Kelly K McCann, MD

Kelly K McCann, MD Integrative Medicine respects the innate human capacity for healing and emphasizes the therapeutic p

08/10/2026

One of the biggest differences in the way I practice medicine has nothing to do with a test I order.

It has to do with the questions I ask.

Most people come to an appointment ready to talk about the symptoms they're having today.

I'm interested in those too.

But I'm also interested in what happened years before anyone ever used the word "autoimmune."

Did you have mono in college?
Did migraines begin after your first pregnancy?
Did your digestion quietly change after an infection?
Did allergies slowly become more severe?
Did you go through a period where you never quite felt like yourself again?

None of those experiences, by themselves, explain an autoimmune disease.

But when I put them in chronological order, I often start seeing patterns that weren't obvious before.

That's why I spend so much time building a timeline.

Because your diagnosis is one chapter of the story.

I'm interested in the chapters that came before it.

If you've been looking for a physician who takes the time to understand the whole story—not just the diagnosis—comment SPRING below, and my team will send you information about becoming a patient at The Spring Center.

08/08/2026

I was invited to speak at the LA Tribune Voices of Impact event, and when I have a stage, this is where I go every time. Grateful to and the team for the invitation.

The body provides a map. As a physician, I am always reading the significance in symptoms, in what shows up and where. And what we so often find in those places is an unintegrated wound. Somewhere an emotion has been living, waiting to be expressed.

When we let it be expressed, when we are willing to be vulnerable and sit with ourselves with compassion, those wounds integrate. We become more whole. We find ourselves. We are whole.

This is the heart of and it is the work I will keep bringing to every room I am invited into. Your body was never keeping score. It was holding the map home.

What has your body been trying to show you?

08/06/2026

One of the reasons I spend so much time teaching immunology is because language shapes the questions we ask.

When we tell patients their immune system is simply "attacking itself," it can sound as though the body has suddenly become irrational or broken.

The reality is often far more complex.

Infections, environmental exposures, changes in immune tolerance, genetics, and other factors can all contribute to immune dysregulation. While we don't always identify a single trigger, understanding the underlying mechanisms helps us ask better clinical questions—and often leads to a more thoughtful evaluation.

Patients deserve explanations that go beyond metaphors.

⬇️ I'd love to know:
When did your autoimmune symptoms first begin?

(Please remember I can't provide individual medical advice in the comments.)

Follow for evidence-informed education on autoimmunity, inflammation, and complex chronic illness.

One of the biggest misconceptions I see is that inflammation is treated the same way no matter where someone is in their...
08/05/2026

One of the biggest misconceptions I see is that inflammation is treated the same way no matter where someone is in their health journey.

It isn't.

If someone comes to me because they're just beginning to notice changes in their body, my goal is different than if they've spent the last fifteen years collecting diagnoses, seeing specialist after specialist, and trying treatment after treatment.

Early on, I'm asking questions that might help us understand why inflammation showed up in the first place.

Years later, I'm asking those same questions—but I'm also asking how years of inflammation have changed the rest of the body's biology.

Has it changed the gut?
The immune system?
The nervous system?
The way the body responds to stress?
The way it recovers from everyday life?

I'm also thinking about the person who's been living through all of it.

Because years of feeling unwell don't just affect lab work.

They affect confidence.
Relationships.
Career decisions.
The willingness to make plans.
The belief that you'll ever feel like yourself again.

That's why I don't believe in one-size-fits-all medicine.

Two people can have the same diagnosis and need completely different conversations.

Every person's story deserves that level of curiosity.

If you've been looking for a physician who takes the time to understand both your biology and the journey that brought you here, comment SPRING below. My team will send you information about becoming a patient at The Spring Center.

As someone who treats patients with chronic Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses, I take prevention seriously.But...
08/05/2026

As someone who treats patients with chronic Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses, I take prevention seriously.

But I also care deeply about reducing unnecessary toxic burden.

The reality is that there isn’t one perfect solution. Every prevention strategy has benefits and trade-offs, and the “best” choice depends on your individual risk, your health, and where you’re spending time outdoors.

For someone taking a walk around the neighborhood, protective clothing, picaridin, and a good tick check may be all you need.

For someone hiking regularly in a Lyme-endemic area or working outdoors, adding factory-treated permethrin clothing may make sense because the risk of tick-borne illness outweighs the relatively low exposure from properly treated, dried clothing.

