Functional Medicine in Arvada & Longmont, Colorado

Routine blood work is important, but it is often designed to screen for major disease—not to provide a detailed picture of why you may not feel your best or what may be limiting your health and performance.

Our functional medicine approach looks beyond the standard blood work typically included in a routine physical or recent primary care visit. Depending on your individual needs, we may evaluate:

• Full thyroid function rather than a single thyroid marker

• Iron status and ferritin

• Vitamin and nutrient status

• Blood sugar, insulin, and metabolic health

• Cholesterol and advanced cardiovascular markers

• Inflammation and oxidative stress

• Liver and kidney function

• Immune and autoimmune markers

• Sex and adrenal hormones

• Additional markers based on your symptoms, history, goals, and previous results

We also take the time to look at your results as a complete picture rather than evaluating each marker in isolation.

The goal isn't to order every test available. It's to determine what additional information could help us identify nutritional deficiencies, metabolic patterns, hormonal imbalances, inflammation, or other factors that may be contributing to how you feel.

If you've recently had blood work through your primary care provider, you don't necessarily need to repeat everything. We can review what has already been tested, identify what's missing, and determine which additional testing may provide meaningful information about your health.

Your digestive system can affect much more than digestion. The gut plays an important role in nutrient absorption, immune function, inflammation, and overall health.

Routine gastrointestinal testing is often designed to answer a specific question—such as whether you have an acute infection, blood in the stool, or another identifiable gastrointestinal disease. Our functional medicine approach can go deeper by evaluating the overall environment of your digestive system.

When appropriate, we use specialized comprehensive stool testing to evaluate areas such as:

• Gut microbiome balance — including beneficial and potentially problematic bacteria

• Digestive function and nutrient breakdown

• Bacterial overgrowth and dysbiosis

• H. pylori

• Yeast and other microorganisms

• Intestinal inflammation

• Gut barrier and immune markers

• Other markers that can provide insight into digestive function and microbial balance

This type of testing can provide information that isn't typically included in routine gastrointestinal testing or a standard medical workup.

Rather than simply asking, “What disease is causing this symptom?” we also ask, “What is happening within the digestive environment that may be contributing to these symptoms?”

The goal is to use the information from your symptoms, history, nutrition, blood work, and specialized gut testing together to develop a more comprehensive and individualized approach to improving digestive health.

Hormones don't work in isolation—and a single hormone test is only a snapshot of what is happening at one moment in time.

Hormonal changes can affect energy, sleep, mood, weight, cravings, menstrual cycles, libido, and many other aspects of how you feel. Understanding why those changes are occurring requires looking at the bigger picture.

Depending on your symptoms, history, and goals, we may use comprehensive blood work and/or specialized at-home hormone testing to evaluate hormonal patterns throughout your menstrual cycle, rather than relying on a single measurement.

Our testing may help us understand:

• How your hormones fluctuate throughout your cycle

• Estrogen, progesterone, and androgen patterns

• Ovulation and luteal phase hormone patterns

• Adrenal hormones and cortisol patterns

• How your hormones are being metabolized

• Hormone patterns associated with PMS, perimenopause, and menopause

• Potential patterns that may contribute to changes in energy, sleep, mood, weight, cravings, or menstrual cycles

This gives us more information than simply asking, “Is this hormone level normal today?”

Instead, we can look at your individual hormone patterns and how they interact with one another to help identify potential factors contributing to your symptoms.

We work with patients experiencing:

• PMS and significant cycle-related symptoms

• Perimenopause and menopause (with menopause a single snapshot is appropriate)

• Heavy or irregular periods

• Changes in cycles or ovulation

• Hormone-related weight or metabolic changes

• Sleep and energy changes

• Mood changes and cravings

• Other hormone concerns

Your hormones are constantly changing. We want to understand your pattern—not just take a snapshot.

Not every test requires an office visit or a traditional blood draw.

Depending on what we're investigating, we offer specialized testing that can be completed in the comfort and privacy of your own home.

Depending on the test, samples may include:

• Urine

• Stool

• Saliva

• Breath

• Other convenient at-home collection methods

These tests can provide valuable information about areas such as hormone patterns, digestive health, gut function, and other aspects of your health that may not be captured through routine laboratory testing.

You don't need to figure out which test you need on your own. We look at your symptoms, health history, previous lab work, and goals to determine which testing may provide the most useful information.

Our goal is to choose the right testing for you—not simply order every test available.