If your labs look “fine” but you don’t feel fine, start here.
These are the areas I see most often — and where a standard panel usually stops short of the real answer.
Most people who find this practice have already done the “right” things. They’ve seen their primary care doctor. They’ve been told the CBC looks fine, the thyroid is “in range,” and maybe they just need more sleep or less stress. That advice isn’t always wrong — but it often isn’t enough when your body is sending a quieter signal.
I built this practice around the concerns that show up again and again in functional medicine telehealth: gut symptoms that don’t match a basic panel, inflammation that never quite gets named, metabolism that stopped responding the way it used to, and fatigue or brain fog that coffee can’t fix. Below is what that looks like in real life — and how we usually begin to look closer.
When your stomach has a story your labs never printed.
Bloating, reflux, irregularity, and food reactions that don’t show up on a basic panel. Testing can include a GI-MAP stool test and SIBO breath testing to see what’s actually happening.
Patients often tell me they’ve tried cutting out dairy, gluten, or “everything that might be inflammatory” — and still feel reactive, swollen, or unpredictable. Restriction without information is exhausting. My job is to get a clearer picture of the gut environment first, then build a plan you can actually live with, not a forever list of foods you’re not allowed to enjoy.
That Mediterranean, real-food lens matters here. I’m not interested in fear-based eating. I am interested in whether your gut is absorbing, defending, and settling the way it should — and whether the symptoms you’ve normalized are actually optional.
The “nothing specific” feeling that still deserves a name.
Low-grade, “nothing specific” inflammation that shows up as fatigue, joint aches, or just feeling puffy and off. We look at inflammatory markers most primary care visits don’t run.
Inflammation isn’t always dramatic. Sometimes it’s morning puffiness, a face that looks fuller than it feels earned, joints that ache without a clear injury, or a body that never quite resets after stress. When someone has been told they’re fine because nothing is “acute,” that doesn’t mean the signal is imaginary.
In practice, we pair what you’re noticing day to day with markers that help us see pattern — not to chase every number, but to stop guessing. Then we adjust food, recovery, and support around what we find, under physician supervision.
When what used to work has stopped working.
When what used to work has stopped working. We look at insulin resistance, advanced lipid markers, and metabolic function — not just weight on a scale.
This is one of the most frustrating places to be: you’re eating carefully, moving when you can, and the scale or the energy still won’t budge the way it used to. A single weight number doesn’t tell us how insulin is responding, how lipids are carrying risk, or whether nutrient status is quietly undercutting your effort.
Functional medicine telehealth gives us room to dig into those patterns without turning the visit into a lecture about willpower. The goal is a clearer metabolic picture and a protocol that matches your actual labs and lifestyle — including the Mediterranean-style meals that feel sustainable instead of punitive.
Tired in a way sleep doesn’t fix.
Tired in a way sleep doesn’t fix, foggy in a way coffee doesn’t touch. Often tied to hormones, adrenal function, and nutrient status a standard CBC won’t catch.
ICU training teaches you to take the early, quiet changes seriously. The same instinct applies here. If you’re sleeping and still waking drained, or you can’t hold a thought through the afternoon, that’s not a character flaw — it’s information. We look for contributors that standard annual labs often skip, then build a plan that accounts for stress load, hormones, and nutrients instead of telling you to “just rest more.”
Sometimes the answer starts with better data. Sometimes it starts with admitting the current plan was never designed for the life you’re actually living. Either way, we get specific.
When “normal” labs don’t explain how you feel · What almost a decade in the ICU taught me about early warning signs
The testing that actually answers the question.
Depending on what we’re chasing, testing may include: GI-MAP stool testing and SIBO breath testing (gut), DUTCH Complete and thyroid panels (hormones), Organic Acid Testing and micronutrient panels (metabolic/nutritional), and advanced lipid panels with LDL particle size and inflammatory markers (cardiovascular).
Labs are ordered through Quest, LabCorp, and Rupa Health. Supplements are filled through Fullscript — all a click away once you’re a patient, never a guessing game.
You won’t get every test listed above by default. We choose based on your history, your goals, and what will change the plan — not a stack ordered for show. Specialty labs and supplements are billed separately at cost so package pricing stays honest.
Where I’ll point you elsewhere — and why that matters
Acute or emergent symptoms — chest pain, shortness of breath, stroke symptoms, suicidal thoughts, severe abdominal pain, GI bleeding, signs of infection, hypertensive crisis, or severe dehydration — need an ER or your PCP, not a telehealth visit. Please don’t wait on a message back from me if you’re experiencing any of these.
I also refer out PCOS/fertility care and mental health conditions to the right specialist, because “regulated” means knowing exactly where my scope ends.