December 1, 2025 • 33 mins
Connect with Dr. Duffy at: aimeeduffymd.com
Feeling “fine” on paper but worn out in real life? We sit down to virtually shadow Dr. Amiee Duffy, a board-certified family physician and founder of Carolina Integrative Medicine. Dr. Duffy traded seven-minute visits for two-hour conversations and a root-cause approach that helps patients actually feel well. Her journey from delivering babies and teaching residents to building an integrative, functional practice reveals how time, testing, and trust can change outcomes.
We learn crucial definitions so you can navigate Medicine with clarity: what board certification means, how integrative medicine blends modalities like nutrition, PT, and talk therapy into conventional care, and why functional medicine pushes deeper to restore physiology. Dr. Duffy explains how bioidentical hormones, advanced stool and cortisol testing, and inflammation markers can uncover why “normal” labs still leave people tired, foggy, and inflamed. She shares the turning point after the Women’s Health Initiative, the pitfalls of one-size-fits-all hormone fear, and the practical safeguards that keep therapy both effective and safe.
She explains why your gut health matters. We connect microbiome balance, barrier integrity, and nutrient absorption to immune function, brain fog, insulin resistance, and hormone stability. You’ll hear how addressing the gut often unlocks better sleep, steadier mood, and true metabolic change, even when GI symptoms aren’t obvious. We also talk career flexibility for trainees and clinicians: why pre-education, structured wellness programs, and a systems approach help patients commit and thrive, and how longer visits make space for the science and the story.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Ashley Love (00:00):
Hello and welcome to Shadow Me Next, a podcast
where I take you into and behindthe scenes of the medical world
to provide you with a deeperunderstanding of the human side
of medicine.
I'm Ashley, a physicianassistant, medical editor,
clinical preceptor, and thecreator of Shadow Me Next.
It is my pleasure to introduceyou to incredible members of the
(00:22):
healthcare field and uncovertheir unique stories, the joys
and challenges they face, andwhat drives them in their
careers.
It's access you want andstories you need.
Whether you're a pre-healthstudent or simply curious about
the healthcare field, I inviteyou to join me as we take a
conversational and personal lookinto the lives and minds of
(00:43):
leaders in medicine.
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And follow us on Instagram andFacebook at Shadow Me Next,
where we will review highlightsfrom this conversation and where
I'll give you sneak previews ofour upcoming guests.
(01:03):
Today's guest is someone who'sfollowed the traditional path,
realized it didn't quite fit,and then had the courage to
build something that finallydid.
Dr.
Amy Duffy is a board-certifiedfamily physician who spent years
delivering babies, teachingresidents, and practicing
conventional medicine until sherealized that normal didn't feel
(01:25):
normal for her patientsanymore.
And it certainly didn't feelnormal for her.
What I love about her story ishow honest she is about that
movement, the frustration ofseven-minute visits, the
patients who were still tiredand unwell despite normal labs,
and the quiet realization thatmedicine had to start looking
deeper.
(01:45):
In this conversation, Dr.
Duffy takes us inside the worldof integrative and functional
medicine, the two-hour visits,the deep dive labs, the gut
health revelations, and theradical shift from treating
disease to restoring life.
We also talk about motherhoodand training, the realities of
shifting career paths, and theone disease process every
(02:09):
pre-health student should bepaying close attention to.
Please keep in mind that thecontent of this podcast is
intended for informational andentertainment purposes only and
should not be considered asprofessional medical advice.
The views and opinionsexpressed in this podcast are
those of the host and guests anddo not necessarily reflect the
official policy or position ofany other agency, organization,
(02:33):
employer, or company.
This is Shadow Me Next with Dr.
Amy Duffy.
Dr.
Amy Duffy, thank you so muchfor joining us today.
We are so excited to have youon the show on Shadow Me Next.
So thanks for being here.
Thanks for joining us.
Dr. Aimee Duffy, MD (02:45):
Absolutely.
I'm excited.
Ashley Love (02:46):
Um, if it's okay, Dr.
Duffy, I'd like to do things alittle bit backwards today
because you have you have 20years plus of healthcare
experience.
And there are so many phrasesthat we're hearing in medicine
right now.
Um, you're a board certifiedphysician.
You're also the founder ofCarolina Integrative Medicine,
specializing in functional andintegrative healthcare.
(03:07):
Can you for the students andfor me too, can you define some
of these terms, like boardcertified physician?
What is functional medicine?
What is integrative healthcare?
What are these things?
Dr. Aimee Duffy, MD (03:19):
Well, board certified.
So, you know, if you decidethat you're going to go to
medical school and get your MD,then you you can go to four-year
med school and you have an MDat the end, but like you can't
do anything with that.
Um, I mean, you could go be asecretary somewhere, but like
from a medical perspective, youcan't.
So then you need to go do atleast an internship to get
licensed to be a medical doctor.
(03:41):
And there, there areoccasional, you might find
somebody like working in urgentcare, something like that, that
just did their one-yearinternship and has a license to
practice medicine.
But in order to be boardcertified in a specialty, so
generally you're going to beboard certified in family
practice, internal medicine,pediatrics, surgery, you know,
(04:02):
whatever, uh, orthopedics,OBGYN, that's a board
certification that you get afteryou complete a residency
program.
And then to further define, soI am board certified in family
practice or family medicine.
And then um, there are uhentities out there where you can
get a board certification infunctional medicine or in um
(04:25):
there's uh A4M is the AmericanAssociation of the Advancement
of Anti-Aging Medicine orsomething like that.
So it goes on and on and on atmultiple A's.
You can be board certified insomething like that, although
you don't have to be to practicethat type of medicine.
So um integrative medicine tome, which is why I've started
this and named my practiceCarolina Integrative Medicine,
(04:46):
is the idea that we can bringwhat we call our traditional
allopathic, you know, MDmedicine.
So it's like, you know, youhave this, we test you or or we
guess, or whatever you want tocall it, and here's your pill
kind of thing.
Um, where integrative medicinebrings in other thought
processes, I guess.
So it's like we're we'reintegrating different
(05:08):
modalities.
So whether that might beaccepting of massage therapy or
acupuncture or you know, talktherapy or physical therapy or
whatever, we're we'reintegrating multiple um
modalities into the patient'scare so that we're gonna get
better results than just kindof, you know, streamline here.
And often integrative andfunctional are somewhat mixed.
(05:32):
And the more, you know, Iopened my practice 15 years ago
and it was integrative medicine,and then really I practice
functional medicine now, but Ijust didn't change the name.
So functional medicine reallykind of the theory is that it
digs down a little bit deeper.
Like, what is the actualphysiology going on?
Let's let's repair thedysfunction that's happening in
our body.
So if somebody's having a lotof fatigue, you know, streamline
(05:55):
can be, okay, you have athyroid disorder and we're gonna
fix that and then we're alldone.
But you know, you can reallydig a little bit deeper.
Well, why did that thyroiddisorder happen?
And or okay, you have fatigue,but your thyroid is normal.
You don't have sleep apnea, youdon't have some other things.
So what, you know, what iscausing that fatigue?
And we really get deeper to saywhat's stressing out the
(06:15):
system.
And so in functional medicine,we often will do some like
functional labs, like we'relooking at saliva testing to
look at cortisol and adrenalfunction and and hormones in a
different way.
We're looking at uh stooltesting, not just like your
typical stool test.
If you went to the ER orsomething like that, would be
like, do you have the bad guys?
You know, is there is there E.
(06:36):
coli or salmonella there?
Right.
But this really like is a verybroad eight-page, you know,
report of all the things that goon in your gut.
And not only, you know, are thebad guys, but are there enough
good guys there?
And so, you know, it's it'sreally a detailed lab.
You can look at um the youknow, leaky gut, a lot of people
think is is kind of a fad term,if you want to call it.
(06:58):
But there's actually markersthat you can measure for that.
Um, digging a little bit deeperfrom a cardiovascular
perspective, you can seeinflammation, you can see plaque
activity, you can see kind ofsticky factor.
So, you know, we're reallylooking way deeper than sort of
traditional uh medicine.
And not that those doctorsdon't know that those things are
(07:19):
out there, but a lot of it iswhat what is insurance going to
cover?
