No. You can book an appointment directly without a referral from your GP or specialist.

If you are currently under the care of a GP, nephrologist, medical specialist or other healthcare professional, you are encouraged to continue this care. With your consent, I can also communicate with members of your healthcare team where this is useful for coordinated care.

Yes. Telehealth consultations are available Australia-wide from Thursday to Saturday.

In-person consultations are available on Wednesdays at Melbourne Holistic Doctors in Kew, Victoria. Telehealth appointments can also be arranged on Wednesdays through Melbourne Holistic Doctors.

Initial consultations are 60 minutes and allow time for a comprehensive review of your health history, current concerns, medical diagnoses, medications and supplements, previous investigations, pathology results, diet and lifestyle.

Standard follow-up consultations are 30–40 minutes and are used to review progress, pathology or other investigations and make appropriate changes to your treatment plan.

If you have completed previous pathology, functional testing, imaging, specialist investigations or other relevant medical investigations, please email a copy of these to the clinic prior to your appointment. This allows me to review the available information and incorporate it into your assessment.

Please also have available a current list of medications and supplements, along with any relevant medical or specialist reports.

You do not need to repeat investigations you have already completed simply for the purpose of your naturopathic consultation. Existing results are reviewed first, with additional testing considered only where clinically appropriate.

If you are consulting for chronic kidney disease or renal failure, it is particularly important that recent pathology is provided before your appointment. Please see the kidney pathology requirements below.

Yes. My approach is designed to integrate naturopathic care with conventional medicine where appropriate.

I regularly work with patients who are also being managed by GPs, nephrologists, integrative doctors, medical specialists and allied health practitioners. With your consent, I can communicate with other members of your healthcare team where this is useful for coordinated care.

Yes. I work with people across the spectrum of chronic kidney disease, including early-stage CKD, advanced kidney disease and renal failure, haemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis, and kidney transplantation.

The dietary, nutritional and complementary medicine approach can differ considerably according to the cause and stage of kidney disease, current pathology, medications and other medical treatment.

If you are consulting for chronic kidney disease, renal failure, dialysis or another kidney-related condition, please provide a copy of your recent pathology results prior to your appointment.

At a minimum, recent results should include:

• Kidney function, including creatinine, eGFR and urea
• Electrolytes, particularly potassium, sodium and bicarbonate
• Phosphate and calcium
• Full blood examination/full blood count
• Liver function tests

Where available or relevant, please also provide results such as urine albumin/protein measurements, iron studies, parathyroid hormone (PTH), vitamin D, blood glucose/HbA1c, lipid studies, other renal investigations and recent nephrology reports.

These results are important because nutritional and naturopathic management of kidney disease needs to be individualised according to your current level of kidney function, electrolyte and mineral balance, nutritional status, medications and underlying kidney condition.

This becomes particularly important in advanced and late-stage kidney disease, where dietary and nutritional requirements can change considerably as kidney function declines.

For this reason, individualised nutritional recommendations for advanced kidney disease cannot be provided until sufficiently recent kidney function, electrolyte and other relevant pathology results have been reviewed.

If you do not have copies of your results, please request them from your GP, nephrologist or pathology provider prior to your appointment where possible.

Not all herbal medicines and nutritional supplements are appropriate for people with impaired kidney function.

Reduced kidney function can affect the way certain nutrients and compounds are handled by the body. Some supplements may affect electrolyte or mineral balance, accumulate when kidney function is impaired or interact with prescribed medications. These considerations become particularly important in advanced CKD, dialysis and following kidney transplantation.

For this reason, supplements and herbal medicines are individually selected according to current kidney function, pathology, electrolyte and mineral balance, medications and the underlying kidney condition, rather than relying on general over-the-counter products marketed for kidney health.

Where supplementation is appropriate, I generally recommend specific practitioner-only products from manufacturers with established quality-control and ingredient-verification processes. I consider the complete formulation, including inactive ingredients and excipients, and preferentially select products without unnecessary additives or ingredients that may be problematic in kidney disease.

The dose and stage of kidney disease are equally important. A nutritional or herbal medicine that may be appropriate in early CKD may require modification or may no longer be suitable as kidney function, medications, electrolyte levels or dialysis requirements change.

Treatment is therefore reviewed alongside current pathology and medical management.

There is no single “kidney diet” that is appropriate for everyone with chronic kidney disease.

Requirements for protein, sodium, potassium, phosphorus, fluid and overall energy intake can vary substantially according to the cause and stage of kidney disease, current blood results, medications, nutritional status and whether you are receiving dialysis.

For example, potassium or phosphate restriction is not automatically appropriate for every person with CKD. Dietary restrictions should reflect current pathology and the individual's overall clinical circumstances.

