Investigative Medicine Clinic in Fort Myers, FL

ROOT CAUSES: INTEGRATIVE. INVESTIGATIVE. RESTORATIVE.

Do you need a medical detective?

Have you exhausted yourself going from Doctor to Doctor, spending time and money only to continue feeling bad? Do you feel like you’re never going to find an answer to your health issues? Are you feeling like your voice is not being heard when you’re sitting in front of your physician and leaving his or her office with no solution? Keep in mind that conventional medical practice is not designed for such challenges.

However, Dr. Doreen DeStefano works as your personal medical detective. She will spend time listening to you, studying your health story, and then digging further. She and her team will review your past care and give your case the investigative time necessary to research and identify the driving force behind your health concern. We have a new era of lab testing that allows us to get very detailed information about the functionality of various body systems.

But testing alone is not enough. It is the nuance of patient information, asking the right questions, finding the right lab tests, interpreting test results, and finding the piece or pieces of the puzzle that are causing the dysfunction. We take the time to thoroughly understand each patient’s health. Our dedication to you and your health drives us to consult the latest research during treatment, effectively reducing the gap between breakthroughs and practical care.

Once we have identified our target, we apply our unique blend of cutting-edge holistic and functional medicine principles to optimize your health and well-being, resolving the root cause of dysfunction rather than disguising the symptoms.

Root Causes practices a teamwork approach which includes patient participation in collaboration with the Doctor and staff. As a team, we create a written, custom health restoration plan for you that includes dietary changes, healthy lifestyle practices, a supplement regimen, hormone optimization, and treatments. Treatments may include nutrient IV therapy, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, bioidentical hormone replacement, ozone therapy, and other innovative, integrative therapies.

Optimize your health. Call today to schedule your Investigative Health consultation and be on your way to your healthiest year ever!

Do you suffer from symptoms or conditions that doctors can’t explain? Are you tired all the time? It could be your thyroid.

“I’m tired all the time, I have no motivation. I can’t concentrate. I’m cold all the time. I’m gaining weight and eating the same. I’m constipated.” These very common complaints are all symptoms of low thyroid function. There are also some less common complaints such as anxiety, depression, infertility, and miscarriage. Hypothyroidism frequently goes undiagnosed and untreated because of the theoretical approach of the practitioner.

This is where an investigative approach to your health would be greatly beneficial. Thyroid lab tests included in your standard exam include only a TSH. This is a measure of a hormone that signals your thyroid to produce more of its’ own hormones, T3 and T4. Functional medicine measures TSH, T3, T4, and several other related hormones. We go even further than that, looking for clues about inflammation, nutritional status, and toxicity. One big piece of the puzzle is autoimmune status.

Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (an autoimmune disorder) is the most common cause of hypothyroidism. So we look for clues related to your immune system function too. We put all the pieces together and attempt to resolve the driving force of the condition. We seek to go further than identifying and modifying symptoms. Hashimoto’s can be caused by inflammation, malnutrition, toxicity, or something unidentifiable.

One example might be that Hashimoto’s, being an autoimmune disorder, has been “kicked off” by a common dietary ingredient called gluten. Humans cannot digest gluten down to amino acids. It damages the gut. It crosses the gut, the blood-brain barrier, and the respiratory tree. It signals your immune system that you are under attack because it does not recognize these proteins. Your immune system becomes overactive and begins to recognize your thyroid as foreign.

Using all of this valuable information, investigative medicine seeks to resolve what is driving your condition. If the cause is a nutrient deficiency, we replace it. It if is toxicity, we help you detoxify. And so it goes on down the line until we have optimized your whole body and you are at your very best.

Request Your Appointment Today!

To request your appointment, please call (239) 347-9234 or contact us online today!

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