got questions?
Everything you've been afraid
to ask about Hashimoto's
and Hypothyroidism — answered.
If you've spent time in doctor's offices getting incomplete answers, this page is for you. No jargon. No runaround. Just straight answers about what's actually driving your symptoms and how this work is different.
What is functional medicine, and how is it different from what I've already tried?
Functional medicine starts with a different question. Conventional medicine asks "what disease do you have?" Functional medicine asks "why do you have it?" The focus is root causes — what's driving the dysfunction — rather than managing symptoms with medications or generic protocols.
Most women with Hashimoto's who come to me have already tried functional medicine in some form. They've seen practitioners who ordered thousands of dollars in specialty testing, received long supplement lists, and still didn't get resolution. That's not functional medicine failing — that's a specific approach to it failing. Skilled clinical assessment doesn't require excessive testing. It requires the right testing, interpreted well, in the context of your full health history.
What testing do you actually use — and why not more?
Comprehensive blood work and cellular mineral testing. That's the foundation.
Comprehensive blood work covers your full thyroid panel, key metabolic markers, inflammatory markers, and nutrient levels that actually matter for Hashimoto's. Cellular mineral testing shows what blood work misses — cellular thyroid function, nervous system state, adrenal patterns, and mineral imbalances that drive fatigue, immune dysfunction, and mood issues.
I don't routinely order Dutch tests, stool panels, organic acids tests, food sensitivity panels, or other specialty labs that run $3,000-5,000 before we've even started working together. Those tests have real limitations and often create more confusion than clarity. Good clinical assessment figures out root causes from a thorough health timeline, blood work, and cellular mineral testing. Ordering every test in the catalog is a sign of test dependency — not clinical skill.
How is this different from other functional medicine practitioners I've seen?
A few things set this apart.
The testing philosophy. Most functional medicine approaches lead with expensive specialty panels. I use comprehensive blood work and cellular mineral testing — sufficient when paired with strong clinical skill, and a fraction of the cost.
The sequencing. Nervous system regulation comes first — weeks 1-4, as a foundation, not an afterthought. You cannot heal Hashimoto's in chronic fight-or-flight mode. In survival mode, your body deprioritizes hormone balance, gut function, and detoxification. No supplement protocol overrides that.
The ratio. 80% of healing comes from foundations — sleep, sunlight, hydration with minerals, real food, movement, breathwork, nervous system regulation, boundaries. 20% comes from targeted supplementation. Most practitioners have this backwards.
The goal. I'm not building a practice that requires you to stay sick. The goal is that you understand your body well enough to navigate independently when we're done.
Do I have to take a lot of supplements?
No. And if a practitioner is leading with supplements, that's a signal worth paying attention to.
Supplements are 20% of the work — targeted, mineral-testing-guided, and introduced after foundations are in place. There's a specific reason for that sequence: if there's not enough cellular energy, your body doesn't have the means to process supplements. Adding more before fixing the engine is why so many women feel worse on supplement protocols, not better.
When supplements are recommended, they're practitioner-grade and ordered through Fullscript — not Amazon, not a health food store shelf.
How long does it take to see results?
Most women start noticing meaningful shifts within the first 4-8 weeks — not because we've added the right supplements, but because the nervous system is beginning to regulate and the foundations are in place.
Deeper changes — antibodies coming down, sustained energy, real cognitive clarity — typically show up in months 2-4 as root causes are addressed.
You didn't develop Hashimoto's overnight. Resolution takes time. But when root causes are actually addressed, the changes hold.
Do I need to follow a restrictive diet?
Not a blanket elimination diet, no. Generic elimination protocols remove foods without knowing whether those foods are actually the problem for you specifically. Sometimes they help. Often they just add restriction without resolution.
What we do instead is identify what your immune system is actually reacting to — based on your health timeline and testing — and address that specifically. The goal is always to expand what your body can tolerate as it heals, not to restrict forever.
in 12 years and over 1,000 clients
I've seen what works. And I've seen what doesn't.
The women who finally get results aren't the ones who tried harder. They're the ones who finally found the right starting point.
That's what this work is about.
— Dr. Lori Kalie, DC, CFMP, IHP
Do you work with clients virtually?
Yes. All consultations happen via video. Lab testing can be completed at a lab near you or with at-home kits shipped directly to you. Location isn't a barrier.
Do you accept insurance?
Functional medicine services are not covered by insurance.
Many clients find that addressing root causes reduces long-term spending on medications, repeated testing, and practitioner visits that don't lead anywhere.
Payment plans are available — we can discuss options on your consultation call.
I've tried everything. Why would this be different?
Because "everything" probably didn't include a thorough look at what's happening at the cellular level — your mineral patterns, your nervous system state, the imbalances driving your immune dysfunction — combined with the clinical skill to interpret what it means for you specifically.
Most protocols fail not because the person didn't try hard enough, but because root causes weren't actually identified. Symptoms don't emerge in a vacuum.
When you find what the immune system is reacting to and address it, the picture changes.
That said — this approach requires real commitment to foundations. If you're looking for a supplement protocol to add to what you're already doing, this isn't the right fit.
If you're ready to address root causes and do the foundational work that makes everything else work, it might be.
start here
Ready to find out what's actually driving your symptoms?
Your symptoms are communication, not a life sentence.