When Was The Last Time You Felt Healthy?
Chronic immune dysfunction affects a growing number of individuals each year – showing up in a variety of ways, such as uncontrolled inflammation, increased susceptibility to colds and flus, allergies, and autoimmunity. Although these diseases and symptoms can vary dramatically, the major underlying factors of disease are surprisingly similar.
How We Help Our Clients Recover Immune Function & Optimal Health
The development of our immune system begins before we are born. The health of our mother, her diet and lifestyle habits, and infections during pregnancy can have dramatic effects on our immune system development. Starting the day we are born, the immune system must protect us from the myriad of viruses, bacteria and harmful substances in our environment. As we grow, the immune system becomes adept at identifying and responding to invasions by microbes or toxins.
However, the immune system can lose its swift and efficient abilities for a number of reasons. Poor diet, lack of exercise, poor digestion, chronic stress or impaired ability to detoxify harmful substances can all have significant consequences. Chronic immune dysfunction can show in a variety of ways, such as uncontrolled inflammation, increased susceptibility to colds and flus, allergies, and autoimmunity. Although these diseases and symptoms can vary dramatically, the major underlying factors of disease are surprisingly similar.
As the immune system adapts and changes over time, it is helpful to evaluate factors of diet, lifestyle, gastrointestinal health, stress and toxins to uncover the underlying causes for immune dysfunction. By understanding the factors contributing to immune dysfunction, the steps to recovering immune function and optimal health become clear.
Working closely with your health care provider, you will develop a proactive plan to optimize immune defenses and build the reserves needed to support health.
Challenges To The Immune System – A Vulnerability Assessment
Chronic immune dysfunction affects a growing number of individuals each year; therefore, understanding the underlying factors these diseases share will reveal a manageable plan to improve symptoms and optimize your health.
Breaches in the Gut Barrier
The GI tract is designed to break down and absorb large amounts of nutrients in a relatively short time. To accomplish this, an architectural feature of folds and fingers, called villi, greatly expands the surface area of the GI tract. When breaches in this barrier occur, it initiates a cascade of immune responses that, if turned chronic, can result in depletion of metabolic reserve and autoantibody production.
Inflammation & Stress Management
The inflammatory process is a vital and necessary component of the immune defense system, and when these immune responses are temporary and local, the inflammatory process is beneficial. However, a breakdown in the regulation of the inflammatory response can result in processes that instead lead to the damage of tissues and organs—a hallmark of most chronic diseases. Although our bodies are equipped to handle short-term stressors, chronic stress over long periods of time taxes the brain, body and health to a great degree.
Mitochondrial Health
Mitochondria are cellular organelles that create ATP for energy. Just as a vehicle intakes fuel and creates exhaust as the process of function, mitochondria create damaging compounds that contribute to disease states. Those free radicals can be addressed with antioxidants – so the foods you eat will directly impact that health and the resulting aging process.
Toxins & Environment
Toxins exists in a number of forms. In fact, some are natural substances, but create deleterious effects in the human body – seasonal allergy sufferers are all too familiar with natural substances, such as pollen and pet dander, causing an overreaction of the immune system. Others are manmade toxins, such as synthetic commercial chemicals and cigarette smoke, and these toxins are a relatively new phenomenon to the human body. These chemicals can mimic hormones, cause inflammatory reactions, and have direct suppressant effects on immune function.
Chronic immune dysfunction can have a significant effect on quality of life.
However, many of the underlying factors of disease can be addressed to improve immune function. Immune issues are often blamed on “bad genes,” but in fact, it is the interaction of our genes with our environment that determines their expression and function.
Our choices in diet and lifestyle, the health of our GI tract, how we manage stress, and our toxic exposures all play pivotal roles in the function of our immune system.
Introducing The Immune Foundations Program
The Immune Foundations Program is a nutrition and lifestyle program designed to heal immune abnormalities and bring the body back into balance. Everyone’s immune system is unique and complex. From the time of preconception to advanced stages of life, there are so many lifestyle factors that affect immune function.
It is important to understand that there is not usually one single event that contributes to immune system dysfunction; it involves a multi-layered assault on the body’s main defense mechanism.
Throughout the program, you will better understand how different determinants of health impact immune function. You will get to know how this affects your immune system and what you can do to kickstart your healing process.
Starting with the “Timeline of Immune Development”, you will discover all the different milestones that impact immune function. Furthermore, this program provides recommendations to address issues in the 4 major pillars of immune health: Gut Health, Stress, Environment and Diet.
Once you understand these basic concepts, you will have all the tools you need to build a strong immune system!
Frequently Asked Questions
Functional medicine is a science-based, individualized approach to health that goes beyond traditional medicine. It finds the root cause of illness by focusing on gut health, metabolism, hormones, environment, and genetics. A personalized diet, nutritional supplementation, and lifestyle plan is designed for your unique profile to achieve health. The Institute for Functional Medicine’s website (ifm.org) has detailed information regarding our practice model.
Both functional and holistic medicine focus on the total body. Functional medicine focuses on interactions between genetics, environment, and lifestyle that impact health. Holistic medicine has a spiritual approach to the body, mind, and soul.
Functional medicine can help with many health problems, such as fatigue, sleep problems, indigestion, weight gain, and hormonal imbalances. If you’re on multiple medications, want to get to the root of your symptoms, or want more natural ways to optimize your health, functional medicine can help you.
As a board-certified internist, I am experienced with chronic diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, cardiac, inflammatory, gastrointestinal, and autoimmune diseases. I also treat fatigue, weight gain, hormone imbalances, and gut dysfunction, such as bloating and gas.
Absolutely! In addition to treating illness, functional medicine also emphasizes prevention for health maintenance.
No, I am not a primary care provider. I will work with you as a functional medicine consultant to address the cause of your chronic health problems and discuss them with your primary care provider if necessary.
Dr. Shimizu is licensed to practice Internal Medicine (adult medicine) in the state of Hawaii.
Yes, when necessary.
I review the traditional labs obtained by your primary provider, such as cholesterol levels and blood counts. Depending on your health goals, I recommend further testing. Some examples are specialized metabolic tests, gut health, environmental toxins, or food sensitivity tests. Some of these specialized testing are not covered by insurance and are out-of-pocket.
Functional medicine is considered complementary alternative medicine; not all insurance plans cover this service. You will pay at the time of your visit, and I will provide a superbill for you if you wish to submit the claim to your insurance or apply to your flexible spending accounts (FSA). We currently accept traditional Medicare.
Rates: – Initial visit (60 minutes): $300 – Second visit (45 minutes): $225 – Follow-up visits (20 minutes): $100 – Initial Visit Package (first three visits included): $700
Go to Olena Center’s online scheduler to schedule an initial appointment. (make this a click here) You will complete health questionnaires and upload available medical records before your appointment. During the first visit, you and I will discuss your health history, family history, diet, and lifestyle habits. I will review different approaches to your health and make some suggestions for change at this time. I may also recommend laboratory testing. The second visit is generally 1-2 months later. At this time, I will evaluate your progress and further personalize your care plan. I may recommend additional dietary changes, supplements, lifestyle changes, and possibly medications. The timing for additional follow-up visits will depend on your customized plan.
