By Brittany Cotton
Traditional medicine focuses on symptoms. Practitioners of functional medicine also consider their patients’ medical histories, but this is not the focus of the treatment. With functional medicine, physicians spend more time gathering information, medical histories, and other factors that may lead to disease so that they can treat medical conditions on an individualized basis. This approach means that the cause of the illness is the focus rather than treatment with medications.
What Exactly Is Functional Medicine?
Functional medicine considers a patient’s biology when making a diagnosis. The focus is to find the root cause of the illness and not just treat the symptoms. When physicians take this approach, they may find that the illness has more than one cause. For example, the cause of depression may be pre-diabetes, Vitamin D deficiency, low thyroid, omega 3 deficiency, and antibiotic use.
The fact of the matter is that everyone is different, so it makes more sense to treat everyone that way even though a physician may be treating the same disease in different patients. Each patient has his or her own body chemistry, and they all live in different households. They are in different environments, they eat different foods, and different things cause them stress. These factors aid doctors in diagnosing and treating diseases, but they can also assist them in preventing medical conditions.
Therefore, functional medicine is patient-centered as physicians try to discover why a person is sick. Once they know the answer to this question, they can personalize the treatment that would be best for their patient’s needs.
First, they interview their patients and take their medical histories. Armed with this information, they can determine the root cause of the disorder. It may be the bacteria in the body, the person’s genetics, allergens, toxins, stress, or poor nutrition. These are known as the “triggers” for the condition.
After knowing what is triggering the disorder, they can develop a personalized treatment plan. The treatment will be more than just prescription medication. It might address several areas in the person’s life, including the things that stress them in their communities, jobs, and social relationships. It also addresses sleep, exercise, and nutrition.
What Does Functional Medicine Help?
Functional medicine helps several chronic conditions, including the following:
- Thyroid disorders
- Insulin resistance, pre-diabetes, and metabolic syndrome
- Polycystic ovary syndrome, menopause and PMS
- Allergies
- Fibromyalgia
- Digestive disorders
- Diabetes
- Cardiovascular disease
- Autoimmune diseases
- Asthma
- Arthritis
- Dementia and Alzheimer’s disease
- Adrenal disorders
The Benefits of Trying Functional Medicine
There are at least four benefits to treating patients with functional medicine, and they are listed below:
The Focus Is on Symptoms and Not on the Condition.
Rather than focusing on relieving the symptoms of a disease, the focus of functional medicine is the root cause of the illness. Once you know what the root cause is, the patient has what is needed to bring herself back to health. She can also make lifestyle changes that will help her keep the illness from presenting itself. The goal is not just to make the patient feel better but to help the patient obtain optimal health.
It Is a Personalized Approach to Medicine.
Gathering an inordinate amount of information about the patient means that the treatment can be personalized to each patient. Two different patients live different lives, and their illnesses manifest themselves in different ways. Practitioners of functional medicine believe that these differences need to be taken into consideration because these differences can help them be more successful in treating their patients.
It Benefits a Patient’s Overall Health.
Functional medicine allows physicians to thoroughly understand why a patient is suffering from a condition. Then, they can use what they learned to maintain their patient’s overall health and possibly prevent medical conditions from presenting themselves in the future.
It Is Based on Science, So the Efficacy Has Been Proven.
Because the physician must collect a large amount of data to diagnose a patient, functional medicine is based on science. Along with the patient’s medical history, the practitioner also takes how the person lives, the physiology, and lifestyle, and biochemical and genetic factors into consideration when diagnosing a patient. Then, they can use this data to watch how the patient progresses on the treatment plan.
Brittany Cotton is a writer who focuses on health, wellness, and a variety of other topics. In her free time, you can find her reading, trying new recipes, or playing with her dog.