This becomes particularly important in advanced kidney disease and renal failure, where nutritional requirements can change considerably as kidney function declines. Recent kidney function, electrolyte, phosphate, calcium and other relevant pathology therefore need to be reviewed before an individualised nutritional plan can be provided.

In some circumstances, unnecessarily restricting nutritious foods can make maintaining adequate nutrition more difficult. Dietary recommendations are therefore based on your current pathology and individual clinical requirements rather than applying a generic renal diet.

Yes. I work with people receiving both haemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis.

Nutritional and naturopathic care during dialysis needs to account for the significant changes in nutritional and physiological requirements that occur once dialysis begins.

Depending on the individual, areas of focus may include nutrition and protein requirements, fluid and electrolyte management, gastrointestinal health, nutritional status, dialysis-related symptoms, cardiovascular and metabolic health, and preservation of residual kidney function where appropriate.

Current dialysis pathology is essential when developing nutritional or supplement recommendations, and care is provided alongside, rather than as an alternative to, your dialysis and nephrology treatment.

Yes. I work with patients preparing for kidney transplantation and following transplant, as well as living kidney donors where appropriate.

Post-transplant care requires particular caution because some supplements, herbal medicines and foods can interact with immunosuppressant medications. Recommendations therefore need to take your transplant medications, kidney function, pathology and medical management into account.

Dietary and nutritional requirements also change substantially when transitioning from dialysis to the early post-transplant period and again during longer-term transplant care.

Yes. While chronic kidney disease and renal failure are a major clinical focus of my practice, I also have extensive experience working with complex chronic illness and mould-related illness/CIRS.

This includes presentations involving ME/CFS and chronic fatigue, Long COVID and post-viral illness, MCAS and histamine-related presentations, autoimmune and immune-mediated conditions, chronic or recurrent infections, and persistent gastrointestinal and microbiome disorders.

Yes. Gut and microbiome health remains an important area of my clinical work, particularly where gastrointestinal dysfunction occurs as part of a broader chronic health presentation.

This may include IBS, SIBO and other forms of intestinal overgrowth, constipation, chronic diarrhoea, gastrointestinal infections and other persistent digestive symptoms.

Assessment considers symptoms, diet, digestive function, medications, previous infections and the broader clinical picture rather than treating a microbiome test result in isolation.

Yes. I have worked clinically with mould-related illness and CIRS for more than a decade.

My current approach is not limited to a single CIRS protocol and recognises that health effects associated with damp and water-damaged buildings can occur across a spectrum.

Assessment considers the individual's exposure history and clinical presentation alongside relevant environmental, respiratory, allergic, immune, inflammatory, gastrointestinal and other health factors.

Not necessarily.

Existing medical investigations and pathology are reviewed first. Additional conventional pathology or functional testing may be considered where the results are likely to provide clinically useful information or influence treatment.

Where several investigations could be undertaken, their relative clinical priority and cost can be discussed. Some appropriate conventional investigations may also be available through your GP at their clinical discretion.

Functional testing is generally used to answer a specific clinical question rather than routinely ordering the same panel of tests for every patient.

No. You are under no obligation to purchase herbal medicines or nutritional supplements through Adrian Harper Naturopathy.

Where appropriate, I prescribe specific products based on their formulation, therapeutic suitability, quality and individual clinical requirements. Products may be dispensed through the practice or professional practitioner dispensaries.

You are welcome to source products elsewhere. However, formulations, doses, excipients and ingredient quality can vary considerably between brands, so I recommend checking with me before substituting a prescribed product with an alternative.

An Initial Naturopathy Consultation is $275 for 60 minutes.

A Standard Follow-Up Consultation is $175 for 30–40 minutes.

Functional pathology investigations, supplements and herbal medicines are additional where required.

Naturopathy consultations are not currently covered by Medicare.

Private health insurance rebates are generally not available for naturopathy consultations. If you are unsure about your individual policy, please confirm this directly with your health insurer.

A minimum of 48 hours' notice is required to cancel or reschedule an appointment.

Appointments cancelled or rescheduled within 48 hours of the scheduled appointment time will generally incur the full consultation fee. The full consultation fee may also apply to missed appointments.

Appointment reminders are sent by email and SMS as a courtesy, but responsibility for attending, cancelling or rescheduling an appointment remains with the patient.

Personal and health information is handled in accordance with applicable Australian privacy and health-record requirements and the Adrian Harper Naturopathy Privacy Policy.

Clinical records and other health information are stored using appropriate clinical and practice-management systems, with access restricted according to clinical and administrative requirements.

Further information about how personal and health information is collected, stored, used and disclosed is available in the Privacy Policy.

Telehealth consultations are available Australia-wide from Thursday to Saturday and can be booked online.

In-person consultations are available on Wednesdays at Melbourne Holistic Doctors in Kew and are booked separately through Melbourne Holistic Doctors.

Telehealth consultations can also be booked on Wednesdays through Melbourne Holistic Doctors.