When you ask most people, “What is anemia?” you’ll likely get the same answer: “It’s when you have low levels of iron in your blood.” But as functional medicine practitioners, it is important to remember that the common definition of a medical term isn’t always the same as the correct definition. Medically speaking, anemias, of…
There is a pervasive myth in the medical world that hereditary hemochromatosis (HH)—i.e., iron overload in the blood—is a rare disorder. But this couldn’t be further from the truth: HH is the most common genetic disorder among Caucasians, and it can be found in all ethnicities. For every patient diagnosed with hemochromatosis, 8–10 go…
Imagine a man in his thirties—let’s call him Mike—comes into your practice. He is borderline obese and has diabetes. As a functional medicine professional, you determine that Mike has low testosterone, a vitamin D deficiency, and elevated homocysteine levels. Moreover, as a diabetic, he tells you he is taking a protein pump inhibitor and a…
A Blind Spot in Functional Medicine? We’ve come a long way in our understanding of functional medicine. Whether it be the connection between the mind and the gut, chronic headache and migraine, or the hidden dangers of everyday toxins, our understanding of the body continues to expand in amazing and life-saving ways. But that doesn’t…
What compels a person to set out on a journey toward improving their health? Often, it is not a major health crisis but a collection of symptoms that have accumulated over time. Are Supplements Alone Enough? It is basic human nature that when we make a change, we want to experience positive results as…
Advancements in manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, transportation, and technology have improved the quality of life for many in modern society, but these leaps forward often come at a cost. Rapidly changing technology allows for little understanding of possible long-term consequences to individuals and their environments as newer products replace predecessors ever more rapidly. While we enjoy eating…
Getting Our Heads in the Game People often disregard headaches because they are common and usually temporary. However, about 300 million people suffer from chronic headaches or migraines worldwide, enduring frequent and severe pain. Migraines, affecting around 100 million people, are a more intense neurological condition. Both conditions are more prevalent in women. Among those…
Neuroinflammation Is All Around Us In the busy modern world, it’s common to hear someone in a scatterbrained moment mutter, “I am so ADHD today.” While the majority of people saying such things do not actually have a diagnosis for ADHD, it is an increasingly common disorder. Or perhaps you have heard a person suffering…
The Mental State of Society By the numbers, there is no doubt that mental health disorders are reaching critical rates both within the US and globally. Johns Hopkins reports that 26% of adult Americans suffer from a diagnosable mental health disorder in a given year. Depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia are some…
The American Paradigm of Aging In every culture, the concept of aging carries certain expectations and ideas, including generally accepted changes within the body. Essentially, what is common is considered normal. The American experience has taught us that it is normal to experience a myriad of age-related changes, including: Deficits in our hearing and eyesight…