When labs say "normal" but you still feel sick
Functional medicine finds the root cause. Dr. Dustin Drussel uses comprehensive testing, personalized protocols, and lifestyle medicine to investigate what conventional doctors miss. No cookie-cutter protocols. No one-size-fits-all supplements. Real answers for real people.
Is this you?
If you're nodding along to any of these, you're not crazy. You're not a hypochondriac. And you're not alone. You might just need someone who looks deeper.
- You've been told your labs are "normal" but you feel terrible every day
- You're exhausted no matter how much you sleep
- You've seen multiple doctors and no one can tell you why you feel this way
- Digestive problems, bloating, or food reactions that never resolve
- Your thyroid medication doesn't seem to be working
- Brain fog, difficulty concentrating, word retrieval problems
- Weight that won't budge no matter what diet you try
- Chronic headaches, joint pain, or inflammation with no clear cause
- You've been told to "just reduce stress" or offered an antidepressant
- You're motivated to make real changes but need someone to guide you
What is functional medicine?
Functional medicine is root cause medicine. Instead of asking "what drug covers this symptom?", Dr. Drussel asks "why is your body doing this in the first place?"
When you walk in, the first thing that happens is a thorough intake. Dr. Drussel wants to know everything: every diagnosis you've had, every medication, every supplement, every diet you've tried. What worked, what didn't, how long it worked, any reactions. The good, the bad, and the ugly.
From there, symptom surveys establish a baseline of where you are right now. The goal is to cast a wide net and figure out what parts of the body are being affected by the one concern you came in for. That gives Dr. Drussel a roadmap for how to approach your situation.
This isn't a 15-minute appointment. It takes time to get the full picture, and that's exactly the point.
How Dr. Drussel's approach is different
No Cookie-Cutter Protocols
A lot of functional medicine doctors have a "thyroid protocol" and every patient with a thyroid problem gets the same stack. Dr. Drussel doesn't do that. You can't out-supplement yourself out of a problem. Every protocol is designed specifically for you, based on your history, your body, and your goals.
Lab-Smart, Not Lab-Happy
There are a lot of expensive labs in functional medicine that don't give you clear answers. The longer you practice, the more selective you get. Dr. Drussel orders tests to confirm what your health history already tells him, not to run up a bill. If diet and lifestyle changes can be tried first without a test that won't change the approach, that's the move.
Collaborative, Not Anti-Doctor
Dr. Drussel doesn't tell you to choose between him and your MD. We're in a society where nobody knows everything. If you're on medications, he works alongside your prescribers to make sure everything fits together. The best outcomes come from providers working as a team.
Structure + Systems Under One Roof
An MD doing functional medicine can't adjust your spine. A regular chiropractor can't investigate your thyroid. Dr. Drussel's Doctor of Chiropractic plus Master's in Sports Rehabilitation means he treats the structural complaint and digs into the systemic root cause in the same practice.
The patient who had too little stomach acid
A patient came to Dr. Drussel after suffering with acid reflux for years. They constantly felt acid moving up and were afraid it was wearing away their esophagus. The knee-jerk reaction from conventional medicine would be antacids, Tums, or a proton pump inhibitor to suppress the acid.
But as Dr. Drussel worked through their case, he discovered the opposite: their stomach wasn't creating enough acid. This condition, called hypochlorhydria, means the stomach can't signal the esophageal sphincter to close properly. So whatever acid is there leaks up, and you feel like you have too much, when you actually have too little.
Taking antacids would have made it worse. Instead, Dr. Drussel recommended HCL supplementation to increase stomach acid production. The patient took capsules before meals, gradually building up until the acid reflux disappeared completely.
That's the difference between treating a symptom and finding the root cause.
Conditions we investigate
These are the most common reasons patients seek functional medicine at Integrative Motion. Each one has a deeper story that standard testing often misses.
What testing looks like
When labs are needed, Dr. Drussel goes beyond the standard panels your primary care doctor runs. For example, if you have a thyroid problem, insurance typically covers two markers. But there are nine. Those seven additional markers can tell you whether your thyroid is under-converting, over-converting, not creating enough hormone, or being attacked by your own immune system.
Common testing includes:
- Full thyroid panel (9 markers, not 2)
- Comprehensive blood work (CBC, CMP)
- Food sensitivity testing (IgG/IgA)
- Inflammatory markers (CRP, ESR)
- Vitamin and mineral levels (D, B12, iron, magnesium)
- Blood sugar and metabolic markers (HbA1c, fasting insulin)
- Hormone panels (cortisol, testosterone, estrogen)
- Infection and environmental screening
Not every patient needs every test. The goal is to confirm what the health history already suggests, not to run every panel available just because you can.
