About Us

Our Mission

We take great pride in education, so we strive to expand boundlessly to serve and equip patients with superior cutting-edge health products and services. Our highest priority is to provide consistent customer satisfaction in a friendly, positive environment while delivering solutions tailored to each patient as optimal tools for health and wellbeing.

Our Vision

Keeping abreast with the rapidly changing fields of Functional Medicine and to be a strong advocate for our patients.

Meet the Founders

Medical Director

Meet Douglas C. Hall, M.D.

Dr. Douglas Hall, our medical director and managing member, was born in Indianapolis, Indiana on Jan. 30, 1941. He received his BS and Doctor of Medicine at the University of Florida, training in obstetrics and gynecology. Dr. Hall has been in private practice since 1974 and currently has a large practice in Ocala, specializing in OB/GYN and Functional Medicine.

Dr. Hall, who served in the U.S. Air Force Medical Corp, is a member of the Age Management Medicine Group, the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine, the American Chiropractic Association Council on Nutrition, the Endocrine Society, and the Institute of Functional Medicine. In addition, he is a recipient of the Honor of the Diplomat of American Clinical Board of Nutrition.

Message From Dr. Hall

I’ve led a blessed life that centers around my medical practice and my family. I’m happily married to my beautiful wife, Sarah Ray, a father to five amazing children and a grandfather to nine wonderful grandchildren.

In addition to what appears in my bio, I’m a published author, I’ve appeared as a guest on numerous television shows and I’ve had the privilege to lecture nationwide. I also founded Prenagym, an exercise center that physically prepares expectant mothers for their pregnancy experience. During my gynecology career, I’ve delivered 10,860 babies! I’m now treating my fourth generation of patients.

I’ve been an avid exerciser for years, running three to five miles a day in addition to weight training. However, at age 55, I started to develop breasts, a gut and a waist span of 40 inches.

I also was experiencing erectile dysfunction, joint pain, poor self-image and depression. Worse yet, I had a little too much interest in things such as my wife’s purse collection, shoes and shopping trips to Victoria’s Secret. Sad movies started requiring a box or two of tissues!

Experiencing erectile dysfunction took on a new meaning for me. I wasn’t just reading about it in a medical article or textbook. This was real. The effect it had on my emotions, self-image and marriage was devastating.

As Tolstoy said, “Man survives earthquakes, experiences the horrors of illness, and all of the tortures of the soul. But the most tormenting tragedy of all time is, and will be, the tragedy of the bedroom.”

I felt inadequate, less of a man, depressed, embarrassed and worried. “What if someone finds out I have this problem?” This was the thought constantly running through my head. My wife, because I couldn’t perform in the bedroom, thought I didn’t love her anymore or I was seeing someone else.

When I would get out of the shower, look in the mirror and see my man boobs and enlarging gut, I wanted to crawl in a hole and never come out! Suicide crossed my mind on several occasions. “Why is this happening to me?” I kept asking. My diet wasn’t bad and I continued to exercise and run despite my bouncing boobs! I knew it would be embarrassing to admit to a fellow physician that I had this problem, but I had to do something. I couldn’t continue to live with this condition, so I decided to seek help.

I visited three physicians in Ocala and two in Gainesville. Each office visit lasted less than three minutes, and the answer was always the same: “You’re just getting older!” There was no discussion of diet, exercise or hormone testing. I wasn’t about to settle for the diagnosis of aging. I decided to take things into my own hands and asked myself a simple question, “Why?” I knew hormones had to be playing a major role in my condition, so I began an extensive study of hormone synthesis and metabolism.

Read More

Hormone Synthesis, My Recovery and How You Benefit

Cholesterol metabolizes to pregnenolone, then to progesterone that progresses to androstenedione, which metabolizes to testosterone and goes to estrogen.

With this basic knowledge of how hormones are made in the body, I decided to measure mine in a salivary test, which I learned is more accurate than a blood test. I had the testosterone level of a 90-year-old man and the estrogen level of a 21-year-old female! No wonder I liked purses, shoes, and shopping at Victoria’s Secret and cried during movies; I had the hormones of a woman. Men should have 50 times more testosterone than estrogen!

Now I asked the obvious questions: “Why? And how do you convert testosterone to estrogen?” I found there is an enzyme called aromatase that converts male to female hormones. If everything is functioning normally, there is a normal ratio of male to female hormones or testosterone to estrogen. It was obvious mine wasn’t functioning properly.

