Many functional medicine practitioners assume that when patients stop caring after two or three visits, the problem is non-compliance, financial limitations, or a lack of commitment. In reality, those may only be symptoms. A more common issue is that patients never fully understood the journey ahead. When every follow-up appointment, supplement recommendation, laboratory test, and […]
She lost 40 pounds and everyone thinks it’s amazing. And I get it. She’s been fighting her weight for years and is tired of trying. She’s exhausted with the whole thing. She’s been told to eat less and exercise more so many times that she stopped believing that was the answer. So she said yes
GLP-1 Side Effects: What Every Functional Medicine Practitioner Must Know Read More »
Let me tell you about a practitioner I worked with who walked away from conventional medicine and decided to start her own practice. She had a furnished office, zero patients, and one very important decision already made. Within two months, she had a full waiting list. No massive marketing budget. No years of patient relationships
If you’ve ever had a patient who was treated for H. pylori – more than once, sometimes three or four times – and it just keeps coming back, you’ll want to keep reading. Because the answer is almost never ‘they need another round of antibiotics.’ And it’s almost never because of patient non-compliance. In my
What do you do when your restless leg protocol doesn’t work? That’s the question I found myself asking after a patient came back to me for the third time – still unable to sleep, still getting up every night to walk around, still miserable after 20 years of restless legs that no one had been
When Restless Legs Won’t Respond: The Iron-Brain Connection Most Practitioners Miss Read More »
What causes panic attacks when the brain isn’t the problem? That’s the question I found myself asking after meeting a 28-year-old patient who was absolutely convinced her thyroid was behind everything. The panic attacks, the chronic anxiety, the feeling that her body was constantly “fighting something”—she’d traced it all back to her thyroid. She’d been
When Panic Attacks Start in the Gut: A Clinical Thinking Case Study Read More »
She looked perfect on paper. Impeccable diet. Physically fit. Active. Great at self-care. Owned her own business. No history of anxiety, emotional issues, or anything that would suggest she’d walk into my office and say what she said. “I can’t stop crying. I can’t think. I’m exhausted. Something is wrong, and I don’t know what
The Cracked Tooth Case: What Happens When the Obvious Answer Is Wrong Read More »
2025 humbled me. I didn’t hit my goals, lost most of my staff, and spent the year chasing dopamine hits instead of doing the deep work. If you’ve felt scattered, stuck, or exhausted this year, you’re not alone. Here are the five lessons that kicked my butt – and what I’m taking into 2026. Lesson
The Myth of the “Quick Question” If you’ve been in practice for more than about five minutes, you’ve heard this line: “Hey doc, can I ask you one quick question real fast?” It sounds innocent. It sounds small. And if you’re like most practitioners, your heart is in the right place. You genuinely want to
Why “Quick Questions” Are Costing You More Than You Think Read More »
By Ronda Nelson If you’ve been practicing for more than five minutes, you’ve probably had at least one younger woman walk into your clinic swearing she’s in perimenopause. She’s 30-something, overwhelmed, exhausted, and absolutely convinced her hormones are “shutting down.” And friend… this is where my sass starts coming out. Because of this narrative? It’s
The Perimenopause Myth: Why 30-Year-Old Women Are Being Misled Read More »
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