Dr. Trevor Miller, the founder and owner of Integrated Health of Indiana, works in close collaboration with his wife, Jessica Miller, a registered nurse. Their clinic is a testament to their commitment, where they not only treat their own patients but also consult and educate other doctors, providing comprehensive care to the healthcare community.
Trevor C. Miller, Integrated Health of Indiana
Introduce yourself and tell us about you and your life, so we can get to know you better.
Long ago, I learned that the word doctor also means teacher. This made sense to me as I grew and evolved in my own practice as a doctor. My father, mother, and step-father were all teachers so when I was drawn to teaching others how to heal by sharing my knowledge as a doctor, I was not surprised. Teaching is in my blood!
I was very blessed to have my parents to guide me. My father was brilliant when it came to mechanical projects. He understood how machines worked and enjoyed taking them apart and putting them back together. My inquisitiveness and ability to think abstractly certainly comes from him. He comes to mind often when I work on difficult cases and spend time problem solving.
My mother loved biology, was fluent in Latin and Greek, and was a teacher of advanced English. She taught me empathy, how to put myself in another’s shoes, and how to ask questions. She was great at speaking with people and understanding their story. I often think of her as I am getting to know my patients.
My step-father is a hard worker; a man who never slows down. He taught me how to start a job and stick to it. He also introduced me to soccer, which took me to many different countries and offered me a plethora of exciting opportunities and exposed me to many different cultures.
These were the people closest to me. My mother’s death in 2012 spurred me back into systems biology. She was vibrant, walked daily, did yoga, and did not smoke or drink. Yet she had an abdominal aortic aneurysm that burst and killed her. My father was a big man. He loved going to the bar and sitting in smoke filled hazy rooms. He would drink beer and play cards, they could not have been bigger opposites. Dad outlived mom by ten years. This did not make sense to me and left me with a lot of questions.
My wife, Jessica, and I live in Columbus, Indiana. We have a hobby farm. My family enjoys gardening and being outdoors together. When I am not outside playing on the farm, I am usually found learning guitar or tinkering with hobby R/C cars or R/C planes. For people that follow us on Facebook, they will often see us on adventures, hiking, biking for childhood cancer, learning history or just generally being adventurous. As a coincidence, I am getting my pilots license so we can extend our adventures. We live life to the fullest, we are very blessed with great health and energy.
Can you elaborate on the range of services that Integrated Health of Indiana offers, and how your approach to integrative health sets you apart from other healthcare providers?
Integrated Health of Indiana’s approach is different because I am a dual certified functional medicine practitioner. I hold certifications from both The Institute for Functional Medicine and The Functional Medicine University with advanced training and certification from the Kalish Institute. This sets us apart because both of the universities give doctors a lot of tools, but doctors tend to specialize. I see a lot of functional medicine providers focusing on just hormones, lifestyle, or specializations like cholesterol. What we do first is get our patients to foundational health. We dig deep and find out if the patient has their lifestyle in order. This is done through testing. Typically, we do three foundational tests and start working from there.
At Integrated Health of Indiana, we address the five pillars to health: Sleep, movement, nutrition, stress, and community. What we have seen in our practice is that if these five pillars are not solidified in a patient’s life, then typically relapse happens. When we address all the pillars, most of the symptoms go away fairly quickly and we can concentrate on the root cause.
We see a lot of patients from other functional medicine providers, not because of overt failures, because their treatments were spot on, but the foundation was not laid out in a way that the patient understood and motivated them to stay on the path. We also have different providers. I come from a chiropractic, acupuncture and wholistic background. My wife, Jessica, is an RN with a passion and knack for hormones.
We work well together and with patients’ doctors. We know that someone’s health and healing require collaboration. So, we work with our patient’s other healthcare providers when they want us too. We offer a wide variety of services, in the business marketplace this is not ideal, but it is about the patient. So, our testing services include: microbiome, stress, organic acids, food sensitivities, inflammatory markers, blood tests, telomere testing, functional genetic testing, hormone testing, omega 3 testing, oral microbiome testing, whatever the patient needs. We are fortunate enough to be well versed in laboratory findings. I also help other doctors read their labs, so I get a lot of practice seeing a wide variety of labs.
Apart from the labs our services include guidance on how to get the lifestyle on track. We work with the diet, hormones, movement, lifestyle and stress mitigation to help the patient take control of their health. Jessica fields texts and questions from clients to guide them, teaching them what they need to know to help their health. Everyone is different so treatment is truly personalized. We have help guide patients to figure out how to solve their stress whether it be: financial, emotional, marital, spiritual or physical. We don’t have all the answers, but we can either generally guide someone or point them to someone that can help guide them.
Who is your typical client, and can you share any success stories or testimonials that highlight the impact of your integrative health services?
Our typical client suffers from a plethora of symptoms. Dr. Mark Hyman talks about “One Cause Many Symptoms, One Symptom Many Causes”. Patients and doctors alike like to focus on the name it and blame it, then get a drug or supplement that helps control the symptoms. The problem is if they stop the drug or supplement, here come the problems. So, our typical client is someone that is starting to get heavy, they are tired, or they have “FLC” which is Feels Like Crap syndrome (this was coined by Dr. Hyman, I can not take credit for itJ). This is vague, but the people that have this get it. So, our patients are both male and female, young and old. Their traditional doctor does their lab tests, and everything is fine, yet they don’t feel fine. This is where seeing hundreds upon hundreds of tests allows me to see patterns that are missed. Here are some testimonials so the patients can tell you themselves. We are adding more testimonials every day since we have opened our services up to include telehealth services.
What inspired you to start Integrated Health of Indiana, and what core values drive your practice’s philosophy and patient care?
