66 - Phylicia Harris DNP, APRN, FNP-C, FMACP- E on How Functional Medicine Can Help Autoimmune Disease

Stacy Griffin: Welcome back to Autoimmune Adventures. Today's episode is all about healing from the inside out, understanding our bodies, finding the root causes of our illness, and learning to create balance in our lives. Again, we're joined by Dr. Phylicia Harris, founder of Functionally Balanced Health, who has nearly 15 years of experience in both conventional and functional medicine. She's passionate about helping women identify the underlying causes of autoimmune symptoms and reclaim their health. Dr. Harris, we're so glad that you're here with us today. Welcome.

Phylicia Harris: So am I. Thank you all.

Becky Miller: So Phylicia, you've worked in healthcare for nearly 15 years, both conventional and functional medicine. Um, what experiences led you to make that shift toward functional medicine from conventional?

Phylicia Harris: Yes, I was, for the most part in my career, I've been in a conventional setting. So traditional hospital setting, even outpatient clinic setting. And throughout the 15 years you do see a lot. But two things stood out to me. Um, one in particular, but the two things were just poor access to healthcare, um, in my community, and then also just poor quality care. Um, even when I was, I was thinking about me being, when I first started working, I was in a cardiac step down unit. So many people were coming in and needing, um, valve replacement, heart valve replacements or bypass surgeries. And a lot of times people will question like, what could I have done to prevent this? Like, I'm coming in with a heart attack, what could I have done? Um, education has always been huge to me, but the fact that they would come in with these questions and just be given medication and just like, is this really good quality care?

What could we have done to have a better outcome? So, um, I learned about functional medicine and learned that instead of being so much focused on just medications or surgeries as treatments, we can look and dive deeper and see what is the underlying cause, what's going on, what can we correct here to prevent these poor outcomes to begin with? So I was very drawn to functional medicine and just decided to study more of a functional approach.

Stacy Griffin: I love that. So from there, you were inspired to start Functionally Balanced Health, and focus specifically on helping women with autoimmune symptoms. So can you share with us what you feel is your mission and your goal with your new practice?

Phylicia Harris: Mm-hmm. Yes. Um, well, I was really surrounded, I was really inspired by my surroundings. I was surrounded by people who, like I said, I felt like they needed improved quality care. But, um, outside of that, I was surrounded by many people who dealt with autoimmune symptoms. I, myself do not have an autoimmune condition. I do have, um, people in my family that diff, suffer with different types of arthritis. Um, but I had one particular close friend that I saw...his things that he suffered with day in and day out. Just difficulty in even turning his head when, you know, driving a car and people saying, "Oh, you look young, you don't look like you know it's anything wrong. Why are you walking the way you are?," with him trying to overcompensate because of his pain. "Why are you walking the way you are," or doctors not giving him answers. I had some other friends and close family friends that had rheumatoid arthritis, um, lupus, and seeing just how it affected them on a daily basis, their quality of life.

And so I felt just drawn to help them through functional medicine. And so I decided to niche in autoimmune care for those who suffer with autoimmune issues. Um, because I saw concerns in the community, you know, black community. I did decide that I really wanted to hone in my care for that community. But I'm more than honored and more than happy to work with anyone who is suffering and just wanting help and wanting someone to listen to them, be heard, and to get them, help them get relief.

So. It was really my surroundings that really drove me into the autoimmune space.

Stacy Griffin: I love that. I think that in recent years there has been a light really shining, shown on, as we know, autoimmune disease. I mean, obviously it affects men as well, but it predominantly affects women.

Phylicia Harris: Mm-hmm.

Stacy Griffin:  And then women are already underserved, so we, we find that I think we as women have this tendency to try and do everything and be everything to everyone and, and make everything good for everyone.

Phylicia Harris: Mm-hmm.

Stacy Griffin:  Instead of maybe worrying about when we need to take better care of ourselves.

Phylicia Harris: Right, right.

