Rooted Wellness

A BIG MILESTONE FOR ROOTED WELLNESS! 🎉

I’m incredibly excited and proud to share that I have officially passed the Institute for Functional Medicine (IFM) certification examination and earned my FMCP-M credential — Functional Medicine Certified Practitioner–Medical!

With this certification, I am now one of only three FMCP-M credentialed providers in Southwest Missouri, and the ONLY ONE with a background in Trauma Surgery & Critical Care.❤️

This is so much more than another credential behind my name. It represents years of studying, clinical experience, continued education, and a commitment to practicing functional medicine in a way that is systematic, evidence-informed, and grounded in medicine.

The Institute for Functional Medicine (IFM) is widely recognized as a leading organization in functional medicine and is considered by many in the field to be the gold standard for functional medicine education and certification. Their framework emphasizes a systematic approach to understanding the complex interactions between genetics, environment, lifestyle, nutrition, physiology, and the body's interconnected systems — rather than simply treating isolated symptoms.

As a PA and Registered Dietitian who has practiced functional medicine for the past decade, this certification represents an important next step in my professional journey.

At Rooted Wellness, my goal has always been to look beyond “What is the diagnosis?” and ask:

🌱 Why is this happening?
🌱 What systems are contributing to it?
🌱 What are we missing?
🌱 How can we address the underlying drivers while still practicing good medicine?

I believe patients deserve both: the clinical foundation of conventional medicine AND a deeper investigation into the factors contributing to chronic and complex health concerns.

I’m incredibly grateful to officially carry the FMCP-M credential and to bring this level of specialized functional medicine training to patients here in Southwest Missouri.

This milestone is not the finish line — it’s another step forward in my commitment to continually learning, questioning, investigating, and providing the highest level of care I can.

Rooted in medicine. Rooted in science. Rooted in the individual. 🌱

— Jessica Maez, MS, MS-PAS, PA-C, RD, FMCP-M
Rooted Wellness | Integrative & Functional Medicine

M.A.M.A.S. x Rooted Wellness

We are so excited to share a new partnership with Rooted Wellness—one that feels incredibly aligned with the heart of M.A.M.A.S. and the women we serve.

After miscarriage or stillbirth, one of the hardest things many of us face is the question: Why?

Why did this happen?
Is there something going on that hasn’t been found?
Is there anything we should look into before trying again?
And why does it sometimes feel like we’re expected to simply move forward without answers?

That is why we are so grateful to connect our M.A.M.A.S. community with Jessica Maez, PA-C, RD, founder of Rooted Wellness.

Jessica is an integrative and functional medicine practitioner who works with women experiencing recurrent pregnancy loss, secondary or unexplained infertility, and complex reproductive health concerns.

But this work is also deeply personal to her.

Jessica has experienced recurrent pregnancy loss and secondary infertility herself. She knows what it feels like to desperately search for answers and wonder whether something is being missed. Through her own journey, she was able to identify and address underlying contributors to her fertility struggles and has since carried three healthy pregnancies.

At Rooted Wellness, Jessica takes a whole-body, root-cause approach to reproductive health. Depending on each woman’s individual history, evaluation may include areas such as:

🌿 Hormonal and progesterone health
🌿 Thyroid and metabolic function
🌿 Inflammation and immune regulation
🌿 Nutritional and biochemical factors
🌿 Gut and microbiome health
🌿 Structural and reproductive concerns
🌿 Other areas that may be contributing to reproductive health

Her work can include comprehensive diagnostic testing, imaging, referrals to specialists when appropriate, and helping women understand which findings may actually be meaningful to their individual situation.

Rooted Wellness also offers progesterone management and emergency progesterone services for appropriate patients when progesterone support is clinically indicated.

For our loss moms, we know this journey isn’t always simply about getting pregnant again.

Sometimes it’s about wanting someone to look deeper.
It’s wanting to understand your body.
It’s wanting to know whether there are questions that haven’t been asked yet.
And after experiencing a loss that made so much feel outside of your control, it’s wanting to walk into the future with as much information and support as possible.

