Uncovering Health with Functional Medicine with Dr. Erica Armstrong

Is conventional medicine not addressing your chronic issues? Discover functional medicine, where root causes of health problems are the focus for lasting solutions.

Is conventional medicine failing to address your chronic health issues?

Many patients feel frustrated when their symptoms are dismissed or only treated superficially without uncovering the root cause.

Functional medicine takes a holistic approach to identify and treat the underlying factors contributing to chronic conditions, rather than just managing symptoms.

BY THE TIME YOU FINISH LISTENING, YOU'LL DISCOVER:

• How functional medicine differs from conventional healthcare models in addressing root causes
• The surprising connections between gut health, autoimmune conditions, and hormonal imbalances
• How advanced testing and nutrition-based interventions can help reverse chronic conditions

Dr. Armstrong's insights reveal a promising path forward for those struggling with unresolved health issues.

CONNECT WITH DR. ERICA ARMSTRONG

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Root Functional Medicine
• 4:34 Dr. Armstrong's Journey to Functional Medicine
• 8:50 Root Cause vs. Traditional Healthcare
• 10:33 Gut Health: Beyond Digestive Symptoms
• 15:24 Autoimmune Disease & Testing Approaches
• 17:16 PCOS-Thyroid Connection Revealed
• 20:11 Transformative Technology in Functional Medicine
• 22:52 Future of Functional Medicine
• 25:01 Getting Started with Root Cause Panel

Transcript

Dr. Armstrong: 0:00

So ultimately, I decided that I wanted to start something from scratch in this model of care, and I wanted it to be heavily nutrition focused, and so I partnered with a dietician and started Root Functional Medicine.

Dr. Tamar: 0:12

If you want to break the mold of traditional pharmacy and healthcare, you are in the right place. Welcome to the Pivoting Pharmacy with Nutrigenomics podcast, part of the Pharmacy Podcast Network. Here's a little truth bomb. We're all unique, down to our DNA, so it's no wonder we react differently to the same medications, foods and environment. Here's a million-dollar question how can you discover exactly what your body needs, which medication, what foods or supplements and which exercises are right for you? How can you manage chronic conditions like diabetes without more medications? How can you lose weight and keep it off? How do you tap into your genetic blueprint so you can stop surviving and start thriving in health and life? That is the question, and this podcast will give you the answer. I'm your host, Dr. Tamar Lawful doctor of pharmacy. Let's pivot into genomics and bring healthcare to higher levels. Hello, welcome to Pivoting Pharmacy with Nutrig enomics. I am your host, Dr. Tamar Lawful doctor of pharmacy and certified nutritional genomic specialist.

Dr. Tamar: 1:26

You know many wander through the conventional medical system, their concerns sidelined or their symptoms inadequately treated, yearning for solutions that address the core of their health issues. Today marks a shift in perspective as we delve into the world of functional medicine, a practice focused not just on treatment, but on complete health and wellness. In this episode, we're honored to have Dr. Erica Armstrong at the helm of our discussion. As the CEO and founder of Root, a pioneering nationwide functional medicine telehealth practice and an online platform, Dr. Armstrong brings a wealth of knowledge, experience and compassion to the table. She's not only a visionary in her field but deeply committed to reversing disease by tackling its root causes.

Dr. Tamar: 2:15

Leading a distinguished team of functional medicine doctors and dieticians who serve clients across 45 states, Dr. Armstrong is also at the forefront of developing innovative software tailored to enhance the efficiency of functional medicine clinicians. Her holistic root cause approach promises new insights into how we can interpret and address chronic health issues. Listen in. Welcome, Dr. Erica Armstrong, to Pivoting Pharmacy with Nutrigenomics. Erica, thank you so much for joining us today. I'm looking forward to our conversation, but before we jump in, we would love to just hear a little bit about you, something fun.

Dr. Armstrong: 2:58

I'm a family medicine doctor originally by training. I'm a functional medicine doctor now and I have three kids and most of my fun times are actually watching them and their various activities. And they're very busy soccer track, violin, cello lots of fun times with the kids at these ages.