Stacy Griffin:  So, um, I, I really appreciate what you're doing. It, it's important and it's great work, so thank you.

Becky Miller: So, we're pretty passionate here about functional medicine 'cause we've all had good experiences with it. But being that, um, we know it's not as common as conventional medicine, some of our listeners might not be familiar with it. Um, could you please just describe kind of simply what is functional medicine? Um, and you told us a little bit about how it differs from traditional medicine, but what would you kind of just describe it, uh, or define it as I guess.

Phylicia Harris: Mm-hmm. Simply, I would just say it's more of a science-based, holistic approach to medicine. Really looking at the person as a whole and seeing how they are impacted. Um, how their life is impacted and can lead to various symptoms and conditions. And functional medicine the goal isn't to just put a label or diagnosis on your symptoms. It is more so to work with the patient to dig down to the underlying root causes and correct those root causes.

Um, we're not necessarily opposed to medication. I know myself, I'm not opposed to medication because you can have, you know, in certain conditions, like I know we were. Talking about lupus earlier, like you can have some organ involvement and medication very well may be needed. Um, so I'm definitely not opposed to medication, but I do know that there are things that we can do to correct the underlying causes that may not require medication.

So just simply put, it is an approach that treats more holistically and aims to address the underlying root causes. Um, they, in functional medicine, we do some more advanced testing that your regular, traditional doctors wouldn't do. Um, so that's something that's a little bit different as well. Um, so, simply that's, that's how I would define it.

But our goal is to get the symptoms, I'm sorry, not symptoms, the systems in the body functioning more properly and more imbalanced, um, so that you can really get relief from the things that you're going through.

Becky Miller: I think personally, the reason that I loved doing the functional medicine so much was because, just like you said, in traditional medicine, it seems like not, and not to say that all doctors are this way, 'cause some doctors are looking for the root cause. But very often as somebody with autoimmune disease, I felt like they were just there to treat my symptoms and nobody was willing to dig a little deeper.

Phylicia Harris: Mm-hmm.

Becky Miller: And so for me, that was, um, where functional medicine really came in and made a huge difference for me. So yeah, I would totally agree with that.

Phylicia Harris: Mm-hmm.

Stacy Griffin: With that in mind, let's ask a question, because I know what people are thinking. She's talking about root causes. What on earth are, would be root causes? So can you maybe give us some of the most common root causes that you see that contribute to autoimmune disease?

Phylicia Harris: Yes, I know earlier we were talking about how women take on everything and we, we have so many roles, so many hats that we wear as women, you know, caring, caring for our home, um, working in a workplace that can be stressful, just the stress that comes with everyday life. So stress is huge as it relates to autoimmune symptoms, and a lot of times people can have unresolved traumas that they may have experienced as a childhood that we call them, um, adverse childhood events that never were really addressed. Um, and, um, unbeknownst to us, like it really can still impact us years and decades later. So stress and trauma are huge root causes.

Um, hormonal imbalances are huge. Some people start having symptoms at the time of like pregnancy, you know, when your hormones are fluctuating, and even perimenopause, post menopause. So hormone imbalances are huge as well. Gut, the gut is huge in functional medicine. It's the first place that a lot of functional medicine providers look, especially as it relates to autoimmunity, because so much of our immune system, over two third thirds of our immune system is within the gut. Um, and it really impacts all the other sense. Systems of our body. So gut health, um, having some kind of gut imbalances is another huge root cause of autoimmune symptoms.

Stacy Griffin: I love that you brought that up because I've had people say the gut is the second, um, brain, o the body, and I, I love that because it makes sense.

If you think about it, when you put gas into a car, that's what makes the car run. So whatever we stick into our body is what's supposed to help us run. And if we're not putting good fuel in. We're gonna get gummed up and it's not gonna...

Becky Miller: I was gonna say, or if the gas tank is damaged or whatever, it needs to be fixed.

Phylicia Harris: Right.