What do we have time to talkabout?
Because in in you know, sort ofa traditional medicine, it's
like we got seven minutes to seethis patient.
So we don't have time to betalking about all these labs and
the results, right?
But you know, a new patient forme is often a two-hour visit to
go, you know, through all ofthat stuff.
So in a nutshell, there's boardcertified and then there's
(07:43):
extra.
And, you know, I'm not uh Ihave a few certifications and
like hormone balancing andthings like that.
But I as I go through, youknow, I'm just practicing in
family medicine, you sort ofhave a pretty broad scope of
what you do.
And so you're not required tobe board certified in, you know,
something like functional orintegrative to practice that.
(08:03):
If I decided I wanted to go dosurgery, then I would have to go
back and get, you know, boardcertified to be um in
compliance, you know, with hostlike I'm not in a hospital
system, so I don't have to, youknow, have certifications for
doing things in the hospital orsomething like that.
Does that make sense?
Ashley Love (08:21):
It does.
That is so interesting.
And thank you so much fordefining those terms because I
think, like you said, so manypeople are throwing these terms
around and we're using them nowcolloquially and professionally.
And I'm not entirely surepeople fully understand exactly
what they mean.
Um, so so thank you so much.
That is it's it's sointeresting to me.
(08:42):
And I would have, I would loveto hear your story about how you
transitioned from conventionalmedicine.
So that's the allopathicmedicine that we talked about.
Here's your disease, here'syour treatment moving along into
this more really whole patient,whole health care um practice.
Were you just getting, were youbecoming more and more
frustrated with the medicine, orwere you realizing that you
(09:05):
weren't your patients weren'tgetting the answers that they
needed?
Dr. Aimee Duffy, MD (09:09):
Probably both.
I think um, you know, I luckyfor me, I'm very grateful that
it happened fairly early in mypractice.
So um this goes way back when Iwas 11.
I just absolutely loved babiesand I wanted to hold all the
babies and I had all the cabbagepatch dolls and all of their
accessories and everything.
So I became a babysitter at 11years old.
And um, this family, I I never,you know, I was more like a
(09:32):
family's helper.
Like I just came over andplayed with the baby so the mom
could get stuff done, basically.
And and as I grew in 11, and astheir family grew, I mean, by
the time I was a senior in highschool, I was part of their
family.
Her sister had babies, herfriends had babies.
I used to babysit all the kidsand all that, and that was my
job for years.
And so when I was a senior inhigh school, um they were having
(09:54):
uh another baby and invited meto be in the delivery room to
experience it.
And so um, that was my firsttrue sort of medical, you know,
experience, besides just megoing to the doctor.
And um, and I was justfascinated.
I mean, I was kind of up, Iwasn't down in the business end,
I was up at the head end, soyou know, I didn't see
(10:15):
everything, but you know, babiesborn and put on mom's belly,
and I was like, this is thecoolest thing.
Like, I want I want to do this.
So I knew that I was gonna goto med school.
I thought I talked about, Ithought about PA school a little
bit, that sort of thing, justbecause I knew I wanted to be in
medicine, but I wasn't quitesure what that was until um the
OB experience.
So I thought I was gonna go bean O B G Y N or I was gonna be a
(10:38):
midwife.
I didn't know which one, butyou know, went off to school and
um and then in residency, acouple things happened.
I had not residency, I'm sorry,medical school.
I had a baby, my third year ofresident or medical school.
So baby number one came.
I have four girls now.
Um, I wouldn't advise that, butif it happens, you can cry
(10:59):
because that's important to crya lot and then realize like, you
know, my my um advisor, when Iwent in, I was like, what am I
supposed to do?
Like, and he said, you know,this is not the first time this
has happened, number one, andyou have seven years to
matriculate through medicalschool.
So, like, you know, you cantake your time, figure it out.
So I actually did take a wholeyear off when she was born
(11:21):
because otherwise you were justgonna be delayed and not be able
to match anyway.
So, like, why don't just take abreak, just jump back in with
the next year?
That was a side of the room.
Um, so when I was in medicalschool, going through the
rotations of differentspecialties and family practice,
like was just so calm and andeverybody was just really happy.
(11:44):
Where when you get into kind ofthe surgical specialties, they
were all like, ah, you know, itwas just like you, you know,
what you imagine residencybeing.
And I it might be better nowbecause we have new rules, I
guess, with the 80-hour work andstuff like that.
So maybe more people are calm.
But so what I realized is thatfamily practice could do a lot
of things and they could deliverbabies, but they could also
(12:06):
take care of the babiesafterwards and be able to do
more women's health and thenhave their own babies and seem
to have a little bit morerelaxed schedule.
So I did family practice and Ichose a residency program that's
here in South Carolina becausethey were very heavy and
obstetric.
So as you go looking as amedical student and you kind of,
you know, start to exploredifferent residency programs,
(12:28):
particularly in family medicine,they're all a little bit
different.
Some are bigger in uh likesports medicine if they're
around a college or somethinglike that, and others, you know,
may have more um obstetrics.
And so I chose a ruralresidency program.
There's only two residents peryear.
I did a bigger internship at abigger hospital farther away,
and then came for my second andthird year, and we're required
(12:50):
to deliver 10 babies.
And then when you're done withthat, you could be done or you
could do more.
So out of the four residentsthat were, you know, in my
group, none of them wanted to dobabies except for me.
And so once they did their 10,then I got all of them.
So by the time I graduated frommy residency program, I had
C-section privileges.
I was delivering all kinds ofbabies.
(13:10):
And so that was what I was,what I was loving is being able
to be part of that OB world andthen take care of the babies
afterwards.
So I was invited to stay on asan attending physician at the
residency program here.
And I did that for one year.
And then the OBGYN office nextdoor said, Why don't you come be
over here?
We need somebody to do primarycare for all the women that are
(13:33):
coming in because we don't wantto do that part.
We'll share OB call and thenwe'll do the surgeries and it'll
be a nice blend.
And I did, I just jumped atthat.
I was like, yes, more babies,more delivery.
I was so excited, and that wasperfect.
Um, and and the two things thatchanged there is that in
residency, I had two weeks of aGYN rotation.
(13:53):
So, you know, I was focused onbabies and moms and whatever,
and I didn't talk to anybodyabout hormones, you know, and
menopause.
And that was just not part ofmy world.
And so as soon as I got intothis OB world and I was seeing
annual exams and I was primarycare for all these women coming
for their annuals, and likethere was the hormone issue.
And it, you know, for theyounger people, um, back in
(14:16):
2002, the women's healthinitiative came out and
basically made this huge dealabout hormones bad, nobody can
be on hormones kind of thing.
So this was 2006, and I wasright in the middle of what do
we do with these women that arethat are going through
menopause?
And I just wasn't really happywith like, you know, the lowest
dose possible.
We hope it doesn't, you know,cause problems 10 years down the
(14:38):
road, but we have no way totell.
We have no, you know, riskfactor modification or anything
like that to give these womenthis medication that, you know,
could be harmful, but yetthey're suffering through, you
know, the changes of thehormones.
And so I happened upon uh aconference called Natural
Hormone Balancing.
And so I was like, well, let mego check that out and see what
(14:59):
happens.
That was 2008.
And like it was like Alice inWonderland going through this
tiny little hole into thisamazing, beautiful world of
bioidentical hormones andfunctional medicine and sort of
like digging a little bit deeperand really being able to say,
okay, if this is out of balance,let's just bring it back to
normal and you know, we'll feelbetter.
And so when I started doingthat, patients felt better,
(15:23):
right?
We weren't kind of weighing theodds of whether we can try this
or let's just put you on anantidepressant, you know,
that'll make you feel better.
And like it was, you know, itwas little baby band-aids that
weren't really fixing the bigpicture.
Um, so I started doing that inin that practice, and that was a
private practice, all wasgreat.
Then, just like a lot ofprivate practices come and they
(15:44):
decide they're gonna get boughtout by the big hospital system.
And I knew that that was notthe path for me.
Um, so I amicably said, I'mgonna not continue on that path.
And weirdly, had a consultantwho I met at a conference.
Um, they had a booth, you know,and they were like, hey, we can
help you with practicemanagement and consulting.
