By AMY ADAMS
news@readthereporter.com
Family Nurse Practitioner Alissa McDivitt has spent more than two decades in the medical field. Her experience in pharmacies, cardiology, emergency medicine, intensive care, and occupational healthcare have all played a part in making her the functional medical professional she is today.
McDivitt
However, it was McDivitt’s own health journey that has sparked her passion for functional medicine. As an endurance runner and two-time ultramarathon participant, she experienced a stress fracture two weeks before traveling to Dublin, Ireland, to run a marathon. Recovery from that injury led her from traditional medicine into the realm of functional medicine, which has a more holistic approach to treating medical conditions. Through functional medicine, McDivitt discovered that behind her stress fracture was a body low in Vitamin D and facing adrenal insufficiency from running and working in a stressful environment.
“I felt like I was always in fight or flight,” she said.
With the help of Family Nurse Practitioner Susan Julian, McDivitt recovered from more than just her stress fracture. Julian pointed her toward the Institute for Functional Medicine, through which McDivitt has become a certified practitioner.
In August, McDivitt opened her practice, Spark Vital Health, where she is committed to providing a patient-centered, collaborative approach to health care. Providing in-person and telehealth consultations, McDivitt tailors treatment plans to each individual patient.
In traditional medicine, a practitioner may diagnose a patient with a specific condition and offer treatment.
“It’s not that simple,” McDivitt said. “I ask why a person has that condition. I like to look at the root.”
In order to find the root cause of a medical condition, McDivitt takes a very detailed approach.
“I look at history, going back to when they were in their mother’s womb,” she said. “I look at the pillars of their health: brain, sleep, bowel habits, movement, nutrition.”
While traditional medical practitioners may be hesitant to run expensive tests, McDivitt has access to extensive testing of gut flora, pathogens, and inflammatory markers.
Knowledgeable in bioenergetics, which is the study of how your body converts food into energy, McDivitt can help patients identify disruptors to their mitochondrial function. Those disruptors can lead to conditions such as insulin resistance or adrenal issues in athletes. Proper treatment can help patients recover energy levels and relieve fatigue, brain fog, and chronic pain.
McDivitt utilizes InBody Scans, an advanced technology that assesses body composition and tracks progress. These scans can tell patients their visceral fat levels, or the amount of fat around their vital organs and shows body mass index (BMI).
“It’s very insightful,” she said. “It gives you more to work with than a regular scale and leads to improved results.”
McDivitt also offers home assessments and detox, including helping patients learn to read labels and guiding them toward better personal care products.
“This is how I live my life, so I want to bring that to others,” McDivitt said. “I want to treat people with quality over quantity. It’s very personal. I do everything so there’s no miscommunication.”
For those interested in seeing improvement in their overall health, McDivitt encourages people to shop the perimeters of the grocery stores, stocking up on as many veggies as possible.
“Eat whole foods and not processed foods,” McDivitt said. “Eat the rainbow. Eat fish twice a week. Drink plenty of water and sleep. These are all important.”
McDivit sees patients ages five years and up at her office at 10255 Commerce Drive, Suite 102, Carmel. Visit SparkVitalHealth.com to learn more or call (317) 449-3958 to set up an appointment.