There are many people who do not feel well. This could include you.
When you feel sick, it can be a problem for you and your traditional doctor because many times he or she cannot find the source of the problem.
Why you feel tired, why you have digestive problems, why you can’t sleep, why you are depressed, why you get those headaches, are examples of problems on a list that can go on…
The reason why your problem cannot be solved is because traditional medicine is diagnosis-centred. It does best when it can see what is wrong with you by diagnostic tests. It looks for disease, and when you have one, this medicine goes into action in a methodical way using drugs or surgery to handle the found disease. Up to that time a patient is considered “well”.
It is not very helpful if you exist from day to day feeling terrible and waiting for a disease to occur before you can be treated!
This is where Functional Medicine comes in. It can address your problems before you get the disease.
What is Functional Medicine?
Functional Medicine is a scientific and systematic health care system used by medical practitioners to determine how and why illness occurs and restores health by addressing the root causes of disease for each individual. The goal is root cause resolution.
The Functional Medicine model is an individualized, patient-centred, science-based approach that empowers patients and practitioners to work together to address the underlying causes of disease and promote optimal wellness. It requires a detailed understanding of each patient’s genetic, biochemical, and lifestyle factors and leverages that data to direct personalized treatment plans that lead to improved patient outcomes.
By addressing the root cause, rather than symptoms, practitioners become oriented to identifying the complexity of the disease. They may find that one condition has many different causes and, likewise, one cause may result in many different conditions.
Functional medicine treats the person who has the disease, not the disease the person has. Symptoms suppression is only used as a temporary measure.
Functional medicine addresses problems before a disease is discovered. It is helpful for the person who is not feeling well but does not want to wait for a disease to occur before being treated. This medicine is an evidence-based healthcare approach and focuses on the assessment and early intervention for the improvement of physiological, biomechanical and physical functions. It considers a person as the whole and not just an isolated set of symptoms. It finds and locates the areas of the body that are not functioning at the best possible level and aims at altering these areas back to their optimal state.
Functional medicine is outcome-based promoting health as a positive vitality, and not just the absence of disease. It is a discovery process and tailored treatments that address the individual’s unique needs and attempts to restore organ reserve and resiliency to the person.
What is Integrative Medicine?
Integrative and Functional Medicine are two different terms used to describe a health care approach.
Integrative Medicine is the intelligent integration of various systems of healing or treating diseases such as chiropractic, homeopathy, osteopathy, Chinese medicine, holistic nutrition and allopathic medicine. In Integrative Medicine we make use of both conventional and alternative therapies, but it is healing-oriented medicine that takes into account the whole person meaning body, mind and spirit.
Autoimmune disease and Functional Medicine
Autoimmune disease, often presenting as “mysterious health symptoms”, can be helped using Functional Medicine. A hallmark of an autoimmune flare-up is inflammation. Chronic inflammation is at the core of every chronic disease. It will interfere with your mental and physical well-being.
Any of the three foundational aspects, as described below, can contribute to inflammation.
1) Lifestyle Factors:
- Are you sleeping well?
- Eating well?
- Sugar intake?
- Exercising well?
- Have supportive emotional connections?
2) Toxins:
- Are there environmental toxins contributing to your inflammation?
- Do you have high levels of lead and mercury in your system?
- Are you able to detox these metals, plastics, endocrine disrupters?
- Do you have pathogens (viruses, bacteria, parasites, etc…) contributing to your functional symptoms?
- Do you have emotional or spiritual toxicity from past-unresolved hurts?
3) Intrinsic Biochemical Processes:
- Do you have gut issues and are not absorbing nutrients well?
- Do you have adequate nutrients to guide biochemical pathways?
- Are there issues in your genomics that affect your biochemical pathways and reduce vitality?
- Are your hormones optimized?
How is one assessed using Functional Medicine?
This is done in a number of ways and includes:
1) Signs and symptoms questionnaire. This survey is specifically designed to evaluate symptom severity, duration and frequency in a rating system. It is useful in assessing the degree of dysfunction and is continually used to determine the success of an intervention.
2) A good history and physical examination. This is the key to locate the problems and establish a strong communication channel between the patient and the health professional.
3) Biomechanical assessment tools. These are new tools available that can assess whether the body has reduced functional capabilities.
Gastrointestinal and liver functions are key areas, which are essential to good health. Finding and correcting poorly functioning (not diseased) liver and gut and correcting the problems is a must in the “not feeling well” patient.
Low tech but effective methods are now available for assessing the function of these two areas, which are patient-friendly and non-invasive. Intervention programs could include a personalized nutrition plan, dietary tailoring, structural and mechanical support, exercise prescription, stress intervention and environmental restructuring. Ensuring collaboration of a patient is as important as ordering the right lab tests and prescribing the right therapies. The patient’s partnership includes learning to take responsibility for his or her own choices and for complying with the recommended interventions.
These are the tools of the new breed of healthcare professionals. It is these tools when correctly used that can help a patient back to improved function and better health.