The 6 Hallmarks of Functional Medicine

When going to your primary care doctor, do you feel heard?  Do you feel like your body in conversation has been compartmentalized and chopped up into pieces. For example, if your back hurts you get a referral to the Orthopedist, if your stomach hurts you’re sent to a Gastroenterologist, if your head hurts you make an appointment to see the Neurologist and it just keeps going. Unfortunately, this is the way we navigate healing the unwell?

Have you been searching for something different? Have you been looking for someone to take the time and listen to your entire list of health concerns. Connecting the dots and making sense of your complaints. Was the goal at your doctors appointment to try and figure out a way you could correct your issues; assessing diet, lifestyle and supportive protocols. Or was it you leaving with 2 or 3 prescriptions just to mask the symptoms? Are you looking to feel more energized and with less pains, but are being told it’s just because you’re getting older.

It sounds to me like you’ve been looking for a little functional medicine in your life, you just didn’t know what it was called. Functional Medicine is going to take a sledge hammer to the old Western medicine paradigm and provide you with the answers you need to take back your health and regain optimal function.

 So what is Functional Medicine? We believe it’s the most effective and profound way to treat patients, especially those suffering with chronic conditions!

Here are 6 Hallmarks that create the definition of functional medicine.

1. IT’S PERSONALIZED.

Functional medicine views all people as individuals. All of us have our own unique genetic and physiological makeups. We have different stressors, different environmental, viral or toxic exposures, different lifestyles and many different underlying factors that contribute to health or being unwell.

Functional medicine is a one-on-one partnership between patient and practitioner to start a therapeutic relationship. It is health focused and deeply personalized to come up with a unique approach to regain optimal function. We take the whole person into account.  We only use the symptoms as clues to determine which body systems need support to achieve a lifelong path to wellness. This is why at Reclaim Wellness our initial consultations are an hour or longer, we must act like detectives to uncover the true reasons the body is in a state of dis-ease.

 2. IT’S NEVER ONE SIZE FITS ALL.

Since the functional medicine approach is so tailored, it requires patience. True healing does not happen overnight, but true healing can be achieved. Traditional Western medicine does not have the time, training or tools to create these wellness plans, this is where functional medicine shines.

 There is no denying that emergency medicine saves lives and that there are circumstances that require medications.  However, when trying to deal with a growing population suffering with chronic disease such as diabetes, heart disease, auto-immune conditions, allergies, gastrointestinal issues, mental illness, chronic fatigue and symptoms manifesting from chronic stress, we must change our western symptom based protocol to a more comprehensive and therapeutic approach.

3. THE TRUE MEANING OF INTEGRATIVE MEDICINE.

The good news is, you don’t have to decide to do one over the other. Functional medicine uses conventional medicine as well as holistic and complimentary therapies to stop chronic conditions and promote disease prevention. The tools that functional medicine draws on to achieve wellness are western or functional lab testing, diet and nutrition, exercise, stress management, holistic therapies, such as acupuncture, massage, hypnotherapy and supplementation. With these tools we can start to create an environment in the body that will speed healing and pave the road to optimal wellness and longevity, no matter what your age.
 

4. FUNCTIONAL MEDICINE IS BASED ON SCIENCE.

Science is deeply steeped in functional medicine. The most current research shows us that by rather assessing pathology we can utilize this new framework for assessing predisposition, metabolic functions, energy reserves, tissue injuries, hormone variations, psychological health, daily and cyclic variations as well as nutrition to allow for a more personalized therapy. Science shows us that what is happening in the body is not a single malfunction but that there is a problem in a complicated network of relationships between systems. Functional medicine is redefining disease, treating the cause and mechanism and not just the disease label with an ICD-10 code to match.

5. YOU ARE A SELF REGULATING MACHINE.

Many Western practitioners have taken the wind from our sails when it comes to the power in which we can heal ourselves. Our bodies are extremely intelligent. Every function and dynamic balance is designed to keep us alive. So why not give the body what it needs to transform itself into better health? Unfortunately, your functional medicine practitioner can not do the work for you, but they will design a plan to address the underlying imbalances or system dysfunctions and help you put a stop to the progression of disease patterns. We will be your biggest fan, cheering you along in your new health journey, you just need to believe that your body has the ability to heal and you CAN prevent nearly all the diseases of aging.

6. IT’S LOOKING FOR THE “WHY.”

If you have a headache, the question should be why? You do not have an Ibuprofen deficiency. Functional medicine is not about treating a specific symptom, nor are we concerned with the label you have been given, such as fibromyalgia, IBS or arthritis. We are solely concerned with identifying the root cause of the imbalances that created these sets of symptoms. We question why you have these labels, what function has been lost and what can be done to restore proper function. Functional medicine is about the WHY? Why is this body system disrupted or this symptom happening? When you know the WHY you can treat the root cause.

 At Reclaim Wellness, we have dedicated ourselves to the practice of functional medicine and are qualified Certified Functional Medicine Practitioners (CFMP). Functional medicine is incorporated with our holistic treatments that also include acupuncture, massage, holistic nutrition,  advanced laboratory testing, hypnotherapy, reiki and meditation instruction to meet the individual needs of our patients. We believe functional medicine is the true health model and we are happy to be part of the health shift paradigm addressing the health care needs of the 21st century.
 

Now….who’s ready to RECLAIM their health! Go ahead and get started by calling Reclaim Wellness at 561-336-3144. It would be our pleasure to work with you.