FUNCTIONAL MEDICINE FAQs

The best way to describe the functional healthcare we practice at Premier IFM in Placentia, California is comprehensive, personalized, and evidence-driven. That does not mean every patient needs every tool in the functional medicine toolbox — most don't. But nearly every patient benefits from several foundational components of this approach.

Disease does not happen randomly — it develops for a reason.

The vast majority of chronic illnesses develop over time due to identifiable drivers. People don't "catch" type 2 diabetes, heart disease, or autoimmune conditions the way they catch a cold. These conditions develop as the result of metabolic dysfunction, inflammation, nutrient deficiencies, toxin exposure, hormonal imbalance, chronic stress, gut dysfunction, lifestyle patterns, and genetic predispositions — interacting over time.

Symptoms are not the problem. They are signals. Conventional medicine often focuses on suppressing those signals. Functional medicine asks a deeper question: Why did this happen in the first place? Our goal is to identify and address the root causes — not just manage the downstream effects.

When you remove or correct the underlying drivers of dysfunction, the body often has a remarkable ability to repair, regulate, and restore balance on its own. That is the foundation of everything we do at our Orange County functional medicine practice.

What separates Premier IFM from other alternative or natural practices?

Our commitment to evidence-based care. Every protocol, supplement recommendation, dietary intervention, and diagnostic test we use is grounded in scientific literature and clinical reasoning. Functional medicine — practiced properly — is not guesswork. It is structured, data-driven, and personalized to you.

Functional medicine is especially effective for people dealing with chronic conditions that haven't fully responded to conventional care — but it is not limited to the severely ill. At our Placentia integrative medicine clinic, we serve two broad categories of patients.

The first is the patient who wants to optimize and prevent. They feel reasonably well but want to stay that way — understanding their baseline, identifying vulnerabilities before they become problems, and building long-term resilience.

The second is the patient who has tried everything. They have been to multiple specialists, received varying diagnoses, tried numerous treatments, and still don't feel well — or still don't have a real explanation for why. This is where root-cause functional medicine particularly shines, because we are specifically trained to find what others have missed.

Conditions we commonly address at Premier IFM include:

• Chronic conditions unresolved by conventional care

• Autoimmune disorders

• Thyroid and hormone imbalances

• Digestive disorders, SIBO, and gut dysfunction

• Metabolic dysfunction and insulin resistance

• Chronic fatigue and brain fog

• Inflammatory conditions

• Neuropathy

• Adrenal fatigue and stress-related dysfunction

• Health optimization and longevity

See our full conditions page for a complete list of what we treat.

In root cause medicine, we investigate the underlying biological imbalances that drive symptoms and disease — not just the diagnosis itself. A diagnosis like diabetes, hypothyroidism, IBS, or hypertension is simply a label describing a pattern of symptoms or lab findings. It does not explain why the condition developed.

"Why did this happen in this person, at this time?" — That is the question we are always asking.

Most chronic diseases develop over time due to layers of dysfunction — inflammation, insulin resistance, hormonal imbalance, gut disruption, nutrient deficiencies, chronic stress, poor sleep, environmental exposures, or genetic predisposition building on one another. The symptom you experience is often the final expression of those upstream imbalances — sometimes years in the making.

Rather than managing only the surface symptom, we work to identify and correct the underlying drivers. This approach does not replace conventional medicine — it enhances it. When root causes are properly identified and addressed, patients consistently experience deeper and more sustainable improvements in their health.

Think of it this way: if your "check engine" light comes on, you have two options — cut the wire to the dashboard so the light goes off, or open the hood and find out what triggered it. At Premier IFM, we open the hood.

This is one of the most important questions we get — and one worth answering carefully. These terms are not interchangeable, and understanding the difference can help you make a more informed decision about your care.

Alternative Medicine

A broad umbrella term for any approach outside conventional medical training — herbalism, homeopathy, acupuncture, and many others. The category is wide and quality varies significantly. The term itself says very little about the evidence base or training behind the practice.

Integrative Medicine

A step forward — this approach considers the whole person and how all body systems interact. It often involves multiple practitioners working together. Evidence-based thinking begins to enter the picture here, though the rigor varies by practice.

Traditional Chinese Medicine

A healing system with over 2,000 years of history, incorporating acupuncture, herbal medicine, and other therapies. Some practices have meaningful research support; others are rooted primarily in tradition.

Ayurvedic Medicine

One of the world's oldest whole-body healing systems, developed in India around the balance of mind, body, and spirit. Like Traditional Chinese Medicine, some practices carry evidence and some do not.

Naturopathic Medicine

An approach favoring natural, low-force interventions. Naturopathic doctors are licensed in approximately 20 states. Training and scope vary — understanding a practitioner's specific licensure and clinical background is always worthwhile.