Dr. Tamar: 3:15

Yeah, they definitely are. I have one six-year-old and I know she wants to be in every sport out there keeping me busy on my toes. So with more than one, I could only imagine, I could only imagine. Thank you for sharing that with us. Now you said you're a functional medicine physician. Could you, for our listeners, let them know what functional medicine is all about?

Dr. Armstrong: 3:36

Yeah, so in our definition at Root is what we are trying to do is find the root cause of why people are not feeling their best, so that we can target that and treatment and reverse and prevent conditions.

Dr. Tamar: 3:50

That's it Finding the root cause, the root cause. I love that, because many times we don't know why we feel a certain way, we don't know why we're sick and then right away, conventional or traditional physicians will just give you a medication rather than really trying to figure out what that root cause is. And once we find that root cause, we can actually solve the issues right. So, erica, your journey from family medicine physician and also with Kaiser Permanente and Spectrum Health, to now pioneering root functional medicine telehealth platform is fascinating and inspiring. Can you tell us what was that pivotal moment or insight that shifted your focus towards functional medicine?

Dr. Armstrong: 4:34

I really enjoyed practicing family medicine. I really liked the relationships and I feel that that background is still very helpful in the way that we continue to practice today. But one of the things that I found practicing family medicine was that many of my patients were kind of just unwell but undiagnosed, so like there wasn't a conventional diagnosis that fit their constellation of symptoms so things like weight gain or fatigue, bloating, brain fog, skin rashes and I also found that despite my best efforts, I wasn't actually reversing disease and helping people to heal in the way that I thought I would. So I actually learned about functional medicine from a friend and started training back in 2016. And as I learned about it, it was just a model of care that made so much sense to me Things like nutrition, first, removing inflammatory things and replacing healing ingredients, and then the tools in functional medicine to dig deeper for certain imbalances, especially in the microbiome, creating a more personalized experience for the patient.

Dr. Armstrong: 5:36

So I started to kind of piece in what I could within the conventional limitations of practicing family medicine and just little things like prescribing elimination diets and the results I was getting the first time. You see it. You almost don't believe it because you're very trained in this conventional approach that just simple things like that shouldn't make this big of a difference, but they do. And then using food as medicine just always made sense to me. It's a fairly harmless treatment approach, and so I just kept trying to piece it in and I was continuing to get these results Like people were gaining more energy, their bloating and bowel symptoms improved. So I knew that I wanted my entire practice to be structured in this root cause model of care and that I needed the time and space for it so and the ability to order and interpret more advanced testing. So ultimately, I decided that I wanted to do. I wanted to start something from scratch in this model of care and I wanted it to be heavily nutrition focused, and so I partnered with a dietician and started Root Functional Medicine.

Dr. Tamar: 6:38

I love it. I love it Definitely get into the root cause. Indeed, it's a common thing that we see, even with the type of patients and clients that I come across, is that not feeling. Well, the undiagnosed you know. But they know they're being told, oh, nothing's fine, your labs are great, you know some people are being told it's in their head, but we know our bodies. We have to listen to our bodies. There's something going on if you're feeling a certain way.

Dr. Tamar: 7:03

And that's where functional medicine is so important to find functional medicine practitioners that are willing to take that time to go beyond the traditional to really figure out what's going on for their patients. So I commend you for doing that for your patients and everyone out there and creating a root cause medicine. And you know you've definitely been a vocal advocate for looking beyond the symptoms to address those root causes for chronic conditions. So you mentioned earlier, you gave a good definition of what functional medicine is. Now could we go a little bit deeper and explain to the listeners how root cause medicine is fundamentally different from traditional healthcare models?

Dr. Armstrong: 7:45

Yeah, especially when you're looking at the outpatient model, not the acute stuff. That you know definitely is a time and place when you need acute medical conventional care. But if you compare it to that kind of conventional outpatient medicine, it is very symptom-based. For example, like if you have heartburn you go to the GI doctor, or if you have a rash you go to a dermatologist, hormones to an OBGYN, and it's very siloed and you might end up with like three or four different medications or ointments for different reasons, with no one really in that system to have the capacity to put the whole picture together and then find the one or two root causes that are likely connecting all the symptoms. And so I think that's the biggest difference is we see the body as a whole and we can take different symptoms and connect it to usually just one or two or a few root causes and work to reverse, as opposed to kind of just managing the different conditions and managing the symptoms. We really want to restore optimal body function and optimal health.