What your first visit looks like
Detailed Intake
Thorough paperwork covering your full health history, past diagnoses, medications, supplements, diets, and reactions. We want the complete picture.
Deep Conversation
Dr. Drussel reviews your history and asks layered questions. Symptom surveys establish your baseline. This isn't a 15-minute visit.
Your Roadmap
Based on intake and exam, Dr. Drussel builds a personalized roadmap. If labs are needed, he'll explain exactly what and why before ordering.
Follow-Up & Adjust
Results review, protocol adjustments, diet modifications. Check-ins every 4-8 weeks to monitor progress and iterate. Marathon, not a sprint.
Are you ready for functional medicine?
Dr. Drussel asks every functional medicine patient: on a scale of 1 to 10, how motivated are you to change?
Patients who say 8 or above do really well. They're willing to make changes, they're patient when the process takes time, and they understand that sometimes we'll go down a path that doesn't work. That's not failure. If something gets better or gets worse, it tells us we've changed something in the system, and we're getting closer to the root cause.
Functional medicine is a two-way street. Dr. Drussel will work as hard as he can for you, but you need to work just as hard. If both sides are motivated, both sides find success.
This isn't the right fit for everyone, and that's okay. But if you've been suffering, you're tired of not getting answers, and you're ready to put in the work, this is where you start.
Frequently Asked Questions
Functional medicine is root cause medicine. Instead of prescribing a drug to suppress a symptom, it investigates why that symptom exists. Through detailed health histories, targeted lab testing, and personalized protocols, functional medicine finds and addresses the underlying dysfunction driving your condition.
Your regular doctor works under an insurance model that limits visit time to 15 minutes and dictates which labs get covered. Functional medicine uses longer visits (60-90 minutes initially), broader lab panels, and tighter "optimal" ranges instead of just "normal." Dr. Drussel investigates patterns across your whole body rather than treating each symptom in isolation.
An initial functional medicine consultation is $250 for a comprehensive 60-90 minute visit. Follow-up visits are $150. Many standard lab panels are covered by insurance. Specialty panels may have out-of-pocket costs, and Dr. Drussel will explain all costs before ordering anything.
Not always. Dr. Drussel is selective about testing. If your health history and exam point clearly in one direction, he may recommend trying diet and lifestyle changes first. Labs are ordered when they'll confirm a suspicion or change the direction of treatment, not just for the sake of running tests.
Absolutely. Many patients start with chiropractic care and discover that functional medicine helps address underlying issues that are slowing their recovery. For example, chronic inflammation or nutritional deficiencies can prevent muscles from healing properly after adjustments. Treating both the structure and the systems produces better results.
This is a marathon, not a sprint. Your body needs time to repair and rebalance. Initial improvements often show within 4-8 weeks, but a full protocol may take 3-6 months of consistent follow-through. Dr. Drussel monitors progress at regular check-ins and adjusts the plan as your body responds.
The most common conditions include gut issues (IBS, SIBO, acid reflux, bloating), thyroid dysfunction (including Hashimoto's), chronic fatigue, autoimmune disorders, hormonal imbalance, food sensitivities, chronic headaches, and metabolic issues like insulin resistance. If your body has a condition that isn't responding to conventional treatment, functional medicine can investigate why.
No. Dr. Drussel does not prescribe or manage medications. That's outside the scope of a Doctor of Chiropractic. He works collaboratively alongside your prescribing doctor. If your functional medicine protocol is working and your MD determines a medication can be adjusted, that's a conversation between you and your prescriber.
The functional medicine consultation itself is a cash-pay service. However, many of the lab panels Dr. Drussel orders are standard panels that insurance will cover when ordered by a licensed provider. Specialty panels (food sensitivity testing, comprehensive hormone panels) may be out-of-pocket. All costs are explained upfront before anything is ordered.
Most supplement protocols fail because they're generic. Someone reads about a thyroid supplement online and takes it without understanding the mechanism of their specific problem. Dr. Drussel designs protocols based on your individual health history and lab data, targets the actual dysfunction (not just the symptom), and adjusts as your body responds. That's the difference between guessing and investigating.
Ready to find the root cause?
Call Integrative Motion to schedule your functional medicine consultation with Dr. Drussel. Your first step toward real answers.