Functional Medicine
Our Approach at the Marty Ross MD Clinic
At the Marty Ross MD Clinic for Functional Medicine & Lyme Disease, we use functional medicine to treat Lyme disease, chronic tick-borne infections like Babesia and Bartonella, long COVID, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, mold toxicity, and other complex chronic illnesses.
Functional medicine combines root cause analysis with integrative medicine treatments to address complex and chronic health problems.
Root Cause Analysis Provides the Path to Healing
The hallmark of our root cause analysis approach is to carefully note the illness timeline in order to identify all possible influences on your health. The timing of when and how things happened can often provide important insights.
For instance, if someone develops severe fatigue and muscle pains after their fifth round of antibiotics for chronic sinus infections, and they have intestinal gassiness and bloating, we consider if they have intestinal yeast overgrowth as a root cause of their illness. Or, if someone had a tick bite years ago with positive Lyme testing, but does not get ill until they move into a new building that had water damage, we consider if mold toxicity is the root cause of their current illness rather than Lyme disease.
After we have a solid understanding of the illness timeline, we go deeper with root cause testing. Based on your health issues and timeline, we may order one or several of the following tests:
Genetic and epigenetic panels
Mycotoxins
Tick-borne disease and other chronic infections
Intestinal microbiome
Environmental toxins
Hormones
Vitamins
DEXA scans for body composition
PET scans to evaluate brain function
Heavy metal toxins
Integrative Medicine: Broadening the Treatment Toolbox
Functional medicine provides the framework for understanding root causes.
Integrative medicine, as part of a functional medicine approach, provides the range of treatments we use to address chronic illness.
At our Seattle-based clinic, we use integrative medicine that combines the best of conventional prescription medicine with science-based natural and holistic treatments. It’s not an alternative to standard care but rather a broader, more comprehensive way of practicing medicine — one that moves beyond simply suppressing symptoms.
Lifestyle modifications are the foundation of our integrative medicine approach. We work to optimize your sleep and diet while supporting a healthy intestinal microbiome. We incorporate movement and stress-regulation strategies. From there, we may layer in supplements, herbal medicines (including plant-based antimicrobials), vitamins, oral peptides, or prescription medications as clinically indicated and with considerations for your preferences.
This is a collaborative process. Most conditions have multiple integrative medicine approaches that can help.
We often begin with lower-risk, physiology-supporting treatments and escalate to prescription medications when necessary. At the same time, we prescribe conventional treatments including antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, gastrointestinal medications, hormones, and antidepressants when appropriate.
As an integrative medicine practice, we also think outside the conventional prescription medicine box too. We prescribe science-based compounded therapies when they offer advantages. Low dose naltrexone (LDN) can help regulate immune function and reduce fibromyalgia pain. Methylene blue can support mitochondrial energy production and can be effective for certain tick-borne infections such as Bartonella and Borrelia.
The Bottom Line
Integrative medicine is not about choosing natural over conventional. It’s about using every appropriate tool available to help you recover and reclaim your life from chronic illness.
If you'd like to learn more about how we apply Functional Medicine at our Seattle clinic, book a consultation or explore our areas of practice.