The Founding Patient, Dr. Lori Gerber

OUR STORY

Me - 7-8yrs old

When I was a child my school mornings were typical -Kix cereal, milk, bananas, and orange juice. Sometimes the orange juice was even fresh squeezed (as my mom was the best!). Then, I was off to walk to the bus stop. Twenty minutes later, during my bus ride and throughout my morning all I felt was heartburn!
Each day of my childhood started out the same for the most part other than a few variations in what I ate. Cream chipped beef, heartburn. Bagel and cream cheese,heartburn. Waffles, heartburn. Normal to have, right?! Well, I thought it was normal.
Heartburn was a mainstay of my life through college,medical school and then in residency. I developed autoimmune thyroid disease in residency while studying for my boards. The exhaustion was incapacitating.Traditional medicine dictated that I start Synthroid (one of the most prescribed drugs in the U.S.) after which
I felt no improvement, but my labs looked better(interesting, right?!).A few years later, pregnancy led to a new symptom; mouth swelling and a tingling of my lips with throat itching that started with eating thin-skinned, fruit – all thin-skinned fruit! Now, even as a doctor, I couldn't find answers in traditional medicine.Allergists, Gl doctors, and immunologists could not help.So, I decided to help myself and look for answers on my own.
Mid 20's-Residency Years:

Widow & New Mom

30's

Starting my practice & raising my son.

Quickly, my diet became more and more limited with increasing food sensitivities. Eventually, it consisted of meat and vegetables only with very limited fruit and all gluten-free products.

Would you believe that even after eliminating gluten and most fruits on own my own, the heartburn continued as did the fatigue from hypothyroid, weight gain and the food sensitivities continued to escalate! I needed to find answers ASAP!

I finally found answers in alternative integrative medicine. I enrolled in an
integrative / functional medicine course in Las Vegas to provide a wellness program in addition the physician-assisted weight loss program that I was currently offering in my new business. I was sitting in this conference by myself listening to medical.

professionals talk about how human physiology tells us what is happening to our own body if we connect the dots and pay attention to the symptoms. Now they had my attention! Not only did each patient they were talking about sound like me but, it also sounded like many of the patients coming in complaining of difficulty losing weight and going through hormone changes.

30's or soCrushing

The Ironman

Me & Marcus.

My Partner in Life for 11+ years

My own health story was just like many of the patients that now walk through my door. A timeline of symptoms that were ignored or not heard, precipitating events, genetic predispositions and environmental exposures that compounded on each other causing physiologic sequences that finally made sense when examining them with a wider medical lens.

It was here, at this conference, while listening to the interconnectedness of each body system, my eyes were opened. I realized that what most patients were missing was a someone to be their integrative medicine detective. They needed a medical guide find the missing links between each body system. I rushed out into the hallway to immediately call my husband in my excitement and outrage that we weren’t taught this in medical school!

At that moment, I needed to use this integration of body systems in my own life and health. I also knew that I had to teach this to patients, be their
integrative medicine detective and guide. Traditional medicine leaves patients on pharmaceuticals and treats diseases instead of finding and treating root causes. Moreover, patients never feel better or improve their longevity & vitality. It’s time to change the way we think about medicine!

Through the Dr. Lori and my proprietary R3AL3 Method of Integrative Health, I intend on bringing my integrative medicine detective skills virtually to as many patients as possible across the country. It’s time that we change the way we think about our health and healthcare!