Integrative Functional Medicine — What We Practice at Premier IFM

Think of it as the best of all of the above — filtered through a rigorous evidence-based lens. We draw from nutritional medicine, lifestyle intervention, advanced diagnostics, and integrative therapies, but everything we recommend is grounded in scientific research and measurable clinical data. With today's technology, we can measure virtually anything happening inside the body. If it is not evidence-based, it does not belong in your care plan.

Training in functional medicine varies widely across practitioners. Because "functional medicine" is a clinical philosophy rather than a single licensed specialty, the depth of training depends heavily on the individual provider. At Premier IFM, we take our credentials seriously.

Dr. Craig Mortensen is formally certified through the Institute for Functional Medicine (IFM) — the leading educational and certifying body in the field — holding the IFMCP designation. After more than 12 years in integrative and alternative medicine, he committed fully to the systems-based, root-cause model of functional medicine and trained under many of the early pioneers in the field. He has completed advanced training with Functional Medicine University and Dr. Datis Kharrazian, with focused expertise in complex chronic illness, neuroinflammation, and autoimmune conditions. He also holds QME, NRCME, CHt, and EMT certifications. With over 5,000 patients served, his clinical experience is deep and ongoing.

Jessica Cardona, NP is a Certified Nurse Midwife and Nurse Practitioner who earned her BSN and Master's degree from Cal State Fullerton. After becoming a patient of Dr. Mortensen herself and experiencing the results of functional medicine firsthand, she joined the practice and has been mentored directly by Dr. Mortensen in integrative functional medicine.

Learn more on our About Dr. Mortensen and About Jessica pages.

This is one of the most common observations new patients make — and it is worth explaining. Standard lab panels ordered in conventional medicine are designed to identify disease that is already present and diagnosable. They are calibrated around identifying acute pathology, not uncovering the early functional imbalances that precede it.

Functional medicine lab testing looks at a much wider picture. We assess markers of inflammation, nutrient status, hormonal balance, metabolic function, gut health indicators, immune patterns, toxic burden, and genetic factors that standard panels rarely include. We also interpret existing values differently — looking at optimal ranges rather than just "normal vs. abnormal" cutoffs, which can miss significant dysfunction that falls just within the reference range.

The goal is not to run more tests for the sake of it — it is to build a complete biological picture of why your body is behaving the way it is. Without that picture, your care plan is built in the dark. With it, your care plan becomes targeted, specific, and far more likely to produce lasting results.

Every patient is unique, and we will not make promises before we have had a real conversation with you. But here is what we can tell you.

Many healthcare models treat illness within a single system — managing thyroid issues in isolation, addressing blood sugar alone, or suppressing digestive symptoms without looking deeper. The body does not work in isolated compartments. It is an interconnected network where changes in one system ripple through others. Our job is to understand those connections — not just the individual complaint.

The human body is remarkably adaptive. It can compensate for stress, inflammation, nutrient deficiencies, and dysfunction for years — sometimes decades. But compensation is not the same as healing. Eventually the body reaches a threshold where it can no longer adapt, and that is when symptoms appear.

The encouraging truth is this: when balance is restored, the body has an extraordinary capacity to heal. Often our job is not to force healing — it is to identify and remove what is preventing it. If you have been told everything is normal but you still don't feel well, that is exactly the conversation we are trained to have. Reach out and let's talk.

Yes. While much of our work involves the complex chronic cases that require a full functional medicine investigation, we also see many patients who are simply looking for a natural or integrative approach to more acute health concerns — without defaulting to medications. We draw from naturopathic, nutritional, and integrative medicine tools for these cases, always guided by an evidence-based standard of care.

It depends entirely on the nature and duration of your condition. A straightforward, acute concern may be addressed in one to a few visits. A complex chronic patient — someone dealing with multiple overlapping conditions that have been present for years — may need six months to a year or more of consistent, structured care.

The honest answer is that the longer a condition has been present and the more systems it involves, the more time true recovery requires. We will be straight with you about what to expect during your initial consultation. See our pricing page for more on how we structure care for different types of patients.

Initial consultations at Premier IFM are $220 with Nurse Jessica Cardona and $250 with Dr. Craig Mortensen. These are 60-minute in-depth visits that include extensive health history, symptoms, what you have done in the past and what has or has not worked for you. For detailed pricing information, visit our pricing page.

We do not participate directly with insurance — and that is intentional. Insurance models are built around volume and symptom management, which limits the time and depth needed for true root-cause investigation. Operating outside that system allows us to focus entirely on what you actually need.

That said, we provide a detailed superbill upon request with all ICD-10 and CPT codes so you can submit to your insurance for potential out-of-network reimbursement. Many standard labs can also be processed through your insurance when medically appropriate. For patients without sufficient lab coverage, we have direct relationships with multiple laboratories and can offer wholesale pricing.