Richmond Integrative and Functional Medicine

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

02/18/2026

What If We Were Wrong About Food?

For decades, nutrition advice focused on restraint: less fat, fewer calories, more discipline.

But what if that framework quietly created the very problems it promised to solve?

In this conversation with Sally Fallon Morell, we explore why low-fat diets backfired, how appetite is regulated biochemically (not morally), and why traditional foods once provided stability modern diets struggle to replace.

👉 Read the full article: https://richmondfunctionalmedicine.com/what-if-we-were-wrong-about-food

02/17/2026

She came to the ER with chest pain and was sent home with antacids. Three days later, she was dead.

How does our system miss a heart attack in a woman? Medical gaslighting. We act like this is a recent problem, but it has likely been happening for generations.

Women’s symptoms are dismissed. They are told it is anxiety or that it is all in their head. Many are blown off, especially when gut related symptoms connected to the heart are ignored.

Have you experienced medical gaslighting? What symptoms were dismissed, and how did you discover something more serious was going on? Share in the comments.

You protect yourself by recognizing these blind spots and understanding where gaslighting happens most.

02/16/2026

Your past does not have to determine your present or your future health.

Trauma and major life events can push your nervous system into a constant fight or flight state. The loss of a loved one or a child’s health struggle can truly change the trajectory of your health.

But it does not have to stay that way. Healing requires meaning and purpose. You need an attachment to something greater than yourself. It may be your family or another calling, but connection and purpose are vital to real recovery.

If you leave this out, your healing will never be as complete as it could be. Do not ignore this in your personal healing plan.

02/15/2026

Purpose is healing.

Do you have a higher purpose for your life? Family, friends, faith, a calling? Something greater than yourself?

Just having that sense of something bigger can dramatically change how you handle stress. When you live with meaning and purpose, your body responds differently. You cope with stressors better. You face difficult diagnoses with more resilience. You recover more effectively from heart attacks and strokes. You are less prone to depression.

Purpose is not just emotional. It is biological.

That sense of meaning often comes down to community, family, and a connection to something greater than yourself. And it can be one of the most powerful foundations for healing.

02/14/2026

Did you know that up to 30% of protein products on the market may contain detectable levels of lead?

So how does lead end up in collagen or beef protein?

Lead accumulates in bones. Animals are exposed through their environment and feed, and over time it can be stored in their skeletal system. When we concentrate bone based products like collagen or animal proteins, we can also concentrate what was stored there.

You cannot see, taste, or smell heavy metals. So what can you do?

Ask for the certificate of analysis. A reputable manufacturer should provide third party testing that shows exactly what is in the product, including heavy metals. If they cannot, you really do not know what you are putting into your body.

If you pick three random protein products off the shelf, odds are at least one may contain lead. Even low level, daily exposure matters.

We have resources on our website to help you find cleaner, properly tested options.

You deserve transparency. Ask for the data. Do not assume all protein powders are equal.

02/13/2026

Let’s talk about the difference between degenerative agriculture and regenerative agriculture.

As Ashley Armstrong (.sistas) explains, the degenerative model is like taking an antibiotic every day. You are wiping out the very organisms designed to protect and nourish you.

When we farm this way, we are damaging the beneficial microbes in the soil, just like overusing antibiotics harms the gut microbiome.

In a regenerative model, we take a different approach. Instead of destroying microbes, we support and foster them. We return to ancestral farming practices and work with the principles of nature, not against them.

Healthy soil microbes help produce the compounds that support plant health and, ultimately, our health. When we degrade the soil, we degrade our food. When we restore the soil, we restore resilience to the entire system, including the human body.

Check out my full conversation with Ashley Armstrong on YouTube here:

https://youtu.be/E5cSgF-CQWs?si=Rjo4fzkZ_nB_hRP5

02/12/2026

90% of patients with fibromyalgia are women.

And women are disproportionately medically gaslit.

For decades, women with fibromyalgia were told nothing was wrong. They were told it was stress. Anxiety. Depression. That it was all in their head. That they were overreacting.

That was wrong.

When a condition primarily affects women and medicine does not fully understand it, it too often gets minimized. Women are more likely to have their symptoms dismissed, psychologized, or brushed aside. That is medical gaslighting. It is not always intentional, but it is harmful.

We now understand that fibromyalgia is often connected to underlying drivers like yeast overgrowth, Lyme disease, mold exposure, gut dysfunction, and nutrient deficiencies. These are not imagined problems. They are measurable and treatable.

As a physician, I was trained to listen. When you truly listen, patients will tell you what is happening in their bodies. Somewhere along the way, many in medicine stopped listening to women.

Have you ever felt dismissed by a doctor? Told not to worry when you knew something was wrong?

We are collecting these stories because this has gone on far too long. If you have experienced medical gaslighting, especially as a woman, your story matters.

You can help change this. You can help restore listening. You can be part of the movement to end medical gaslighting.

02/11/2026

You can sleep all night and still wake up exhausted.
Functional dentists are noticing patterns that traditional medicine often misses — where breathing, airway, and oral inflammation quietly prevent recovery from ever turning on.