Heal Your Autoimmune Condition with Functional Medicine

Have you been told that if you have an autoimmune condition, your only option is to manage the symptoms with medications and hope for the best? Are you stuck with fatigue, pain, and a life you didn’t sign up for?

In reality, you can get to the root of why you feel so bad, begin to heal your body in non-invasive and natural ways and embrace a new life that’s full of health, energy, and vitality.

Unlike conventional medicine, our Functional Medicine approach focuses on getting to the root causes of disease.

What is Functional Medicine?

Simply put, functional medicine focuses on finding and healing the root causes of your chronic illness and looks at your health with the whole person in mind.

At Integrative Health Matters, we are constantly looking for the deeper underlying reasons why you don’t feel well. We look at your whole health history to find the source of what’s causing your symptoms and what triggered your autoimmune condition in the first place. And, functional medicine doctors know what needs to be done for your body to heal safely (so you finally start feeling better).

Autoimmune Conditions and Functional Medicine.

A functional medicine doctor treats autoimmune disease differently than conventional medicine. Instead of only using medications to manipulate the immune system and mask the symptoms, we are focused on getting to the root cause and reversing the process of autoimmunity.

There are several common things that trigger autoimmune conditions (regardless of which condition you may have). It may be easier than you think to discover which ones are making you feel so bad.

The five most common root causes are:

• A Leaky Gut or Intestinal Permeability
• Exposures to Toxins
• Chronic Infections
• Food Sensitivities
• Stress

And, although medications may be a necessary and important part of your treatment plan, they’re not the only solution for helping you feel your best.

Functional medicine is focused heavily on each individual’s food and lifestyle intervention needs. But it also places great emphasis on whole-person healing and addresses your spiritual and emotional health as well.

“When I found Integrative Health Matters, I was a year into what I would later discover — with their help — was Lyme Disease. They truly do care for their patients and are more than happy to discuss and brainstorm with them rather than just throw pills at the problem. I am so grateful for their continued support through my treatment, they truly are invaluable.”

-Stephanie Armstrong, IHM Patient

The Functional Medicine 4-R Approach

1. Remove – Triggers & Toxins. Our IHM Providers will perform specialized testing to determine your food triggers, heavy metal levels, hormone imbalances, etc. Our health coaches will then help you to remove those triggers and detox your body.
2. Replenish – Nutrients & Energy. Almost all of our patients have Leaky Gut which makes you susceptible to nutrient deficiencies and causes most Autoimmune Diseases. Our Health Coaches will help you implement a meal plan full of organic whole fruits and vegetables and the nutrients that your body needs to replenish. You will also be given suggested vitamins, probiotics, and supplements for your optimal healing.
3. Repair – Gut & Tissues. By removing your triggers, replenishing the nutrients your body is missing, eliminating toxins, and supplementing with what your body needs- your leaky gut can be healed.
4. Reconnect – Yourself, Food, Family & Community. Your mental health is a key point to your physical healing. Managing your stress, sleep, and thinking is key to getting your body back on track.

Common Autoimmune Symptoms

• Headaches
• Anxiety
• Brain fog
• Attention deficit problems
• Body rashes, red bumps on facial skin and red flaking skin
• Acne
• Rosacea
• Eczema
• Psoriasis
• Dermatitis
• Allergies
• Asthma
• Dry mouth
• Frequent colds
• Thyroid issues that could point to Hashimoto’s disease (underactive thyroid) or Graves disease (overactive thyroid)
• Fatigue or hyperactivity
• Weight gain or loss
• A general feeling of malaise
• Anxiety
• Muscle pain and weakness
• Stiffness and pain (could suggest rheumatoid arthritis or fibromyalgia symptoms)
• Feeling “wired and tired”
• Exhaustion
• Digestive tract upset may indicate irritable bowel disease
• Stomach cramping
• Gas
• Bloated stomach
• Diarrhea
• Constipation

If you have any of these symptoms on a regular basis, please don’t ignore them, hoping they’re nothing serious or that they’ll just go away on their own.

When you treat your autoimmune disease with functional medicine, you can slow the progression of your condition and have fewer symptoms so your body can heal.

We’d love to see your health improve and get back to enjoying your life again.

Schedule your free 15-minute consultation today!