Functional Medicine Articles
How medicine – conventional and alternative – is failing autoimmune patients
With the media focus on cancer and heart disease, most people don't know we are living in the midst of an autoimmune epidemic. Some shocking stats: The American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association (AARDA) estimates up to 50 million Americans have an autoimmune...
Heartburn is a red flag for serious health risks
When a patient complains of subtle bloating and heartburn, typically doctors diagnose them with high stomach acid and prescribe acid-blockers. However, reducing stomach acid frequently compounds the problem because in many cases the issue isn't high, but low stomach...
Probiotics are not the magic bullet we think they are
We're led to believe there are good and bad bacteria, and that if you take good bacteria then it will support your gut health. However, we now know probiotics have a completely different effects from one person to the next. This is going to change how they are used in...
One-size-fits-all protocols fail many patients with gut symptoms
Gastrointestinal problems are some of the most common complaints functional medicine practitioners face from new patients. However, many practitioners treat the gut with a one-size-fits-all protocol — probiotics, digestive enzymes, gut supplements, and a gut-healing...
Patients’ chronic anxiety, sleep issues, and hyper sensitivity often linked to brain inflammation
Many of our patients today suffer from chronic anxiety and nervousness. They also may be overly sensitive to quick movements or motions (perhaps they have to close their eyes during the roller coaster ad at the start of a movie), light, sounds, crowds, emotions, and...
Brain fog in your patients is a red flag symptom
Do you or your patients ever suffer from brain fog, that feeling like you’re disconnected from the world, moving in a daze, and slow to process information? If so, you should take this symptom very seriously as it’s one of the earliest signs of neurodegeneration, or...
Brain inflammation underlies chronic depression
Traditional treatment for chronic depression typically involves medications that impact brain neurotransmitters — brain chemicals responsible for mood, motivation, behavior, and mental activity. However, many patients with depression do not respond well to...
How Einstein’s brain revolutionized our understanding of common brain-based symptoms and disorders
For many years we thought brain function was only about neurons, synapses, and neurotransmitters. However, recent developments in neuroscience have shown us how the brain's immune cells, which outnumber neurons 10 to 1, are vital to how well the brain functions. We...
How Brain Inflammation Impacts Childhood Development
We are facing an explosion of childhood development disorders these days. The rates of ADD, ADHD, autism, and dyslexia continue to mushroom, and kids today are increasingly having a hard time maintaining healthy brain function. Research shows much of this is due to...