I have always felt passionate about
helping my patients to be healthy.

As a chiropractor, I knew that proper spinal function was important for the body to be healthy. Spinal problems interfered with the brains ability to communicate with the rest of the body. But I also knew that many other problems affected health and interfered with healing. In fact, the more I studied health and disease; the more I became aware of all the potential problems that could affect a patient. The list continued to grow; nutritional deficiencies, environmental toxins, hormonal imbalances, bacteria, virus, parasites, free radicals, allergens, heavy metals, and even emotional stress.

Like my colleagues and other types of doctors, I was not trained to assess and determine what was really wrong with many patients. So unfortunately treatment involved a fair amount of guess work. A patient was given a nutrient, a botanical, or referred for a prescription drug, when I had no way of knowing what was exactly what they needed. And often the treatment affected the symptom, but not the underlying cause. The result- many chronic conditions continued to be just that, chronic.

The problem when you only cover up a symptom is that the real condition continues to exist and usually gets worse. If the smoke detector in your home suddenly went off, and you merely took it off the wall and removed the battery, but never considered that there may be a fire, you might be very sorry. This is often what we do with both natural therapies and drugs.

Several years ago I attended a class in functional medicine. The underlying principle was illness and disease is the result of one or more physiological or biochemical dysfunctions. Until we determine which one a patient has, it makes little sense to treat them. The class taught new testing methods using blood, urine, stool, and saliva to investigate what is really wrong with a patient. These tests were not the old standard blood tests that I and other doctors had been performing for years, but new ones that look at the underlying cause.

I realized that functional medicine was what was missing in my ability to really examine and help a patient. I enrolled in a functional medicine certification program, and eventually tested and received my certificate in functional medicine. Besides continuing to learn, I now teach functional medicine lab testing to other physicians.

In my classes that I have attended in different parts of the country, I have been fortunate to meet other physicians (MD’s, DO’s, and DC’s) who also have advanced studies in functional medicine. This has allowed me to benefit from their expertise and has given me additional resources to pool together on difficult cases.

Real health care must look at the individual and what is truely wrong with that person. Most of what is done is disease care, giving the patient a drug or nutrient based on a symptom or condition, and never really knowing what is the cause.

An example would be osteoporosis, a condition where the bones become thin and weak. The usual treatment is to give calcium, vitamin D and possibly estrogen (of questionable safety). But if 3 women come into my office with osteoporosis, it could be 3 totally different conditions. One many have nutritional deficiencies, one may have hormonal imbalances, and one may have digestive issues such as celiac disease. If all 3 are treated with the same nutrients, one gets better, the other 2 get worse. But if we did the proper tests, we could treat each one for their unique underlying causes.

Another example would be intestinal issues. Many patients tell me they have Candida, a yeast condition. They feel it causes their digestive issues, fatigue, joint problems, and mental fog. Their diagnosis is made solely based on their symptoms. Often they have self treated or been treated by a physician with limited success. But many other conditions can cause the same symptoms. By doing the proper tests, not only do we discover if it is in fact Candida (which it often is not), but we can retest to make sure we have eliminated it.

People everywhere have health conditions that are affecting the quality of their lives. They seek out answers, they see doctors, they search on the internet, and they try alternative therapies. Many are desperate. I consult with patients in different parts of the country and Canada who feel they have tried everything. My desire is to give them hope, real hope based on discovering and treating the real cause.

I have a passionate desire to help you get well and stay well by offering you genuine health care. Together, let’s learn what is the real cause of your illness, instead of learning to accept it.

Everything possible will be done to help you attain your goal of feeling good.