Becky Miller:  Because that's, I, I know for me personally, again, on my functional medicine journey, gut health was a, a big thing, a big issue that I had to address and, and it helped. It helped a lot. It helped me manage my symptoms a lot. So,

Phylicia Harris: Mm-hmm. Yeah. A lot of times people think of like the foods that we eat, um, that being related to gut health, but it's so much more, it can be an imbalance in your good and your bad bacteria.

Maybe you're not digesting foods well. And, um, you have the food that's sitting in a certain portion of your intestines and you have a overgrowth of bacteria there. Or even, like you were saying, Becky, you might have, maybe the gas tank is damaged, like the gut lining can be, um, be damaged and not built up as strongly as it needs to be.

And so things can seep through the lining of the gut and it can cause the immune system to go, you know, overact. We do need our immune system to act and to protect us, but when it overacts, that's when it causes problems. And it can cause inflammation, not just in the gut, but system wide. The pain, the brain fog, just all the symptoms that can come with happening autoimmune conditions.

So gut health is huge, and I love what both of you all said. Like it's not, it's what you're giving yourself. And it's also maybe the, maybe the gas tank is damaged in a way.

Stacy Griffin: So if we take a truly holistic approach, it would include things like nutrition and lifestyle and mindset.

Phylicia Harris: Mm-hmm.

Stacy Griffin: So what are some of the key lifestyle changes that you think make the biggest difference for people living with autoimmunity?

Phylicia Harris: I would say mindset and stress. Um, I've worked with some people who feel like, "oh, I'm not stressed. I'm good." But then when we start incorporating some of the different things to help with stress and mindset, uh, various activities, they say how they feel like a difference.

Just going outside. I know that first morning sunlight is supposed to be so beneficial for us. Maybe the first 20 minutes or so, going outside, getting that fresh air, um, taking a walk out, getting that sunlight and that sunlight helps us to regulate our hormones. Um, that can be huge in itself. I know what's big right now, a lot of people are talking about mindfulness and mindful breathing, so even just doing some of the slow, deep breaths, um, can really be helpful.

I was talking to someone and they were saying how they just really don't know how to meditate, and that's hard for them. You don't have to, you know, do anything. Just like meditation. You could do something, like I said, the going outside, taking a deep breaths, maybe just closing yourself in your, in your bedroom for a minute. When you have like kids running around and so much going on, you just need just two or three minutes to yourself kinda to regulate your nervous system, calm down. Um, those, those activities can seem so minor, but they can help us tremendously. And I've, I've seen that.

Becky Miller: Well, those are all good, good suggestions there. My question is, 'cause I'm, I'm guessing that you probably have, um, 'cause I think, let me go back to this. Functional medicine is, is so inclusive that it does include all these things like lifestyle changes and stuff. I'm guessing you've had some patients that find it very hard to make those necessary changes to actually heal their body.

So if you had somebody who was overwhelmed by where to start, if they had to make like diet and lifestyle changes, um, when they're just feeling overwhelmed with it, how do you help them take that first step...

Phylicia Harris: Mm-hmm.

Becky Miller: ...to make it just a little easier?

Phylicia Harris: Yeah, so I would actually talk to them and see what they felt was doable for them, what they felt was too challenging for them, and try to find something that they felt could be, you know, something that's not so overwhelming, not take on so many changes at once. That's hard. Let's start with one thing that we can do. Maybe it's just for a few minutes in a day and we can gradually build upon it. Um, I meet with my patients pretty frequently if they're in my program - every other week in the weeks that we're not meeting, I always let them know you can reach out to me via email, or even they can text me on a certain number and we can, you know, let me keep me up to date on how you're feeling and if we need to tweak something or you know, let me know because otherwise how can I help you if I don't know? So I let them know that I'm there to support them and try to work with them to find something that is a little bit more doable, not so challenging, not so overwhelming that they feel like they can incorporate in their life.

