Functional Medicine for the Brain and Body.

“With a strong family history of Alzheimer’s, and genetic drivers of the disease, I will be working right with you on strategies to age with a healthy brain and body.”

— Cheryl Wicker DNP, FNP-BC

Worried about your memory?

Welcome to Vital Mind. We specialize in plans to optimize your brain health. This includes:

  • Prevention of cognitive decline

  • Reversing forgetfulness and mild cognitive impairment

  • Decreasing the rate of memory decline

  • Brain fog, often disabling, and frequently noted after an illness, environmental exposure, or hormonal imbalance

Call today to see if Vital Mind is right for you.

There’s no commitment, pressure, or obligation.

  • 2/3 of Alzheimer's cases can be related to genetics. We have partnered with Intellexx to bring you advanced testing and interpretation.

  • Often called "vascular dementia," cardiovascular disease is one of the leading causes of Alzheimer's disease. Because what is good for the heart, is good for the brain, we will assure your heart health is optimized.

  • Many of us have heard of "diabetes of the brain" as a leading cause of Alzheimer's. Addressing this cause requires a comprehensive approach with diet, exercise, medications, and supplements. Additionally, we have tests to measure how your body and cells are utilizing energy and what to do to fix it.

  • Hormones are essential to the health of our nervous system. Because many of our patients experience "brain fog," or even cognitive decline with middle age, we are trained in bio-identical hormone therapy

  • The gut is often called the "second brain" and are connected with a highway of nerve connections and important neurotransmitters such as serotonin. Many people with poor brain health also report gut disturbances. Plus, if you can't absorb nutrients, they can't help your brain. We are trained in functional medicine testing for the gut which uncovers the root cause. Our treatments include standard medications and a large armeamentarium of botanical supplements

  • We are learning that many neuro-degenerative problems are related to toxin exposures such as metals, molds, plastics, pesticides, air/water pollutants and week killers. We can identify your toxic exposure and recommend protocols to help you detox

Areas of Expertise

Treating brain health requires a whole body approach. Therefore, we offer you expertise in the following areas:

What are clients saying about Vital Mind Functional Medicine?

”Dr. Cheryl Wicker…Miracle Worker!”

My friend Lance had rapidly worsening cognitive decline. After working with Cheryl, he called me up to play tennis and sounded like his old self. He played a strong (tennis) game and even kept up with the score.

“Pretty impressive”

—Joe

“After years and numerous visits to doctors and specialists - Cheryl Wicker - helped me find the root cause of my abdominal pain and bloating.  She knew the best tests to order and took the time necessary to help me understand the results. I highly recommend Dr. Cheryl Wicker  for superb care and follow through!”

—Kathy

How does Functional Medicine improve your brain health?

Standard medical treatments for many complex conditions, such a cognitive decline, have been unsuccessful. 

We have found the best way to prevent and reverse many complex conditions is to get to the root cause, and identify what is driving the disease, ideally before symptoms appear. 

This includes the fundamentals of lifestyle, the effects of other body systems and the environment on our brain.  For example, the gut produces over 30 neuro transmitters and is the factory by which hormones such as serotonin, a vital neurotransmitter for our neurons, is made. 

We don’t yet have a “cure” for many of our most pressing brain health problems, and must instead identify and correct the root causes.  By utilizing functional medicine principles of prevention, restoration, and optimization of your body, we can prevent, halt and even reverse cognitive decline, difficulty thinking, and memory problems.  

Neuro-plasticity is our brain’s ability to change and grow

“We’ve all been taught there’s nothing you can do about this illness; there’s just nothing out there,” Bredesen said. “It’s the opposite. The bottom line is there’s a huge arsenal and you have to know how to use it optimally and what’s important for each person.”

-Dale Bredesen, MD (Ending Alzheimer’s)

Paths to brain Health

Protect - First, we need to make sure we are protecting your brain and body from both internal and external stressors.  An example is bio-identical hormone replacement for the menopausal woman or removing toxin exposure

Reverse - We then reverse any current damage by identifying and correcting your drivers of dis-ease.  An example is assuring good vascular health for brain function a d reducing oxidative stress.

Optimize - We don’t want to stop at reversal!  Maintaining reversal of symptoms is a life-long task. An example is regular stress management.

Support - We give you the plan and guidance.  The rest is hard work by you.  We give you the coaching to accomplish your goals.