Made for Health | Peptides | Lyme | Chronic Infections | Long Covid | Insulin Resistance | Hypermobility

🎒 Back-to-school season brings changing routines, new exposures, and added demands on the whole family. Support your family’s health this season with Richmond Integrative & Functional Medicine’s Back-to-School 2026 resources.
Back-to-School 2026:
https://richmondfunctionalmedicine.com/lp/back-to-school-2026/
In this final episode of the Made for Health “Why Are You Still Sick?” series, Dr. Aaron Hartman steps back and looks at the bigger picture.
What if you have already worked on mold, Lyme disease, MCAS, gut health, nervous-system regulation, nutrients, POTS, dysautonomia, and other major contributors, but you still feel stuck?
Dr. Hartman’s message is simple:
Just because one clinician says nothing can be done does not mean nothing can be done. It may simply mean they have reached the limit of what they know how to evaluate or treat.
In this rapid-fire roundup, he explores several additional areas that can influence inflammation, pain, neurological symptoms, energy, healing, and overall function, including hormones, detoxification, oxalates, salicylates, porphyria, structural instability, hypermobility, TMJ dysfunction, chronic pain, and cranio-cervical issues.
The goal is not to give everyone another long list of diagnoses to chase.
It is to reinforce one idea:
If you are still stuck, keep asking better questions.
Key Topics Covered
Why “nothing can be done” may simply mean one clinician has run out of tools
Hormones and their influence on inflammation and healing
Hormone balance in men and women
Detoxification and environmental burden
Mold, Lyme disease, and toxin load
Oxalates and tissue irritation
Gut bacteria and oxalate metabolism
Kidney stones and metabolic health
Salicylate sensitivity
Healthy foods that can still trigger symptoms in sensitive patients
Pyroluria
Porphyria and porphyrin-related disorders
Environmental and medication triggers
Hypermobility
Cranio-cervical instability
Atlanto-occipital instability
Cerebrospinal fluid flow
Neck pain and migraines
TMJ dysfunction
Trigeminal nerve signaling
Tinnitus and hearing symptoms
Fascial and structural pain
Chronic pain as a nervous-system stressor
Why structural problems can masquerade as systemic illness
Hope, persistence, and continuing the search for answers

In This Episode, You Will Learn
✅ Why hormones can influence inflammation, metabolism, cognition, sleep, and recovery
✅ How toxin burden may become one more stressor on the immune and neurological systems
✅ Why oxalates may contribute to pain, kidney stones, and connective-tissue symptoms in some people
✅ Why some otherwise healthy foods may become problematic in people with salicylate sensitivity
✅ How structural instability may contribute to headaches, neck pain, TMJ problems, tinnitus, and neurological symptoms
✅ Why people with hypermobility may experience chronic pain without realizing how much it affects their nervous system
✅ Why pain itself can become one more obstacle to healing
✅ Why Dr. Hartman believes there are still options to explore even after conventional and integrative evaluations seem exhausted
Resources & Links:
🌐 Dr. Aaron Hartman – Richmond Functional Medicine: richmondfunctionalmedicine.com
🌐 LinkedIn – Dr. Aaron Hartman: Connect Here
📺 YouTube – Richmond Functional Medicine: Watch Here
🎒 Back-to-School 2026: Back-to-School Bundle
Mentioned in this episode:
25% Off Back to School Support for Parents
Back to school asks a lot of parents, too. Support your body through the season with three physician-reviewed, foundation-first essentials: Twice Daily Multi, Quercetin + Nettles, and NAC.
For a limited time, save 25% on the Back to School Support Bundle.
Visit the link below ⬇️ Shop the Back to School Sale
Back to School Support for Parents
25% Off Back to School Support for Parents
Back to school asks a lot of parents, too. Support your body through the season with three physician-reviewed, foundation-first essentials: Twice Daily Multi, Quercetin + Nettles, and NAC.
For a limited time, save 25% on the Back to School Support Bundle.
Visit the link below ⬇️ Shop the Back to School Sale
Back to School Support for Parents

