In this episode of Integrative Medicine with Dr. Leland Stillman, nurse practitioner Ryan Hughes shares his lifelong struggle with chronic health issues—including insomnia, brain fog, low energy, gut disturbances, eczema, and joint pain—and his journey toward recovery through a comprehensive functional‑medicine program. After limited success with diet, exercise, and a prior functional clinic in Knoxville, Ryan partnered with Dr. Stillman. The protocol combined Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis (HTMA), red/near‑infrared light therapy, methylsulfonyl‑methane (MSM) supplementation, a detox powder, a vitamin C protocol, and structured group/one‑on‑one coaching. Ryan reports quantitative improvements across symptoms (sleep 30‑40%, mental clarity 50‑60%, daily energy 30‑40%, gut health ~40‑50%, skin health ~90‑100%, overall health 90‑95%). He attributes roughly 40‑50% of his recovery to light therapy, 20‑30% to HTMA, 15% to MSM, 5‑10% to detox powder and vitamin C, and 20‑30% to coaching. The conversation ends with a disclaimer about medical advice and an invitation for listeners to contact Ryan for product details.
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Welcome to Integrative Medicine with Dr. Leland Stillman, the podcast where we explore the best of East and West, old and new, conventional and unconventional, in search of answers to medicine's toughest cases and most difficult problems. This podcast is for informational purposes only. Diagnostics and therapeutics discussed on this podcast may or may not be right for you, so talk to a qualified practitioner before taking action based on what you learn here. If you'd like to become a patient at my practice, go to stillmanmd.com to schedule a complimentary discovery call. Thank you for listening and welcome to today's episode. Hello everyone. Dr. Stillman here today. I am joined by Ryan Hughes, nurse practitioner. Ryan, thank you for joining me.
Happy to be here. Thanks for having me.
And I'd like to start by asking everyone who they are and where they're from.
I'm a nurse practitioner, formerly trained in mental health, now focused on root cause medicine, and I'm in— I'm from Knoxville, Tennessee.
Awesome. Tennessee, wonderful place. So where were you? What was going on in your life, Ryan, when you first became sick?
I was Well, I think what, you know, what you're talking about, as far as around the time when I got connected with you, I was working inpatient psychiatry. And then I was working virtually with you. So I was crazy busy. And I started feeling my health and purpose declining. I was dealing with gut issues, which you were helping me with, which also manifested as, you know, skin issues, insomnia that I dealt with my whole life. I dealt with brain fog my whole life and just low energy. So that's, that's really what I was dealing with.
How many years had those problems been going on before we met?
Probably my whole life, really. And, you know, just kind of up and down.
Got it.
Okay.
What had you tried already as far as finding answers to these problems?
Just, I mean, mainly diet and exercise. And then I got connected with a functional medicine clinic in Knoxville before I went to Naples, and they helped me deal with some gut issues and with parasites and things that helped, helped some, but I still was having some lingering issues.
How much better were you after that initial course of treatment? Let's say on a scale of 0 to 100%, with 0 being the worst you'd ever been and 100% being where you would've liked to have been.
After the treatment in Knoxville? Correct. Hmm. 50 to 60% maybe.
That's a good improvement, right?
Yeah. Okay.
But you were still struggling with things. How bad were these issues and how much were they affecting you in your day-to-day life?
Bad enough that it was, you know, it was affecting my outlook and how I, you know, were able to properly deal with and help patients. Just not sleeping, that obviously affects you in many ways. Yeah.
So it was longer to take or complete tasks? At work took more mental energy. You were more exhausted at the end of the day, I imagine, and you weren't able to be as efficient as you would have liked to have been.
You got it. Okay.
What were you concerned this or these problems would become if you didn't find a root cause solution to them?
Um, well, I think it was just continued to escalate and, you know, I might just be stuck in, in where I was at. And that's a good question. I mean, it could have just gotten worse, I guess.
