Integrative Medicine for Complex Health Journeys

Beyond What We Can See

In medicine, symptoms often appear long before we fully understand their cause.
The absence of explanation is not evidence of absence — only an invitation to look deeper.

When we focus only on what’s visible or measurable, we risk missing what truly matters — sometimes with devastating consequences.

Most of what shapes health lies beneath the surface

Joanna Bauer-Savage

As an integrative medical doctor, I combine clinical science with lived experience to support those navigating hypermobile Ehlers Danlos Sydnrome, Mast Cell Activation Syndrome and other people with complex health challenges.

I have been discharged from rheumatology for over twelve years due to remission from seronegative spondyloarthritis.

Recently I used an integrative appraoch to erradicate HPV-16 and reverse pre cancer of the cervix, called cervical dysplasia (from CIN-2 to CIN-1), and am optimistic, I will completely heal the dysplasia without surgery.

The highly traumatic birth and near death experience of my first child, and other experiences as both patient and medic, resulted in a multi-layered post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). My journey in successfully healing from this has made me aware of the importance of a trauma informed apporach in health care.

My vision is to increase awareness and expand the practice of integrative medicine as a model for the future of healthcare toward approaches that are more integrative, relational, trauma informed and responsive to the full complexity of being human.

About me

Patient Badass

For people living with multi-system conditions — and for anyone seeking more agency when their needs are not being met.

Written from my perspective of both physician and patient living with hEDS and MCAS who has also navigated and recovered from autoimmune disease and HPV, reveresed cervical dysplasia without surgery and overcome medically induced PTSD.

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A practical twelve-step self help book for navigating complex illness in a fragmented healthcare system with an integrative medical approach.

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​A Call for Change in Healthcare

Time pressure, fragmentation, and a narrow focus on pathology and quick fixes can leave important aspects of suffering unaddressed — particularly those related to complex illness, mental health challenges, trauma, sexuality, loss of agency and change in identity and meaning.

These dimensions are not peripheral to health; they often sit at its centre.

There is an urgent need for new paradigms—ones that honour the complexity of human experience and integrate diverse modalities to create truly healing environments.

Integrative Medicine

Integrative medicine is defined as healing-oriented medicine that takes account of the whole person, including all aspects of lifestyle. It emphasizes the therapeutic relationship between practitioner and patient, is informed by evidence, and makes use of all appropriate therapies.

It looks beyond symptoms to underlying causes and supports health across physical, psychological, emotional, and spiritual dimensions.

An emerging model for optimal health care

Key principles of integrative medicine include:

• Personalised care tailored to a persons unique lifestyle, values, and goals

• Emphasis on prevention and long-term wellbeing, alongside treatment

• Empowerment through active participation, responsibility and agency in the healing process

• Recognition that true health means more than the absence of disease—it’s about vitality, balance and meaning.

Integrative medicine for hEDS and MCAS

Multisystemic and complex disease such as EDS and MCAS are best supported through an integrative medical approach.

Hypermobile Ehlers Danlos (hEDS)

"When you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras", but not when it come to Ehlers Danlos Syndrom.

hEDS is a connective tissue condition affecting the body’s collagen. It can lead to joint hypermobility, pain, frequent injuries, fatigue, and instability, often alongside symptoms in other systems such as the gut, nervous system, and immune system.

hEDS is a rare disease with a prevalance higher than once thought, with an average diagnostic delay of 10-20 years.

Mast Cell Activation Syndromes (MCAS)

Mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS) involves an inappropriate release of chemical messengers from mast cells — including histamine, prostaglandins, cytokines, chemokines, interleukins, and heparin.
In reality, mast cells can release over 200 different mediators, which helps explain the wide range and unpredictability of symptoms across the body.

Triggers vary from person to person and may include foods, infections, medications, fragrances, chemicals, mould, temperature changes, stress, or even pressure on the skin.

Studies suggesting that up to 70% of people with hypermobile Ehlers–Danlos syndrome (hEDS)show features of mast cell activation. This overlap can help explain the complex, multi-system nature of symptoms many individuals experience.

A Focus on Trauma-Informed Healthcare

My personal experience with post traumatic stress disorder from medical trauma as both a patient and doctor fuels my passion for a trauma informed approach to health care.

One of my central missions is to raise awareness about trauma in medicine and advocate for more compassionate, trauma-informed care.

Connect

If you're seeking a guide on your healing journey—or feel you'd like to collaborate, contribute, or support this evolving vision — I would be honoured to connect with you.

Together, let’s co-create a new way of being—one that celebrates wholeness, honours diversity, and supports true healing from the inside out.