Autoimmune Diseases and Inflammatory/ Atopic Disorders
- Celiac disease
- Inflammatory bowel disease (ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease)
- Juvenile inflammatory arthritis
- Thyroid issues (like Hashimotos’s disease)
- Type 1 diabetes
- Multiple sclerosis
- Allergies (food allergies, environmental allergies)
- Asthma
- Eczema/ atopic dermatitis
There has been a significant rise in autoimmune disease and diseases caused by an overactive immune response (e.g. asthma and allergies) among all people but particularly among children. The development of autoimmune disease is closely related to gut health, but each patient has unique stressors that triggered development of autoimmune disease. For example, it could be mental stress that caused increased intestinal permeability (aka leaky gut), or it could be imbalance of bacteria in the gut (dysbiosis), chronic infection (especially gut infections), food intolerances or vitamin deficiencies.
Medford Functional Medicine can identify the underlying cause(s) of the autoimmune condition or atopic condition and control or reverse the disease rather than being dependent on immune suppressing medications. In cases where Medford Functional Medicine cannot reverse the disease, we can usually drastically improve symptoms and reduce the amount of medication needed to treat the condition.
Cardiovascular and Metabolic Issues
- Heart disease
- High cholesterol
- Hypertension/ high blood pressure
- Sleep apnea
- Type 2 diabetes
Cardiovascular and metabolic diseases are among the most commonly treated chronic diseases in the United States. Heart disease continues to be the number one cause of death in the United States. Rates of diabetes, high blood pressure and sleep apnea continue to rise even in children.
For example, tongue tie and jaw malformations, even in adults, can contribute to sleep apnea and are often unnoticed when physicians focus on obesity and neck girth alone when assessing patients with sleep disordered breathing. Addressing those issues along with dietary and lifestyle changes to address metabolism can help relieve symptoms of sleep apnea. Through lifestyle changes and addressing underlying inflammation, Medford Functional Medicine can address the root causes of your disease and often reverse your disease.
Chronic or Recurrent Infections
- Chronic Lyme disease
- Chronic or recurrent urinary tract infections (UTIs)
- Chronic viral infections
- Parasitic infections
- Recurrent ear infections
As with autoimmune disease, chronic or recurrent infections are a sign of an immune system that is not working well. Instead of being in overdrive like in allergies or autoimmune conditions, the immune system is not mounting a strong enough immune response.
The development of immune dysregulation is closely related to gut health, but each person has a different set of stressors that compromise their immune system. For example, mental stress can cause increased intestinal permeability (aka leaky gut) in some people, or the trigger could be dysbiosis, which is an imbalance of bacteria in the gut. Chronic infections (especially gut infections), food intolerances or vitamin deficiencies are a few other factors that can also lead to a compromised immune system. There are many other potential causes that we can look into together.
Medford Functional Medicine can identify the underlying cause(s) of the immune dysfunction and chronic infection and restore your immune health rather than just treat each infection with antibiotics.
Digestive Issues
- Abdominal pain
- Constipation
- Diarrhea
- Irritable bowel syndrome
- Food sensitivities
- Reflux
- Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO)
- Small intestinal fungal overgrowth (SIFO)
Gut health is tied to most chronic conditions either due to gut inflammation, due to the impact the gut has on the immune system or as a direct result of our gut microbiome. Our gut is tied to many diseases through the gut-brain axis, gut-skin axis, gut-lung axis, and gut-immune axis, just to name a few. That’s one reason why it is so important to figure out why you’re having issues related to your gut.
There are many underlying root causes that can be solved with functional medicine. A few common tests we may start with are assessing for dysbiosis (an imbalance of good and bad bacteria in your gut), small intestinal bacterial or fungal overgrowth, increased intestinal permeability (aka leaky gut), and infections in your stomach or intestines. All of these can cause significant disease in the gut and also cause symptoms outside of your gut. We don’t necessary need to do all of that testing if making dietary and lifestyle changes alone solves your issue.
Endocrine and Hormonal Issues
- Adrenal dysfunction/ hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis dysfunction (HPA-D)
- Diabetes
- Female hormone dysregulation (including delayed puberty and fertility challenges)
- Insulin resistance
- Hormone imbalances (adrenal hormones, estrogen, testosterone)
- Low testosterone
- Thyroid problems
Due to many different issues in modern life, endocrine and hormonal disorders are becoming very common. Environmental and food toxins, estrogenic compounds in our food and plastics, inflammatory foods, nutrient deficiencies and stress are just a few of the factors that could be causing hormone disruption.
For example, for a girl with delayed puberty due to hormone disruption, addressing nutrient deficiencies such as iron and Vitamin A deficiency may be enough to restore hormone balance. Combining that with other lifestyle changes such as elimination of potent food toxins like industrial seed oils can also work synergistically with addressing nutritional deficiencies.
In cases where dietary change is not enough, there are many other potential root causes that we can work on together to solve her issue. By finding and addressing the root cause, Medford Functional Medicine can often restore normal hormone production, function and sensitivity.
Neurologic / Neurodevelopmental/Behavioral/ Mental Health Issues
- ADHD
- Anxiety
- Autism spectrum disorder
- Brain fog
- Chronic fatigue
- Cognitive decline
- Depression
- Insomnia
Recently, it has been discovered that many mental health disorders are due to neuroinflammation. Through the gut-brain axis, brain inflammation is often tied to gut inflammation. We have as many nerve cells in our gut as we do in our spine.
In fact, the gut is often referred to as the “second brain” because there are so many neurons –more than 100 million neurons in our gut which is even more neurons than in our spine –and so many neurotransmitters in our gut. Over 90% of the serotonin in our body is found in our gut. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that plays a significant role in mental health, especially depression.
Aside from gut inflammation, there are other root causes of neurologic issues such as nutrient deficiencies, food toxins, heavy metals, environmental toxins, mold-related illness and mitochondrial dysfunction. These are a few of the potential causes we might assess for and treat through diet, nutritional support or other specific protocols (e.g. testing for small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, detoxification of heavy metals, etc) at Medford Functional Medicine.
Skin Issues
- Acne
- Eczema
- Psoriasis
- Rosacea
Through the gut-skin axis, we have discovered that skin symptoms are usually a reflection of something occurring in the gut. For example, studies have shown that the majority of patients with rosacea have small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO). Treating the SIBO resolves the rosacea. Many patients with eczema have dysbiosis or increased intestinal permeability (aka leaky gut). Again, resolving the root cause resolves the skin symptoms as well.
For patients presenting with skin symptoms, Medford Functional Medicine often recommends gastroenterology testing to assess for gut issues as well as lab work assessing for nutrient deficiencies that can cause skin problems as well. By identifying and treating the root cause, we can resolve the skin issue through lifestyle changes or treatment protocols.