(16:05):
And I ignored them because Iwas like, I don't need that.
And, you know, call him up andbe like, okay, what do I do now?
And so he was like, You can dothis.
Like, you know, you can openyour own practice, we'll help
you.
And so, you know, that's thestart of Carolina Integrative
Medicine 15 years ago, and just,you know, it's very focused on
the hormones, kind of adrenalstuff, getting into thyroid a
little bit.
(16:25):
And then what I found is thepatients who came in with like
gut stuff, you know, they hadIBS or whatever.
And if we treated the gut likeexponentially, everything else
got better.
Ashley Love (16:34):
Incredible.
It's incredible.
I am so glad that you describedyour journey.
First of all, thank you fordoing that, but largely because
it seems like you were reallyable to find what suited you.
I think so often people hear,well, people a lot of the my
pre-PA students will say, Well,I don't want to go into
medicine.
I don't want to become amedical doctor because I don't
(16:54):
want to work in X for my wholelife.
I like the flexibility of beinga PA.
And we've mentioned this on theshow before, but time and time
again, we're hearing thesestories about physicians,
specifically MDs, really gettingto explore medicine in a way
that we might not realize it.
So I'm so glad that you've beenable to do that and find a
bunch of different ways thatyou've been able to really feel
(17:15):
comfortable and confident and beable to shift.
I mean, we've heard aboutpractice shifts, we heard about
business model shifts andworkplace shifts.
Um, and then of course, youreally found what you needed and
you've been there for so manyyears.
It's it's incredible.
I'd like to talk a little bitabout your patients.
So, in in functional andintegrative medicine, when your
(17:35):
patients come in, is it a hardsale for them?
Do you have to really convincethem?
Or are they mostly very open towhat you're looking at, what
you're looking for, and the nextsteps that you want to do?
Dr. Aimee Duffy, MD (17:47):
Yeah.
Um, it's twofold.
We we spend a lot of time inwhat that our term is called
pre-education.
So, you know, people arewatching a lot of videos.
Um, we have webinars thatpeople come to, that sort of
thing.
I used to do live talkspre-COVID and um, you know, that
was fine.
But once COVID happened, thatwas that was the one thing that
was good out of COVID is that welearned how to be virtual like
(18:09):
this.
And so it's like, oh, I don'twant to go back to that.
Um, but so a lot of ourpatients are um, if if somebody
was just searching, you know, oror looking for something
different.
I mean, these terms,integrative, functional,
holistic comes through a lot.
Um or hormones, you know,specifically somebody looking
for natural hormones, they mighteven not know the word
(18:30):
bioidentical hormones, butsomething like that.
So I would say the majority ofour patients are searching for
something different.
They're frustrated with thetypical system.
You know, I go in, I have fiveminutes, they just want to give
me another prescription and Idon't feel good, and I'm on 10
prescriptions and I still don'tfeel good and I'm not finding
the answers that I'm lookingfor.
So generally, if they'researching, you know, it's not a
(18:52):
hard sale because they'rethey're frustrated and they're
there.
Um, and then, you know, on theflip side, it's it's, you know,
in the business world, we haveto do some marketing, but I
don't really like the wordmarketing and sales.
You know, if people don't knowabout us, we can't help them.
So to me, it's getting outthere and spreading the word,
just like like that's why I likedoing podcasts because it's
like, oh, I didn't know that wasout there.
(19:13):
Maybe I can go look for that.
And then even if it's not me,but somebody else that can help
this person, you know, changetheir life, then I've done
something.
So it's more about getting theword out there to let people
know that there is a differentmodel and a different way of
getting, you know, taken care ofand then living differently.
So um, so most of our patients,I wouldn't say, you know, we're
(19:35):
not coming in, you know, by thetime they get to me, and you
know, that's a whole businessthing, you know, we have
discovery calls that they dofirst, and you know, we do all
this stuff.
So by the time they get to me,it's not like they just picked
up the phone and said, Hey, Ineed an appointment.
You know, like there's a lot ofwork that goes into that.
So, you know, then I'm able toexplain to them what's going on
with them, you know, what aretheir issues?
(19:55):
Where do they want to be?
Here's what your labs aretelling me, and you know, here's
what my plan is.
And so our plans are verycomprehensive.
We do wellness programs, soit's not again, we're taking off
this and we're saying we've gotall these different pillars
that we need to be addressing,and you're not gonna get to your
optimal self or place unless weattack all of these different
things.
And so that's gonna take time,but it's gonna take some
(20:17):
structure to get there too.
Ashley Love (20:19):
Absolutely.
It's it you just answeredanother question that I was
going to ask.
And that was what does goodhealth mean?
And really, I was hoping youwere gonna describe exactly
that.
The fact that it is just, it isnot just going to see your
cardiologist twice a year andmaking sure that your EKG and
your labs look normal, right?
It's not just keeping yourthyroid somewhat managed for
(20:41):
whatever the standard is.
You know, what you'redescribing as good health is
it's hormones, it's gut.
You mentioned talk therapy.
Um, it's it is so much more.
And I'm I'm so grateful foryour practice and um and the
care that you're providing thesepatients because I think a lot
of people are frustrated withmedicine.
Sometimes clinicians,sometimes, a lot of times
(21:03):
clinicians are frustrated.
Dr. Aimee Duffy, MD (21:04):
Clinicians are, yeah, for sure.
I mean, they're frustrated withwith, you know, again, I think
it takes it takes a lot.
And that's what I'm saying.
I I'm grateful that it happenedearly in my practice because
I'm not sure if I was 10 yearsin or whatever that I, you know,
I would have the capacity to,you know, take a jump and make a
big change like that.
So um, you know, I get it and II hear them all the time being
frustrated, you know, and andthat's part of the business
(21:26):
coaching model is that we have alot of practitioners who are
getting out of, you know, thetraditional rat race of, you
know, urgent care or or ERmedicine and transitioning to
this, you know, more functionalor or integrative approach and
opening their own practices.
So um it's very, you know, Iwould say like I started this
(21:48):
bringing life into the worldwith with delivering babies, and
now I kind of get to restorelife to those who have been, you
know, sort of feeling like, isthis my normal?
You know, I'm I'm 48 years old,I'm 52, like I feel like I'm
80.
What's wrong with me?
And, you know, traditional labslook normal.
You know, they can't see.
Their kidneys are fine, theirliver's fine, their thyroids
normal, they're, you know, maybethey have a little high
(22:10):
cholesterol or something likethat, but they're not, they're
not looking deep enough to beable to see, you know, what's
causing that that issue to makeyou feel older.
Ashley Love (22:18):
It's um, it might be a sticky subject, but it
almost sounds like health careas opposed to sick care, which
is what right?
I mean, that's really that'swhat you're describing, um,
which is I think what a lot ofpeople want right now.
I want to go to the doctor andand I want the physician to tell
me I'm healthy, goodbye, seeyou next time, right?
But if I'm not, I don't wantjust a I don't want just a
(22:40):
band-aid.
I want to get to the butt tothe bottom of it, like you're
mentioning.
Dr. Aimee Duffy, MD (22:43):
You want to feel healthy too, not just be
told you're healthy, right?
But you want to feel like that.
What does that mean?
You know, that means I can jumpup out of bed and I can do all
the things that I want to do.
I can get down on the floor, Ican stand up, I can run if I
need to, I can, you know, I canget through my day.
My brain is focused.
You know, we see a lot of, youknow, just I my brain, you know,
brain fog, you know, I can'tremember things.
(23:04):
Do I have adult onset ADD?
You know, and and you know,again, there's band aids for
that, but that's not that's notthe reason why, you know, you
you're feeling the way you feel.
Ashley Love (23:14):
So have you seen a big uptick in interest in this
recently?
Um, is it because people knowmore about it?
Is it because people arefrustrated?
Is it because of COVID and thefact that we all now think we do
have all these strange, bizarresymptoms that are happening,
and we need somebody to tell uswhat's going on?
Dr. Aimee Duffy, MD (23:32):
I don't know if you could put a I could
put a finger on exactly the whybehind it, but I definitely
think that it's growing.
Um, you know, interestingly,like that the A4M I was telling
you about, that's a conferencethat I attend and speak at.