🎒 Back-to-school season brings changing routines, new exposures, and added demands on the whole family. Support your family’s health this season with Richmond Integrative & Functional Medicine’s Back-to-School 2026 resources.
Back-to-School 2026:
https://richmondfunctionalmedicine.com/lp/back-to-school-2026/
In this episode of Made for Health, Dr. Aaron Hartman sits down with Dr. Sabine Hazan, MD, a gastroenterologist, hepatologist, internal medicine specialist, and microbiome researcher whose work centers on the human gut microbiome and fecal microbiota transplantation, or FMT.
Dr. Hazan founded ProgenaBiome, a genetic sequencing research laboratory focused on understanding patterns within the microbiome, and she has spent decades working in clinical research. Her journey into microbiome science began through gastroenterology, biologic therapies, recurrent C. difficile, and a fundamental question: if changing the gut can change disease, what exactly are we changing?
The conversation explores fecal microbiota transplantation, stool testing, Bifidobacteria, gut-brain signaling, autism, Alzheimer's disease, long COVID, Crohn's disease, probiotics, microbiome compatibility, and the challenge of studying a biological ecosystem that may be far more individualized than medicine once assumed.
Throughout the discussion, Dr. Hazan repeatedly emphasizes that much of this work is still research in progress, and she frames several of her observations as hypotheses that need further replication rather than settled clinical conclusions.
Key Topics Covered
Why Dr. Hazan began studying the microbiome
Her background in gastroenterology and clinical trials
Crohn's disease and biologic therapies
Fecal microbiota transplantation
Recurrent C. difficile
Why microbiome testing needs validation and standardization
The limitations of commercial stool testing
CAP and CLIA laboratory standards
Why FMT may require donor-recipient compatibility
Why stool should not be treated like a one-size-fits-all product
Bifidobacteria and healthy aging
Bifidobacteria and immune function
The gut-brain axis
Autism and microbiome research
Alzheimer's disease and gut microbial patterns
Long COVID and microbiome changes
Crohn's disease and intestinal inflammation
Calprotectin and mucosal health
Probiotics and product-label accuracy
Why “more treatment” is not always better for the microbiome
Antibiotics and microbial shifts
Nutraceuticals and microbiome research
Light, sound, frequency, and environmental exposures as emerging research areas
Why microbiome restoration may take many months
The need for longitudinal testing and follow-up

In This Episode, You Will Learn
✅ Why Dr. Hazan believes the microbiome should be studied as an ecosystem rather than treated as a single supplement target
✅ How her early work with FMT made her question whether every donor sample is appropriate for every patient
✅ Why she believes microbiome compatibility may eventually matter in a way similar to blood-transfusion compatibility
✅ Why stool tests should be reproducible before clinicians base treatment decisions on them
✅ How Bifidobacteria became one of the central organisms in her research
✅ What she has observed in research involving autism, Alzheimer's disease, long COVID, Crohn's disease, and other conditions
✅ Why the gut-brain relationship may involve both loss of beneficial microbes and overgrowth of other organisms
✅ Why she cautions against repeatedly adding antibiotics, antifungals, probiotics, or other interventions without understanding what they are doing to the microbial ecosystem
✅ Why microbiome improvement may require long-term monitoring rather than one short intervention
Resources & Links
🌐 Dr. Sabine Hazan:
https://sabinehazanmd.com/
🧬 ProgenaBiome:
https://progenabiome.com/
🔬 Microbiome Research Foundation:
https://microbiomeresearchfoundation.org/
📘 Let's Talk Sh!t
By Dr. Sabine Hazan
Dr. Hazan notes that ProgenaBiome's stool testing is conducted within research protocols and cautions that participants should not treat research sequencing results as direct treatment instructions.
Connect With Dr. Sabine Hazan
🌐 Official Website:
https://sabinehazanmd.com/
🧬 Research & ProgenaBiome:
https://progenabiome.com/
🔬 Microbiome Research Foundation:
https://microbiomeresearchfoundation.org/
Dr. Hazan also shares research updates through social platforms including X and Instagram.
Resources & Links:
🌐 Dr. Aaron Hartman – Richmond Functional Medicine: richmondfunctionalmedicine.com
🌐 LinkedIn – Dr. Aaron Hartman: Connect Here
📺 YouTube – Richmond Functional Medicine: Watch Here
🎒 Back-to-School 2026: Back-to-School Bundle
Mentioned in this episode:
25% Off Back to School Support for Parents
Back to school asks a lot of parents, too. Support your body through the season with three physician-reviewed, foundation-first essentials: Twice Daily Multi, Quercetin + Nettles, and NAC.
For a limited time, save 25% on the Back to School Support Bundle.
Visit the link below ⬇️ Shop the Back to School Sale
Back to School Support for Parents
25% Off Back to School Support for Parents
Back to school asks a lot of parents, too. Support your body through the season with three physician-reviewed, foundation-first essentials: Twice Daily Multi, Quercetin + Nettles, and NAC.
For a limited time, save 25% on the Back to School Support Bundle.
Visit the link below ⬇️ Shop the Back to School Sale
Back to School Support for Parents