The goal isn’t to eliminate every possible exposure.

The goal is to use the least amount of intervention necessary to meaningfully reduce your risk.

And one last reminder...

❤️ **Don’t forget to tick check yourself, your family members, and your pets, too.**

Ticks don’t care whether they’re hitching a ride on you, your child, or your dog. A two-minute tick check after spending time outdoors may be one of the simplest—and most important—health habits you ever develop.

I’d love to hear from you...

👇 What do you use to help prevent tick bites? Have you found something that works well for your family?

08/05/2026

When something this heartbreaking happens in a community, our brains naturally want one thing:

𝗔𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝘀𝘄𝗲𝗿.

Sometimes we find one quickly.

Sometimes the honest answer is, “𝗪𝗲 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝘆𝗲𝘁.”

As physicians, scientists, parents, and neighbors, we have to be able to hold both truths at the same time:
✅ Families deserve urgent answers.
✅ We shouldn’t decide on the answer before the investigation is complete.

Environmental illness is rarely as simple as one exposure or one chemical. Our health is shaped by a lifetime of influences—our genetics, our environment, our nutrition, infections, stress, and the countless exposures we accumulate over decades. In environmental medicine, we call this 𝘁𝗼𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗱.

That doesn’t mean pesticides shouldn’t be investigated.

They absolutely should.

But so should the water, the air, historical land use, construction materials, soil, and even exposures that occurred before a child was born.

The goal isn’t to find someone to blame.

The goal is to understand 𝘄𝗵𝘆 this happened so we can prevent it from happening again.

This is the conversation we need to be having.

𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝟮 𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗼𝗼𝗻, 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗜’𝗹𝗹 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹, 𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲-𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗽𝘀 𝗳𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗲 𝗲𝗻𝘃𝗶𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲𝘀, 𝗮𝘀𝗸 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗼𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗮 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗴𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻.

Follow along so you don’t miss it, and if you know someone in Ladera Ranch or the surrounding communities, please share this with them.

Because fear isn’t a strategy.

𝗧𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘀.

08/05/2026



One of the hardest things about environmental medicine is that we rarely get immediate answers.

That doesn't mean you're powerless.

It means we focus on the things we can do while we wait for the science.

If you live in Ladera Ranch or any community where environmental exposures are a concern, don't let fear drive your decisions.

Let information drive them.

Reduce unnecessary exposures where it's practical. Ask questions about what's being sprayed in your neighborhood, at your children's schools, and in your parks. Learn about the history of the land where you live. Keep records of the places you've lived, worked, and the exposures your family has experienced over time.

Those details may seem small today, but they can become incredibly important if investigators are trying to understand patterns years from now.

If you're concerned about your family's environmental health, find a physician who understands environmental and occupational medicine—or a functional medicine provider with experience taking a detailed environmental exposure history. The conversation is often just as important as the laboratory testing.

And remember, there is no single blood test that tells us why a cancer developed, and there is no evidence that aggressive "detox" protocols prevent cancer. Start with the foundations: clean air, clean water, nutritious food, healthy sleep, movement, and minimizing avoidable exposures whenever you reasonably can.

My hope is that the investigation in Ladera Ranch is thorough, transparent, and guided by science—not assumptions.

Because every family deserves answers.

Not just for today, but for future generations.

If this series has been helpful, save it for future reference and share it with someone in Ladera Ranch or the surrounding communities.

Together, informed communities can help drive meaningful change.

It is easy to look at symptoms one at a time.Waking at 3am.Afternoon crashes.PMS showing up right on schedule.Each one c...
05/28/2026

It is easy to look at symptoms one at a time.

Waking at 3am.
Afternoon crashes.
PMS showing up right on schedule.

Each one can feel separate.
But when they repeat in the same way, at the same times,
they often point to a pattern.

And patterns tend to tell us more than any single symptom.

They show us how the body is adapting.
What it is responding to.
What it may not have the capacity to regulate consistently.

When you start to see the pattern, you are no longer just reacting to symptoms.

You are beginning to understand the system behind them.

If this feels familiar and you would like support looking at the full picture, comment SPRING and my team can share details about working with us at The Spring Center.

Address

1831 Orange Avenue
Costa Mesa, CA
92627

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Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 2pm

Telephone

+19495745800

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