And last year, I think they hita record of like 7,000, you
know, attendees at thisconference.
It's huge.
Ashley Love (23:51):
Here on Shadow Me Next, each episode, we share a
quality question, athought-provoking prompt
designed to help pre-healthstudents reflect more deeply,
strengthen their self-awareness,and prepare for professional
school interviews.
We did not have a chance todiscuss a quality question, but
Dr.
Duffy has mentioned somethingthat's impossible to ignore: the
(24:12):
growing role of functional andintegrative medicine.
A question I could hear beingasked on interview is this:
Describe the role functional andintegrative medicine play in
healthcare.
Now, whether you plan to gointo surgery, pediatrics,
cardiology, or emergencymedicine, this question matters.
Because the truth is, patientsare showing up tired, inflamed,
(24:36):
unwell, and unheard, and they'recraving clinicians who can look
beyond the quick visit or thenormal lab result.
So, this quality question asksyou to think bigger than your
future specialty.
This isn't about choosing aniche, it's about understanding
the full picture of a patient'shealth, their nutrition, their
(24:57):
stress, their gut, theirhormones, their environment, and
recognizing that real healthcare doesn't start or stop with
one organ system.
Take a minute and reflect onhow you define good health care.
Then ask yourself, where inyour future practice will you
need to step back, zoom out, andthink more holistically to
(25:18):
truly care for the wholepatient?
Keep in mind that there's moreinterview prep, such as mock
interviews and personalstatement review, over on
ShadowmeNext.com.
There you'll find amazingresources to help you as you
prepare to answer your ownquality questions.
Dr. Aimee Duffy, MD (25:36):
They started at like 700, you know.
So I mean, just over the, youknow, whatever, 15 years.
And that's why I was talking tosomebody yesterday and they're
like, so you were doinghormones, you know, bioidentical
hormones in 2008.
I'm like, yeah.
And they're like, I didn't, youknow, we didn't even really
know that existed for a longtime, or or you know, it's
really coming out there.
(25:56):
You know, I would say in thelast five years, it's definitely
growing.
And I one of the things Ithink, I mean, just like we're
doing now, right?
Like these podcasts are huge.
Like that is, you know,podcasts, social media, YouTube,
you know, people are out thereand talking about this stuff.
And prior to that, like how howwould we have known?
You know, nobody listened topodcasts before and we didn't
(26:18):
have YouTube videos really, um,or that wasn't the place where
we would go to get information.
So I think um, you know, tosome degree, it's it's you know,
technology that has helped usget the word out there for sure.
And then, and then just again,the ability of having AI is just
a whole nother thing.
I mean, people are searching,but even two years ago, we
(26:38):
didn't really know that.
And so, you know, people couldGoogle search and and I think
the the algorithms forsearching, you know, for
information uh, you know, hasimproved too.
So that when people search, whyam I tired?
You know, and you know,hopefully something in the world
of functional medicine comes upfor them.
Ashley Love (26:56):
Awareness is a beautiful thing.
And and, you know, I think forthe people that are thinking
about this and thinking, well,maybe I need to go see um
someone in functional orintegrative medicine, but they
might be, you know, a littlenervous.
They might be like, well, Idon't know where to start.
You have this fantastic bookcalled Normal Doesn't Have Side
Effects.
This book explains the provenscientific methods that you, Dr.
(27:18):
Duffy, use to reveal and treatthe invisible interactions.
I love that, between eachpatient's hormones, body
systems, and food.
What questions are you hopingto answer with this book?
Dr. Aimee Duffy, MD (27:33):
I think the biggest thing like I described
is that is that we've got to putthe blinders or take the
blinders off, right?
I think so many, even even inthe hormone world, you know,
people come in and be like,well, my hormones are off, you
know, and like I do, I need tosee hormone replacement, you
know, whatever that might meanfor them.
And what I really wanted peopleto understand is that there are
(27:54):
multiple things going on thatthat can affect how you feel.
And there are things that like,again, your internal stressors
of, you know, what's going on inyour gut.
And even if you don't havesymptoms there, there can still
be things that, you know, yourbody's job is to protect you.
And if it's over here trying toprotect us from all the
chemicals that we're putting inour body, it's too busy
(28:15):
defending us to be able toreally do its proper job.
And so I think so many people,if they don't have a true
obvious symptom, when I eatthis, I feel this, that they
don't realize how much theirfood is affecting them, how much
their gut health is affectingthem.
And then that turns into howdoes that affect your hormones?
People come in, you know, I'm38 years old and I'm having
night sweats.
(28:35):
Like I'm too early to have, youknow, menopause.
Like, what is this hormonething about?
And again, if they're allfocused on hormones, they can,
they can band-aid that, butthey're not understanding why
did you get to this place?
And so I really was hoping foran easy way.
There's a lot of stories inthere.
So hopefully it's somewhatentertaining to help people
connect with the importance ofmanaging stress, the importance
(28:58):
of managing your gut and yourfood, as well as addressing, you
know, some hormonal imbalancesand other inflammatory things.
So, you know, there's some funpatient stories in there.
There's some personal storiesin there.
There's, you know, storiesabout having four babies and
delivering my own baby.
Wow.
Um, stressors that I've hadwith my own kids and things that
for a long time, you know, asin medical school and doctor,
(29:20):
you know, we don't talk aboutour personal stuff, we don't
talk about money.
We don't, you know, we're justhere to take care of the patient
and we're we're like this, youknow, we're behind this, you
know, bubble or something likethat.
And and, you know, to be ableto really have good connections
with your patients and and havethem trust you, number one,
they're gonna be more likely todo what you say.
Um from a business perspective,they're gonna be more, you
(29:44):
know, more likely to um investin themselves and invest in me
and trust that, you know, I'vebeen there, I've walked the
walk.
This is not me, you know, overhere saying, you shall do this,
right?
It's like we we're doing thistogether.
Um, so that was really thegoal.
Of that book and to help peopleunderstand, you know, the
normal doesn't have side effectscomes mostly from hormones when
(30:06):
I'm trying to say, you know, ifwe can, your hormones are down
here, and all I want to do isget them to here, and we don't,
then we're not having to dealwith all the scary stuff that
comes from the pharmaceuticalgrade hormone replacement that
that got such a bad rap for along time.
So we're constantly having todefend the safety of hormone
replacement.
Um, so that's just one step inthat direction.
Ashley Love (30:28):
It's such a hot topic right now, too.
My goodness.
Um, it's it's an incrediblebook.
It's a great resource forpeople who have questions or
maybe just want to investigate,investigate a little bit more
before they they dive into thisworld.
So thank you for thank you formaking that.
Of course, it's available onAmazon.
You can also uh go to amyduffymd.com.
That's ai-m-e-e-d-u-f-f-y-md.com.
(30:50):
Um, and if you're in SouthCarolina and are interested in
Dr.
Duffy as a patient, CarolinaIntegrative Medicine.com.
Dr.
Duffy, before we wrap up, I dohave one more question for you.
And this will be for ourpre-health students.
Even if functional orintegrative medicine is not on
their radar right now, you know,they have their blinders on and
(31:10):
they're full focused onsurgery.
What is one topic that you areseeing so frequently in medicine
that they should at least haveon their radar right now?
Dr. Aimee Duffy, MD (31:20):
I think gut.
I think, you know, addressingfood and addressing the gut, and
it's not very difficult.
So anybody can do it and itshows up everywhere.
So if you're gonna go intocardiology, let's make sure that
this person's inflammatory, youknow, response and immune
system is where it needs to be.
Same thing, surgery, you know.
Um, you know, to me, likethat's our foundation.
(31:43):
And because I think of our ouraccessibility to chemicals, you
know, meaning our food haschanged dramatically.
And and so many people haveblinders on.
Food is food.
Why, you know, we're we're justeating.
Like, really, is that foodfueling our system to give it
the best result?
Or is it having to, you know,bring the guns out and really
(32:04):
have to fight through whatyou're putting into your body?
So, you know, I'm so sad, likein oncology, you know, people go
in to get their chemo andthere's like donuts and package
snacks and sugary drinks andwhatever, and like we're just
feeding cancer, you know.
Uh that's my opinion anyway,not a medical diagnosis, but you
know, uh so, so it affectseverything everywhere.