And then another thing that's coming to me now is, I don't know if you all have heard about habit stacking, like pairing it with something that you're already doing to make it a little bit easier if you're used to...I'll just use this as a random example. Maybe we're wanting to incorporate a certain supplement to help with your gut healing. Um, or maybe we want to start, um, adding, I said a supplement or we could add like, um, something called L Glutamine that helps with the gut healing. Gut lining. Um. Maybe you are prone to drinking coffee in the morning and you have your, you know, everything out to make your coffee in the morning on your counter, but you can put that right beside it. So that's kind of like the habit stacking. You pair it with something that you're already doing. Maybe that can make it easier for that person, not so overwhelming or not something that they're going to forget.

Phylicia Harris: So I try to just work with the, the person. Everyone is, functional medicine is very personalized. Um, we don't have. I like to say, I can't just tell you how one person will be treated, um, in comparison to the other. It can be completely different. So just really working with them to see what they're comfortable with and how we can make it doable for them.

Stacy Griffin: I really love that. Um, it's pretty apparent that you have helped people find some clarity and relief, and we're grateful for people like you. So, could you share a rewarding transformation? Obviously HIPAA is HIPAA...

Phylicia Harris: Mm-hmm.

Stacy Griffin: ...so we understand that. But if you could share like a generalized example of a transformation that you've witnessed in your practice that just made you really excited to do what you do.

Phylicia Harris: Um, I will, I will. This isn't someone that dealt so much with an autoimmune symptom, but they did have trouble with, um, tolerating solid foods for over a decade and really felt, just like we were talking about earlier, dismissed by doctors going from one doctor to the next and they did all these GI testing, various tests and said, well, nothing seems like anything is wrong. Everything is functioning how it's supposed to. Um, maybe you need to just see psych. And granted, she did have a lot of stress and, um, unresolved traumas. Um, but she just didn't feel heard, and she felt like everything and it...it's pretty true. Like a lot of our lives surround, a lot of our social interactions surround food.

So she felt like, "I can't enjoy Thanksgiving. Uh, I can't go on a date with someone. I can't go with my friends out to, they wanna grab something to eat after work." And it's like, "I don't wanna, I can't do that." I, so I'm really isolated. So I worked with her, um, did a lot of. Looking into her gut, healed her gut.

Uh, worked a lot on mindset and stress as she worked with some other therapists as well. Um, and, um. Advocated for her, asking her doctor to do some other testing that they had not been doing before. And in the end, um, she's now eating and she was, I was just talking to her and she was just saying how she's looking forward to Thanksgiving.

Um, she's been eating now for a few, few months and gradually each week like adding something new. Um, you know, it wasn't just overnight that she started eating everything, but um, she is eating a lot. Um, and earlier today, earlier today, I saw, she said she was eating, um, an ice cream cone for the first time, but I talked to her recently and she was just saying how she's just grateful and enjoying like social gatherings again. And that just made me feel really good. So that's the first, first one that came to mind.

Becky Miller: That's wonderful. Yeah. That's a, that's a great example. And, um. Finally, if you could leave our listeners with one piece of encouragement about living with autoimmune disease, what would you... what piece of encouragement would you give them?

Phylicia Harris: Um, I would say. Not to lose hope. Um, I know it is very difficult when you are going to the doctor and they are saying that there's nothing wrong or you're on this medication, and you're not getting any kind of relief. Um, and you can lose hope and you can feel like this is the end and this is what my life is, is going, going to look like now.

And it can be very dark. Um, I would say to, one, maybe seek out another doctor. Maybe consider a functional medicine doctor who will sit and talk with you, um, maybe for a longer period of time. A lot of our appointments are more, um, extended longer than your typical traditional doctor, and we look at a lot more, like I said. Um, so maybe. Seeking out a functional medicine doctor with just a second opinion from someone and continuing to advocate for yourself and trying to get those answers. And just knowing that it's not in your head, you are not crazy. It is something, you know, your body. Um, and there are answers out there. So... just it's, it's easy to lose all hope. Just hold on.

