Hashimoto's Thyroiditis Treatment in Mission Viejo, CA

Hashimoto's is not simply a low thyroid number. It is immune activity directed at thyroid tissue, often tracked with thyroid peroxidase antibodies and thyroglobulin antibodies. You might feel a slow pace, a swollen sensation at the neck, or swings between wired and flat as the gland is irritated.

Some people are diagnosed after a routine antibody test and feel little. Others have been told their TSH is acceptable while hair, cycles, and energy keep changing. Drs. Sani Kohen, D.C. and Tara Kohen, D.C. separate those stories. The diagnosis itself, when it is formal, belongs with your physician.

A thyroid panel can include TSH, free T3, free T4, reverse T3, and the antibodies named above. FRI will talk through what each one is asking. Nobody here promises that antibodies will fall, disappear, or stay down on a schedule. That kind of claim is not something this office makes.

Medication changes, including whether you need thyroid hormone at all, stay with the prescribing physician. Functional Medicine can line up the history, the panel, and questions about sleep and food. It does not take over the prescription. If your dose feels wrong, you take that concern back to the person who writes it.

Some people with autoimmune thyroid disease also have bloating, stool changes, or joint stiffness. Those clues can justify a gut conversation. They are not proof that the gut caused the thyroid disease. FRI will not tell you that repairing digestion will turn antibodies off.

If the history supports it, GI-MAP stool testing can look at organisms, inflammation markers, and digestion clues. A food panel is not automatic. You can read the separate pages on thyroid dysfunction and gut health to see how those questions differ from this one.

A general thyroid visit may stop at TSH and symptoms of pace. A Hashimoto's visit asks about the immune context: family history, other autoimmune diagnoses, postpartum timing, and whether symptoms flare with illness or poor sleep. The gland and the immune system are both on the table.

Functional medicine at FRI does not replace a primary physician, endocrinologist, gastroenterologist, or mental health clinician. Neck pain or a feeling of pressure should be examined medically, not folded into a supplement plan. Nutrition is individualized. There is no brand protocol and no invented dose.

You may begin with a complimentary 20-minute consultation. FRI is out of network, provides a superbill for reimbursement, and accepts HSA and FSA funds. Appointments run Monday–Thursday, 9–6. Bring prior antibody results if you have them.

The visit compares your symptoms with the panel rather than chasing a single antibody number. If digestion is part of your story, that test is chosen separately. You will not be told to stop thyroid medication.

You do not need a referral. Bring prior records if they exist. Red-flag spine symptoms, including new bowel or bladder changes, saddle numbness, or a leg that is rapidly getting weaker, belong in emergency care. We will help you sort ordinary back pain. We will not keep you in the suite if the story is an emergency.

FRI is out of network. Mission Viejo patients use HSA and FSA cards and superbills like everyone else. Drs. Sani and Tara Kohen are both chiropractors. Their training, including Dr. Sani's sports and functional medicine background and Dr. Tara's rehabilitation and imaging background, is on the about page.

Mission Viejo's body load is local. The Lake Mission Viejo path is flat and popular, which makes it a useful test: pain that shows up on that loop is not a hill problem. Marguerite Parkway and Olympiad Road are where a lot of the driving and the school traffic actually happen. Saddleback College and the commercial strips along Crown Valley add standing and sitting in the same afternoon. Florence Joyner Olympiad and the sports parks mean a city full of youth sports parents who also sit for work. We ask which of those you did this week.

Because you live here, follow-up is easy to schedule and easy to waste. A plan that depends on you coming in forever is a weak plan. We would rather teach you the movement or the drill that belongs to your actual week, whether that is a lake walk, a desk on La Paz, or a weekend tournament at one of the parks. Lower back pain and neck pain are the complaints we hear most from this pattern.

26400 La Alameda is on the La Alameda corridor in Mission Viejo, Suite 100. If you are coming from the lake, it is a short cross-town drive, not a freeway project. Parking is at the building. Hours are Monday through Thursday, 9 to 6. People who work in Irvine or Santa Ana and live here often want the first appointment or the last. Say which commute you are protecting. Call (949) 312-1754.

The complimentary 20-minute consultation is available even if you can see the building from your errands. It is a conversation about fit. It is not a treatment and it is not a membership pitch. If you already know you want an evaluation, book that instead so we have time to test movement rather than only talk about it.