(32:25):
So, you know, and the sad thingis that in medical school,
there's zero nutrition, um, atleast where I was, you know, I'm
not sure how it is 20 yearslater, 20, 30 years later now.
So paying attention tonutrition and and learning how
to at least evaluate somebodyfor you know some gut stuff can
be huge in no matter where youare.
Ashley Love (32:46):
That's a really great point.
Dr.
Amy Duffy, thank you so muchfor joining us today on Shadow
Me Next.
It has just been such apleasure.
So fun.
Thank you so very much forlistening to this episode of
Shadow Me Next.
If you liked this episode, orif you think it could be useful
for a friend, please subscribeand invite them to join us next
Monday.
As always, if you have anyquestions, let me know on
(33:08):
Facebook or Instagram.
Access you want, stories youneed, you're always invited to
Shadow Me Next.
Hello and welcome to Shadow Me Next, a podcast
where I take you into and behindthe scenes of the medical world
to provide you with a deeperunderstanding of the human side
of medicine.
I'm Ashley, a physicianassistant, medical editor,
clinical preceptor, and thecreator of Shadow Me Next.
It is my pleasure to introduceyou to incredible members of the
(00:22):
healthcare field and uncovertheir unique stories, the joys
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Whether you're a pre-healthstudent or simply curious about
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(00:43):
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And follow us on Instagram andFacebook at Shadow Me Next,
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I'll give you sneak previews ofour upcoming guests.
(01:03):
Today's guest is someone who'sfollowed the traditional path,
realized it didn't quite fit,and then had the courage to
build something that finallydid.
Dr.
Amy Duffy is a board-certifiedfamily physician who spent years
delivering babies, teachingresidents, and practicing
conventional medicine until sherealized that normal didn't feel
(01:25):
normal for her patientsanymore.
And it certainly didn't feelnormal for her.
What I love about her story ishow honest she is about that
movement, the frustration ofseven-minute visits, the
patients who were still tiredand unwell despite normal labs,
and the quiet realization thatmedicine had to start looking
deeper.
(01:45):
In this conversation, Dr.
Duffy takes us inside the worldof integrative and functional
medicine, the two-hour visits,the deep dive labs, the gut
health revelations, and theradical shift from treating
disease to restoring life.
We also talk about motherhoodand training, the realities of
shifting career paths, and theone disease process every
(02:09):
pre-health student should bepaying close attention to.
Please keep in mind that thecontent of this podcast is
intended for informational andentertainment purposes only and
should not be considered asprofessional medical advice.
The views and opinionsexpressed in this podcast are
those of the host and guests anddo not necessarily reflect the
official policy or position ofany other agency, organization,
(02:33):
employer, or company.
This is Shadow Me Next with Dr.
Amy Duffy.
Dr.
Amy Duffy, thank you so muchfor joining us today.
We are so excited to have youon the show on Shadow Me Next.
So thanks for being here.
Thanks for joining us.
Dr. Aimee Duffy, MD (02:45):
Absolutely.
I'm excited.
Ashley Love (02:46):
Um, if it's okay, Dr.
Duffy, I'd like to do things alittle bit backwards today
because you have you have 20years plus of healthcare
experience.
And there are so many phrasesthat we're hearing in medicine
right now.
Um, you're a board certifiedphysician.
You're also the founder ofCarolina Integrative Medicine,
specializing in functional andintegrative healthcare.
(03:07):
Can you for the students andfor me too, can you define some
of these terms, like boardcertified physician?
What is functional medicine?
What is integrative healthcare?
What are these things?
Dr. Aimee Duffy, MD (03:19):
Well, board certified.
So, you know, if you decidethat you're going to go to
medical school and get your MD,then you you can go to four-year
med school and you have an MDat the end, but like you can't
do anything with that.
Um, I mean, you could go be asecretary somewhere, but like
from a medical perspective, youcan't.
So then you need to go do atleast an internship to get
licensed to be a medical doctor.
(03:41):
And there, there areoccasional, you might find
somebody like working in urgentcare, something like that, that
just did their one-yearinternship and has a license to
practice medicine.
But in order to be boardcertified in a specialty, so
generally you're going to beboard certified in family
practice, internal medicine,pediatrics, surgery, you know,
(04:02):
whatever, uh, orthopedics,OBGYN, that's a board
certification that you get afteryou complete a residency
program.
And then to further define, soI am board certified in family
practice or family medicine.
And then um, there are uhentities out there where you can
get a board certification infunctional medicine or in um
(04:25):
there's uh A4M is the AmericanAssociation of the Advancement
of Anti-Aging Medicine orsomething like that.
So it goes on and on and on atmultiple A's.
You can be board certified insomething like that, although
you don't have to be to practicethat type of medicine.
So um integrative medicine tome, which is why I've started
this and named my practiceCarolina Integrative Medicine,
(04:46):
is the idea that we can bringwhat we call our traditional
allopathic, you know, MDmedicine.
So it's like, you know, youhave this, we test you or or we
guess, or whatever you want tocall it, and here's your pill
kind of thing.
Um, where integrative medicinebrings in other thought
processes, I guess.
So it's like we're we'reintegrating different
(05:08):
modalities.
So whether that might beaccepting of massage therapy or
acupuncture or you know, talktherapy or physical therapy or
whatever, we're we'reintegrating multiple um
modalities into the patient'scare so that we're gonna get
better results than just kindof, you know, streamline here.
And often integrative andfunctional are somewhat mixed.
(05:32):
And the more, you know, Iopened my practice 15 years ago
and it was integrative medicine,and then really I practice
functional medicine now, but Ijust didn't change the name.
So functional medicine reallykind of the theory is that it
digs down a little bit deeper.
Like, what is the actualphysiology going on?
Let's let's repair thedysfunction that's happening in
our body.
So if somebody's having a lotof fatigue, you know, streamline
(05:55):
can be, okay, you have athyroid disorder and we're gonna
fix that and then we're alldone.
But you know, you can reallydig a little bit deeper.
Well, why did that thyroiddisorder happen?
And or okay, you have fatigue,but your thyroid is normal.
You don't have sleep apnea, youdon't have some other things.
So what, you know, what iscausing that fatigue?
And we really get deeper to saywhat's stressing out the
(06:15):
system.
And so in functional medicine,we often will do some like
functional labs, like we'relooking at saliva testing to
look at cortisol and adrenalfunction and and hormones in a
different way.
We're looking at uh stooltesting, not just like your
typical stool test.
If you went to the ER orsomething like that, would be
like, do you have the bad guys?
You know, is there is there E.
(06:36):
coli or salmonella there?
Right.
But this really like is a verybroad eight-page, you know,
report of all the things that goon in your gut.
And not only, you know, are thebad guys, but are there enough
good guys there?
And so, you know, it's it'sreally a detailed lab.
You can look at um the youknow, leaky gut, a lot of people
think is is kind of a fad term,if you want to call it.
(06:58):
But there's actually markersthat you can measure for that.
Um, digging a little bit deeperfrom a cardiovascular
perspective, you can seeinflammation, you can see plaque
activity, you can see kind ofsticky factor.
So, you know, we're reallylooking way deeper than sort of
traditional uh medicine.
And not that those doctorsdon't know that those things are
(07:19):
out there, but a lot of it iswhat what is insurance going to
cover?
What do we have time to talkabout?
Because in in you know, sort ofa traditional medicine, it's
like we got seven minutes to seethis patient.
So we don't have time to betalking about all these labs and
the results, right?
But you know, a new patient forme is often a two-hour visit to
go, you know, through all ofthat stuff.
So in a nutshell, there's boardcertified and then there's
(07:43):
extra.
And, you know, I'm not uh Ihave a few certifications and
like hormone balancing andthings like that.
But I as I go through, youknow, I'm just practicing in
family medicine, you sort ofhave a pretty broad scope of
what you do.
And so you're not required tobe board certified in, you know,
something like functional orintegrative to practice that.
(08:03):
If I decided I wanted to go dosurgery, then I would have to go
back and get, you know, boardcertified to be um in
compliance, you know, with hostlike I'm not in a hospital
system, so I don't have to, youknow, have certifications for
doing things in the hospital orsomething like that.