🎒 Back-to-school season brings changing routines, new exposures, and added demands on the whole family. Support your family’s health this season with Richmond Integrative & Functional Medicine’s Back-to-School 2026 resources.
Back-to-School 2026:
https://richmondfunctionalmedicine.com/lp/back-to-school-2026/
In this Made for Health solo minisode, Dr. Aaron Hartman continues his ongoing series asking:
Why are you still sick? Why are you stuck? Why aren’t you healing the way you expected?
This time, he focuses on a less-discussed source of inflammation: endotoxins, also known as lipopolysaccharides or LPS.
Dr. Hartman explains that LPS comes from the outer membrane of gram-negative bacteria. These bacterial products can become relevant through environmental exposure, especially in damp or water-damaged buildings, but also through the gut when intestinal permeability allows bacterial components to interact more directly with the immune system.
For people dealing with brain fog, bloating, autoimmune issues, SIBO, chronic inflammation, or lingering symptoms despite treating mold, Lyme disease, MCAS, and other conditions, Dr. Hartman suggests that endotoxin exposure may be another piece worth investigating.
Key Topics Covered
What endotoxins are
Lipopolysaccharide, or LPS
Gram-negative bacteria
Environmental endotoxin exposure
Water-damaged buildings
Actinomycetes and bacterial contamination
Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome
Gut-derived endotoxins
Intestinal permeability and “leaky gut”
SIBO and bacterial overgrowth
Immune activation
Systemic inflammatory response
Brain fog and neurological symptoms
Autoimmune disease
PANS and PANDAS
Mold and biotoxin illness
Butyrate and gut health
Activated charcoal as a binder discussed in the episode
Oral IgG
BPC-157
Testing for immune responses to endotoxins
Why gut testing may reveal overlooked drivers of inflammation

In This Episode, You Will Learn
✅ What endotoxins are and where they come from
✅ Why Dr. Hartman distinguishes mold exposure from other components of water-damaged buildings
✅ How gram-negative bacteria can contribute LPS to the environment and the gastrointestinal tract
✅ Why intestinal permeability may allow bacterial products to interact with the immune system
✅ How endotoxin exposure may overlap with inflammatory symptoms such as brain fog, bloating, immune activation, and autoimmunity
✅ Why SIBO can involve more than gas and bloating
✅ How Dr. Hartman connects endotoxins with inflammatory pathways he first encountered in hospital medicine
✅ What testing approaches he considers when evaluating possible endotoxin-related immune activation
✅ Which supportive strategies he discusses for reducing exposure and addressing the gut
Resources & Links:
🌐 Dr. Aaron Hartman – Richmond Functional Medicine: richmondfunctionalmedicine.com
🌐 LinkedIn – Dr. Aaron Hartman: Connect Here
📺 YouTube – Richmond Functional Medicine: Watch Here
🎒 Back-to-School 2026: Back-to-School Bundle
Mentioned in this episode:
25% Off Back to School Support for Parents
Back to school asks a lot of parents, too. Support your body through the season with three physician-reviewed, foundation-first essentials: Twice Daily Multi, Quercetin + Nettles, and NAC.
For a limited time, save 25% on the Back to School Support Bundle.
Visit the link below ⬇️ Shop the Back to School Sale
Back to School Support for Parents
25% Off Back to School Support for Parents
Back to school asks a lot of parents, too. Support your body through the season with three physician-reviewed, foundation-first essentials: Twice Daily Multi, Quercetin + Nettles, and NAC.
For a limited time, save 25% on the Back to School Support Bundle.
Visit the link below ⬇️ Shop the Back to School Sale
Back to School Support for Parents

