to be fully present for our loved ones and we cannot serve our community to the extent we otherwise would. Poor health can rob us from enjoyment of sports, recreational activities, and hobbies.
Perhaps there is a man in your life that you would like to see optimize his health. Perhaps he appears perfectly healthy with robust energy levels, is physically fit, has good libido, and is cognitively sharp. This is exactly the time to intervene by optimizing his hormone biomarkers, nutritional indices, cardiometabolic markers, inflammatory markers, and insulin signaling. When these markers are optimized, many men feel their best and serious disease can be prevented.
Alternatively, there may be a man in your life who has no major health issues, but has some minor aches/pains, lacks the energy of his youth, has low libido, suffers from anxiety or poor sleep quality, or is simply 20 pounds overweight. This guy is also exactly the guy who could benefit from this workup, especially if he has the motivation to make some adjustments to his lifestyle to feel great again!
Many men at their annual physical only get about $50 worth of lab work. Included in each of our men’s health packages is over $1500 of lab work! Each of the men’s health packages will include a health history intake visit, including our taking the time to understand his health goals, a lab visit (fasting), and a 90 minute follow up visit with Dr. Otten to review a personalized treatment plan based on the laboratory findings. We are including a discount on each of these introductory packages, so there will be some savings vs. the “a la carte” model that we currently use in our practice. Something worth noting: This would be a great way to spend your HSA dollars!
Please see the chart below for different plan options!
Call our office today at (651) 493-1845 to take advantage of this promotion while it lasts!
*Depending on each individual’s health history and lab results, additional follow-up may be recommended, which is not included in these packages.
** While a detailed plan of action is provided, this package does not include the cost of any supplements or medications, lab imaging or additional workup that might be recommended based on lab findings.
