Functional Medicine vs Conventional Medicine
The first time you step into a functional medicine doctor’s office, you may be surprised by the length of time you spend with them, answering questions about your health history, any medications you’ve been on, any dental work, and so on.
We ask these questions because we care, and because often, in the case of chronic illness, we know you’ve already been to see experts and specialists – we have to look at the whole picture, the whole body, in order to identify the problem. This is an in-depth process.
We pay special attention to:
- Genetics
- General lifestyle
- Sleep hygiene
- Stress management
- Nutritional status
Your treatment is tailor-made to you and your body’s needs. A functional medicine doctor has trained at the Institute for Functional Medicine (IFM) and is qualified to examine your test results thoroughly, not just checking if you lie within an average range – if there is even a slight deficiency in nutrients or hormone levels, we investigate further, determined to get to the bottom of your illness. Patients with autoimmune disease often have a complex interplay between body systems, and you need a functional medicine doctor to make sense of this.
The most exciting part of functional medicine treatment is when patients realize they’re not going to be handed the same prescription for drugs that may cause significant side effects. Instead, the doctor works with the patient to come up with a treatment plan that often involves dietary changes, supplementation, lifestyle changes, and detoxification. Your body has everything it needs to heal from a long-term chronic health condition, it just requires the opportunity, and a helping hand, to get you back on the road to optimum health.
There is no set timeline for treatment: it takes as long as is needed to improve your daily life. The goal of a functional medicine doctor is to get to the point where the patient is not so dependent on them anymore, and there are long periods of time between visits – because the patient has their health completely in hand. In functional medicine, the aim is to improve your health, not keep you dependent on medication.