Back-to-school season brings changing routines, new exposures, and added demands on the whole family. Support your family’s health this season with Richmond Integrative & Functional Medicine’s Back-to-School 2026 resources.
Back-to-School 2026:
https://richmondfunctionalmedicine.com/lp/back-to-school-2026/
What if healthy aging is influenced not only by the number of birthdays you’ve celebrated, but also by the ecosystem living inside your gut?
In this insightful episode of Made for Health, Dr. Aaron Hartman sits down with Dr. Julia Malkowski, ND, DC, a naturopathic doctor, doctor of chiropractic medicine, and clinical educator at Doctor’s Data whose work focuses on the gut microbiome and functional diagnostics.
Dr. Malkowski’s path into medicine began with a deeply personal experience. When her infant son developed a persistent skin rash, she sought answers beyond the explanations she had been given. She shares how seeing his skin improve after a dietary change redirected her career and inspired her to pursue naturopathic medicine.
Today, that same curiosity shapes her work exploring “biome aging”—the idea that changes in the gut microbiome may offer insight into biological aging and health across the lifespan. Together, she and Dr. Hartman discuss microbiome diversity, inflammation, estrogen metabolism, perimenopause, menopause, GLP-1 medications, intestinal barrier function, and the influence of food and environmental exposures.
The conversation ultimately returns to a practical message: supporting gut health begins with everyday foundations. From greens, beans, and berries to movement and time outdoors, Dr. Malkowski shares the habits she prioritizes before reaching for more complex interventions.
Key Topics Covered
The personal experience that led Dr. Julia Malkowski into naturopathic medicine
What she means by “biome aging” and the gut’s biological clock
Microbiome diversity and changes across the lifespan
Gut health, inflammation, telomeres, and epigenetic aging clocks
Why perimenopause is an important transition in her approach to gut health
The estrobolome, estrogen metabolism, and beta-glucuronidase
Menopause-associated changes in cholesterol and metabolic health
Fiber as a foundation for feeding the gut microbiome
Naturally produced GLP-1 versus GLP-1 medications
Why nutrition quality still matters when appetite decreases on GLP-1 therapy
Fiber, polyphenols, and maintaining beneficial gut bacteria
Keystone microbes, including Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus, and Faecalibacterium prausnitzii
Akkermansia muciniphila and its role in the gut ecosystem
Short-chain fatty acids and how microbes support one another
What microbiome testing can reveal—and why repeat results need context
Intestinal permeability, zonulin, tight junctions, aging, and stress
The speakers’ clinical experiences and research questions involving peptides
Questions about food additives, environmental exposures, and gut health
Dr. Malkowski’s research comparing microbiome patterns across regions
Early-life microbiome development, birth mode, and maternal influences
Simple food priorities: greens, beans, and berries
Movement, outdoor exposure, and social connection
Vitamin D, turmeric, olive oil, and individualized probiotic considerations
GI360 stool testing and interpreting findings with a qualified clinician

In This Episode, You Will Learn
How her son’s health experience changed Dr. Malkowski’s career and approach to medicine
What she means by a gut microbiome’s “age,” and why she pays attention to diversity rather than chronological age alone
How she connects estrogen metabolism, microbial diversity, and intestinal barrier function when thinking about perimenopause and menopause
Why she emphasizes feeding the microbiome with fiber and polyphenol-rich foods during a GLP-1 medication journey—not focusing only on protein or reduced appetite
How thinking about the microbiome as an interconnected ecosystem changes the conversation about individual bacteria and probiotics
Why microbiome test results are a snapshot, and how diet and consistency matter when interpreting repeat testing
Why she considers intestinal barrier function and individual tolerance before assuming a probiotic is the right next step
How greens, beans, berries, movement, and time outdoors fit into her practical approach to supporting gut health
What functional stool testing can contribute to a conversation with your clinician, and why results need to be considered alongside symptoms and medical history

Resources & Links
Dr. Aaron Hartman – Richmond Functional Medicine:
richmondfunctionalmedicine.com
LinkedIn – Dr. Aaron Hartman: Connect Here
YouTube – Richmond Functional Medicine: Watch Here
Back-to-School 2026: Back-to-School Bundle
Connect With Dr. Julia Malkowski
Professional Website – Doctor’s Data:
doctorsdata.com
Instagram:
@drjuliamalkowski
LinkedIn:
Connect With Dr. Julia Malkowski
Facebook:
Dr. Julia Malkowski
Modern Human Podcast – Instagram & Updates:
@themodernhumanpodcast
Mentioned in this episode:
25% Off Back to School Support for Parents
Back to school asks a lot of parents, too. Support your body through the season with three physician-reviewed, foundation-first essentials: Twice Daily Multi, Quercetin + Nettles, and NAC.
For a limited time, save 25% on the Back to School Support Bundle.
Visit the link below ⬇️ Shop the Back to School Sale
Back to School Support for Parents
25% Off Back to School Support for Parents
Back to school asks a lot of parents, too. Support your body through the season with three physician-reviewed, foundation-first essentials: Twice Daily Multi, Quercetin + Nettles, and NAC.
For a limited time, save 25% on the Back to School Support Bundle.
Visit the link below ⬇️ Shop the Back to School Sale
Back to School Support for Parents