M.A.M.A.S. exists to make sure women don’t have to navigate life after loss alone. Partnering with organizations and providers who understand the complexity of pregnancy loss allows us to continue building a stronger network of resources for the families we serve.

We are incredibly thankful to have Rooted Wellness as part of that network.

If you’ve experienced recurrent pregnancy loss, are struggling to conceive again, or have been told your infertility is “unexplained,” we encourage you to learn more about Rooted Wellness and the resources Jessica provides.

Every woman’s situation is different, and evaluation or treatment recommendations will vary. Rooted Wellness works alongside appropriate OB/GYN, reproductive endocrinology, maternal-fetal medicine, and other specialty care when indicated.

"Food sensitivities” aren’t the diagnosis… they’re a clue to keep looking.

A mom recently sent me this message after her son’s endoscopy:

“You were right. Thank you so much!”

This young patient had been dealing with systemic inflammation, chronic headaches, brain fog, significant fatigue, allergies, asthma, and episodes of such profound fatigue that he would have to spend days on the couch. He had been dealing with these symptoms for most of his life, with no answers.

When we started digging deeper, I ordered a comprehensive IgE food allergy evaluation. The panel incidentally included IgG/IgA food antibody testing—the type of testing commonly marketed as a “food sensitivity” panel.

And this is where things get really important.
He had a large number of positive food antibodies (IgG). It would have been very easy to look at that list and say:

“These are the foods causing the problem. Eliminate them.”

In fact, that is exactly how many people approach these panels.

But as both a Dietitian and a clinician, I can tell you this approach is not appropriate or effective—especially in a child.

Food-specific IgG testing is not a validated way to diagnose food intolerance or determine which foods someone should eliminate. Antibodies to foods can reflect exposure and immune recognition rather than an adverse reaction that requires avoidance.

And eliminating 20+ foods from a child's diet based on a questionable test can create a very real problem: unnecessary restriction, nutritional gaps, anxiety around food, and a less diverse diet and gut microbiome.

So instead of asking:
“Which foods do we need to remove?”

I asked:
“Why is this immune system reacting so strongly in the first place?”

That led us to celiac evaluation.
His tTG-IgA was abnormal, with total IgA also assessed appropriately. However, his subsequent serologic markers did not all line up in the classic pattern required for a straightforward serologic diagnosis.

At that point, it would have been very easy to dismiss celiac disease.

But the patient didn't fit neatly into a laboratory checkbox. He also had other concerning clinical features, including neuropathic symptoms and reproducible mouth sores associated with gluten exposure, along with the broader picture of systemic inflammation and gastrointestinal/immune dysfunction.

So we had a conversation about the pros and cons of pursuing endoscopic evaluation, and they decided to proceed.

The pediatric gastroenterologist ultimately confirmed celiac disease via endoscopy.
That distinction matters enormously.

Because imagine if we had stopped at the “food sensitivity” panel.

He could have been placed on an elimination diet removing 20+ foods.

He may have experienced some improvement simply because his overall dietary exposures changed—but the underlying celiac disease would still have been there. His intestinal inflammation would still have been there. His immune trigger would still have been there.

And we would potentially have taken a growing child and unnecessarily restricted his diet while never addressing the actual diagnosis.

The goal isn't to create the longest possible list of foods to avoid. The goal is to determine why the body is reacting in the first place.

Sometimes a positive test is not the diagnosis.
Sometimes it's the beginning of the investigation.

And sometimes the most important thing we can do is keep looking when the labs don't fit perfectly but the patient clearly isn't well.

I am incredibly grateful to this family for trusting the process and being willing to pursue the next step.
And I am especially grateful that they finally have an answer. ❤️

Educational information only. Food-specific IgG testing is not recommended as a diagnostic test for food allergy/intolerance, and suspected celiac disease should be evaluated using appropriate serology and, when indicated, endoscopic/biopsy evaluation while the patient is still consuming gluten.

"Your ultrasound is normal.”
But what if your symptoms are not? What if you dread your cycle every single month and have to schedule your life around it? This is the case for so many women that I see, however common does *not* equal normal.

