What Is Functional Medicine?

Six out of 10 adults have a chronic disease and four in 10 adults have two or more chronic diseases. Worse yet, our life expectancy has also dropped – for the third year in a row – with heart disease and cancer being the top two leading causes of death in the United States. Einstein perfectly described what is going on with current healthcare as insanity--doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. This is why we are happy to announce we will be offering a different approach to your health and wellness through Functional Medicine. Functional medicine is a holistic, patient-centered, collaborative approach to healthcare. It aims to prevent or reverse chronic illness by identifying the root cause of the issue.

To better understand the approach, here’s a common scenario: In conventional medicine, a person with high blood sugar would see her provider for 15 minutes and leave with a prescription for a new drug. After that, she is on her own for the next three months until the next appointment. Sadly, the medication rarely addresses the actual cause of the high blood sugar. Instead, it works to mask symptoms and sometimes even suppress important bodily functions, leading to those unintended side effects. More medications are given to hide those symptoms and we have now landed on the medication merry-go-round with no end in sight.

With a Functional Medicine approach, we will work with you and take the time to uncover what is actually contributing to the illness. This includes looking at your diet, exercise, lifestyle habits, and environmental exposures to determine how we can best optimize your health.Often times, this means making small, yet significant changes, that have tremendous lasting effects. Research out of the Cleveland Clinic found there were significant improvements in physical and mental health with Functional Medicine. If you are tired trying the same thing over and over, call us today and schedule a functional medicine consult with our board-certified nurse practitioner, Karin.

Chronic Diseases. (2019). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.