Right, right. And of course, the many people reach out to us hoping that we can help them with things that are impairing their efficiency or the performance at work. And often they say, I'm able to operate at a high enough level that no one really notices. But I don't feel like I'm at my best. And they're looking to get that extra 20, 30, 40% that they were used to 5, 10, 20 years earlier.
Yeah, I guess my main concern was just not being at my best capability to take care of my patients. That's a, I mean, that's a huge responsibility, right?
Because at a certain point you're not just not providing the best care. Or the most efficient care possible, you are missing things, making mistakes, which of course, you know, you did not get to that level.
Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Absolutely. Okay.
So then what was it that you found that helped you turn the corner and recover your health?
Well, it was working with you.
Tell us what we did. Um, tell me like I don't even know.
That's awesome. Well, the HTMA was awesome. Okay. That's Hair, Tissue, Mineral Analysis. That's individualized.
Hair, Tissue, Mineral Analysis. Yeah. For people who don't know. Pretty cool.
Yeah. And you know what? I didn't do that long enough. I mean, I did that maybe 6 months, so I could have done it longer. Sure. I noted, you know, from the MSM that we— that I did, I did notice more mental clarity from that. And I noticed that helped me with joint, my joint health as well. And then since working with you, I mean, before I started working with you, I was already, you know, I was dived into functional medicine and, you know, food is medicine and all those kind of things. But I didn't understand how deep light therapy was and how profound it was for your health. So once I started working with you, I really started to understand that. So light therapy, helped me tremendously.
What sort of benefits did you see specifically from the light therapy that you tried?
Uh, better sleep. I mean, I'd struggled with sleep my whole life.
How big was it of an improvement did you see with that?
Pretty big improvement, uh, because I, at this point, I, I still take melatonin from time to time, but I don't have to depend on it anymore. And I mean, there was times earlier in my life I was taking like Trazodone to go to sleep and even Xanax and stuff. It's crazy that I was even taking that stuff, but it is true. So not having to depend on sleep aids and just waking up feeling rested and having more consistent energy throughout the day.
So how much on a scale of 0 to 100, with 0 being where your sleep was when we started and 100 being the best possible sleep you can imagine, how much progress did light therapy alone give you in terms of your sleep quality?
Hmm. 30 to 40%, maybe.
Great.
Excellent.
What else did you see improve?
Beyond sleep quality, mental clarity, I think, is the most profound benefit that I've noticed.
And how significant was the improvement there?
Probably 50, 60, maybe 50-ish.
Great. What else?
And this is— I've had some mental clarity, you know, throughout my life, but this has been very consistent.
Great.
Very consistent.
And have you seen the results Sorry, what was that?
And then just consistent energy throughout the day.
How big of an improvement was the energy?
Um, 30 to 40% probably. Okay.
What other benefits have you noticed? I think you mentioned gut health.
Gut health. I would, I would assume that it's definitely helped, but it's, it's That's kind of hard to gauge. Sure.
Because it's hard to know what's working and in the end it all works together. There's a lot of synergy in what we do. Right. But overall, from zero where you were when we started to 100% being where you'd like to be, where are you now?
Oh, as far as gut issues? Um, hmm, maybe 90%.
Big improvement. What specific problems did you see resolve? Because GI issues is very vague, right?
Right. Well, I mean, I've dealt with skin issues my whole life, eczema. Sure.
And that's— which is related to the gut for people wondering why Ryan just pivoted there into talking about his skin when I asked him about his gut.
Right, right. Yeah. Manifesting in the skin.
Well, how much did your skin, how much did your skin improve? 0 to 100%.
I mean, since childhood it's improved a lot, but like since when we're kind of talking about in the last couple of years, probably about 30, 40%. I mean, I was already— I had probably already improved 60, I mean, maybe 60%, and I'm probably close to 90, 100% now.
Great.
Okay. I don't, I don't really notice any skin issues anymore. And that's something I've noticed since day one. Fantastic.
So then what were the specific GI symptoms or complaints you had? Don't feel like you have to overshare, but just be general.
Well, I've dealt with constipation my whole life. That's another thing. I'm very consistent now. Okay.