Stacy Griffin: Thank you for reminding us that we need to hold on to hope. Um, I think that one of the things that I love the most about getting to talk to practitioners like you is that you have such an obvious desire to help. And I think that a lot of people in the autoimmune community have been gaslit.

We have amazing doctors. The three of us have talked about our care team and how amazing they are, but there was a lot of gaslighting before we found those amazing people.

Phylicia Harris: Yeah,

Stacy Griffin:  But you know who I've never been gaslit by? I've never been gaslit by a functional medicine doctor. Every functional medicine doctor has been a joy, so we're so grateful for you coming on and letting our audience get a feel for what functional medicine practitioners do. Thank you for being here with us today.

Phylicia Harris: Thank you all so much. I really do appreciate the opportunity and I just enjoy, enjoyed talking to you all. So I love that you all, that you both and your younger sister have already learned about functional medicine and really enjoying working with functional medicine providers and seeing the benefit in that.

So. I love that and I love you all. I appreciate that you all had me on. Um, just knowing the importance and just knowing the importance of seeking out other options and the benefits of working with a functional medicine provider.

Stacy Griffin:  Thank you, we're so grateful.

Becky Miller: Yeah. Sharing with our listeners before we wrap up, um, where can our listeners connect with you or learn more about your work? And especially I said, you said you were in Tennessee. Anybody that's nearby where the, can they sign up to come see you?

Phylicia Harris:  Yes. Anyone in the states of Tennessee or Florida, I'm more than happy to talk with you all. Um, I do offer free consultations where I would just love to learn more about what you're going through, what have doctors told you in the past or what haven't they told you and discuss with you how we could work together.

So you could do that. Um, you can connect with me on social media, on Facebook, or on Instagram, both at Functionally Balanced Health. Or you can reach out to me on my website and book a consultation, um, the top on the top border of my website. On the right side, you'll see BOOK NOW. You can book that free consultation. So my website is www.functionallybalancedhealth.com.

Becky Miller: We will be sure to put that, um, in our show notes so that they have access to that.

Phylicia Harris: Yes. Thank you. I know earlier we were talking about, um, just how you can advocate for yourself. And I was just thinking about a nonprofit organization that I'm a part of. I'm, uh, actually a member of their board of directors. It's called Inflamed Sisters Thriving. Um, this is an nonprofit organization that's really open to anyone, um, anyone dealing with chronic illness or inflammatory conditions. Autoimmune conditions. Um. Yes, if you can look up the website, it should [www.inflamedsistersthriving.org].

So that's something for anyone that wants to connect. We do have events. We have a, they just had a retreat. They went on, um, about a month ago in March, we'll have our annual gala, um, which we have various speakers come. Um, it's just a great experience. I know a lot of people feel disconnected and feel like they don't have anyone to understand, even their own family, like they're not going through it, so they feel like no one really understands. So I feel like, um, it really provides a community for people suffering. Um, and it's really a great, a great event. Last year was my first year attending. This last year was our third, um, third gala and my first year attending. And it was absolutely amazing just being in that room filled with women.

Primarily it is women. We are, we do welcome men too, but like you said, women are more prone to getting an autoimmune condition. So it is primarily women, but um, anyone is welcome.

Stacy Griffin:  Thank you so much for sharing that. I'm excited to hear about that because that's something I'm interested in knowing more about. So thank you so much. Alright.

If you enjoyed today's conversation, please like, subscribe and share it with someone who might need a little encouragement on their own journey. You can find more resources, past episodes, and inspiration at autoimmuneadventures.com.

Remember, you are worthy of joy. Disease does not define your life. You do.

HELPFUL LINKS:

You can find Dr. Phylicia Harris on Facebook and Instagram at Functionally Balanced Health.

To book a free consultation. with Dr. Harris, visit www.functionallybalancedhealth.com.

To join or learn more about the non-profit group, Inflamed Sisters Thriving, visit www.inflamedsistersthriving.org.