I also started to research the question, “Why is that enzyme overacting and converting my testosterone to estrogen?” I learned that aging; lack of zinc and vitamin C; excess leptin, a fat cell hormone; low thyroid; excess insulin and testosterone; inflammation; and abnormal cortisol increased the aromatase enzyme.

Next, I had to study nutritional biochemistry, thyroid, insulin, cortisol, inflammation and leptin metabolism to determine my values. This is complex biochemistry and most physicians won’t take the time to do this level of research.

Upon the correction of all the factors contributing to conversion of testosterone to estrogen, I lost 40 pounds and all my symptoms resolved in three months.

This was a life-changing experience for me and my patients. It changed the way I practice medicine. I became more empathetic, a better listener and a more extensive researcher as I continued to study at least six to ten hours a day.

Looking back, I’m glad this happened to me. It made me realize that my patient evaluation in the past was completely inadequate. What happened to me made me a better physician all around.

In the past, I could only resolve symptoms with a prescription medication or surgical procedure. I now resolve them by first asking what is causing my patients’ symptoms. Once I determine the root cause of the problem through extensive testing and counseling, action can be taken through lifestyle changes, nutritional supplementation and the appropriate medication, if indicated.

There are millions of reactions that occur in our body every second and many factors affect those reactions, including thoughts, diet, sleep pattern, stress, exercise, environment, genetics, and medication. When all those reactions are functioning properly, we experience overall wellness and a sense of wellbeing. When those reactions become abnormal or dysfunctional, as in my case, symptoms leading to disability, disease, premature aging or premature death will develop. You want to determine the root cause of the problem, not mask the symptoms with a medication!

President

Meet Sarah Ray Hall

Sarah Ray Hall, President of Medical Detective Nutrition and Supplements, is an Ocala native who attended the College of Central Florida and obtained her Associates in Arts in 2006. She shares and supports her husband’s passion for Functional Medicine and has traveled and listened to numerous seminars on the various topics. For over a decade, Sarah has had the perfect Functional Medicine teacher, her husband and the company’s Medical Director, Dr. Douglas C. Hall.

In addition to having a great desire for learning, Sarah has a deep passion for acquiring newfound knowledge by gaining insight into unconventional truths and answers through Functional Medicine. After obtaining her degree  in culinary arts in 2013, she used her knowledge of the healing qualities in food to establish Medical Detective Nutrition and Supplements. It’s now her mission to help bring forth a healthier way of living with the use of pharmaceutical-grade supplements to patients based on their gene and blood makeup, provided by Dr. Hall.

Message From Sarah Ray

My personal time is devoted to fulfilling our shared values in supporting your road to optimal health. It’s my goal to continue being a seeker of knowledge, delving into the unknown to help you achieve greater heights as we progress into the future of Functional Medicine. I want to help provide you with a stable service and reliable products, doing so through hard work, diligence, patience, and orderliness. We are a family at Medical Detective.

My grandmother Cookie passed down to me a shared passion of health. She had a tremendous influence on me when I was a little girl. It’s my great desire to pass on the knowledge and passion she gifted me over the years through our services and products.

A goal of mine has always been to offer my very best to benefit people from all walks of life. I put my heart and soul into everything and can only hope for the effects of my dedication to appear evident to you. I live to educate, nurture and provide the best quality care I possibly can. I’m passionate about the wellbeing of my patients, for health is a cause I strongly believe in.

If you, too, believe in optimal health and doing what’s right for your body to experience the joy of good health with your loved ones, I look forward to sharing the journey with you. My job is to do everything I can to improve the lives of patients I love and respect.

Our Logo’s Story: The Chrysanthemum

Our logo stretches farther than what meets the eye. More than just a set of initials branding Medical Detective, it symbolizes health, happiness and longevity. The use of the chrysanthemum behind the initials in the design was meant to represent our high standards of health — in the same way its meaning has inspired various cultures around the world. Many regions feel the chrysanthemum embodies positive energy; some even claim “perfection.” For the Japanese, it’s the symbol of the sun and the way the flower opens its petals. For the Chinese, it means “life of ease” and it’s been said that one petal at the bottom of a wine glass encourages a long and healthy life. The Ayurvedic associate the chrysanthemum with the heart chakra, a channel for universal compassion and love for all; they believe the heart chakra is important in spiritual healing and evolution.

Medical Detective embraces all these meanings to provide products and services of the highest quality — guiding you to a life of perfection and ease via a journey with us to your optimal health, inside and out.

Want to Learn More?

Pin It on Pinterest