Functional Medicine
My Story:
Most of us start in functional medicine because we know what it’s like to feel bad. When I found what worked for me I wanted to share it with others.
As long as I can remember I suffered from bloating, IBS and anxiety. As a kid I would constantly have a stomach ache and suffered from ear infections. Fast forward to when I attended Graduate school, my stress was high and gut symptoms were exacerbated. This is when I started diving into nutrition. I was researching inflammatory foods and the impact this had on my health. After removing a lot of these foods I started feeling better. I didn’t feel 100%, but things improved and this piqued my interest even more.
Later on, after I had my son I really started to feel imbalanced. The lack of sleep and feeling depleted was really weighing on me. I was gaining weight, developing cystic acne and felt like I was crawling out of my skin. I can remember canceling events because my skin was so inflamed.
Not only did I feel bad on the inside, I was so insecure about how I looked on the outside too. Through functional medicine and testing, I soon found out I was dealing with estrogen dominance, high testosterone and a candida gut infection that was contributing to a lot of my symptoms.
I took action with functional lab testing and worked on my gut, spent time on stress management and eliminated foods that were contributing to my imbalances.
My skin soon cleared, I felt energized, lost weight, and my gut symptoms started to melt away.
Functional medicine changed my life. It’s the reason why I spend most days in the trenches guiding patients to health. There is so much disconnection in healthcare today. Patients often feel like a number. I really focus on guiding my patients with love and integrity. The biggest advice I can give anyone looking to better their health is to be open. I can help guide you, but it’s up to you to take action on the things needed to be done to get there.
What is Functional Medicine
- Functional medicine is designed to promote health. We try to prevent disease from occurring in the first place and when it does, we seek to reverse it by investigating the underlying cause. You can think of functional medicine clinicians as health detectives. If a clinician can identify and address the root cause of a problem, patients aren’t just receiving a band-aid to their problem.
- Patient centered. In functional medicine patients are encouraged to engage and play an active role in their treatment.
- We don’t technically treat diseases. We treat patients, and the underlying patterns that give rise to disease. We recognize that each patient is unique, and that not everyone is a one-size fits all approach. Even patients with the same condition may have a different treatment plan.
- Functional medicine is holistic vs. specialized. It treats the body as an interconnected whole. We recognize that to treat one part, the other parts should be considered because they are connected.
- Functional medicine is integrative, combining the best holistic treatments. We typically start out working with diet, lifestyle, and behavior modifications, nutritional supplements, and botanicals.
- Treatments are safe and have mild or no side effects. We often find unrelated complaints often improve spontaneously.
- Evidence-based. Functional medicine is based on the latest research from peer-reviewed medical journals, and uncorrupted by corporate and political interests
Who Do We See in Our Practice?
We work with patients who have a wide range of health concerns and conditions. Some of the health concerns we commonly see in our practice include but are not limited to gastrointestinal disorders, autoimmune conditions, nutrient deficiencies, food allergies, leaky gut, hormonal imbalance, blood sugar dysregulation and thyroid conditions. Patients who thrive under care:
- Are willing to adapt to diet and lifestyle recommendations that help them get healthy and see results.
- Are sick and tired of being sick and tired and don’t want to rely on medications.
- Are interested in getting to the root cause of a health symptom instead of using band aid solutions.
- Are excited to get their health back and willing to go the extra mile.
New Patient Process:
As a new patient, your treatment is broken into three phases:
- The Initial Consult
- The Case Review
- Ongoing Treatment
This is described in more detail below.
Drs. Chris & Krystal Hohn
Step #1 - Initial Consult
The Initial consultation is the first step for all new patients.
During this 30-minute appointment, Dr. Krystal will determine which lab tests to order for your Case Review, based on your chief complaints and your history.
This appointment has two purposes: to make sure that we have all of the information needed to gain a comprehensive understanding of the many factors affecting your health and to give you a head start on your treatment.
