What is Functional Medicine?
Functional medicine treats the root cause of an illness or disease rather than just treating the symptoms. We tend to focus on what we can see and measure, which means we often ignore hidden factors contributing to a person's health. It's a holistic approach to health that focuses on how all aspects of your life affect your health. From environmental toxins to gut flora to emotional stress, many different factors could be affecting your health and longevity. Functional medicine experts aim to uncover these imbalances to create a personalized treatment plan for each patient.
The Functional Medicine Model
The functional medicine model of care is a patient-centered approach to chronic disease management. The foundation of Functional Medicine is food as first-line therapy. The proper nutrition, combined with lifestyle and behavioral interventions, can help bring about the right changes in your health.
How is Functional Medicine different?
Functional medicine is a system of healthcare that centers on treating the root cause of disease. This contrasts with traditional medicine, which typically focuses on suppressing symptoms with drugs or surgery.
There are many reasons for this discrepancy between functional and traditional medicine. Still, the most important difference is simple - functional medicine looks at all aspects of a person's life and environment to assess how these factors may be contributing to their illness or wellness.
This approach can help people get well and stay well without relying solely on prescriptions. It offers relief from chronic illness by addressing lifestyle factors like diet, sleep habits, stress, and exercise. Functional medicine also recognizes factors like pollution, toxins, chemicals, radiation - all things that can contribute to health problems while often being ignored by traditional doctors.
Reasons to see a Functional Medicine doctor.
Functional medicine is an evolution of the healthcare system. There are many reasons to see a functional medicine doctor, but just a few.
1) Functional Medicine takes a more holistic approach: Instead of focusing on only one area (i.e., diet and exercise), functional medical doctors consider how all external and internal aspects may contribute to the problem you're experiencing.
2) Functional Medicine is patient-centered: This means that you will work with your doctor to find the root cause of your health problem rather than receive a prescription for medication (i.e., painkillers).
3) It helps prevent chronic disease: Chronic diseases make up 70 percent of deaths in America. That's why it's so important to take steps now to avoid them!
4) It can help manage chronic conditions: If you're living with chronic conditions like diabetes or heart disease, functional medicine can help address those as well as other comorbidities that often come with these diseases.
5) You will learn strategies for better sleep and stress management: One of the most common causes of illness is stress and poor sleep, so your health needs to implement strategies for managing these factors!
Conditions that can be treated by Functional Medicine
Functional medicine can be used to treat a wide range of conditions. These include chronic fatigue syndrome, irritable bowel syndrome, fibromyalgia, food sensitivities, asthma, autoimmune diseases, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, chronic pain, and more. It is also helpful in treating women's health problems like PMS, menopause, and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).
The doctor would need to undertake relevant tests and diagnosis before recommending a treatment that will work for you. In many cases, functional medicine supplements may be necessary to help the body heal from these conditions. In some cases, clinical lab testing may be needed to identify critical deficiencies in the body and treat it with natural supplementation or other therapies. These treatments might take weeks or months to see results in some cases. This is because functional medicine is not a quick fix - it's a long-term strategy for health and wellness.
Conclusion
At its heart, functional medicine is all about bringing the body back into balance. All the systems in the body are connected, so when you have a problem in one area, it doesn't just affect one system. At Integrative Therapeutics, we believe that you are much greater than the sum of your symptoms. We see all of who you are and work with you to create your healthy, happy life. Our functional medicine doctors will identify the root cause of your symptoms and then prescribe a customized treatment plan to address your specific needs.
