What is Functional Medicine?
It is finding and removing the rock.
You’ve heard the story. You have a rock in your shoe. Your foot hurts because of it. You could take pain medicine. You could buy a bigger shoe. You could cut off the toe that hurts.
Or, you could remove the rock.
Somewhat simplified? Yes, but, a good analogy anyway.
A Functional Medicine provider works closely with you to get to the root of your health problem. We are interested in why you have the problem(s) that is bothering you. And what we can do to correct it.
A Functional Medicine approach may mean looking at the gut, the urine, the blood for clues.
It may mean eating foods that could better support you, and avoiding foods that are contributing to the problem.
It may mean looking at your daily life. Often your sleep, your exposure to toxins, your work and play, your relationships can be areas to further support yourself. Sometimes you find that you may be putting the rock in your own shoe without realizing it.
Functional medicine sometimes involves using supplements, usually in the short term, to more quickly create a shift toward health. It rarely may call for a prescription medicine as part of an overall protocol.
Modern medicine is amazing in many ways. It is really good at handling emergencies and trauma, reattaching severed limbs, restoring sight. But it is not very good at promoting health, or at preventing or addressing (rather than just “managing”) long-term disease.
Because Functional Medicine digs deep to uncover and address root issues, it tends to lead to more profound and longer lasting results.
Conventional medicine often masks or suppresses symptoms. This can create “patients for life” who are dependent on expensive medications. These meds have side effects and risks, and are not meant to address the root cause of their illness. Think high blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes, or birth control pills for irregular periods.
Functional Medicine (FM) is safe. Treatments tend to have fewer side effects, risks and complications since there is more emphasis on diet, lifestyle, supplements and herbs rather than drugs and surgery.
FM treats an individual, not a disease. Two patients may have the same problem but receive different treatments. The patient is respected, empowered, educated, encouraged to be actively involved in their treatment. Unfortunately, in conventional medicine the patient’s input is often discounted or ignored. And little or no time is spent on education.
Some would say conventional medicine treats from the outside in, suppressing symptoms with drugs or surgery, managing disease. Patients are living with symptoms.
Functional Medicine treats from the inside out. It starts with diet, lifestyle, and environment. Then underlying abnormalities are addressed, thus removing the trigger for the disease and symptoms.
Both Conventional Medicine and Functional Medicine are based on science. However, there is typically a 15-20 year gap from scientific discovery to conventional medical practice.
Functional Medicine practitioners dramatically reduce that gap by translating those discoveries into real-time clinical practice. They are early adopters of innovative knowledge and practices. This is safe since we are talking about gentle changes using diet, lifestyle, and plant based supplements rather than medications and surgery.
“Leaky gut” is a good example of this. It was discussed and addressed in the FM world years before it was even recognized in conventional medicine.
Finally, functional medicine can help you solve a health problem, or can help you optimize health. As a previous client said “I like data”. If you like data, we can have lots of fun looking at your life, maybe doing some tests, and evaluating the data.
If a functional medicine approach to your health problem, or to optimize your health, sounds of interest to you contact me and let’s talk.