Quincy IL Integrative Functional Medicine - Yoon Hang Kim MD

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Dr. Yoon Hang Kim MD is a board-certified physician specializing in integrative and functional medicine with a focus on root-cause healing for complex conditions providing telemedicine focusing on Quincy IL area and rest of IL, MO, FL, GA and TX

06/19/2026

LDN to treat neuropathy

06/18/2026

**Why your MCAS gets worse around your period β€” and explodes in perimenopause.**

It's not in your head. Mast cells have three types of estrogen receptors. When estradiol rises, it triggers degranulation AND suppresses DAO β€” the enzyme that clears histamine. Then the released histamine tells your ovaries to make more estrogen. Self-amplifying loop.

Perimenopause makes it worse because progesterone β€” your natural mast cell stabilizer β€” drops first. You lose the brake while the accelerator is still floored.

This is why 69% of MCAS patients are female.

The good news: hormonal *fluctuation* is the driver, not estrogen itself. That means strategic stabilization works.

Sound familiar? Drop a πŸ™‹β€β™€οΈ if your MCAS symptoms track with your cycle.

06/16/2026

🧬 MCAS and the COMT Gene β€” Here's what the internet gets wrong.
COMT is NOT a mast cell gene. It does not cause MCAS.
But it can influence how you experience it β€” and why certain treatments backfire.
➑️ Slow COMT = slower adrenaline clearance. Higher catecholamine load lowers the threshold for mast cell activation. That "wired and tired" feeling? This may be why.
➑️ Slow COMT = slower estrogen metabolite clearance. Estrogen activates mast cells through ER-Ξ± receptors, and histamine drives more estrogen β€” a vicious feedback loop. This is why MCAS flares often track with ovulation, the luteal phase, and perimenopause.
➑️ COMT and your histamine-clearing enzyme (HNMT) both consume methyl groups. A slow COMT hogging SAMe may leave less capacity for histamine breakdown β€” especially with MTHFR variants on board.
In practice:
βœ… Crashed on quercetin, methylfolate, or B12 with anxiety and insomnia? That may be catecholamine overload, not mast cell worsening.
βœ… Start with non-stimulating foundations β€” H1/H2 blockers, cromolyn, ketotifen, autonomic retraining β€” before layering in methyl donors.
βœ… If flares track your cycle, be deliberate with estrogen management and downstream clearance support.
No controlled trials link COMT to MCAS outcomes yet. But the biology is sound, and it changes how I sequence treatment.
COMT is a lens for personalization, not a diagnosis.

06/15/2026

Here's a tightened version:

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What if your anxiety isn't actually a mental health problem?

For many people with MCAS, anxiety isn't coming from their thoughtsβ€”it's coming from their immune system. Histamine isn't just an allergy molecule. It's one of the most powerful signaling molecules in your brain, and when mast cells flood your system with it, your brain reads that biochemical storm as danger.

The anxiety is real. It's just not coming from where everyone thinks.

πŸ” The pattern:
β€’ Anxiety after wine, leftovers, or fermented foods
β€’ "Wired but tired" at night
β€’ Palpitations, flushing, or GI symptoms with the anxiety
β€’ Symptoms worse around your period
β€’ Anxiety that improves with antihistamines

If this sounds familiar, you may not need another SSRIβ€”you need someone who understands the connection between your immune system and your brain.

New blog article breaking this down in depth. Link in comments ⬇️

🌐 www.directintegrativecare.com

06/14/2026

πŸ”¬ Why Does LDN Calm Mast Cells? The Science Behind the Buzz
If you have Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS), you've probably heard about low-dose naltrexone. But WHY would a tiny dose of an opioid blocker help hyperreactive mast cells?
It turns out LDN works through not one, but FOUR converging mechanisms:
βœ… Blocks TLR4 β€” a key innate immune trigger sitting directly on mast cells

βœ… Boosts your body's own endorphins, which enhance regulatory T cells and reduce the signals that prime mast cells to fire

βœ… Calms microglia in the brain, interrupting the neuroimmune loop that drives brain fog, pain, and anxiety in MCAS

βœ… Broadly lowers TNF-Ξ±, IL-6, IL-1Ξ², and other cytokines that keep mast cells in a hair-trigger state
Unlike single-target antihistamines, LDN operates upstream β€” across multiple nodes of the inflammatory cascade.
Important: LDN is an adjunctive therapy, not a replacement for H1/H2 blockers or mast cell stabilizers. And for MCAS clients, we start LOW and go SLOW.
πŸ“– Full referenced article on our blog at www.directintegrativecare.com

06/10/2026

People ask me why I don't take insurance. And I understand why it sounds strange. But let me explain what happened when I made the switch.

When I billed insurance, patient questions felt like unpaid extra work. A member emails me on a Saturday about a new symptom. In the old model, that was uncompensated time squeezed into the margins.

In a membership model, that same question feels like what I signed up for. It's proactive care. It's the relationship working.

Same question. Completely different incentive.

I cap my practice intentionally. I don't try to see thirty patients a day. I block an hour even if the face-to-face visit is shorter, because complex patients need time for review, research, documentation, and follow-up planning.

You can't do that in a fifteen-minute window.

And here's the part people don't expect: when a member goes quiet, I reach out. I'm not going to collect a membership fee without meaningful engagement. That kind of accountability goes both ways.

Accountability goes both ways.

The model isn't right for everyone. But for complex patients who need unhurried, ongoing, relationship-based care, it changes everything.

For the patient and for the physician.

Learn more about membership-based integrative care at:

06/10/2026

From the book LDN Primer - How to mitigate LDN Side Effects

06/10/2026

You get a diagnosis. Maybe it's mast cell activation syndrome. Maybe it's fibromyalgia. Maybe it's long COVID. And you think β€” okay, now I know what I have. Now we treat it.
But here's the thing most people don't hear: a diagnosis tells you what is happening. It doesn't always tell you why.
In integrative medicine, we ask a different question. Not just β€” what do we call this? But β€” what got you here? What's keeping this active? Is there an underlying driver we haven't looked at yet?
Take mast cell activation syndrome. Two patients can have the same diagnosis, but one was triggered by mold exposure, another by a post-viral immune shift. Same label. Completely different root paths.
This doesn't mean we ignore your symptoms. We absolutely manage symptoms. But we also go deeper. We ask: what can we safely modify? What's driving the pattern?
So if you've been diagnosed with something complex and you feel like you're only getting surface-level treatment β€” that's worth paying attention to. The label is useful. But the label is not the whole story.

06/09/2026

You know stress can affect your emotions, but do you know what it can do to your body? Learn more: https://wb.md/4atYjEW

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Quincy, IL
62301, 62305, 62306

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