Dr. Tamar: 8:41

Yeah, definitely. Now there are three disease states that I want to pick your brain on when it comes to conditions and treatments from a functional medicine aspect. There's gut health, autoimmune disease and PCOS that thyroid connection related to that. So, if you don't mind, can we dive deep into them one by one? Okay, let's start with the gut health. So we know that it's definitely a major focus, the center when it comes to root cause medicine. Can you share perhaps a case where conventional medicine struggles but your root cause approach led to a breakthrough?

Dr. Armstrong: 9:18

Yes, so I think for this case I'll use something where the symptoms weren't typical, just gut health symptoms. So one of the things that most people don't know about the importance of gut health is that it can affect every other body system, and so the gut is an entry point from the outside world to the blood supply that circulates throughout the body, influencing every single organ. So if inflammation is being created by the bulk of the immune system that's right under the lining of the gut, this is going to circulate and cause symptoms like brain fog, fatigue, hormonal imbalances, acne, or can even lead to autoimmune conditions. So this case study this woman had been struggling with acne, hair loss, irregular periods, constipation and bloating for years, and she had seen several doctors, including holistic doctors, but no one was able to help her, and so the first thing we did actually was immediately discuss a PCOS diagnosis or polycystic ovarian syndrome diagnosis, and that's something that our conventional background helps us discern and why it was missed by other practitioners without that in their background.

Dr. Armstrong: 10:24

So what we did is we did use some supplements originally to help balance her hormone while we worked on improving her gut health, and so we targeted gut health, and the first was hearing her whole story and she had a history of Accutane, which is a heavy duty acne medication and antibiotic use, both of which we found can really hurt the microbiome over years, and she had very little good bacteria that was lining and protecting her gut. So we strategically used different probiotics and foods and also eliminated foods that were inflaming her like gluten, and over the next several months her acne completely cleared, her acne started growing in her bowels became regular and her mental health also drastically improved. And that's one of the things, too, about inflammation is a lot of times it's not the original reason that people come to us for mental health issues, but it's almost always part of it. And when we fix that gut brain access and clear up inflammation and replace nutrients, mental health also improves.

Dr. Tamar: 11:21

Yes, that's amazing and you're right, and many people don't realize that correlation between the gut and literally everything, everything that goes on with us health wise. And, yeah, securing the gut with, or healing the gut with, nutrition and those supplements to help as well, definitely do help. So that's a great, great experience, because who would have thought that skin problems ties back to your gut, right, what's in your stomach and how that lining is? So thank you for sharing that. Now that can also tie into the next condition that I want to talk about, which is autoimmune disease. You know these conditions are particularly challenging to manage, let alone diagnose, when it comes to autoimmune disease. So how does your team use advanced testing and nutrition-based interventions to reverse such conditions?

Dr. Armstrong: 13:07

Yeah, and again, like you said, like gut health testing is going to be really important here. We need to find the source of inflammation that's usually coming from the gut so that we can work to reverse it. So we do things like functional stool testing, which does include microbiome testing, but it also includes things like do you need immune support? Do you need digestive enzyme support? Are you having antibodies to wheat? Are there certain chemicals that your bacteria makes that could be more imbalanced? So a really comprehensive functional stool test is often utilized.

Dr. Armstrong: 13:37

Also, certain foods could be driving this, so food sensitivities could be out of range and so some of them may need to be temporarily calmed down while we repair the gut certain types of food sensitivities, so foods may need to be temporarily eliminated. Versus on the other end of the spectrum, where someone may have celiac disease or gluten sensitivity that's more severe and also is strongly correlated to other autoimmune conditions. In that case, gluten needs to be completely eliminated, and this is hard to do because gluten hides in a lot of things. Most people don't know that oats almost all oats in the US are contaminated with gluten. So if you're getting a food that says gluten-free and it has oats in it. You know you really need to look in the ingredient list. Are they actually gluten-free? Oats is a certified gluten-free, and so that's where, in our model, each person has both a doctor and a dietician supporting them. That is very important for success, because it is very hard to be 100% gluten-free on your own.

