What is Functional Medicine?
Functional medicine is a very personalized medicine that deals with primary prevention and underlying causes instead of symptoms for serious chronic disease.
The bio-medical model looks at symptoms and treats accordingly (one size fits all). Functional medicine looks at the body as a whole unit and tries to get to the root of underlying diseases causes.
- For example, a digestive complaint may have to do with an underlying immune reaction.
- A hormone imbalance during peri-menopause may be due to adrenal hypo/hyper function.
An integrative, science-based healthcare approach. Functional medicine practitioners look “upstream” to consider the complex web of interactions in the patient’s history, physiology, and lifestyle that can lead to illness.
- The unique genetic makeup of each patient is considered
- internal (mind, body and spirit) factors
- external (physical and social environment) factors that affect total functioning.
Functional Medicine is an excellent approach for:
- Thyroid disorders
- Autoimmune processes: Rheumatoid arthritis, Celiac disease, Multiple Sclerosis
- Hormonal Imbalances
- Blood sugar imbalances – Diabetes/Hypoglycemia
- Infertility
- Gastrointestinal disorders
- Food Allergies and Sensitivities
- Sleep Disorders
- ADD/ADHD
- Unexplained weight gain/loss
Treatment Plan: Functional medicine integrates traditional Western medical practices with what are sometimes considered “alternative” or “integrative” medicine, creating a focus on prevention through:
- nutrition, diet, and exercise
- measurable results by blood tests, saliva tests, and/or urine analysis
- prescribed combinations of drugs and/or botanical medicines, supplements, therapeutic diets, detoxification programs, or stress-management techniques.
