Are you tired of taking handfuls of pills in the hope of relieving your symptoms?
Do you have several symptoms but have been unable to receive a proper diagnosis?
Are you tired of being just another face in the crowd at your doctor’s office?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, functional medicine may be the answer you have been looking for.
If you are ready to finally find the underlying cause of your symptoms and find relief, we are here to help!
Learn what functional medicine is, whether it is right for you, and how it can transform your life into one of health and wellness.
What Is Functional Medicine?
Approximately 6 in 10 US adults have a chronic illness. A full-blown chronic disease, unable to be treated with prescription medications, poses the biggest threat to your health. That’s why people are turning to the functional medicine approach.
Functional medicine is a scientific approach to healthcare. It is less concerned with disease and more about the multi-faceted process that results in an individual’s disease. The precise manifestation of each cause depends on your genes, environment, and lifestyle. Treatments that address the right cause will have lasting benefits beyond symptom suppression.
Functional medicine is a practical approach that delivers personalized healthcare. It is also known as root-cause medicine, and it seeks to uncover the root cause of a disease or dysfunction. It is essential to recognize that one condition or disease can have multiple root causes, and one reason may result in several different situations.
Conversely, conventional medicine typically looks at the endpoints of disease when a treatment like surgery is needed. It also tends to seek symptom suppression with pharmaceuticals rather than symptom treatment.
Benefits of a Functional Medicine Approach
Cost-Effective Long-Term Solution
Approximately 60 percent of American adults suffer from one or more chronic diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, osteoarthritis, heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and kidney disease. These may be prevented or delayed with healthy lifestyle choices.
A functional medicine approach is very proactive and begins by educating patients on the importance of healthy living. Patients can improve their health and delay or prevent future diseases through education and coaching. Rather than spending thousands of dollars on prescription medications, patients can save money by being proactive and controlling their health.
Determine the Root Cause Rather than Treat the Symptoms
Functional medicine is a scientifically backed, patient-centered medical approach that offers personalized care. Your functional medicine doctor works alongside you to determine the underlying causes of your symptoms using various health assessments and laboratory tests. In addition, an in-depth analysis is done across a broad range of parameters, including diet and digestive health, environmental factors, level of exercise, genetics, social life, and medical and family history, to determine the root cause of your illness.
Conventional medicine treats the symptoms of an illness. On the other hand, Functional medicine focuses on treating the underlying cause of your disease to reverse the diagnosis as completely as possible. It looks for the common triggers that increase the risk of developing a health issue. For example, chronic stress, a sedentary lifestyle, a poor diet, and toxin exposure are all known to increase the risk of disease.
Education
Realizing that educating and empowering the patient results in an improved quality of life, functional medical doctors start with the basics. When you visit, your doctor explains how your choices impact your health. You learn to incorporate antioxidant foods into your diet to nourish the body and improve your immune system. Additionally, you know how stress management techniques, such as mindfulness, help reduce stress and improve outcomes.
Functional medicine is patient-centered and seeks to ensure each patient understands their diagnosis.
Personalized Health Care
Everyone has a slightly different genetic makeup and requires a customized treatment plan that addresses every aspect of their life. Additionally, individuals enjoy various types of food, experience varying degrees of stress, and have different levels of physical activity, impacting their health. Your doctor reviews all these aspects before creating a personalized treatment plan.
We want to get to know you inside and out. We want to know your complete life story from birth to the present. This information creates a personalized health plan based on your unique needs. Unlike conventional doctors, who are only in a patient’s room for a few minutes, functional doctors spend an hour or longer during the patient’s initial appointment to take a complete medical history, discuss your current lifestyle, and thoroughly explain your labwork or test results.
Scientifically Proven Protocols
Many people think that functional medicine is simply a fancy name for herbal medicine; however, functional medicine utilizes scientifically proven methods to determine the root cause of a patient’s condition. Functional medical doctors collect data about the patient and use the latest laboratory and imaging tests to develop a treatment plan.
Similarly, a patient’s biochemical makeup, genetics, physiology, health history, and lifestyle choices are all considered. At each appointment, your doctor will discuss the progress of their treatment plan, its effectiveness in relieving symptoms, and how your body responds to the changes you are making.
Functional medicine doctors base their care on uncovering the underlying cause of illness and disease and developing close relationships with patients. They promote healthy lifestyles, a healthy diet, and an exercise regimen and maintain good mental, emotional, and social health.
Additionally, a functional medicine doctor will spend much more time with you than a conventional doctor. More investigation and collaboration are needed to develop a personalized healthcare approach that works for you.
Conditions Treated
Doctors can use a functional medicine approach to treat various conditions, especially chronic illnesses such as:
Functional medicine combines the latest scientific discoveries with traditional medicine to create a customized treatment plan for each patient. It emphasizes disease prevention. However, once the disease has developed, your doctor will determine which core clinical functions are imbalanced and the cause of the imbalance. Depending on the root cause, a personalized treatment plan is created to address most imbalances. We substantially improve some imbalances and can return others to optimal function.
This multi-pronged approach allows practitioners to treat the patient as a whole rather than just treating the symptoms. Functional medicine offers a wide range of treatment options. Your doctor will examine inflammatory markers and check for hormones to recommend a personalized treatment plan, including diet, lifestyle changes, and supplements. Functional medicine uses a variety of treatment methods, including:
With the functional medicine approach, the physician and patient become active partners. This partnership allows the patient to indeed be in control of improving their health and achieving optimal wellness. If you are ready to try out this new holistic treatment approach, meet our team of functional medicine clinicians.
Rose Wellness offers Holistic, Integrative and Functional Medicine services for treating chronic issues as well as for preventive care. Join us and take control of your health, your most important asset.
Holistic Approach To Wellness
Looking for root cause analysis of your symptoms and a personalized treatment plan?
Schedule a free 15 minute call with our wellness coordinator to see how we can help.
