Richmond Integrative and Functional Medicine

04/29/2026

In 1996, I was trained to treat chronic fatigue syndrome as a psychiatric illness.

That’s not a criticism of my professors. That’s what the field believed.

Women came in exhausted, in pain, and unable to function … and we gave them antidepressants. Some of them got better. At the time, that felt like confirmation.

What it actually confirmed was that we didn’t understand the mechanism.

If you’ve ever been told your symptoms are stress, anxiety, or “just in your head” — this one is for you.

https://RichmondFunctionalMedicine.com/medical-gaslighting

04/24/2026

There’s a moment I see all the time…

Someone is told:
“There’s nothing else we can do.”

No more answers.
No clear explanation.
Just… this is how it is now.

In this conversation with , we talk about that moment, and why it’s often misunderstood.

Because “incurable” doesn’t always mean nothing is wrong.
Sometimes it just means the system has reached the edge of what it knows how to look for.

I’ve lived this personally.

My daughter was given a prognosis that sounded final.
That was over 20 years ago.

Her story didn’t unfold the way we were told it would.

That experience changed how I practice medicine.

When answers run out, it’s not the end of the story.
It’s where better questions begin.

If you’ve ever been told “everything looks normal” but you don’t feel normal, this episode is for you.

🎧 Listen at the link in bio

04/22/2026

Between 2002 – 2025, a black box warning on hormone replacement therapy kept tens of millions of women from accessing a treatment we now know can reduce heart disease risk by up to 50% and dementia risk by up to 38%. Estimates suggest 140,000 to 160,000 women may have died prematurely in that window.

That wasn't an accident. It was a pattern.

In this article I trace that pattern from the 1840s to Long COVID, and make the case that knowing this history is one of the most important things you can do for your health.

You have to be an advocate for yourself. That starts with being educated.

Read the full article at the link below. And if this resonates, share it with someone who needs to hear it.

https://RichmondFunctionalMedicine.com/medical-blindspots-how-often-is-medicine-wrong

04/15/2026

You've been told to avoid the sun. Wear sunscreen before you step outside. Take a supplement and call it a day.

But here's what that advice has gotten us: roughly half the world's population is now vitamin D deficient. And emerging research suggests that not getting enough sun may be just as dangerous as getting too much.

I wrote a new guide breaking down exactly how much sun exposure you actually need for vitamin D, based on your skin type and the season. I also share the graded exposure approach I use with my own family to get the benefits without the burn.

Inside the article:

▪️ How much sun you need by skin type (with a chart you can reference all summer)
▪️ Why your sunscreen may be blocking more than sunburns
▪️ The "beyond vitamin D" benefits of sunlight most people don't know about
▪️ A 6-step action plan to get your levels where they should be

Read the full guide here: https://richmondfunctionalmedicine.com/how-much-sun-exposure-for-vitamin-d/

04/08/2026

Fat is one of the most confusing topics in health right now.

We’re told:

– seed oils are dangerous
– omega-3s are essential
– cholesterol is both good and bad

But that conversation is missing something fundamental:

Fat isn’t just fuel.

It’s structural. Every cell in your body is built from fats—and those fats determine how your cells communicate, respond, and heal.

That’s why fat can be linked to disease… and also used therapeutically in medicine.

In this article, Dr. Aaron Hartman breaks down:

– why “good vs bad fats” is incomplete
– how processing changes fat at a molecular level
– and how lipid membrane medicine uses fats to support healing

If the fat conversation has ever felt confusing, this will help make sense of it.

👉 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗹 𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗹𝗲
https://RichmondFunctionalMedicine.com/real-story-on-fats/

04/01/2026

You cleaned up your environment. You treated infections. You did the work.

So why are you still not fully well?

There’s a point in chronic illness where progress stops making sense. Not because you missed something—but because there’s another layer most people never address.

This is where many patients get stuck.

Read the full article: https://richmondfunctionalmedicine.com/mystery-illness-stuck

03/25/2026

When everything becomes a trigger (foods, supplements, even smells) it can feel random. It isn’t.

This article breaks down the biology behind hypersensitivity, mast cells, and why the body becomes reactive.

03/18/2026

Many chronic illnesses appear mysterious.

Symptoms move from one system to another. Fatigue, brain fog, gut issues, and inflammation.

Doctors chase symptoms. Patients collect diagnoses.

But sometimes the problem isn’t the symptom.

It’s the pattern.

Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (CIRS) may explain why many “mystery illnesses” refuse to stay inside one medical specialty.

Part 3 of the Mystery Illnesses series.

03/11/2026

Many chronic illnesses begin the same way:

Fatigue. Brain fog. Joint pain. Digestive issues.

Each symptom sends patients to a different specialist. Each specialist sees a different piece of the puzzle.

But historically, medicine has seen illnesses like this before.

They were called "great imitators."

Diseases that mimic other conditions, while the real cause hides underneath.

In Part 2 of our Mystery Illness series, Dr. Aaron Hartman and Dr. Christian Jenski explore why infections sometimes don’t look like infections at all—and why tracing the timeline of illness can reveal what symptom lists cannot.

Read the full article:
https://RichmondFuntionalMedicine.com/infections-that-mimic-other-diseases

03/04/2026

Modern medicine is excellent at organs: Cardiology. Gastroenterology. Rheumatology.

But what happens when the problem crosses systems?

In this discussion with Dr. Christian Jenski, we explore why “mystery illness” may be less about biology and more about fragmentation.

If symptoms don’t fit neatly into a specialty, the patient becomes the only place the full picture exists. That’s where the real work begins.

Read: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘔𝘺𝘵𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 “M𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘐𝘭𝘭𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴” https://RichmondFunctionalMedicine.com/mystery-illness-myth

03/02/2026

https://richmondfunctionalmedicine.com/news/dr-aaron-hartman-featured-on-cbs-news-chicago/

“When someone says you’re uncurable, there are other options.” Watch Dr. Aaron Hartman’s CBS News Chicago interview.

02/25/2026

Perimenopause can be a turning point. Many women do “all the right things,” start HRT, and see real improvement.

And then there’s a subset who still feels wired at night, reactive during the day, or stuck in early-morning wake-ups.

This is not “just stress.” It’s stress physiology showing up as one layer inside holistic hormone therapy, often after the basics have been addressed.

Read: When Perimenopause & Chronic Stress Collide (and how this fits in the bigger picture of hormone care).
https://richmondfunctionalmedicine.com/perimenopause-and-chronic-stress