Functional & Integrative Medicine
Your labs are normal. You still don't feel right.
Standard medicine is built to find disease. Functional and integrative medicine is built to understand why you don't feel well, even when conventional testing comes back clean. At Areté, I ask different questions, run different tests, and build plans around the full picture of how your body is actually functioning.
What I mean by functional & integrative
Two approaches. One complete picture.
These terms are often used interchangeably, but they describe related and complementary ways of thinking about health. Both are grounded in conventional clinical medicine, and both are part of how I practice at Areté.
Integrative medicine
Combines evidence based conventional medicine: prescribing, labs, diagnosis, and clinical rigor, with nutrition, lifestyle, and whole body evaluation. It doesn't abandon standard clinical tools. It uses them as the foundation, then draws from a wider range of approaches when the evidence supports it.
Functional medicine
Focuses on root cause investigation: asking why symptoms are happening rather than only managing what they are. It looks at how your hormones, metabolism, gut, sleep, and stress interact as a system, not as isolated problems with separate treatments.
How they work together at Areté
Most women with complex, overlapping symptoms don't get better with a single approach. Combining both means your care is thorough, evidence grounded, and built around your actual biology, with the full clinical toolkit of conventional medicine behind it, and the investigative depth of functional medicine guiding how I use it.
"Your labs are normal."
This is one of the most common things women hear before finding Areté. Standard lab panels are designed to detect disease, not to optimize function or catch the early, subclinical shifts that drive symptoms. Functional medicine uses a wider lens: optimal ranges rather than disease cutoffs, patterns over time rather than single snapshots, and testing that reflects how your body is actually working. Normal doesn't always mean well. Depending on your presentation, that may include a comprehensive thyroid panel beyond TSH, advanced hormone testing, micronutrient panels, inflammatory markers, cardiometabolic risk markers, and gut or microbiome testing when clinically indicated.
How I investigate root causes
The systems I evaluate, not just the symptoms you came in with.
Functional medicine looks at how different systems in your body interact, rather than treating each symptom as an isolated problem. At Areté, evaluation typically includes:
Hormonal & neurotransmitter balance
Sex hormones, thyroid, cortisol, and their downstream effects on mood, sleep, and metabolism.
Gut health & microbiome
Digestion, absorption, and the gut's role in inflammation, immunity, and hormone metabolism.
Immune function & inflammation
Chronic, low grade inflammation that often underlies fatigue, pain, and mood symptoms.
Energy production & metabolic health
How your body converts fuel to energy, and where that process breaks down.
Detoxification & environmental exposures
How your body processes and clears hormones, medications, and environmental factors.
Stress physiology & nervous system regulation
The HPA axis and its wide reaching effects on hormones, sleep, and resilience.
Structural & musculoskeletal health
How physical function and pain patterns connect to the rest of your health picture.
How I practice at Areté
What root cause care actually looks like.
At Areté, functional and integrative medicine isn't a philosophy. It's a clinical method. Every evaluation starts with your full story: symptoms, history, lifestyle, labs, and what you've already tried. From there, I build a picture of what's driving how you feel and a plan that addresses it directly.
Comprehensive initial evaluation, your full history, not just your chief complaint
Sleep and stress physiology evaluated as clinical factors, not lifestyle advice
Wearable data reviewed as part of the clinical picture
Treatment plans that integrate medication, nutrition, lifestyle, and targeted supplementation
Ongoing care that evolves as your picture changes
A note on evidence
Functional and integrative medicine has a wide spectrum, from rigorously evidence based to speculative. At Areté, clinical decisions are grounded in current medical evidence. I don't recommend approaches without a sound rationale, and I'm transparent about the strength of evidence behind every recommendation. The goal is always to do what's most likely to help you, based on what I actually know.
Frequently asked questions
Answers to common questions.
Is functional medicine evidence based?
The core principles of functional medicine: root cause investigation, systems based thinking, individualized treatment. These are well supported by a growing body of research. At Areté, clinical decisions are always grounded in current evidence. Where functional approaches overlap with conventional medicine, I use both. Where the evidence is less clear, I'm transparent about that and err toward approaches with the strongest rationale.
Do you use medication or natural treatments?
I prescribe medications when clinically indicated, including hormone therapy, thyroid medications, and others. Nutrition, lifestyle, and targeted supplementation are tools in the same toolkit, used when the evidence supports them. The goal is always the most effective approach for your clinical situation, not a philosophical preference for one category over another.
How is this different from seeing a conventional doctor?
Many Areté patients have seen multiple providers before finding care that actually addresses what's driving their symptoms. The difference is usually time and method. Standard visits don't allow for the kind of thorough evaluation that complex, overlapping symptoms require. At Areté, your initial evaluation is a genuine deep dive into your full history, and care is built around what's actually happening rather than what's easiest to address in 15 minutes.
Can I see you virtually?
Yes. Areté is a virtual practice serving women across Colorado. All visits are conducted via secure telehealth: initial evaluations, follow-ups, lab reviews, and ongoing care. For established patients in Ridgway, Ouray, Telluride, and Montrose, in person home visits are also available when clinically appropriate.
Ready for a different kind of care?
Start with a Discovery Call.
15 minutes to talk through your health history, your symptoms, and whether Areté's approach is the right fit for where you are.
Free · 15 minutes · No commitment