New FDA Decision Brings Clarity for Menopause Care, Hormone Therapy: What You Should Know About the Latest Change

If you’ve ever taken a handful of vitamins and wondered how much your body is actually absorbing — you’re not alone. Nutrients taken orally can lose a significant percentage of their potency as they move through the digestive system. IV nutrient therapy changes that equation entirely. By delivering vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and antioxidants directly into your bloodstream, IV therapy allows for near-100% absorption and rapid cellular delivery — something no capsule or powder can match. The result? Faster energy restoration, deeper detoxification, and noticeable vitality that most people feel within hours to a day. At The Healing Collective Functional & Integrative Medicine in Niwot, CO , we use IV therapy not just for hydration or recovery, but as a powerful tool for whole-body healing — especially when combined with good nutrition and targeted supplementation. Because while IV therapy provides an incredible boost, food and supplements remain the foundation of sustained wellness. Without them, many people would experience even greater nutrient deficiencies, fatigue, and barriers to healing. Together, a nutrient-rich diet, quality supplementation, and IV therapy create a synergistic path to true cellular vitality.

Stress doesn’t just live in your mind — it shows up in your gut. Discover how chronic stress impacts digestion, the microbiome, and your mood, and learn evidence-based ways to restore your gut–brain balance.

Restore Energy, Metabolism, and Vitality — Safely and Holistically

Menopause is a Journey Part 2, The Truth Behind the Confusion

Seasonal Allergies: gut and liver connection

This month has two very important celebrations that I would love to connect. Making connections is actually one of the strengths of the functional medicine detection process that guides us to the root causes of illness and toward healing! I now invite you to take a pause and ask yourself, what does pride in owning one’s sexual orientation as LGBTQ have to do with brain health and Alzheimer's Disease? As not to leave anyone out- if you identify as straight or heterosexual, what could having pride in yourself have to do with your brain health and Alzheimer's? An important connection that I would like to make involves the nervous system. The brain is a central component of the nervous system, along with the spinal cord and nerves. Our nervous system influences and controls many bodily functions and is also influenced and controlled by many factors. Our emotional state highly influences our nervous system. Individuals who do not feel accepted to be who they are without being judged, criticized, ridiculed and loved by others live under tremendous stress. They often feel unsafe- emotionally and/or physically. Living with constant emotional stress and feeling physically or emotionally unsafe takes a major toll on the nervous system, including the brain, and can be one of many contributors to cognitive impairment. This constant level of stress can impair cognitive function. Stress is inflammatory to the body and brain. Stress affects neurotransmitter production, causing excess excitatory neurotransmitters such as norepinephrine and epinephrine, which up-regulate our system which can unfortunately cause even more stress. Stress also causes increased cortisol, the stress hormone to be produced. An excess of these chemicals causes health consequences to many bodily systems. To name a few: Cardiovascular- increased blood pressure and heart rate Respiratory- shallow and rapid breathing that reduces oxygenation Musculoskeletal- pain and tension Endocrine System- sex hormone and thyroid hormone abnormalities due to the HPATG (Hypothalamus Pituitary Adrenal Thyroid Gonadal) Axis disturbance caused by high cortisol and elevated blood sugar that could advance to diabetes Immune system- Autoimmune disease risk increases significantly from chronic stress Gastrointestinal- GI issues due to parasympathetic and vagus nerve disruption And on and on! Every single system is affected by chronic stress in the nervous system. 

When people ask me what is one of the most important elements of healthy living, disease prevention and feeling one’s best I always include detoxing as a top priority. Then one of 2 things generally happens. People respond with a resounding, yes! Or I get the deer in the headlight look. I love to break down information for my clients because the more understanding into why something matters, the more follow through and greater benefit to the client will occur. Detoxing is so critical because we are exposed to toxins all day, every day, in our modern life through our basic survival needs and beyond. . Exposure comes through the air we breathe, water we drink, food we eat, personal hygiene products we ironically use to cleanse and care for ourselves and our living spaces. Additionally, extra exposures occur when we renovate our homes or offices; buy a new mattress, carpet, or couch due to the new materials off-gassing chemicals used in the manufacturing process. On top of this certain industries provide extra exposures, such as: mechanics, chemists, beauticians who work in spas and nail salons, artists, construction workers/contractors/mechanical engineers, hospital workers, farmers and more! The deer in the headlights look continues and people wonder, how to detox? People often ask- do I have to do a juice diet or not eat…they often imagine something hard and extreme. Yes, these types of detox’s do exist but must be short lived and thus are less effective. The best type of detox is actually one that supports your daily life rather than interfering with it. There are 3 important, simple messages I’d like to share regarding detoxing. First, living a detox lifestyle is an important way to provide self care to your body, mind and emotions. This means you are eating, drinking, moving, bathing and sweating in an intentional way that helps the daily toxins that flow in, to flow right back out. This preventative method significantly reduces toxin accumulation . Second, address stored toxins by doing a deeper detox dive over multiple months. Start with supporting your drainage pathways, which is “Phase 3” of the body’s detoxing cycle. For this I recommend a detox kit by Cellcore, which they named Phase 1…sorry for the confusion! This is Phase 1 of a detox protocol but in fact it supports Phase 3 of our own body’s detox elimination cycle. Once the body’s drainage pathways are open then deeper detoxing is safe, effective and comfortable, which I love to guide people through!. Thirdly, incorporate intermittent fasting on a regular basis. At the least, do a 12 hour fast overnight. But then build up from there. I strongly recommend that we discuss this further before doing longer fasts to maximize effectiveness and minimize unwanted results. In addition to detoxing support, fasting also supports longevity, cancer prevention and treatment, metabolic disorders- but when not done correctly, especially for a woman's body, it can actually cause unwanted hormonal changes. I would love to support your detoxing needs further so if you feel you are in need and ready for some detox support, please reach out. Wishing you all the best and so, so well! With love, Tracy Shulsinger, FNP