A patient recently sent me this message, and she gave me permission to share her story because I believe it highlights an important problem in women's healthcare: sometimes the patient knows something is wrong long before conventional testing can show us exactly what it is.

She established care with me after experiencing life-disrupting symptoms and severe pelvic pain that had led to multiple ER visits.
Despite the severity of her symptoms, she had repeatedly been reassured that nothing was wrong. Her ultrasound was normal, so she was essentially told by her P*P and other providers:
“You’re fine.”

But she knew she wasn't.

Her pain was real. Her symptoms were real. And the fact that a routine ultrasound didn't reveal an obvious cause didn't make those symptoms disappear.

After completing a detailed history and physical and considering her clinical presentation, I referred her to Veritas specifically requesting evaluation for endometriosis.

Last week, she underwent imaging at Veritas—and they identified endometriomas involving both ovaries, with findings concerning for stage IV endometriosis.

She is now planning laparoscopic surgery to determine the full extent of disease and develop an appropriate treatment plan.

That is why this matters so much to me.
A normal ultrasound does not mean you are “fine.”
Endometriosis cannot be ruled out simply because a routine pelvic ultrasound is negative.
Ultrasound can be extremely useful, but it does not detect every type or location of disease.

The 2022 ESHRE guideline recognizes this limitation and emphasizes that diagnosis should incorporate the patient's symptoms, clinical evaluation and imaging, rather than treating a negative imaging study as definitive exclusion of disease. And it wasnt until early 2026 that ACOG came out saying something similar.

A negative test is not the same thing as a negative diagnosis.

When someone has a clinical picture strongly suggestive of endometriosis—severe dysmenorrhea, chronic pelvic pain, deep dyspareunia, painful bowel movements, cyclical GI or urinary symptoms, infertility, or other characteristic symptoms—a normal routine ultrasound should not automatically end the investigation.

Instead, it should prompt us to ask better questions, use a more specialized test, or refer out to someone with specific expertise in the condition.

And what does Stage IV endometriosis mean?
Stage IV represents severe/extensive endometriosis according to the revised American Society for Reproductive Medicine (rASRM) classification.

It can involve extensive lesions, ovarian endometriomas, dense adhesions, and significant distortion of normal pelvic anatomy.
Importantly, stage does not perfectly correlate with pain or symptom severity. Someone can have relatively limited disease and debilitating pain, while someone with extensive disease may have surprisingly few symptoms. The staging system also doesn't fully capture every form of deep endometriosis.

Which brings us to a much bigger problem...
We are still remarkably behind when it comes to women's health.
Endometriosis affects approximately 1 in 10 women of reproductive age, yet the average time from symptom onset to diagnosis is still measured in years.
The WHO estimates that the average diagnostic delay can be 4–12 years.

And this isn't an isolated problem.

Women's health research has historically been significantly underrepresented and underfunded. Women were systematically excluded from much early-phase clinical research, and it wasn't until 1993 that federal legislation required women to be included in NIH-funded clinical research.

There is still enormous work to do in understanding conditions that disproportionately or exclusively affect women—including endometriosis, PCOS, fibroids, menstrual disorders, infertility and many others.

Medicine has made incredible advances.
But “we don't see anything on this test” should never become “there is nothing wrong with you.”

Especially when a patient is telling you:
“Something is wrong.”

Sometimes the most important diagnostic tool we have is still the patient's history.

And sometimes the difference between years of suffering and finally getting an answer is having one person who believes them enough to keep looking.

That is why I do what I do. ❤️

This post is for educational purposes and does not constitute individualized medical advice. Endometriosis diagnosis and treatment should be guided by a qualified clinician, ideally one experienced in endometriosis when symptoms are significant or persistent.

Fear vs Recovery

There’s an issue in the functional medicine space that deserves more attention: the use of fear.

Many in alternative and functional medicine are quick to criticize conventional medicine for fear-based tactics, while using the very same approach themselves. Sometimes subtle, sometimes overt messaging, and often is fostered through confusion—overcomplicating what could be understood, making physiology feel muddy or overwhelming, veering from evidence based diagnostics or logical reason, or fostering a sense that healing is only possible under the guidance of a specific practitioner.

