Frequently asked questions
Straight answers about holistic health, Nutrition Response Testing® and what working with us actually involves. Including the questions people are slightly nervous to ask.
Nutrition Response Testing®
What is Nutrition Response Testing®?
It is a non-invasive way of analyzing the body to identify the underlying causes of poor or non-optimal health. Rather than asking which disease is present, which is what a lab panel is designed to answer, it looks at where the body is under stress and what nutritional support it responds to.
How does Nutrition Response Testing work?
The practitioner tests specific reflex points that relate to organs and systems, using muscle response to communicate with the body's own nervous system, and observes how the body responds to various substances. Nothing is injected, nothing is cut, and there is no radiation involved.
Is Nutrition Response Testing a diagnosis?
No. It does not diagnose disease and it is not a medical test. It identifies stressors and guides nutritional recommendations. Anything that belongs in a medical setting goes to your physician, and we will tell you plainly when that is the case.
Can Nutrition Response Testing help with weight that will not move?
It is one of the more common reasons people come in. We do not treat weight as the problem. We look for what is driving it, which is often a food the body is reacting to, a chemical or heavy metal load, or a post-viral burden, and support the body nutritionally so it can let the weight go on its own.
How long does it take to see a change?
Most people notice something within the first few weeks, and meaningful change usually takes a full program rather than a single visit. This is a process, not a one-visit fix, and we would rather say that up front than have you expect otherwise.
Do I have to change how I eat?
Yes, and this is the part people find hardest. The supplements support the work; the food is the work. If you are not willing to change what you eat, this approach will underdeliver for you and we would rather tell you that before you spend the money.
Whole food supplements and Standard Process
What supplements do you use, and why Standard Process?
We use Standard Process, which makes supplements from whole foods grown on their own certified organic farm in Wisconsin rather than from isolated synthetic compounds. The reasoning is simple: a body recognizes food. It does not always recognize a lab-built molecule that happens to share a name with a vitamin.
Why can I not just buy these at a health food store?
Standard Process sells through practitioners rather than retail, because the products are meant to be matched to what your body actually tested for. Buying whole food supplements off a shelf on your own is guesswork, and guesswork is the thing this whole approach exists to replace.
Are the supplements the same for everyone?
No, and that is the point. Two people who walk in with identical complaints routinely test differently and leave with different recommendations. We do not publish a standard protocol for any condition, because there is not one.
How much do the supplements cost?
It varies with what you need and for how long. We will tell you what a program looks like before you commit to it rather than after, and we will not add products to a plan because they are on a shelf.
Working alongside your doctor and your medication
Is this instead of seeing my doctor?
No, and we will say so plainly. Keep your physician. We do not diagnose disease, we do not manage medication, and we are not a substitute for medical care. A great many of our patients work with us and with their doctor at the same time, and that is exactly how it should be.
Can you take me off my medication?
No. We are not licensed to prescribe medication and we are not licensed to discontinue it, so we will never advise you to stop, reduce or change a prescription. Only the prescriber who wrote it can make that call, and stopping certain medications suddenly is genuinely dangerous.
But I want to need less medication. Is that a conversation you can help with?
That is a fair goal and a common one, so here is the honest version. Dr. Bob does not take anyone off medication, and he will not. What we can tell you is what we have observed in this clinic: patients doing this work often reach a point where their own doctor decides to reduce or stop a prescription. That decision is the prescriber's to make and nobody else's, which is exactly why it is safe when it happens. This is an observation from our practice, not medical advice, and it is not a prediction about you. Our part is the nutritional work underneath. What happens with your prescriptions stays between you and the doctor who wrote them.
Do you order or interpret bloodwork?
We are not a diagnostic lab and we do not order or interpret bloodwork as a medical service. If you bring results your physician has already run, we are happy to look at them in the context of your nutritional picture, but reading labs diagnostically is your doctor's job.
Advanced Allergy Therapeutics
What is Advanced Allergy Therapeutics?