Does that make sense?
Ashley Love (08:21):
It does.
That is so interesting.
And thank you so much fordefining those terms because I
think, like you said, so manypeople are throwing these terms
around and we're using them nowcolloquially and professionally.
And I'm not entirely surepeople fully understand exactly
what they mean.
Um, so so thank you so much.
That is it's it's sointeresting to me.
(08:42):
And I would have, I would loveto hear your story about how you
transitioned from conventionalmedicine.
So that's the allopathicmedicine that we talked about.
Here's your disease, here'syour treatment moving along into
this more really whole patient,whole health care um practice.
Were you just getting, were youbecoming more and more
frustrated with the medicine, orwere you realizing that you
(09:05):
weren't your patients weren'tgetting the answers that they
needed?
Dr. Aimee Duffy, MD (09:09):
Probably both.
I think um, you know, I luckyfor me, I'm very grateful that
it happened fairly early in mypractice.
So um this goes way back when Iwas 11.
I just absolutely loved babiesand I wanted to hold all the
babies and I had all the cabbagepatch dolls and all of their
accessories and everything.
So I became a babysitter at 11years old.
And um, this family, I I never,you know, I was more like a
(09:32):
family's helper.
Like I just came over andplayed with the baby so the mom
could get stuff done, basically.
And and as I grew in 11, and astheir family grew, I mean, by
the time I was a senior in highschool, I was part of their
family.
Her sister had babies, herfriends had babies.
I used to babysit all the kidsand all that, and that was my
job for years.
And so when I was a senior inhigh school, um they were having
(09:54):
uh another baby and invited meto be in the delivery room to
experience it.
And so um, that was my firsttrue sort of medical, you know,
experience, besides just megoing to the doctor.
And um, and I was justfascinated.
I mean, I was kind of up, Iwasn't down in the business end,
I was up at the head end, soyou know, I didn't see
(10:15):
everything, but you know, babiesborn and put on mom's belly,
and I was like, this is thecoolest thing.
Like, I want I want to do this.
So I knew that I was gonna goto med school.
I thought I talked about, Ithought about PA school a little
bit, that sort of thing, justbecause I knew I wanted to be in
medicine, but I wasn't quitesure what that was until um the
OB experience.
So I thought I was gonna go bean O B G Y N or I was gonna be a
(10:38):
midwife.
I didn't know which one, butyou know, went off to school and
um and then in residency, acouple things happened.
I had not residency, I'm sorry,medical school.
I had a baby, my third year ofresident or medical school.
So baby number one came.
I have four girls now.
Um, I wouldn't advise that, butif it happens, you can cry
(10:59):
because that's important to crya lot and then realize like, you
know, my my um advisor, when Iwent in, I was like, what am I
supposed to do?
Like, and he said, you know,this is not the first time this
has happened, number one, andyou have seven years to
matriculate through medicalschool.
So, like, you know, you cantake your time, figure it out.
So I actually did take a wholeyear off when she was born
(11:21):
because otherwise you were justgonna be delayed and not be able
to match anyway.
So, like, why don't just take abreak, just jump back in with
the next year?
That was a side of the room.
Um, so when I was in medicalschool, going through the
rotations of differentspecialties and family practice,
like was just so calm and andeverybody was just really happy.
(11:44):
Where when you get into kind ofthe surgical specialties, they
were all like, ah, you know, itwas just like you, you know,
what you imagine residencybeing.
And I it might be better nowbecause we have new rules, I
guess, with the 80-hour work andstuff like that.
So maybe more people are calm.
But so what I realized is thatfamily practice could do a lot
of things and they could deliverbabies, but they could also
(12:06):
take care of the babiesafterwards and be able to do
more women's health and thenhave their own babies and seem
to have a little bit morerelaxed schedule.
So I did family practice and Ichose a residency program that's
here in South Carolina becausethey were very heavy and
obstetric.
So as you go looking as amedical student and you kind of,
you know, start to exploredifferent residency programs,
(12:28):
particularly in family medicine,they're all a little bit
different.
Some are bigger in uh likesports medicine if they're
around a college or somethinglike that, and others, you know,
may have more um obstetrics.
And so I chose a ruralresidency program.
There's only two residents peryear.
I did a bigger internship at abigger hospital farther away,
and then came for my second andthird year, and we're required
(12:50):
to deliver 10 babies.
And then when you're done withthat, you could be done or you
could do more.
So out of the four residentsthat were, you know, in my
group, none of them wanted to dobabies except for me.
And so once they did their 10,then I got all of them.
So by the time I graduated frommy residency program, I had
C-section privileges.
I was delivering all kinds ofbabies.
(13:10):
And so that was what I was,what I was loving is being able
to be part of that OB world andthen take care of the babies
afterwards.
So I was invited to stay on asan attending physician at the
residency program here.
And I did that for one year.
And then the OBGYN office nextdoor said, Why don't you come be
over here?
We need somebody to do primarycare for all the women that are
(13:33):
coming in because we don't wantto do that part.
We'll share OB call and thenwe'll do the surgeries and it'll
be a nice blend.
And I did, I just jumped atthat.
I was like, yes, more babies,more delivery.
I was so excited, and that wasperfect.
Um, and and the two things thatchanged there is that in
residency, I had two weeks of aGYN rotation.
(13:53):
So, you know, I was focused onbabies and moms and whatever,
and I didn't talk to anybodyabout hormones, you know, and
menopause.
And that was just not part ofmy world.
And so as soon as I got intothis OB world and I was seeing
annual exams and I was primarycare for all these women coming
for their annuals, and likethere was the hormone issue.
And it, you know, for theyounger people, um, back in
(14:16):
2002, the women's healthinitiative came out and
basically made this huge dealabout hormones bad, nobody can
be on hormones kind of thing.
So this was 2006, and I wasright in the middle of what do
we do with these women that arethat are going through
menopause?
And I just wasn't really happywith like, you know, the lowest
dose possible.
We hope it doesn't, you know,cause problems 10 years down the
(14:38):
road, but we have no way totell.
We have no, you know, riskfactor modification or anything
like that to give these womenthis medication that, you know,
could be harmful, but yetthey're suffering through, you
know, the changes of thehormones.
And so I happened upon uh aconference called Natural
Hormone Balancing.
And so I was like, well, let mego check that out and see what
(14:59):
happens.
That was 2008.
And like it was like Alice inWonderland going through this
tiny little hole into thisamazing, beautiful world of
bioidentical hormones andfunctional medicine and sort of
like digging a little bit deeperand really being able to say,
okay, if this is out of balance,let's just bring it back to
normal and you know, we'll feelbetter.
And so when I started doingthat, patients felt better,
(15:23):
right?
We weren't kind of weighing theodds of whether we can try this
or let's just put you on anantidepressant, you know,
that'll make you feel better.
And like it was, you know, itwas little baby band-aids that
weren't really fixing the bigpicture.
Um, so I started doing that inin that practice, and that was a
private practice, all wasgreat.
Then, just like a lot ofprivate practices come and they
(15:44):
decide they're gonna get boughtout by the big hospital system.
And I knew that that was notthe path for me.
Um, so I amicably said, I'mgonna not continue on that path.
And weirdly, had a consultantwho I met at a conference.
Um, they had a booth, you know,and they were like, hey, we can
help you with practicemanagement and consulting.
(16:05):
And I ignored them because Iwas like, I don't need that.
And, you know, call him up andbe like, okay, what do I do now?
And so he was like, You can dothis.
Like, you know, you can openyour own practice, we'll help
you.
And so, you know, that's thestart of Carolina Integrative
Medicine 15 years ago, and just,you know, it's very focused on
the hormones, kind of adrenalstuff, getting into thyroid a
little bit.
(16:25):
And then what I found is thepatients who came in with like
gut stuff, you know, they hadIBS or whatever.
And if we treated the gut likeexponentially, everything else
got better.
Ashley Love (16:34):
Incredible.
It's incredible.
I am so glad that you describedyour journey.
First of all, thank you fordoing that, but largely because
it seems like you were reallyable to find what suited you.
I think so often people hear,well, people a lot of the my
pre-PA students will say, Well,I don't want to go into
medicine.