🎒 Back-to-school season brings changing routines, new exposures, and added demands on the whole family. Support your family’s health this season with Richmond Integrative & Functional Medicine’s Back-to-School 2026 resources.
Back-to-School 2026:
https://richmondfunctionalmedicine.com/lp/back-to-school-2026/
In this Made for Health solo minisode, Dr. Aaron Hartman continues asking the question at the center of this series:
Why are you still sick? Why are you stuck even after addressing Lyme disease, mold, MCAS, gut dysfunction, nervous-system dysregulation, and other potential drivers?
This time, Dr. Hartman looks at something much more fundamental: Are you actually getting—and using—the nutrients your cells need?
He explores thiamine, or vitamin B1, deficiency, including the possibility of milder functional deficiencies that may not resemble classic severe beriberi but could still overlap with symptoms such as fatigue, neurological complaints, dysautonomia, and POTS. He then expands the conversation to a larger concept: high-calorie malnutrition, where someone may consume plenty of calories while still being deficient in vitamins, minerals, and other micronutrients required for normal cellular energy production.
For Dr. Hartman, this raises another important possibility for people who have made progress but still feel stuck:
What if part of the problem is not another disease—but a body that simply does not have enough of the raw materials it needs to function well?
Key Topics Covered
Why nutrient deficiencies may be overlooked in chronic illness
Thiamine, or vitamin B1, deficiency
Functional versus severe nutrient deficiency
Wet and dry beriberi
Thiamine and neurological function
Thiamine and cardiovascular function
Dysautonomia and POTS
Chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia
Mitochondrial dysfunction
Cellular energy production
Why some patients may respond to B1 supplementation
The concept of high-calorie malnutrition
Processed food and micronutrient density
B-vitamin deficiencies
Magnesium and potassium
Vitamin D
Omega-3 fatty acids
Micronutrients and the Krebs cycle
Why calories alone do not equal nutrition
Food fortification and nutrient loss from food processing
IV vitamin C and the additional nutrients often included with it
B-complex vitamins
Nutrient testing in complex chronic illness
Why rebuilding nutrient status may take time
Returning to foundational nutrition and real food

In This Episode, You Will Learn
✅ Why Dr. Hartman routinely evaluates thiamine and other nutrient levels in complex patients
✅ How vitamin B1 deficiency can affect the nervous system, cardiovascular system, and energy production
✅ Why some symptoms associated with POTS, dysautonomia, chronic fatigue, and neurological dysfunction may prompt him to consider nutrient status
✅ What Dr. Hartman means by high-calorie malnutrition
✅ How someone can eat plenty of food while still lacking essential vitamins and minerals
✅ Why heavily processed carbohydrates may increase metabolic demand while providing fewer of the micronutrients needed to process them
✅ Why mitochondria require multiple vitamins and minerals to efficiently produce cellular energy
✅ Why feeling better after a multivitamin, B-complex, or nutrient replacement may sometimes provide an important clue
✅ Why improving one nutrient may not be enough if several deficiencies are present
✅ Why Dr. Hartman keeps returning to the same foundational recommendation: eat real, nutrient-dense food
Resources & Links:
🌐 Dr. Aaron Hartman – Richmond Functional Medicine: richmondfunctionalmedicine.com
🌐 LinkedIn – Dr. Aaron Hartman: Connect Here
📺 YouTube – Richmond Functional Medicine: Watch Here
🎒 Back-to-School 2026: Back-to-School Bundle
Mentioned in this episode:
25% Off Back to School Support for Parents
Back to school asks a lot of parents, too. Support your body through the season with three physician-reviewed, foundation-first essentials: Twice Daily Multi, Quercetin + Nettles, and NAC.
For a limited time, save 25% on the Back to School Support Bundle.
Visit the link below ⬇️ Shop the Back to School Sale
Back to School Support for Parents
25% Off Back to School Support for Parents
Back to school asks a lot of parents, too. Support your body through the season with three physician-reviewed, foundation-first essentials: Twice Daily Multi, Quercetin + Nettles, and NAC.
For a limited time, save 25% on the Back to School Support Bundle.
Visit the link below ⬇️ Shop the Back to School Sale
Back to School Support for Parents