Worry, flat mood, and irritability
You may notice a constant hum of worry, a mood that will not lift, or irritability that surprises you. Some people cry more. Some feel nothing. Sleep may be short, or you may sleep and still feel raw. Those are experiences to take seriously. They are not, by themselves, a nutrient deficiency.
Dr. Tara Kohen, D.C. and Dr. Sani Kohen, D.C. ask what changed, including a new medication, a postpartum period, a cycle shift, or a stretch of pain that never lets you rest. Functional Medicine listens for contributors. It does not offer therapy, and it does not diagnose a psychiatric condition.
This is not a psychiatry or therapy practice
FRI is not a psychiatry or therapy practice. If you are in treatment, stay in it. If you are not, and worry or low mood is the main problem, a mental health clinician is the right lead. Crisis symptoms, including thoughts of harming yourself, need urgent local help, not a hormone kit and not a wait for office hours.
What this office can examine is biological context that sometimes travels with mood: sleep, thyroid pace, cycle hormones, gut symptoms, and inflammation. Those are contributors to discuss. They are not a claim that anxiety is only a lab value, and they are not a reason to leave your therapist or prescriber.
Sleep, thyroid, iron, B12, gut, and cycle hormones
Broken sleep makes worry louder. The sleep and insomnia page covers pain, caffeine, and a cortisol curve. A thyroid panel is considered when pace symptoms are present, because a fast or slow thyroid can feel like anxiety or a flat mood. Your prescriber still manages any thyroid drug.
Advanced bloodwork can include B12 and iron when fatigue and mood travel together. Low stores are a medical finding for your physician to treat, not a supplement dose invented here. Gut health enters only if digestion is part of the story. Cycle timing is reviewed when symptoms cluster with the month.
No neurotransmitter supplement recipe
FRI does not hand out a neurotransmitter recipe, a serotonin protocol, or a brand stack aimed at mood. Nutrition and supplementation follows a real finding, such as a lab your physician agrees matters, and it does not replace a prescribed psychiatric medication. Do not stop those drugs for a trial.
Functional medicine at FRI does not replace a primary physician, endocrinologist, gastroenterologist, or mental health clinician. Chiropractic Sports Medicine and Neuromuscular Rehabilitation can treat pain that is feeding the exhaustion. They are not treatment for a mood disorder.
What to expect when you are seen for Anxiety & Mood
A complimentary 20-minute consultation can show whether a contributor workup belongs beside your mental health care. The office is out of network, provides superbills, and accepts HSA and FSA funds. Visits are scheduled Monday–Thursday, 9–6.
You will be asked about sleep, cycles, digestion, and medications, and you will be encouraged to keep your therapist or psychiatrist. Labs are chosen from clues. You will not be given a mood supplement protocol.
Payment and first-visit logistics
Out of network, superbill, HSA/FSA. No referral. Bring imaging if a physician already ordered it after a crash. Do not wait on a lawyer to be examined if you are hurting, and do not expect us to manage the legal side of a claim.
The doctors are Drs. Sani and Tara Kohen. Biographies are on the about page. The clinic itself is on the office page. The complimentary consultation is 20 minutes if you want to compare this model with a high-volume office closer to Harbor Boulevard.
Westside shops, Eastside neighborhoods, and the 55
Costa Mesa is physically split. The Westside and the streets around the LAB and the action-sports shops mean standing, lifting, and a younger training culture. The Eastside and Mesa Verde are more residential. South Coast Plaza adds retail shifts on hard floors. The 55 freeway is the spine of the commute for people heading inland. Neck and low back complaints often belong to that freeway. Shoulder and knee complaints often belong to training or to a job on your feet. We ask which Costa Mesa, because the city is not one ergonomic story.
Action sports and gym culture also mean people arrive having already tried a lot of soft tissue. If you have had months of massage without a change in the movement that hurts, say what was actually done. ART and IASTM are specific tools. They are not a more expensive version of a general rub, and they are not always the right next step.
Reaching La Alameda from the 55
The usual drive is the 55 south to the 73, then toward Mission Viejo and La Alameda. From the Westside, some people prefer the 405 south to the 73. About 16 miles and 25 to 40 minutes. The address is 26400 La Alameda, Suite 100, Mission Viejo, CA 92691. Parking on site. Open Monday through Thursday, 9 to 6.
Afternoon returns to Costa Mesa on the 55 are slow. A morning visit is kinder to a fresh neck exam and to your schedule. Call (949) 312-1754. If you work a retail shift at South Coast Plaza, bring that standing schedule to the history. It changes how we dose a plantar fascia or low back plan.
Questions patients ask
Can FRI treat anxiety or depression?
FRI is not a psychiatry or therapy practice and does not treat those conditions as a mental health clinic would. You should keep your therapist, psychiatrist, or other mental health clinician. The office can look at sleep, gut, hormones, and inflammation as contributors while that care continues. It will not ask you to stop a psychiatric medication.
Which labs are actually considered?
A thyroid panel is considered when symptoms of pace are present. Advanced bloodwork can look at B12 and iron when fatigue and mood show up together. DUTCH hormone testing is for a cycle or cortisol question, not a default mood panel. Gut testing waits for gut symptoms. Nothing is ordered to chase a neurotransmitter theory, and no reference range is invented here.
Will you recommend a serotonin or GABA supplement?
No. There is no neurotransmitter supplement recipe, no serotonin protocol, and no dose for GABA or similar products on this page. If a lab shows something your physician wants to address, such as iron or B12, that medical plan leads. Nutrition changes are ordinary and specific. They are not a substitute for therapy or for a prescribed medication.
What if pain and mood are tangled?
Pain can wreck sleep and shorten your temper, and mood can make pain feel louder. Chiropractic Sports Medicine and Neuromuscular Rehabilitation can work on the joint or the neck. That care does not treat a mood disorder. Keep your mental health clinician. Functional Medicine may look at sleep and inflammation as contributors. It does not replace either of those other relationships.
Related care for Costa Mesa
Anxiety & Mood is handled at the Mission Viejo clinic, not in a satellite office in Costa Mesa. The related pages below stay on that same visit and add the methods or neighboring problems that usually come up in the history.
- Costa Mesa chiropractor
How people from Costa Mesa reach 26400 La Alameda and what the three pillars cover.
- Anxiety & Mood clinical overview
The non-geographic condition page, if you want the clinic-wide explanation without the drive.
- Functional Medicine
The pillar this problem sits in at Functional Restoration Institute.
- Sleep & Insomnia in this city
Sleep problems have a clock, a chemistry, and often a body part that hurts. Caffeine, a late bedtime, a cortisol curve, thyroid.
- Thyroid Dysfunction in this city
Thyroid trouble is not one feeling. A slow pace can leave you cold, heavy, and constipated. A fast pace can leave you.
- Gut Health in this city
Digestion problems rarely arrive as one tidy symptom. Bloating, stool changes, and food reactions can travel together or take turns. This page.
- Hormonal Imbalance in this city
Hormone symptoms rarely live in one gland. Cycle changes, thin sleep, temperature swings, and uneven energy often reflect how sex hormones, cortisol,.
- Thyroid Panel
A thyroid panel at Functional Restoration Institute can include TSH, free T4, free T3, reverse T3, and antibodies. Each one answers a.