I don't want to become amedical doctor because I don't
(16:54):
want to work in X for my wholelife.
I like the flexibility of beinga PA.
And we've mentioned this on theshow before, but time and time
again, we're hearing thesestories about physicians,
specifically MDs, really gettingto explore medicine in a way
that we might not realize it.
So I'm so glad that you've beenable to do that and find a
bunch of different ways thatyou've been able to really feel
(17:15):
comfortable and confident and beable to shift.
I mean, we've heard aboutpractice shifts, we heard about
business model shifts andworkplace shifts.
Um, and then of course, youreally found what you needed and
you've been there for so manyyears.
It's it's incredible.
I'd like to talk a little bitabout your patients.
So, in in functional andintegrative medicine, when your
(17:35):
patients come in, is it a hardsale for them?
Do you have to really convincethem?
Or are they mostly very open towhat you're looking at, what
you're looking for, and the nextsteps that you want to do?
Dr. Aimee Duffy, MD (17:47):
Yeah.
Um, it's twofold.
We we spend a lot of time inwhat that our term is called
pre-education.
So, you know, people arewatching a lot of videos.
Um, we have webinars thatpeople come to, that sort of
thing.
I used to do live talkspre-COVID and um, you know, that
was fine.
But once COVID happened, thatwas that was the one thing that
was good out of COVID is that welearned how to be virtual like
(18:09):
this.
And so it's like, oh, I don'twant to go back to that.
Um, but so a lot of ourpatients are um, if if somebody
was just searching, you know, oror looking for something
different.
I mean, these terms,integrative, functional,
holistic comes through a lot.
Um or hormones, you know,specifically somebody looking
for natural hormones, they mighteven not know the word
(18:30):
bioidentical hormones, butsomething like that.
So I would say the majority ofour patients are searching for
something different.
They're frustrated with thetypical system.
You know, I go in, I have fiveminutes, they just want to give
me another prescription and Idon't feel good, and I'm on 10
prescriptions and I still don'tfeel good and I'm not finding
the answers that I'm lookingfor.
So generally, if they'researching, you know, it's not a
(18:52):
hard sale because they'rethey're frustrated and they're
there.
Um, and then, you know, on theflip side, it's it's, you know,
in the business world, we haveto do some marketing, but I
don't really like the wordmarketing and sales.
You know, if people don't knowabout us, we can't help them.
So to me, it's getting outthere and spreading the word,
just like like that's why I likedoing podcasts because it's
like, oh, I didn't know that wasout there.
(19:13):
Maybe I can go look for that.
And then even if it's not me,but somebody else that can help
this person, you know, changetheir life, then I've done
something.
So it's more about getting theword out there to let people
know that there is a differentmodel and a different way of
getting, you know, taken care ofand then living differently.
So um, so most of our patients,I wouldn't say, you know, we're
(19:35):
not coming in, you know, by thetime they get to me, and you
know, that's a whole businessthing, you know, we have
discovery calls that they dofirst, and you know, we do all
this stuff.
So by the time they get to me,it's not like they just picked
up the phone and said, Hey, Ineed an appointment.
You know, like there's a lot ofwork that goes into that.
So, you know, then I'm able toexplain to them what's going on
with them, you know, what aretheir issues?
(19:55):
Where do they want to be?
Here's what your labs aretelling me, and you know, here's
what my plan is.
And so our plans are verycomprehensive.
We do wellness programs, soit's not again, we're taking off
this and we're saying we've gotall these different pillars
that we need to be addressing,and you're not gonna get to your
optimal self or place unless weattack all of these different
things.
And so that's gonna take time,but it's gonna take some
(20:17):
structure to get there too.
Ashley Love (20:19):
Absolutely.
It's it you just answeredanother question that I was
going to ask.
And that was what does goodhealth mean?
And really, I was hoping youwere gonna describe exactly
that.
The fact that it is just, it isnot just going to see your
cardiologist twice a year andmaking sure that your EKG and
your labs look normal, right?
It's not just keeping yourthyroid somewhat managed for
(20:41):
whatever the standard is.
You know, what you'redescribing as good health is
it's hormones, it's gut.
You mentioned talk therapy.
Um, it's it is so much more.
And I'm I'm so grateful foryour practice and um and the
care that you're providing thesepatients because I think a lot
of people are frustrated withmedicine.
Sometimes clinicians,sometimes, a lot of times
(21:03):
clinicians are frustrated.
Dr. Aimee Duffy, MD (21:04):
Clinicians are, yeah, for sure.
I mean, they're frustrated withwith, you know, again, I think
it takes it takes a lot.
And that's what I'm saying.
I I'm grateful that it happenedearly in my practice because
I'm not sure if I was 10 yearsin or whatever that I, you know,
I would have the capacity to,you know, take a jump and make a
big change like that.
So um, you know, I get it and II hear them all the time being
frustrated, you know, and andthat's part of the business
(21:26):
coaching model is that we have alot of practitioners who are
getting out of, you know, thetraditional rat race of, you
know, urgent care or or ERmedicine and transitioning to
this, you know, more functionalor or integrative approach and
opening their own practices.
So um it's very, you know, Iwould say like I started this
(21:48):
bringing life into the worldwith with delivering babies, and
now I kind of get to restorelife to those who have been, you
know, sort of feeling like, isthis my normal?
You know, I'm I'm 48 years old,I'm 52, like I feel like I'm
80.
What's wrong with me?
And, you know, traditional labslook normal.
You know, they can't see.
Their kidneys are fine, theirliver's fine, their thyroids
normal, they're, you know, maybethey have a little high
(22:10):
cholesterol or something likethat, but they're not, they're
not looking deep enough to beable to see, you know, what's
causing that that issue to makeyou feel older.
Ashley Love (22:18):
It's um, it might be a sticky subject, but it
almost sounds like health careas opposed to sick care, which
is what right?
I mean, that's really that'swhat you're describing, um,
which is I think what a lot ofpeople want right now.
I want to go to the doctor andand I want the physician to tell
me I'm healthy, goodbye, seeyou next time, right?
But if I'm not, I don't wantjust a I don't want just a
(22:40):
band-aid.
I want to get to the butt tothe bottom of it, like you're
mentioning.
Dr. Aimee Duffy, MD (22:43):
You want to feel healthy too, not just be
told you're healthy, right?
But you want to feel like that.
What does that mean?
You know, that means I can jumpup out of bed and I can do all
the things that I want to do.
I can get down on the floor, Ican stand up, I can run if I
need to, I can, you know, I canget through my day.
My brain is focused.
You know, we see a lot of, youknow, just I my brain, you know,
brain fog, you know, I can'tremember things.
(23:04):
Do I have adult onset ADD?
You know, and and you know,again, there's band aids for
that, but that's not that's notthe reason why, you know, you
you're feeling the way you feel.
Ashley Love (23:14):
So have you seen a big uptick in interest in this
recently?
Um, is it because people knowmore about it?
Is it because people arefrustrated?
Is it because of COVID and thefact that we all now think we do
have all these strange, bizarresymptoms that are happening,
and we need somebody to tell uswhat's going on?
Dr. Aimee Duffy, MD (23:32):
I don't know if you could put a I could
put a finger on exactly the whybehind it, but I definitely
think that it's growing.
Um, you know, interestingly,like that the A4M I was telling
you about, that's a conferencethat I attend and speak at.
And last year, I think they hita record of like 7,000, you
know, attendees at thisconference.
It's huge.
Ashley Love (23:51):
Here on Shadow Me Next, each episode, we share a
quality question, athought-provoking prompt
designed to help pre-healthstudents reflect more deeply,
strengthen their self-awareness,and prepare for professional
school interviews.
We did not have a chance todiscuss a quality question, but
Dr.
Duffy has mentioned somethingthat's impossible to ignore: the
(24:12):
growing role of functional andintegrative medicine.
A question I could hear beingasked on interview is this:
Describe the role functional andintegrative medicine play in
healthcare.
Now, whether you plan to gointo surgery, pediatrics,
cardiology, or emergencymedicine, this question matters.
Because the truth is, patientsare showing up tired, inflamed,
(24:36):
unwell, and unheard, and they'recraving clinicians who can look
beyond the quick visit or thenormal lab result.
