The term “functional medicine” was born in 1993 to describe the medicine of the future In fact, today many doctors use a functional medicine approach that includes the following:
Patient uniqueness
Each individual is unique. This uniqueness encompasses voluntary activities, such as decision-making, personality development, emotional response, and involuntary activities like metabolism of nutrients, cellular processing of information, and communication among the body’s organ systems.
Functional medicine professionals realize that every person has a unique metabolic pattern that affects their individual health needs, and thus, the concept of individuality is central to every aspect of functional medicine, from clinical assessment and diagnosis to the broad spectrum of treatment modalities.
Preventative Care
Optimal health is not just the absence of disease. Even the most minor symptoms can foreshadow more serious conditions later in life. This often happens via the “snowball effect,” in which a “minor” imbalance within the body produces a cascade of biological triggers that can eventually lead to poor health and chronic illness. For this reason, functional medicine focuses on the prevention, instead of just the treatment of, even the most minor, imbalances. The vast amount of data on the development of the modern chronic killers; diseases such as heart attacks, hypertension, diabetes, cancers, neurological diseases and many more, proves there is a direct link between the quality and quantity of food and drink we consume.
You are what you eat
The food we eat literally becomes our body. If year after year we put substances that are toxic, deprived of vital nutrients, vitamins and minerals and are filled with chemicals, well inside the body we get exactly what such a combination would render: a sick body. Why? Because as soon as the food passes the taste buds in your mouth, it stops being "chicken,” "steak,” "potato,” “sugar,” but becomes fats, protein, carbohydrates and other chemicals. It will start activating the expression of genes. Functional, or nutritional, medicine focuses on changing the lifestyle and optimizing the diet in such a way that food becomes the fuel and a source of health, not self-destruction.
Nutritional Protocols
To replenish missing nutrients we often add specific, pharmaceutically graded, dense formulas, which help to combat deficiencies and restore balance. Functional medicine has treatment protocols for conditions such as diabetes and metabolic syndrome, hypertension, autoimmune diseases, arthritis, cancers, chronic fatigue syndrome, mitochondrial dysfunctions and many more. When patients are reluctant to use acupuncture, I always suggest adding nutritional protocols to their existing treatments. Through changes in lifestyle, environment, and nutrition, functional medicine professionals rely on their knowledge of key physiological, genetic, and biochemical processes for establishing an innovative form of total patient wellness amidst the diversity of interests in health care today.
Patient-centered approach
Functional medicine doctors use a patient-centered approach to support wellness. This means that in addition to considering the overall health of the patient, functional medicine practitioners consider the beliefs, attitudes, and motivations, as well as the physical, mental, and emotional aspects, of the patient.
If you have health problems that concern you, but are hesitant to take drugs and are afraid of needles, functional medicine can be just what the doctor ordered for you.
