What is Functional Medicine
Unlike conventional medicine, FUNCTIONAL MEDICINE, treats the underlying causes of disease, not the symptoms of disease or the disease itself. Drugs and other medical procedures can only treat or "cover up" the symptoms of disease, and do not address the actual causes of disease. Functional Medicine doctors spend time with their patients, listening to their histories and looking at their genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors which may have influenced their health. Functional Medicine is not a "one size fits all" program, it's treatments are uniquely tailored to each individual and it's specialized laboratory tests are able to scientifically pinpoint the exact cause(s) of chronic illness and the care that's needed.
Functional medicine gets to the root of your health issues
Think of functional medicine as a tree. The environment the tree lives in (the soil and surroundings) is the exposome, which determines the tree’s health. In the real world, this is what you eat, your lifestyle (e.g work, stress, relationships), the environment you live in (e.g polluted city), your sense of connection to others and the world, and other factors like your quality of sleep and the exercise you get.
If the leaves of your tree went brown and spotty, by way of demonstration, conventional medicine may prescribe some paint to make them look better, or even recommend cutting them off. The symptoms will be gone, however, without having addressed the actual problem, they will return. By contrast, a functional medicine practitioner would explore: what caused the leaves to go brown, and what does this tree need so it doesn’t happen again?For a tree, it might be sun, water or fertiliser. For you, it might be increasing intake of specific nutrients, balancing hormones or restoring your microbiome health.
Functional Medicine vs Conventional Medicine
in the treatment of Chronic Disease
Conventional Medicine
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Seeks to treat symptoms of chronic illness, not resolve the underlying cause
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Treats the disease or particular organ as isolated
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Offers prescriptions, often with negative side effects, to mask symptoms of underlying disease
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Relies on large practice groups
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Beholden to insurance company policies and prices
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Focuses on illness, not wellness
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Less control over information
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Data-driven approach to decision making
Functional Medicine
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Seeks to address the root cause of illness
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Views and treats the body as a whole
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Offers a customized diet and lifestyle strategy, in addition to other natural therapies, to treat the entire body
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Patient-centered individual or small practices
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In-depth consultations not driven by insurance company policies
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Focuses on overall wellbeing
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Simplified information control
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Focus on what works for your specific body averaged data
Understanding the root cause, vs disease management.
The current acute-care approach to diseases involves administering drugs to manage a condition or symptom, without looking at why a symptom or disease has occurred. Often the drug prescribed suppresses a pathway that can lead to bigger problems.
For example, statins reduce cholesterol by inhibiting a step in the pathway that produces cholesterol. As CoQ10, a critical antioxidant and cofactor involved in cellular energy production, stabilising cell membranes and regulating blood pressure, shares the same synthetic pathway as cholesterol, synthesis of CoQ10 is reduced. Hence common side effects are fatigue, as well as muscular pain. There is also an increased risk of developing Diabetes Mellitus by using statin therapy.
Treating high cholesterol by directly lowering levels is an outdated approach based on the latest research. Not only has it been found that most heart attack patients have normal levels of LDL cholesterol, but new insights also show that high cholesterol is often a symptom of other imbalances in the body, such as metabolic syndrome, intestinal permeability, changes in thyroid function, stress, underlying viral infections or environmental toxin exposure.
"We need to move beyond asking what drug will treat the symptoms, and instead ask what mechanism creates altered neurochemical or neurobiological function or systemic physiological change."
Jeffrey Bland, PhD, FACN, CNS