AAT is a non-invasive, drug-free approach that works on the body's stress response to a trigger rather than on the substance itself. It combines acupressure-style stimulation along the spine with controlled exposure. There are no needles and no injections.
How is it different from allergy shots or antihistamines?
Conventional approaches either suppress the reaction with medication or desensitize through repeated injection. AAT is aimed at the organ-system response pattern instead, and involves no drugs on our end. We do not ask you to change any medication you are already taking.
Is AAT safe for children?
It is non-invasive and drug-free, which makes it suitable for a wide range of ages including children. As with any child, we would want a parent involved throughout and we would want to know about any diagnosed allergy first.
I have a diagnosed anaphylactic allergy. Can this replace my auto-injector?
Absolutely not, and please do not let anyone suggest otherwise. Anaphylaxis is a medical emergency. Keep carrying your auto-injector, keep your allergist, and treat AAT as unrelated to that part of your care.
Thermography, sauna and the foot bath
Can thermography detect cancer?
No. Thermography is not a diagnostic test and it cannot detect or rule out cancer. The FDA regulates it as an adjunctive device under 21 CFR 884.2980, meaning it is cleared for use alongside a primary test and never in place of one. It is not a substitute for mammography and should never be used to decide against screening your physician has recommended.
So what is thermography actually useful for here?
Because it uses no radiation and no contact, it can be repeated as often as you like, which makes a series of images over months genuinely informative in a way a single image is not. We use it mostly to watch how an area responds over the course of care.
Does the detox foot bath really pull toxins out of my body?
No, and we would rather tell you than sell you. The water changes color because of electrolysis acting on the electrodes and on the salt and minerals already in the water, and it does the same thing with no feet in the basin. The one rigorous independent study of this device found no change in toxic element excretion. What a warm footbath does have research behind it for is sleep and relaxation, and that is what we offer it for.
Is an infrared sauna safe to use every day?
For most healthy adults, regular use is fine, but start with shorter sessions and build up rather than pushing it on day one. If you are pregnant, have a cardiovascular condition, have an implanted device, or take medication affecting blood pressure or heat regulation, ask your physician before booking rather than after.
Chiropractic care
What does chiropractic care help with?
Most commonly low back pain, neck pain, sciatica, recurring headaches, and joint restriction, along with mobility that has quietly declined over years. Dr. Bob has been adjusting patients on the Northshore for over forty years.
How often will I need to come in?
It depends on what is going on, and an initial assessment sets the schedule. What we will say is that if you are in three times a week and still hurting, the adjustment is not the missing piece and something else is holding the pattern in place. Finding that is more useful than adjusting you indefinitely.
Do adjustments hurt?
Most people feel relief immediately. Some soreness afterwards is normal and usually settles within a day.
Booking, cost and practical questions
What does a first visit cost?
A first visit is $75 and runs a full hour. That covers a complete health history, an HRV test, and a full Nutrition Response Testing analysis.
How do I book?
New patients book online. If you are already a patient, please call the office at (985) 624-9888 rather than booking online, because online booking cannot let you choose which practitioner you see and we want to keep you with the person you have been working with.
What should I bring to a first visit?
Yourself and your health history. What you have tried, what has not worked, and the whole story rather than the summary. If you have recent lab results from your physician, bring those too.
Do you take insurance?
Chiropractic services are often covered depending on your plan. Call the office at (985) 624-9888 for the specifics of your coverage. Nutrition Response Testing and nutritional support are generally not covered by insurance.
Where are you and when are you open?
221 St. Ann Dr. #2, Mandeville, LA 70471, just off Highway 190 near Pelican Park. We are open Monday to Thursday, 8am to 5pm. Patients come to us from Mandeville, Covington, Abita Springs, Madisonville, Slidell, and across the Causeway from Metairie and New Orleans.
Still not sure whether this is for you?
Call and ask. We would rather spend five minutes telling you this is not the right fit than take a booking that was never going to help.
221 St. Ann Dr. #2, Mandeville, LA 70471. Monday to Thursday, 8am to 5pm.