A root-cause approach in Wooster: proper testing, a full history, and a plan built around what is actually driving how you feel, rather than managing the symptom and hoping.
Functional medicine asks a different question. Instead of naming the symptom and matching it to a prescription, it asks why the symptom is there at all, and looks upstream at digestion, blood sugar, thyroid, hormones, sleep, stress and nutrition. It leans on proper testing rather than guesswork, and the plan that comes out of it is usually food, sleep, movement and targeted support rather than something you take forever.
Most people who come to us for this have already been told they are fine. Bloodwork normal, nothing to report, come back if it gets worse. They are not fine, and they know it. Here is what this approach actually involves, who it suits, and what it cannot do.
It is a way of working, not a machine or a single protocol. The starting point is a long conversation: what changed, when it changed, what makes it better or worse, what you eat, how you sleep, what your stress actually looks like week to week. That history does more diagnostic work than most people expect, and it is the part conventional appointments rarely have time for.
From there we test rather than guess. Standard bloodwork is often read against a range wide enough to call almost anyone normal, so we look at where you sit within it and at markers that a routine panel skips. The point is to find something specific to work on, not to collect data.
Then the plan. It is usually unglamorous: what you eat and when, sleep, movement, and targeted nutritional support where testing justifies it. We review, re-test where it makes sense, and adjust. This is a process over months, not a single visit with an answer at the end of it.
It is not a replacement for your doctor, and we will not ask you to stop anything they have prescribed. That conversation is theirs and yours. It is not a diagnosis of disease, and it is not an alternative to urgent medical care: chest pain, sudden severe symptoms, or anything acute needs a physician, and we will say so and help you get there. It also is not a shortcut. If you are looking for something to take so nothing else has to change, this is the wrong door.
Because the same person is often in front of us for both reasons. Someone whose back keeps flaring is frequently also not sleeping, running on sugar and coffee, and carrying inflammation that makes every other thing slower to settle. Working on the structural side while ignoring all of that means fighting the same fire twice. The two sit together naturally.
Functional medicine and the testing that goes with it are usually not covered by insurance, and we would rather you heard that from us at the start than discovered it later. We cannot promise a specific outcome. What we can promise is that we will tell you honestly if we do not think we are the right people for what you are dealing with.
No surprises, and nothing you have not agreed to.
Your first visit starts with history and questions, before any plan is made.
We look at the full picture and work out whether this is something we can help with, or something that belongs with another provider.
You hear what we found, what we would suggest, and roughly how long before you should expect to notice a change.
Most people start with a short course of visits and taper as things settle and daily activity gets easier.
New patients are welcome. Come as you are, we will take it from there.
Tell us a good time and we'll call to confirm.