This creates dependence rather than empowerment.

Fear changes how people think.
When a person perceives threat, there is a neurologic shift—higher-level reasoning becomes less accessible, and decision-making moves into a more reactive, survival-based state.

This may be adaptive in true emergencies, but it is not the state in which thoughtful, informed healthcare decisions should be made.
People who are afraid are more vulnerable.
They are more likely to spend excessively.
They are more likely to agree to interventions that may not make sense for them.
The moment fear takes over is the moment a person begins to lose clarity, agency, and trust in their own ability to understand their body.

And that is the opposite of what functional medicine should stand for.
If we truly believe in the body’s capacity to heal—and in our ability to understand physiology, identify dysfunction, and support restoration—then fear should not be a tool we use. Education should be.

Our role as providers is to bridge the gap between what a patient knows and what they need to understand in order to get better. That requires clarity, context, and honesty—not pressure, confusion, or dependence.

There is, of course, nuance. Certain diagnoses—especially severe or life-threatening ones—naturally evoke fear. That emotional response is human and appropriate. But fear should not be manufactured, amplified, or used as leverage.

As a former trauma surgery and critical care PA, I have cared for patients in dire circumstances. I have seen devastating outcomes—and I have also witnessed remarkable, unexpected recoveries. What I learned is this: outcomes are not dictated by fear. In fact, fear often clouds judgment and impedes recovery.

It is inappropriate to use a position of authority in healthcare to push someone into fear.
If you find yourself repeatedly leaving visits feeling anxious, overwhelmed, confused, or with a sense of dependence or impending doom, it is worth pausing and reevaluating the care you are receiving.

You deserve to feel informed, grounded, and empowered—not frightened or dependent.
Because healing does not come from fear.
It comes from understanding.
And with understanding comes the ability to restore balance.

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” -2 Timothy 1:7

EXCITING NEWS! NEW LOCATION with a private office at 515 Hugh Ave Ste #2 Sparta, MO. Decorating is a slow process, but the office is up and running. A special thank you to The Woman's Way for sharing your space with Rooted Wellness in its first year of existence in Springfield. We are excited to see what this new chapter brings!

Helping mom set up the new office! Rooted Wellness now has a private office in Sparta MO. More details coming soon!

All set up for the KY3 Women’s Show tomorrow at the Ozark Empire Fairgrounds. Come see us!

**Leucovorin Journey Update – Week 14 (11 Weeks at Goal Dose)**

For those who are new here, a little backstory 💚

Our daughter experienced a significant mold exposure early in life that triggered a systemic immune response. What followed were cascading food sensitivities, gut inflammation, and nervous system dysregulation. After we had made meaningful progress, at 14 months a second exposure occurred — and that’s when we saw a regression in behavior and a stall in expressive verbal development (she had only just started speaking, and was basically nonverbal but would occasionally say 'mama', 'dada' or 'that').

As both a mom and a practitioner, it was heartbreaking and clarifying all at once. We knew her brain was capable. We had seen her light. But something was blocking access.

Fast forward to today. We are now at **Week 14 of leucovorin therapy, 11 weeks at her goal dose.**

And the changes continue to humble us.

At 23 months old now, she is not just “catching up.” She is exceeding milestones. Her vocabulary is expanding more rapidly each week. She is independently forming 2- and 3-word sentences to express herself and ask for what she needs — often including descriptors like colors. (“Blue cup please.” “Big sister help.”)

She seeks out interaction at the playground. She initiates play. She laughs easily. She is deeply protective of both her older and younger sisters.

And she sings. All. The. Time.

But what moves me the most is something harder to quantify:

Her eyes.

They have not looked this calm, clear, and present since she was just a few weeks old. The nervous system settling. The inflammation quieting. The connection restored.

We got our Riven Bear back. 🐻🤍

For those walking similar paths — whether mold, immune dysregulation, regression, or unexplained developmental shifts — there is hope. Healing is layered. It is rarely linear. But when you address root causes, the body remembers how to come back online.

Grateful. In awe. And continuing forward.

Come see Jessica at the Women's Show on Saturday, March 7 from 8am--4pm.