Dr. Shilpa Sayana explains why standard tests miss fatigue, poor sleep, and brain fog that feel very real. After her own health scare, she switched to functional medicine, treating hormones, inflammation, and gut health as interconnected systems rather than isolated problems.
10 years.
Many men and women tell me that they're struggling with fatigue, poor sleep, and stubborn weight. They're feeling wired yet tired. They're feeling overwhelmed, overweight and overworked. They look at their closet and realize nothing fits quite the way it used to. They can't quite seem to remember what they're about to say. They feel it's like, at the tip of the tongue, but just doesn't come out. They feel like they're doing all the right things. They're exercising, they're eating right, but are just not seeing results. They're losing muscle definition and can't get back to where they used to be. Well, if you're having any of these symptoms, it can be really frustrating to not know what's happening. What worked in your 20s is just not working anymore, and you're tired of trying to figure it out yourself, wasting time and money, trying to figure out how to take control of your health again. If that's you, you're in the right place. You may have already been to a doctor or many doctors given a prescription, and you may have had side effects to that prescription, or it may have not worked as you were hoping for, or your doctor may have done blood work. However, I told you everything was normal. Well, if everything is normal, why do you feel so bad? Hi, I'm Dr. Sayana, and I know firsthand what it feels like to be on the other side of healthcare and as a patient. It was during a busy time of my career where I was traveling frequently internationally as a global health physician, where I had my own health setback. I was wearing many hats. I had a practice in Los Angeles as well as frequent travel globally to teach other physicians about how to treat a specific disease. I was mom to an infant. I was a wife. I was a mother to aging parents. And with many of these hats, I lost the balance between work and my personal life. I was diagnosed with a neck mass. I remember how alone and vulnerable I felt during those times, with sleepless nights waiting for my biopsy results. It was eye opening, and at this time, it was really reinforced that what really matters between a healthcare provider and a patient is. Is a relationship full of kindness, compassion, and connection. Thankfully, my biopsy turned out to be benign. I was confused as to why I had this neck mass. Nothing in my conventional medical training could explain the why. These are usually seen as tumors that occur at sporadic intervals, and my experience was chalked up to a random occurrence. I still am and was at risk of the tumor growing and pushing on vital organs. Knowing This, I began digging deeper into the why in medicine. I discovered the connection between lifestyle such as sleep and stress, perception and nutrition with hormones, gut health and toxins through a body of knowledge called functional medicine. And through this body of knowledge, using a systems based approach, we're able to look deeper as to the root cause of why my patients may be having the symptoms that they are. My quest to solve my own health issues completely changed how I practice medicine. We help others look for their root cause and imbalances to get to the why they may be having these symptoms and use natural solutions so that they may cut down or get off prescription medications. We at Siena Medical have been practicing this way for the past 10 years with great results. We do things differently here than at other conventional medical practices. We enroll patients in prevention programs because we realize it takes time and attention to get people feeling better quickly. These programs include all our care, functional medicine lab testing, supplements, and unlimited access to your care team. If you're dealing with the symptoms I mentioned, it could be a hormonal imbalance. Hormones directly impact your energy, your weight, your endurance, your mood and your sleep. They're also very important for how you feel on the inside, how you relate to others, and how you react to the world around you. Hormones are affected by your inflammation, by your gut health, by your toxic burden, and by your lifestyle. And we work on these specific areas to get you feeling like yourself again.
