Dr Kelly G Jennings is a graduate of the National College of Natural Medicine in Portland, OR. She has treated 1,000+ patients over her last six clinical years. Her specialties include chronic disease, cancer treatment, sports related injuries, nutritional counseling, physical and emotional recovery from trauma and family medicine, among others. She is presently writing a breast cancer manual for holistic practitioners, designed to help physicians help their patients with supportive treatment options. She has mentored with some of the top doctors in the Pacific Northwest, Europe and China. Though she’s lived in Portland, OR for the last six years, she has now become the ‘traveling doctor’, sustaining a bicoastal practice in the New York City area and Portland, OR.
Interview with Dr Jennings (as it appeared in The Examiner)
What is it that you, a holistic physician, do that is unique?
I practice a distinctive and progressive form of medicine called biotherapeutic drainage that combines the best of naturopathic, homeopathic, chinese and herbal medicine. It is based on systems biology, which highlights the importance of proper cell to cell signaling in maintaining health. When cell to cell signaling pathways become impaired, this leads to recurrent infections and illness, chronic and debilitating disease, cancer, diabetes, digestive disorders, chemical sensitivities, difficulty in losing and maintaining a healthy weight and premature aging. Biotherapeutic drainage offers a way to restore optimal cell signaling pathways and thereby affords a person the potential of optimal physical and emotional health.
What is this system?
The underlying philosophy is based on the clinical observation that as we age, cell to cell signaling pathways in the body tend to dysfunction and deteriorate. This dysfunctional or impaired signaling pathway is believed to be at the root of many diseases including excess weight, depression, anxiety and fatigue.
Cell to cell signaling pathways begin to malfunction due to internal toxic accumulation. We are all susceptible to this kind of accumulation with everything that we are taking in on a daily basis. Most of us are not eliminating as efficiently as we could, and most of our bodies are overwhelmed with processing what we do take in.
It is estimated that only 60% of the food we take in is eliminated through the bowels, leaving about 30% of debris in the colon. Add to this the drugs we take that get absorbed into our fat cells, the smoke or smog we inhale, the alcohol we drink, the poor quality and nutrition of the food we eat. The world unfortunately has become a more toxic place and we are seeing the result of this in the epidemic rates of cancer, obesity, diabetes and chronic disease.
What can we do about this?
Certainly the best ways are to follow some basic guidelines of good health. Exercising, eating nutritional whole foods, drinking enough water, breathing good air, laughing, getting good quality sleep and enough of it. These fundamentals to good health haven’t changed in the last 100 years. However, we also need to do a little more, to cleanse from the inside to assist our bodies in getting rid of internal debris and enhancing cell to cell communication so that our bodies and minds can function optimally.
Biotherapeutic drainage is founded on this principle. Beyond more crude methods of enhancing elimination (such as colon or laxative therapy), this form of medicine goes deep. A customized blend of herbal medicine is prescribed based on the presenting symptoms and signs of the person being treated. Perhaps you are experiencing debilitating headaches, bad acne, or increasing fatigue. These symptoms, which are signs of an underlying imbalance, guide the prescription of herbs given. A person will tend to experience an improved sense of well-being pretty quickly in the beginning stages of their treatment program, as each layer of imbalance gets addressed. The program takes time, particularly as many people have many layers of imbalance to work through. These imbalances can both be inherited, as we know diseases or susceptibility can tend to run in families. These imbalances can also be accrued throughout a person’s lifetime, and this tends to be unique to each individual. Biotherapeutic drainage targets the cellular systems that underlie the clinical symptoms and signs that you and I can see.
What about your chinese medical training? How do you use this in your practice?
I have had the fortune to train with the only Western doctor who has a PhD in Chinese herbal medicine and is a lineage holder of an ancient line of Chinese medical doctors. This may not mean much to someone outside the Chinese medical field but it is a sign of great clinical skill and expertise, and commands much respect in my profession. It was a real honor to have been chosen as one of the few students in the US to train with him.
Chinese medicine lends an incredible power of diagnostic skill to my clinical practice. I practice a very old (classical) form of Chinese tongue and pulse diagnosis. This allows me to hone in on what particular layer and which cellular systems I need to address first with the person who has come to see me. This greatly amplifies my ability to ‘see’ how I need to begin and how I can best facilitate the process towards optimal health.
I support and promote this program of healing with the powerful effects of acupuncture. Acupuncture is a complementary Chinese system which serves to improve and boost the body’s own powers of healing by increasing energy flow, removing stagnation and helping people feel better. Who doesn’t want to feel better?
How do you integrate these systems?
Acupuncture and biotherapeutic drainage work on the cellular layer as described, as well as the emotional, mental, and spiritual layer. All of these areas are involved in creating and sustaining long term optimal health. These systems create an awesome integration, and what I believe to be the best of what holistic medicine has to offer. The results are profound, long-lasting, and can, if used correctly, help people to realize their purpose in life. This kind of healing can go as deep as a person wants to go in achieving their goals.
In our present time, many creative and intelligent people are stuck and are seeking improved health that encompasses not only physical but mental and emotional well-being. The kind of medicine I offer is exceptional in helping people in these areas. It also offers real healing for people suffering with chronic disease, many of whom have not found relief with conventional medicine. It can also serve to complement and support a person who is undergoing conventional cancer or other kinds of care, allowing these chosen treatments to have an optimal effect on the body. The idea is simple; the cleaner and more effective your body is functioning, the better the effect of any treatment you do.
Whom do you treat?
I work with all kinds of people with all kinds of health concerns. I work with conventional doctors in creating a treatment plan that is best for the patient. What I do is unique, powerful, and gets results that you can feel. I develop a long-term relationship with the people that I see. My training includes nutritional assessment and counseling, spinal alignment, craniosacral and bodywork techniques, family and individual counseling. I also specialize in cancer care, vaccination education for families, and post traumatic stress disorders.
Sign me up? How do I start?
Give a call and let’s figure out how I can help you or someone you love.
I can be reached at the Urban Wellness Group at 503-445-9771 in Portland, OR. I also do phone consults with patients around the country and travel to the New York area four times a year to treat people there.
In health and happiness,
Kelly Jennings ND, MSOM
Naturopathic physician and Chinese medical doctor
Email: drjennings@urbanwellnesspdx.com
