habits that are not serving her. She educates Ella on underlying causes that may be triggering inflammation and autoimmunity in her body. They carefully review Ella history and nutrition, talk about Ella’s stressors and what brings her joy.
Dr. Integrative shows Ella how to use the 4-7-8 breath to cope with stress and prevent panic attacks, and the HeartMath biofeedback app to influence her physiology and stress response, cognitive performance and emotional states each day. They practice guided imagery and a daily meditation that Ella can access on her phone and discuss the role these evidence-based practices have in alleviating anxiety.
The doctor orders a complete thyroid hormone lab panel, evaluates key nutrients and gut health. They discuss key pillars of health and how they affect different systems in our body. Ella agrees to adopt a gluten-free dietary plan, as this has been demonstrated to reduce thyroid autoimmunity. She and her doctor talk about getting sufficient selenium, vitamin D and iodine, among other key nutrients for thyroid function.
Ella’s doctor and health coach create a nutritional plan for her based on these findings, as well as an exercise regimen that involves spending time in nature hiking with friends and dancing – both of which bring her joy. Her health coach provides regular support, and within a few months, Ella’s autoimmunity against her thyroid significantly decreases.
Her doctor starts a low dose of an additional hormone, T3 thyroid hormone, to add to the T4, given ongoing mild depression and fatigue. Her energy and depression improve on this combination.
Dr. Integrative discusses sleep hygiene with Ella, and comes up with a routine she can adhere to with methods for winding down and parameters around checking work email and exercising too close to bed time. Ella is able to decrease her Ambien use and stops using it after a month of this new regimen. Breathing techniques allow Ella to minimize panic attacks. Using these new skills, she’s eventually able to come off Xanax!
She stays on Lexapro for a few more months, slowly tapering it off with the close guidance and assessment as she settles into her new routine. She sees a therapist and does EFT tapping to help resolve stressors and prior traumas that continue to hold her back.
As a result of this journey, Ella is now off of medications, apart from thyroid hormone treatment, she has more energy than she has had in years, she feels vibrant, alive, at her ideal weight, and free of the limiting beliefs and worries she had when she was in the anxious, constricted state. She has not only overcome panic associated with public speaking, but she now thrives and enjoys the challenge. As a result, she gets promoted and her colleagues start asking her for public speaking advice.
Now, a question for you: Which Ella would you prefer to be, the one pre or post the wake-up call?
Conditions or symptoms are often treated separately, problem by problem, rather than considering them as multiple manifestations of the same root cause. A functional medicine provider seeks to find the cause(s) of pathophysiology responsible for symptoms and conditions that we have and addresses these directly. An integrative medicine provider combines evidence-based modalities from conventional and complementary approaches, to create a customized plan, based on patient and condition factors, that will effectively deal with the given condition.
When determining which approach is best suited to your needs, consider your values, your health and life goals.