The exact lab testing ordered after the Initial Consult depends on your individual circumstances, but may include:
- A comprehensive blood chemistry panel. This is the single most efficient, effective and affordable tool for quickly evaluating your health. It screens for a wide range of conditions, including several types of anemia; gut, viral and bacterial infections; insulin resistance and blood sugar dysregulation; liver and kidney issues; and thyroid and adrenal problems. It offers important clues for how to structure and focus your treatment to get the best results. It also provides a baseline of biomarkers that can be used to objectively track the progress of your treatment over time. There are additional blood tests for specific conditions, such as high cholesterol, hypothyroidism, autoimmune disease and gluten sensitivity.
- Advanced stool testing to screen for intestinal health, leaky gut, parasites, fungal overgrowth, bacterial infections, intestinal inflammation, dysbiosis and a deficiency of beneficial gut bacteria.
- Urine hormone testing for adrenal and sex hormone status.
Other tests may be ordered, depending on your case, which can identify other triggers like mold, heavy metal toxicity and more.
Prior to your Initial Consult, Dr. Krystal will provide you with health history paperwork to complete. It is important that you spend time and energy completing these intake forms, as they are vital in helping us understand your case. This paperwork includes:
- A detailed health and medical history questionnaire.
- A survey of your chief complaints and most important health goals.
- An assessment of your most troubling and frequently experienced symptoms.
- A diet survey and questionnaire.
- A survey of your current supplements and medications.
Once we’ve received your lab results, you will move on to Step 2: The Case Review Report. This typically occurs 30-60 days after the Initial Consultation. It can also be sooner than that. This depends on how quickly you complete your labs and the lab company. Some of the labs we use can take up to 4 weeks to deliver the results to us after receiving your sample. While you wait for your lab results to come back, you will be getting organized with diet and getting things in order for your healing journey. Dr. Krystal will walk you through this because it is different for everyone.
When you become a patient, we will also provide you with a specific nutritional program to help start the healing process immediately by lowering inflammation, removing triggers (foods, etc.), and lowering your toxin load. You will also be given a specific supplement protocol to get you started if needed.
We can also get you scheduled for your Case Review Appointment so you have an appt ready when your tests come in. We do our best to keep this as smooth and efficient as possible.
To maximize your time during your Initial Visit and enhance your quality of care, please upload any previous labs for the past year at least five business days before your Initial Visit. This will allow Dr. Krystal ample time to briefly review the data before you meet with her.
We cannot guarantee that Dr. Krystal will have time to review your documentation fully. This is used specifically to see what has been going on in your health and to see what future testing may be necessary. THIS VISIT IS NOT A LAB REVIEW. It is used as a tool.
Step #2 - Case Review
The Case Review Consultation is a 60-minute appointment.
Prior to the Case Review, Dr. Krystal will review the results from the labs that were ordered along with your Case Review paperwork, medical history, diet and supplement survey, assessment forms and relevant prior lab work. Then she will create a Report of Findings, which is broken into three parts:
- An outline of the suggested treatment plan, including dietary, supplement and lifestyle recommendations.
- During your Case Report, Dr. Krystal will present the Report of Findings as well as your treatment plan. She will also review all of your test results with you, and answer any questions you have about the findings or the treatment plan.
Step #3 - Ongoing Treatment
After completing the initial consult and the case review, the next phase of care is ongoing treatment.
Ongoing treatment is support that is extended over time. Our goal is to get you to be able to stay where you are once you have reached your health goals, and only to meet with us to check in and make sure you are doing well. In some cases, the aim could be to manage symptoms, prevent relapses, or simply improve your quality of life. For other conditions, it might be to achieve remission or control your condition as much as possible. We want you to live a normal, healthy life!
Our team provides you with ongoing support to help with:
- Adjusting your food plan as needed
- Retesting as needed, or adding new testing
- Maintaining proper supplement protocol needed