Why Did Dr. McLelland Move Away from Prescriptions?
Like most doctors, Dr. McLelland was trained to match symptoms with medication. A patient comes in, identifies a problem, and leaves with a prescription. That model works sometimes. But she started noticing a pattern: a prescription would fix one symptom and create a new one. Then another prescription for that one. The cycle kept going.
Her time in Oregon was a turning point. Living in a place where people approached food, lifestyle, and wellness differently made her rethink what she’d been taught. She came back with a different framework. Instead of treating one symptom at a time, she started looking at the full picture: lifestyle, nutrition, stress, environment, all of it.
That’s functional medicine in practice. It’s not anti-medication. It’s just not medication-first.
How Does Her Approach Work When Patients Walk In With a Solution Already in Mind?
Sam Silvey, Speakeasy host and Spectruss CEO and founder, brought up an interesting point during the conversation. The United States is one of only two countries in the world that allows pharmaceutical companies to market directly to consumers. That means patients often show up already convinced they know what they need.
Dr. McLelland said most of her patients know what to expect from her at this point. But she still sees it: someone walks in, names a symptom, and wants to move as fast as possible. Her approach is the opposite. She slows it down. She gathers more information, gives the patient reading material, and works toward a solution that actually addresses the root issue, not just the surface-level complaint.
It takes longer. But the outcomes are better.
There’s a business parallel here, too. A lot of companies do the same thing with their marketing: pick the first tactic that sounds right, skip the diagnosis, and wonder why the results don’t last. Slowing down to understand the full picture before prescribing a solution works just as well in business as it does in medicine.
What’s In Her Upcoming Book?
Dr. McLelland is currently writing a book on women’s health, expected to publish by the end of 2026. She shared the three questions she asks herself about every section before it makes the cut:
- Does it empower women toward better health (not against anyone, just toward better health)?
- Is the information accessible and simple to understand?
- Is it actionable?
If a section doesn’t pass all three, she rewrites it. That filter shaped the entire book.
Why Does This Episode Matter for Women’s Health?
Women’s health went from a topic nobody wanted to talk about to a billion-dollar industry. That growth brought attention, but it also brought noise. Dr. McLelland is direct about the fact that a lot of what’s being marketed as solutions may help one symptom in one person, and that gets packaged as a fix for everyone. People aren’t getting the full picture.
Whether you’re rethinking your health or how you approach your business, the lesson is the same: slow down, look at the whole picture, and stop chasing symptoms.
