We Love Solving Medical Mysteries.
This category includes those of you who either have a clear diagnosis but aren’t satisfied with the conventional treatment options, or those of you who have a problem that nobody can seem to figure out. If you’ve seen multiple doctors and nobody knows what to do with you, or if you’re looking to understand why you developed your condition in the first place, we can help. Our goal is to pull the rug out from underneath the disease process. We do a lot of work in this area and we may be able to help bring clarity to your diagnostic quandary.
In our opinion, most chronic diseases can be distilled down to three main causes or imbalances that we will try and root out.
1. Infections and Microbiome considerations.
In its simplest form, this pertains to the presence of pathogenic organisms somewhere in or on your body. Your microbiome is made up of the parts of you that are you, and the parts of you that are not you – the bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites, etc that are either working with you, or trying to use you for their own good. The pathogenic organisms can produce classic infectious symptoms (like Mono, or Lyme) or subtler low grade symptoms that either come and go or persist (also like Mono and Lyme). Some organisms are never cleared and can relapse. Some are cleared, but produce more of a hit and run scenario – the virus is gone, but they may have triggered an autoimmune disease or a leaky gut before they left. We will work to identify which of these organisms we need to bring into check, and encourage the thriving of the healthy ones. We utilize lab testing in this arena.
In our opinion, most chronic diseases can be distilled down to three main causes or imbalances that we will try and root out.
1. Infections and Microbiome considerations.
In its simplest form, this pertains to the presence of pathogenic organisms somewhere in or on your body. Your microbiome is made up of the parts of you that are you, and the parts of you that are not you – the bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites, etc that are either working with you, or trying to use you for their own good. The pathogenic organisms can produce classic infectious symptoms (like Mono, or Lyme) or subtler low grade symptoms that either come and go or persist (also like Mono and Lyme). Some organisms are never cleared and can relapse. Some are cleared, but produce more of a hit and run scenario – the virus is gone, but they may have triggered an autoimmune disease or a leaky gut before they left. We will work to identify which of these organisms we need to bring into check, and encourage the thriving of the healthy ones. We utilize lab testing in this arena.
2. Too many toxins and not enough nutrients.
In simple terms, a nutrient is a substance that is needed by some part of the body’s machinery in order to function. A toxin on the other hand, is something that poisons or blocks some element of the body’s machinery. Unfortunately, there is nowhere on our planet that is completely free from pollution, and an argument can be made that unsustainable agricultural practices have resulted in nutrient depleted foods.
Toxins take many forms – heavy metals like lead, cadmium, mercury; pesticides and herbicides; plastics and plasticizers; cleaning products; solvents, radon, in-laws… even things needed for life like water or carbohydrates can be toxic at certain doses.
When we suspect toxins as a relevant piece of your puzzle, we can test for both adequate levels of essential nutrients and vitamins as well as many types of toxins using blood or urine. We then work to correct the imbalances.
Trauma and stress are terms that in can be used interchangeably and they can take many forms. We tend to think about mental and emotional stress here, which is true, however a sunburn can be a stress or trauma to the body, as can a car accident or being abused over the course of a lifetime.
Whether we’re talking about the acute effects of a physical trauma, or the long term effects of an emotionally charged one, both can create an internal hormonal milieu in the body that suppresses the immune system and creates a more inflammatory state, thereby making you more susceptible to pillars 1 and 2 mentioned above.
If we suspect stress or trauma are part of your problem, we may test for some of those hormone changes in the body in order to restore a healthier more resilient internal milieu.
Trauma and stress are terms that in can be used interchangeably and they can take many forms. We tend to think about mental and emotional stress here, which is true, however a sunburn can be a stress or trauma to the body, as can a car accident or being abused over the course of a lifetime.
Whether we’re talking about the acute effects of a physical trauma, or the long term effects of an emotionally charged one, both can create an internal hormonal milieu in the body that suppresses the immune system and creates a more inflammatory state, thereby making you more susceptible to pillars 1 and 2 mentioned above.
If we suspect stress or trauma are part of your problem, we may test for some of those hormone changes in the body in order to restore a healthier more resilient internal milieu.
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