 Functional medicine is an alternative approach to health and wellness that allows practitioners to diagnose illnesses before they manifest, and find and treat the root cause of a patient’s condition vs. simply treating their symptoms.
I always like to explain functional medicine like this: Conventional medicine treats the symptoms of a patient after they’re already suffering from them. It’s like the airbags in a car - designed to help only after something goes wrong. Functional medicine, though, can act like the rumble strips on the highway. It gives patients the opportunity to course correct and prevent something from going wrong to begin with. The trouble with only treating symptoms Functional medicine practitioners analyze blood work, do tissue analysis, urinalysis, hair mineral analysis, saliva hormone panels, DNA testing, and more, to understand the true root cause of a patient’s symptoms. When only a patient’s symptoms are being treated, the treatment itself can often cause other undesirable symptoms. Hypothyroidism vs. Hashimoto's I treated a patient who had previously been diagnosed with and was undergoing treatment for hypothyroidism. She presented with cold hands & feet, weight gain, brain fog, and migrating pain - common symptoms for hypothyroidism. But the treatment she had been receiving was causing her to experience extreme fatigue and hair loss in addition to not alleviating her other symptoms. After an in-depth analysis of various panels, I was able to diagnose an autoimmune issue that was presenting in the thyroid, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, which requires an entirely different protocol than hypothyroidism. The patient was prescribed a 100% personalized treatment plan consisting of whole food supplements and nutrition plan. After diligently following protocol, the patient had more energy, experienced weight loss, no pain, increased energy and slept better than she had in 20 years. Not all functional medicine is created equal Once I’m able to diagnose the root cause of a patient’s symptoms, I prescribe a personalized treatment plan of whole food supplements and nutrition recommendations, which, when followed diligently, produces the best results for my patients. Other practitioners may prescribe synthetic supplements or other pills, but these types of substances are not able to be properly absorbed by the body and can create a harmful buildup in the body over time. Follow-up The amount of follow-up involved in functional medicine varies widely and depends on the patient’s condition and desired health goals. Once I prescribe a patient’s treatment plan, I follow up, requesting labs and other panels at various increments, from anywhere from 2 months to 2 years. Everyone reacts differently to treatment. This follow-up is critical and effective because it allows me to see what’s working and tweak what’s not. This personalized attention to my patients’ treatment and protocol has provided them with some incredible results. Ready to try functional medicine for yourself? If you’ve been to other doctors or practitioners to get relief from symptoms you’ve been experiencing, only to be told that according to your labs, there’s nothing wrong... If your gut is (literally or figuratively!) telling you that something “just isn’t right”, and you’re looking for a doctor who will work to find the root cause of your symptoms… Click over to our Functional Medicine page to view our Initial Treatment offering, as well as our ongoing Treatment Plan Bundles, and schedule your appointment today.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
|
RSS Feed