Dr. Tamar: 14:32

Yeah, it is. It's definitely hiding in a lot of places. All right, Thank you for sharing that with us. Now going to the PCOS thyroid connection, your book, the PCOS Thyroid Connection, highlights the link between these two conditions. What are some misconceptions around PCOS and thyroid health that your work aims to clarify?

Dr. Armstrong: 14:57

Yeah, thank you. So I think that the biggest misconception is that PCOS is caused by weight gain. So, first of all, there are many women with PCOS who have normal weight or even underweight. Then the second is that there are different root causes of PCOS, but nearly all PCOS is actually driven by inflammation. So in the book I review the different root causes and how to address them, but also I want to point out that PCOS can cause so much more than just irregular menstrual cycles and infertility. So, for example, 30% of women with PCOS actually have regular menstrual cycles. And then, lastly, a lot of people don't know that PCOS is strongly linked to Hashimoto's, which is an autoimmune type thyroid condition, because they have common root causes, and so women with PCOS are three times more likely to have Hashimoto's than women without PCOS. So knowing that and the importance of screening for thyroid dysfunction is important for the PCOS.

Dr. Tamar: 15:52

Yeah, so it seems like your book would be a very informative book for people who just want to learn about this connection between PCOS and thyroid health, or maybe going through it themselves, and even practitioners as well. So that's a very helpful book that's out there from Dr Armstrong. Guys, check it out. Now I want to switch gears a little bit to technology and healthcare, because you're also spearheading the development of cutting edge software for functional medicine clinicians. So can you give us a sneak peek into how this technology aims to transform patient care?

Dr. Armstrong: 16:28

Yes. So our mission at Root is to bring sustainable and validated functional medicine to the world, and when we decided what was limiting us and our ability to do that, a big piece of it was technology. So the first thing that we launched was giving people access to functional testing so both blood tests and at-home test kits like saliva, cortisol, gut microbiome and not only just having that test data but also with the recommendations on your results from functional doctors and dieticians with experience interpreting these types of tests. So we believe this is transforming care by giving people access to the right data and then helping them know what to actually do with that data. That's a big piece. Actually, our technology is both member facing and clinician. Facing is both member-facing and clinician-facing, and the clinician side enables certain charting features and operational support that allows clinicians to focus on member care instead of kind of tedious administrative tasks and to give them their time back in the day to focus on what they love as opposed to computer work.

Dr. Tamar: 17:31

I love it. So giving those doctors more time in the day definitely because they're already busy as it is I'm sure that they will love that. I'm looking forward to seeing how that pans out. Do you have an ETA on when that will be ready?

Dr. Armstrong: 17:43

Yeah, our lab ordering platform is actually live. Anyone who joins an access membership can order labs, and that will enable the practitioners to go in and comment place comments that you will see right on the Root dashboard, and then the clinician side is launching in pieces, starting in a couple months.

Dr. Tamar: 18:00

And what's the website that's available right now?

Dr. Armstrong: 18:03

Rootfunctionalmedicinecom.

Dr. Tamar: 18:05

Awesome, now you have extensive experience in the functional medicine realm. Where do you see the field of functional medicine heading in the next five to 10 years, especially in the context of telehealth and digital health platforms?

Dr. Armstrong: 18:19

Yes, I mean functional medicine has grown exponentially, even over the last couple of years. I expect this trend to continue because I believe, from what I hear, it's what people want. They want a holistic approach. They want to know what they can do before more invasive or conventional medications that cause other side effects and symptoms. So my hope is that, especially with digital health, it's enabling more people to practice this type of medicine. But as new practitioners pop up, I hope that there is some standard of care around what to expect in a functional medicine experience from a patient's perspective, because right now I do think it's a little bit ill-defined and I think that there's a lot of room for improvement over in the next five to 10 years, with transparency around the clinician's backgrounds, with what to expect for working with a functional medicine practitioner. Just some more definitions around what is functional medicine.

Dr. Tamar: 19:09

Yes, indeed, Now I know there are many pharmacists out there that are functional medicine and practitioners as well. What advice would you give to healthcare professionals, medical professionals who are considering a shift towards functional medicine?

