Greiner Health Solutions

One of the things we really value is getting to know our patients over time. The more we work with you, the more we learn what works well for you, what hasn’t, and what’s realistic for your life.

For many of our patients, this becomes an ongoing relationship. You may come in because we’re working through something specific together, or you may simply be checking in, looking at labs, and talking about what makes sense for where you are now.

Your health will change over the years, and we want your care to be able to change with it.

You don’t have to wait until you face a serious health challenge to come see us.

We also work with people who feel good and want to stay that way, or who have overcome a serious health challenge and want to maintain the progress they’ve made.

We help elite athletes enhance performance and support recovery. We work with people who want to stay active, sharp, and independent as they age. Often people want to pay closer attention to cardiovascular health, metabolism, hormones, nutrition, or brain health before problems develop because some of these health issues run in their family.

And sometimes people simply want a better understanding of where their health stands today, so they have a baseline to work from as they get older. For many of our patients, proactively optimizing health is the reason they're here .

A lot of people who come to see us have already put a tremendous amount of time and effort into their health before they walk through our door. They’ve seen multiple providers, done testing, changed their diet, tried supplements or medications, and spent plenty of time researching on their own... but still don't feel right. By the time they get to us, they usually have a pretty good idea of what hasn't helped, and where they still have questions.

Sometimes what has already been done gives us a really good place to start. Other times, looking at everything together helps us decide there’s an area we want to explore more closely. Everything you’ve done along the way can help us decide where to go next.

Another question that comes up pretty often is whether someone needs to stop seeing their other providers once they start working with us.

That is completely up to you.

We’re very comfortable being one part of your healthcare team if you already have a primary care provider or specialist who is taking the lead in your care. In fact, people are often referred to us by their existing provider for a specific treatment or service we offer. We’re happy to step in and work alongside you and your existing provider or team to help you achieve the results you’re seeking.

There are also times when someone comes to us because they’re ready to move away from a provider or approach that hasn’t been a good fit for them. In those situations, we’re happy to take a more active role and lead your care in the areas we’re able to manage. If there are things that still require a specialist, we’ll talk with you about that and help you understand where that additional care fits in.

Every situation is a little different. Some of our patients have several providers involved in their care, while others are looking for us to take the lead. We’re comfortable with both.

Another question we get pretty often is, “How long will I need to do all of this?”

That answer is different for everyone. Some people come to us with one or two things they want help working through. Others have been dealing with several health issues for years, and there may be quite a few things we want to address over time.

How quickly we move also depends on how you respond. Sometimes we make a change and know fairly quickly that we’re headed in the right direction. Other times, we need to give something more time, repeat testing, or work through one area before it makes sense to move on to the next step.

We also know that most people can’t change everything about their life at once. There may be recommendations we want to make eventually, but that doesn’t mean they all need to happen this week. As we work together, we’ll keep talking about what we’re seeing, what we want to work on next, and where you are in the process. The timeline develops along with the plan.

Once you start a plan, we want to know what happens. At your follow-up appointments, we’ll ask how you’ve been feeling and what you’ve noticed since making changes. Sometimes people notice improvements in areas they expected. Other times, they mention something completely different that changed along the way.

We also want to know how the plan is going in real life. Maybe you’re having trouble remembering a supplement, a medication isn’t agreeing with you, a dietary change has been harder than expected, or your schedule makes part of the plan difficult to follow. Those are things we need to know to help make the changes practical for you.

Depending on what we’re working on, we often repeat labs or testing along the way, to see what has changed. We look at those results along with how you’re feeling and use all of that information to decide what makes the most sense moving forward. Sometimes we continue exactly as planned, or sometimes we change a dose, remove something, add something new, or shift our focus. As we navigate your plan with you, we keep making those adjustments based on what we’re learning along the way.

We want our patients to understand why we’re recommending something.

If we suggest a supplement, medication, change in your diet, IV therapy, or another treatment, we want you to know what we’re hoping it will accomplish and why we think it makes sense for you. The same goes for testing. If we want more information, we’ll explain what we’re looking for and how the results may help us make decisions.

There may also be times when you have more questions about a recommendation, or how it fits with another treatment you’re receiving. We need to know that too. Those conversations help us build (or modify) a plan that works for you.

When you leave our office, we want you to understand what we’re doing, why we’re doing it, and what we’re going to be paying attention to along the way.

Once we’ve spent time talking with you, reviewed your history, and analyzed your lab results, we have a much better idea of where to start.

There may be several things we want to work on, but that doesn’t mean we always tackle all of them at the same time. We look at what seems most important, what may be contributing to several of your concerns, and what makes sense to address first.

Your recommendations might include nutrition and lifestyle changes, supplements, or treatments we offer in the office. For many people, it’s some combination of those things. We also consider what you’ve already tried and what has or hasn’t worked in the past.

We know people have jobs, families, and lots of other things competing for their time and attention. A plan only works if you can actually follow it, so those conversations are part of putting it together.

From there, we pay attention to how you’re feeling, what’s changing, and what we’re seeing in follow-up labs, when they’re needed. We use that information to decide what makes sense to continue, change, add, or take away as we go, as you progress in your healing journey.

People sometimes come to us expecting that functional medicine means we’re going to order a huge list of labs.

We actually spend quite a bit of time looking at what you’ve already had done. If you had bloodwork three months ago, bring it. If another doctor ordered a test that answered a question we had, great. There’s no reason to start from scratch every time you see a new provider.

Once we review what we have, we decide if there are still questions that testing could help answer. Sometimes basic bloodwork gives us plenty to work with. Other times we may want to look more closely at something specific, such as hormones, nutrients, gut health, or environmental exposures.

Sometimes we have enough information to get started. If we do more testing, we have a reason for every test we order. What are we looking for? Will the result change what we recommend? Is that information going to be useful right now?

Testing can give us really valuable information. We just want to make sure the information we’re gathering is actually going to help us decide what to do next.

We ask A LOT of questions during appointments. And every once in a while, we get a look that says, “What does that have to do with why I’m here?”

The answer is that we’re looking for connections. If you come in because you’re exhausted, we may end up talking about your digestion, sleep, hormones, medications, infections you had years ago, what your typical day looks like, or whether there has ever been water damage in your home.

We want to know when your symptoms started and what was going on around that time. Did they come on gradually or all at once? Did anything change right before you started feeling different? What makes you feel better? What makes things worse? Have you noticed other symptoms that started around the same time?

We also pay attention to the things you may have gotten used to living with. Sometimes a patient mentions something almost in passing because it has been happening for so long that they don’t really think much about it anymore. That little piece of information may lead us to ask a few more questions.

We’re basically putting together a puzzle. Your history gives us some of the pieces, your symptoms give us others, and labs or testing can help fill in more when we need them. All of the details matter.