My name is Krista Coombs and I am the owner and practicing Doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine (DTCM) at AcuPlus Wellness Clinic. I have been treating patients since 2001 using Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) to help them improve their health. Recently I started pursuing certification in Functional medicine (FM) as well to offer even more health services
TCM and FM are the medical disciplines I will access when you come to me for care.
But how do you know if you’d like to work with me or if those therapies might help you?
With regards to whether or not the therapies will help you, of course I cannot offer you a guarantee – no one ever can. What I can offer you though is my assertion that amazing things can happen when patients commit to their own healing and comply with intelligent instructions to get their health back. TCM and FM work very well together, whereby your body is treated as a whole entity. This partnership helps you genuinely get healthier over time and not just minimize your most troublesome symptoms.
My philosophy about healing:
To promote true healing, I believe the body needs to be given what it is lacking in abundance and have removed things that create inflammation, while concurrently nurturing the mind with nutrition and sometimes herbs, inspiring calm and mental perspective shifting, having the support you need from trusted professionals who want the best for you, and coaching to promote patience while this Self Health Care model proves effective over time. I love trying to figure out root causes for body system breakdown! I am a Health Detective really, and I become excited about tough cases. This is especially true when patients are open to learning more about their own health care from me, which then helps them to better understand why I suggest what I do for healing. With understanding and a genuine desire to heal, their compliance to protocol becomes more assured and healing becomes more possible.
Divulging your personal history to health care professionals is intimate and typically with alternative practitioners like myself you need to spend a fair amount of time with us while you heal. I believe it’s ideal we both get along well for best results. To help you decide if we’d work well together, I’d like to give you a glimpse into my life first.
So who am I and why do I practice medicine?
I was born in Corner Brook, Newfoundland and overall I have spent most of my life there and in Labrador. Newfoundland & Labrador is a wonderful province with fantastic people and I always miss home. But I’ve had many homes over the years and loved them all too. While growing up I also lived in the Yukon and British Columbia before moving to Lethbridge to pursue my post secondary education.
In 1996 I graduated from the University of Lethbridge right here in Southern Alberta with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology. During that time, I was privileged to participate in some interesting botanical research projects in Lethbridge, and also got chosen to work with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama, Central America for four months! It was an exceptional experience in my young life that positively changed how I viewed the whole world and my place in it!
All my life I loved studying science and loved medicine. After achieving my BSc, I chose to study Traditional Chinese medicine for four years at the Academy of Classical Oriental Sciences in Nelson, British Columbia. Because of my western science background, learning the very different science of Chinese medicine was quite unique. Eventually I learned to meld the two sciences together and over time this led me to pursue more education in the Western medically focused Functional medicine so I could combine Eastern and Western medicines more fully.
As for my personal life, I’m a bit of a workaholic. In fact, that is part of the reason I ended up getting sick myself with an autoimmune disease – Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis. It progressed over a couple of years but I ardently ignored the signs as best I could – because I was busy. I finally got diagnosed in May 2016. We all have learning to do in this lifetime and sometimes that learning is catalyzed by illness. The day of my diagnosis, something clicked in my mind and I completely reorganized my life from diet to sleep to work. Within six months, I got my illness into remission! I sometimes wish I had changed my life earlier, but I’m grateful I at least have the knowledge to heal myself from here on. I have learned it’s amazing how far you can go with some focused effort! Having an autoimmune diagnosis inspired me to become well educated in Functional medicine so I can help others with autoimmune diseases.
Fertility work is another passion. I was not fortunate to have children and I think that feeds my desire to help others conceive who are having difficulty doing so. I find it difficult to articulate how incredible I feel when I can help a struggling woman/couple finally get pregnant and go full term creating a little baby. Pure joy!
Over the years in my practice, I have treated a broad range of health issues from pain and addiction to fertility and autoimmunity, plus many others. And if I don’t have much experience with what your health issue is, I will study to learn as much as I can in order to help you. I am extremely open to working with other therapists and doctors you may have to give great co-care. I believe everyone needs a Health Team.
I hope this has inspired you to want to work with me at AcuPlus.
My goals are always to help educate, guide, motivate and then treat you with the ultimate goal to improve your quality of life one step at a time using the tools I have in TCM and FM along with my personal creativity, which I believe is essential to the practice of medicine.
- Please call to schedule a free 15 minute conversation with me to see if what I offer could work for you.
- Check out more information on my website.
- Join my Facebook family for daily inspiration.
I am really looking forward to being of service to you, helping you find solutions so you can live your best life. Freedom from illness may be just around the corner!
Warmly,
Dr. Krista Coombs