My sixth grade science fair project was on the nervous system. Even back then I thought that a multidisciplinary practice would be best. I did not know what that was called at the time, but I thought that it would only be to the patients benefit. I have had an MD in the practice before. He was knowledgeable and likeable, but our philosophies differed. We parted ways. This was in the early 2000’s. I could never find a like-minded MD. Maybe I was asking too much, or I did not search hard enough, but I never found someone that our philosophies clicked.
Without the option of someone else, I took it upon myself to start to learn all that I could. I have two daughters with mitochondrial disease. Being told to put them in wheelchairs and institutions was unacceptable. They were also only given a life expectancy of 12 to 13 years. At this point in time, I was only a chiropractor. The year Zoe was born was 1997. I knew chiropractic wasn’t going to give her all the help she needed. I sought out help from other practitioners. This is where I learned about organic acids testing and how it gives you insight into the mitochondria and functioning.
Dr. Ryan Bentley taught me a lot about organic acids and helped me refine a mitochondrial cocktail to help Zoe. Zoe’s sister, Eliana, has the same disorder, she too is on this cocktail. They are both in their 20’s and doing very well. So, I got to see the power of nutrition. Don’t get me wrong, they were also working with MANY other providers and their progress is because of collaboration.
Those challenges are what helped form our treatment philosophy today. It is about collaboration for the benefit of the patient. We are like guides; we work with patients on their health goals.
Our core values are:
God: almost all research shows that belief in a higher power, whatever that looks like for you, imparts better health to the believer. For me, God is the master healer, the master physician so to speak. Here is a good question to ponder, what if God is the “Placebo Effect”?
Hope: we always want to impart Hope. Without Hope there is only despair. When someone is Hopeful we can see it in their biochemistry, endorphins raise, the immune system is functional and sympathetic tone goes down.
Persistence: it is like the age-old adage, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” No one is perfect, and no one is going to be perfect, give yourself Grace to make mistakes, then learn from them.
Teacher: we want to teach people how to be healthy. We do not want dependance on us. Our time is finite, but if we teach someone how to help themselves, then they can help teach others to be the same way. That way we can affect families and generations to come.
Health: health is a verb, it is what we do, it guides our choices. That way if we chose to have a drink, celebrate or eat food that is less than healthy, it is our choice, and we know how to help ourselves afterwards.
Vibrance: we want to exude energy. We want to motivate others to be the same way. That way no life is wasted.
Wellness: is the choice to make decisions that are healthy for us. If we know what Wellness is and how health feels, then we can typically get back to it. 8) Excellence – is being the best that you can be. Enjoying life with others and imparting an uplifting spirit and energy. Excellence is treating others the way you would like to be treated.
What are some of the biggest challenges you’ve face in the integrative health field, and how have you addressed them? Are there any new innovations or treatments you’re particularly excited about?
What are some of the biggest challenges? Unfortunately, there are many. Education is the biggest. I tend to focus on the food system. Our food system is does not promote health. Dr. Hyman has started an initiative called Food Fix. We need to demand change from our food system and our social servants. They need to serve and protect us. Right now, they serve the interest of the food lobby and corporate interests. Sorry about the soap box, but I feel very passionate about this. What I am excited about is the groundswell of support. People are getting it. I am seeing more people at Farmers Markets and when I talk to patients, they already know the fundamentals. They may not know why or how, but it is easier to get them to that point. What Integrated Health of Indiana is doing is promoting all the alternatives and making people of what is out there that is healthier. We have a YouTube Channel and 7 O’Clock Talk that shows that we not only talk about it, but we live it as well.
How does Integrated Health of Indiana engage with the local community, and what initiatives or programs do you have in place to promote holistic health and wellness in the area?
The way we reach out is in many ways. First, we give away a lot of services. We live in an impoverished community. We spend a lot of time educating, the aforementioned 7 O’Clock Talk, each and every visit. Also, we offer a lot of education on our YouTube Channel.
Currently we are amid designing a group outreach. Not sure what that is going to look like, but there is a great need in our community.
If you could change one thing about your industry, what would it be and why?
The first thing that pops into my head is cost. This is a barrier for sure. But it is also a test. A lot of people want things given to them. People generally don’t respect what is given to them. Good health requires sacrifice on many parts. Foods sometimes must be given up, friends and activities sometimes have to be changed. If people aren’t willing to sacrifice, then it ends up being a waste of time. I know that could seem harsh, but it is not. Money is a tool. How does one choose to use the tool is telling. I have had patients tell me they have no money, then turn around and tell me of the things and trips they recently bought. Now is that devaluing my skills? Does the patient not value themselves? So, money is a very tricky beast.
Tell us about a pivotal moment in your life that brought you to where you are today?
Several pivotal moments have brought me to where I am today. First it is my upbringing, my parents nurtured inquisitiveness. Without the encouragement to ask why, and the encouragement to seek answers, then I wouldn’t be programmed the way that I am. Second would be the birth of my children. The differences between them, Aidan perfectly healthy, the girls with mitochondrial disease. Why did this happen? Regardless, how do we help the girls now? Modern medicine wanted to leave them in wheelchairs and leave them to the institutions. I have always bucked the system a bit so that did not sit well with me. But I did not have either the knowledge or experience. So, I had to gain it, this is probably the pivotal moment. This is where I actually started to learn, this started the journey. I was reluctant because I knew this journey would never end. But I had to help my girls. Lastly was the difference in the death of my parents. My mother, seemingly healthy, but what triggered her aberrant genetics? My dad, overweight, beer gut, doesn’t exercise, eats what he wants, yet lives ten years longer. One and one did not equal two, but with biology it rarely does. So I still seek answers, I will probably always be learning, but is there any nobler cause than to seek answers to help others?
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