Bloating, abdominal pain.
Bloating. Yes. A lot of bloating. Reflux? No, not so much. More bloating.
But bloating, constipation, any abdominal pain?
Not really.
Okay. Got it.
Intermittently, not enough to really mention.
Any other major— and did I ask you this already? What percent better are the GI issues since we started working together?
Um, um, let's see, 40 to 50, 40 to 50% better, probably. I mean, I was already, I already made some improvement in Knoxville, so that probably got me really over the hump.
Any other significant improvements with what we did?
I wouldn't say significant, but I've noticed like joint pain is better.
Really? How bad was it when it was at its worst?
Not much, but I mean, just, I'm so active with lifting heavy, heavy weights and playing pickleball and jiu-jitsu and all that stuff.
Yes.
So.
Absolutely. So that's made a big difference.
I think it's, I think it's made a difference in keeping me, preventing me from having injuries. And then when I do have injuries, I heal pretty quickly. Got it. If I do have pain, it subsides pretty quickly, but that's kind of hard to gauge for me.
I feel so overall with zero being where we started, when we started, where you were when we started working together and 100% being where you'd like to be where are you now?
Uh, let's see. I mean, probably 90, 95%. I mean, I'm there basically.
Amazing. So glad to hear that. What gets the credit? If you have to divvy up 100% of the credit to all the different things that you did to get well, to go from can't sleep well, don't have energy, struggling with brain fog, fatigue, lack of mental clarity, memory issues, GI issues, skin issues, to where you are now, what gets the credit?
And I could have done it longer. I'm actually— I'm doing it again now. And then, hmm. Let's see. I mean, I did the detox powder that I don't know, maybe 5%. Okay. And then the MSM will say 10 to 15%.
Okay.
And then I think we're close to—
I'd say we got 50% with light therapy. We got 30%, let's say, with HTMA. I think I got that right. Let's say we got 15% with MSM, uh, and then I think we've got 5% with the detox powder. I think that's— I do that math right. I think we're at 100% or so.
Is that 100%? The only thing I can think of right now is the, uh, vitamin C protocol, which is— I'd put another 5-10% if I've still got some percent there.
You don't have some percent left. We got to start taking it from other things. But I'm actually curious to ask you, Ryan, Because one of the other things that people will say frequently is it was the coaching and the consulting time that made the difference. So if you have to divvy it back up, you've got to include those two things. Because if, for people who don't know, we do a combination of group coaching and we do a combination of one-on-one consults to help people. How would those factor in?
So I don't know if we did all that much, much coaching though, for me, right?
Well, you were on the practitioner side, so we were training you.
Right. So that if you— so if you included that as coaching, then absolutely. That's, that's actually— I forgot about that portion of it. So maybe, um, you take the light therapy down to 40% and then, yeah, you got to put the group coaching in there. That's big. That's at least 20, 30% probably.
Right.
Okay. Yeah, I think that's very important.
So maybe 40% light therapy, 20% HTMA, uh, another maybe 5% detox powder, 15% MSM, and then 30% or something like that for the group coaching. Okay. Got it.
Yes. That sounds pretty—
any other parting thoughts, observations, things that have come to you as we've been talking?
I can't think of anything else. It's just been, it's been a pleasure. It's been a blessing.
Good. Thank you. If people would like to get in touch with Ryan to find out exactly what he did, you'll notice we didn't mention any specific brands or companies. The reason for that is A, we can't make medical claims, and B, I want to keep this podcast about the content and the realities of clinical medicine and not turn it into a giant advertisement. You can get in touch with Ryan through the links in the description to this video or podcast, depending on where you're watching it or reading about it, maybe. And he can give you exact, uh, information on exactly what he tried that helped him as far as brands and products. So thank you, Ryan, for joining me. Any last thoughts for people before we sign off?
Get in touch with us.
Absolutely. Yeah, we love helping people. That's why we're here. So thanks again. Thank you everyone for— thank you everyone for listening. Take care. Have a great day.