So, this quality question asksyou to think bigger than your
future specialty.
This isn't about choosing aniche, it's about understanding
the full picture of a patient'shealth, their nutrition, their
(24:57):
stress, their gut, theirhormones, their environment, and
recognizing that real healthcare doesn't start or stop with
one organ system.
Take a minute and reflect onhow you define good health care.
Then ask yourself, where inyour future practice will you
need to step back, zoom out, andthink more holistically to
(25:18):
truly care for the wholepatient?
Keep in mind that there's moreinterview prep, such as mock
interviews and personalstatement review, over on
ShadowmeNext.com.
There you'll find amazingresources to help you as you
prepare to answer your ownquality questions.
Dr. Aimee Duffy, MD (25:36):
They started at like 700, you know.
So I mean, just over the, youknow, whatever, 15 years.
And that's why I was talking tosomebody yesterday and they're
like, so you were doinghormones, you know, bioidentical
hormones in 2008.
I'm like, yeah.
And they're like, I didn't, youknow, we didn't even really
know that existed for a longtime, or or you know, it's
really coming out there.
(25:56):
You know, I would say in thelast five years, it's definitely
growing.
And I one of the things Ithink, I mean, just like we're
doing now, right?
Like these podcasts are huge.
Like that is, you know,podcasts, social media, YouTube,
you know, people are out thereand talking about this stuff.
And prior to that, like how howwould we have known?
You know, nobody listened topodcasts before and we didn't
(26:18):
have YouTube videos really, um,or that wasn't the place where
we would go to get information.
So I think um, you know, tosome degree, it's it's you know,
technology that has helped usget the word out there for sure.
And then, and then just again,the ability of having AI is just
a whole nother thing.
I mean, people are searching,but even two years ago, we
(26:38):
didn't really know that.
And so, you know, people couldGoogle search and and I think
the the algorithms forsearching, you know, for
information uh, you know, hasimproved too.
So that when people search, whyam I tired?
You know, and you know,hopefully something in the world
of functional medicine comes upfor them.
Ashley Love (26:56):
Awareness is a beautiful thing.
And and, you know, I think forthe people that are thinking
about this and thinking, well,maybe I need to go see um
someone in functional orintegrative medicine, but they
might be, you know, a littlenervous.
They might be like, well, Idon't know where to start.
You have this fantastic bookcalled Normal Doesn't Have Side
Effects.
This book explains the provenscientific methods that you, Dr.
(27:18):
Duffy, use to reveal and treatthe invisible interactions.
I love that, between eachpatient's hormones, body
systems, and food.
What questions are you hopingto answer with this book?
Dr. Aimee Duffy, MD (27:33):
I think the biggest thing like I described
is that is that we've got to putthe blinders or take the
blinders off, right?
I think so many, even even inthe hormone world, you know,
people come in and be like,well, my hormones are off, you
know, and like I do, I need tosee hormone replacement, you
know, whatever that might meanfor them.
And what I really wanted peopleto understand is that there are
(27:54):
multiple things going on thatthat can affect how you feel.
And there are things that like,again, your internal stressors
of, you know, what's going on inyour gut.
And even if you don't havesymptoms there, there can still
be things that, you know, yourbody's job is to protect you.
And if it's over here trying toprotect us from all the
chemicals that we're putting inour body, it's too busy
(28:15):
defending us to be able toreally do its proper job.
And so I think so many people,if they don't have a true
obvious symptom, when I eatthis, I feel this, that they
don't realize how much theirfood is affecting them, how much
their gut health is affectingthem.
And then that turns into howdoes that affect your hormones?
People come in, you know, I'm38 years old and I'm having
night sweats.
(28:35):
Like I'm too early to have, youknow, menopause.
Like, what is this hormonething about?
And again, if they're allfocused on hormones, they can,
they can band-aid that, butthey're not understanding why
did you get to this place?
And so I really was hoping foran easy way.
There's a lot of stories inthere.
So hopefully it's somewhatentertaining to help people
connect with the importance ofmanaging stress, the importance
(28:58):
of managing your gut and yourfood, as well as addressing, you
know, some hormonal imbalancesand other inflammatory things.
So, you know, there's some funpatient stories in there.
There's some personal storiesin there.
There's, you know, storiesabout having four babies and
delivering my own baby.
Wow.
Um, stressors that I've hadwith my own kids and things that
for a long time, you know, asin medical school and doctor,
(29:20):
you know, we don't talk aboutour personal stuff, we don't
talk about money.
We don't, you know, we're justhere to take care of the patient
and we're we're like this, youknow, we're behind this, you
know, bubble or something likethat.
And and, you know, to be ableto really have good connections
with your patients and and havethem trust you, number one,
they're gonna be more likely todo what you say.
Um from a business perspective,they're gonna be more, you
(29:44):
know, more likely to um investin themselves and invest in me
and trust that, you know, I'vebeen there, I've walked the
walk.
This is not me, you know, overhere saying, you shall do this,
right?
It's like we we're doing thistogether.
Um, so that was really thegoal.
Of that book and to help peopleunderstand, you know, the
normal doesn't have side effectscomes mostly from hormones when
(30:06):
I'm trying to say, you know, ifwe can, your hormones are down
here, and all I want to do isget them to here, and we don't,
then we're not having to dealwith all the scary stuff that
comes from the pharmaceuticalgrade hormone replacement that
that got such a bad rap for along time.
So we're constantly having todefend the safety of hormone
replacement.
Um, so that's just one step inthat direction.
Ashley Love (30:28):
It's such a hot topic right now, too.
My goodness.
Um, it's it's an incrediblebook.
It's a great resource forpeople who have questions or
maybe just want to investigate,investigate a little bit more
before they they dive into thisworld.
So thank you for thank you formaking that.
Of course, it's available onAmazon.
You can also uh go to amyduffymd.com.
That's ai-m-e-e-d-u-f-f-y-md.com.
(30:50):
Um, and if you're in SouthCarolina and are interested in
Dr.
Duffy as a patient, CarolinaIntegrative Medicine.com.
Dr.
Duffy, before we wrap up, I dohave one more question for you.
And this will be for ourpre-health students.
Even if functional orintegrative medicine is not on
their radar right now, you know,they have their blinders on and
(31:10):
they're full focused onsurgery.
What is one topic that you areseeing so frequently in medicine
that they should at least haveon their radar right now?
Dr. Aimee Duffy, MD (31:20):
I think gut.
I think, you know, addressingfood and addressing the gut, and
it's not very difficult.
So anybody can do it and itshows up everywhere.
So if you're gonna go intocardiology, let's make sure that
this person's inflammatory, youknow, response and immune
system is where it needs to be.
Same thing, surgery, you know.
Um, you know, to me, likethat's our foundation.
(31:43):
And because I think of our ouraccessibility to chemicals, you
know, meaning our food haschanged dramatically.
And and so many people haveblinders on.
Food is food.
Why, you know, we're we're justeating.
Like, really, is that foodfueling our system to give it
the best result?
Or is it having to, you know,bring the guns out and really
(32:04):
have to fight through whatyou're putting into your body?
So, you know, I'm so sad, likein oncology, you know, people go
in to get their chemo andthere's like donuts and package
snacks and sugary drinks andwhatever, and like we're just
feeding cancer, you know.
Uh that's my opinion anyway,not a medical diagnosis, but you
know, uh so, so it affectseverything everywhere.
(32:25):
So, you know, and the sad thingis that in medical school,
there's zero nutrition, um, atleast where I was, you know, I'm
not sure how it is 20 yearslater, 20, 30 years later now.
So paying attention tonutrition and and learning how
to at least evaluate somebodyfor you know some gut stuff can
be huge in no matter where youare.
Ashley Love (32:46):
That's a really great point.
Dr.
Amy Duffy, thank you so muchfor joining us today on Shadow
Me Next.
It has just been such apleasure.
So fun.
Thank you so very much forlistening to this episode of
Shadow Me Next.
If you liked this episode, orif you think it could be useful
for a friend, please subscribeand invite them to join us next
Monday.
As always, if you have anyquestions, let me know on
(33:08):
Facebook or Instagram.
Access you want, stories youneed, you're always invited to
Shadow Me Next.
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