I am a generalist physician and see people with a wide array of symptoms and diagnoses. The most common conditions which present include chronic or recurrent digestive disorders of all types, autoimmune disorders, thyroid conditions, chronic infections, neurological disorders including headache, neuropathies, and multiple sclerosis, among many others. I also see people who are essentially well, but want help steering a course for optimum health and longevity.
Yes, I do. A substantial percentage of my patients have had Lyme disease, want to know if they have had Lyme disease, or think they have Lyme disease. I look at this through a broad diagnostic lens and draw from a broad therapeutic base.
I have no standard approach. Each patient is considered individually. If the patient’s history is chronic, I depart from the basic platform of Integrative Functional Medicine first.
When the body’s native detoxification processes are supported naturally, micronutrient imbalances rectified, the gut ecology optimized, hormones balanced, and inflammation treated as naturally as possible, the body has enormous self-correcting mechanisms. Diet, exercises, centering meditation and other techniques for stress reduction all come in to play. I want to see where you can bring yourself within the first few weeks before more specific treatment is introduced in most cases. That having been said, when a patient walked in with a new onset Bell’s palsy several days following a tick bite, I sent my office down the street to pick up Bicillin from the pharmacy so we could start it then and there. The patient recovered full facial nerve function in a matter of a very few weeks.
I am a consultative physician and do not have the infrastructure to take on new patients as primary care patients. However, some patients see me more often than their primary care doctors, at least in the beginning months of our work together.
Absolutely. The interpretation of standard labs is critical to my analysis and yields a wealth of insight into multiple organ systems. Labs are only drawn in the office if being sent to a specialty lab, such as for tick-borne disease testing. I may recommend additional take-home lab testing, such as through saliva, urine, or stool, for special assessments.
Eat whole foods, not too much, not too little. Eat slowly, chew well, and enjoy your food. That having been said, the right diet for a given person depends upon their metabolic type, their current health profile, risk factors, and time of life. On the links page, you will find links for a couple of widely varying philosophies of diet, each of which has their place.