Dr. Armstrong: 19:26

I would tell them it's a great choice. There are going to be sacrifices that they make to practice this type of medicine. You can't see 20 people a day doing this type of medicine, like many in the conventional world are doing, and so decreasing the volume has both pros and cons, but ultimately it's a very gratifying field and I think it's worth it.

Dr. Tamar: 19:46

And, out of curiosity, insurance may also be an issue as well. Insurance coverage correct.

Dr. Armstrong: 19:51

Yes, there's a lot of differences between the conventional and functional model, but in general, a lot of functional medicine is done outside of a visit, so like, first of all, the visits are longer, so longer than a typical insurance visit will cover. But also there's this advanced testing which takes a lot more time, experience to interpret and that's just not really built into a conventional model. So if you want someone who's really really looking into things for you in a true functional medicine model, most likely it's not going to be built into a conventional model. You may have some someone who's like a holistic PCP and that's great and these people tend to refer to us, which we love. But it depends on the level of functional medicine that you're looking for.

Dr. Tamar: 20:35

Yeah, Thanks for clarifying that. Now for our listeners who are deeply interested in root cause medicine, what would be the best way for them to engage with your work or even start their own journey towards reversing chronic conditions?

Dr. Armstrong: 20:52

journey towards reversing chronic conditions. Yeah, I would start with the same lab panel that we have used in practice for over six years and we've enabled it on our technology platform. It's called our root cause panel, and so it's a really comprehensive lab panel that's going to get you you know the data to reveal a lot of the common root causes we find, and then you're going to get extensive insights and recommendations based on that panel to know where to go next.

Dr. Tamar: 21:14

And that's something they can. Just they have to sign up as members, or they can just go to the website and get access to it.

Dr. Armstrong: 21:20

Yeah, they can just go to the website and go click right on lab tests and they will find the root cause panel and they can order that and it will attach the membership which they can work in monthly as long as they like. Some people like to retest certain abnormalities that we find or they like to continue with support in the root community with our doctors and dieticians, our recipe guides, meal plans and educational videos. But really that membership is there for access to our team so that we can spend time interpreting your lab panel and giving you those recommendations.

Dr. Tamar: 21:51

All right, and I'm showing the screen right now for rootfunctionalmedicinecom. That's rootfunctionalmedicinecom, and what do you want to show us here, Dr. Armstrong?

Dr. Armstrong: 21:59

Yeah, so you can see order root cause panel right in that button, right under the main header there in the middle of the screen, and also lab tests and supplements where you're at. You can click there and you can see all of the testing options If you scroll down. Root Cause Panel is right there. On products our members love.

Dr. Tamar: 22:16

Okay.

Dr. Armstrong: 22:17

And there's a PCOS panel too, what we were talking about in this show.

Dr. Tamar: 22:20

Right. So you have the PCOS panel, the magnesium glycinate. Is that just a supplement? That's just a supplement to order. Then you have Root Cause Panel, gi map, a thyroid panel as well. So, dr Armstrong has a variety of panels for you to check out If you are interested in starting your functional medicine journey, if you are ready to figure out why you just don't feel well, but everything else, the numbers, seem normal. So please visit rootfunctionalmedicinecom. Dr Armstrong, thank you so much for joining us today. It has been a pleasure to pick your brain and learn from you more about functional medicine and the technology as well that you have created.

Dr. Armstrong: 23:01

Thanks, so much for having me.

Dr. Tamar: 23:03

You're welcome. That's all I have for you today, friend. Dr. Erica Armstrong's contributions today have shown a bright light on the path to understanding and addressing the root causes of chronic health issues through the lens of functional medicine. Let this be a moment you decide to seek answers beneath the surface of your symptoms. I encourage you to reflect on the insights here today. If Dr. Armstrong's journey and the promise of functional medicine resonate with you, harness this momentum. Share this episode with others, reach out for guidance and dare to envision a health journey that transcends conventional limitations. Next week on the show, we're talking about the transformative power of nutrigenomics, so you can optimize your wellness journey without the confusion of one-site-fits-all health advice. So see you back here next Friday. Don't miss out as we explore personalized healthcare insights with Dr. Beer. Until then, always remember to raise the script on health, because together we can bring healthcare to higher levels. You