Debbie Functional medicine is one of the many alternative health approaches that stray from Western medicine’s organ-centric approach to diagnosing and treating patients.
Instead, functional doctors see their patients as whole people with unique biochemical make-ups. It puts them in a much stronger position to help their patients find holistic wellness, rather than symptom relief.
It’s Personalized
Unlike traditional medicine, which is focused on treating disease symptoms, Functional medicine treats the root causes of illness to prevent diseases in the first place.
Based on systems biology, functional medicine examines how a patient’s genes, environment, and lifestyle affect their health. Each symptom may be one of many contributing factors, but only treatments that address the specific causes will have lasting benefits.
Functional medicine doctors use a comprehensive medical history to assess how your unique genetics and environment affect your long-term health. This information creates a customized healthcare plan based on your individual needs.
The personalized plan can include various treatment options, such as diet, exercise, supplements, botanicals, detoxification, and stress management. It also includes lab work to identify hidden issues that have been causing you pain and discomfort for years. These tests can reveal problems with gut bacteria, toxicity in the body, brain function, and more.
It’s Preventative
Denver functional medicine is a new way of thinking about how health and illness occur. It’s preventative and individualized, merging traditional Western medical practices with integrative medicine.
Functional practitioners focus on a person’s entire life to identify underlying disease causes and restore optimal health. It includes looking at a patient’s genetics, biochemistry and lifestyle to create a treatment plan for their unique health needs.
This approach often involves running a lot of lab tests. It allows a doctor to provide a more comprehensive picture of a person’s health than traditional doctors can.
Functional physicians often recommend dietary changes that could help reduce the likelihood of developing a chronic condition. These dietary changes may include eating a more Mediterranean diet or taking supplements, depending on the patient’s risk factors and lab results.
It’s Evidence-Based
Functional medicine is based on the scientific principle that the origin of the disease depends on the interaction between an individual’s genes and environment. It means that only medications or other interventions that address the root cause of a condition will have lasting benefits beyond symptom suppression.
Another way that functional medicine differs from conventional medicine is the focus on patient-centered care. It is a collaborative approach where the practitioner listens to patients’ concerns and helps them decide on their treatment options. Functional medicine practitioners use various tools to assess their patient’s health issues and identify the underlying causes of their symptoms.
It’s Holistic
Functional medicine acknowledges that we may experience various symptoms brought on by several different causes. This system biology-based approach helps to identify the root causes of disease and resolve them.
Functional medicine doctors deeply dive into your health history and assess the effects of stress, triggering events, sleep, nutrition, exercise, and other factors that influence your vitality. They then formulate a treatment plan to address these underlying issues.
Unlike other approaches to medical care, holistic, integrative and functional medicine all focus on creating a healthy relationship with your doctor by providing you with a personalized wellness plan that empowers you to prevent illness. They also help you to understand your health needs so that you can make proactive, lasting changes in your lifestyle.
