Functional Medicine as an Approach to Overall Wellbeing

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Functional medicine is a kind of alternative healing that involves getting to the root cause of a disease. Know more information about it here. There are individualized treatment plans that determine the root cause to minimize pain. 

Some of the imbalances that cause diseases are nutritional deficiencies, autoimmune dysfunction, hormonal imbalances, chronic illnesses, and gastrointestinal dysfunction. 

Conventional healing may treat diseases as they appear. But the primary goal of functional medicine is to prevent the disease from coming back by addressing the root cause. 

Practitioners in this field may view the body as a single and united system and not just a collection of internal organs. As a result, the treatment is for the entire system and not just the symptoms.

Healing the Person

When a person approaches a practitioner, there is a therapeutic partnership that is involved. The practitioner aims to know the lifestyle, diet, work, and a lot of other areas of a person. For example, an individual may experience headaches and approaches a practitioner for functional medicine. The practitioner will assess and see the root cause of the headache. It might be a work-related problem that needs to be solved or stress within the family.

The examples vary, but one can get the whole picture of a therapy that is patient-centered and not disease-centered. The relationship between the practitioner and the patient goes beyond the norm. Instead of just giving a prescription for the headache, the practitioner will provide a specific approach that is beneficial to his patient. Know more about specific individualized programs about functional medicine in sites such as https://www.fivejourneys.com

One of the best practices in this field is that the therapists spend a lot of time in one on one sessions with their patients. Some of the things that are talked about are the individual’s history, genetics, environmental interactions, stressors, and overall lifestyle. 

The therapist will then look for the possible root cause that is present in the patient’s life. For example, a person who has difficulty in balancing his work and family may experience lots of headaches and stress at work or home. Too much pressure and frequent problems can impact productivity and long-term health. 

The therapist can provide a step by step guide on how to provide balance in the work-life area. This guide is specific to the patient’s line of work, his family dynamics, and other factors that can promote overall health in the long run.

Why Is There a Need for Functional Medicine?

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  • As the number of people increases in society, there is also an increased risk of diseases. Some are suffering from heart diseases, autoimmune disorders, diabetes, and arthritis that can benefit from the non-traditional methods of healing.
  • Most physicians in hospitals are geared toward acute care. They aim to cure the illness in the shortest possible time. They are focused on urgent care, such as treating appendicitis or a broken leg. Most doctors will prescribe drugs and do surgery that will heal the pain. 
  • But the approach of acute care does not include tools for preventing other complex diseases. Most physicians are not focused on a person’s unique genetic makeup. They don’t delve into a person’s history and the things that made them experience their illness.
  • Most often, doctors don’t consider environmental exposures such as toxins that can cause illness. They don’t delve more in-depth in the direct influence of chronic diseases into a person’s history and environment. This practice may be detrimental for people who are experiencing the same symptoms or illness repeatedly.
  • Some studies have found out that there’s a gap of 50 years in medical practice and the research of basic sciences. This means that when someone does research and come up with positive findings in the medical field, it will take about fifty years before it can be applied to practice. 
  • Most doctors are not into assessing the underlying cause of a patient’s disease. They are not the ones who set up a diet plan, exercise routine, and other strategies that can treat the illness of their patients. They are trained to cure the immediate diseases present and do surgeries if needed but not with the overall wellbeing of their patients.

The Difference in Functional Medicine

  • This field aims to understand the origin of a disease. It seeks to treat complex chronic diseases and prevent them from coming back. 
  • Patient-centeredness is one of the main differences in this field compared to other medical areas. The focus is for the patient to have vitality and to live healthily. By listening to a patient and letting him know that he is heard, he will be more encouraged to share more of his thoughts. The treatment will then be individually-tailored to his needs to address the problem effectively.
  • Functional medicine is a science-based approach that considers the complex dynamics of a person’s lifestyle, physiology, environment, and history that led to the illness. As each patient has a unique genetic makeup, the treatment along with the body, mind, and spirit can make a massive difference in the recovery period. 
  • The best practices are integrated into this field, including Western medical practices. This is also called integrative or alternative medicine that aims to focus on the prevention and treatment of an illness. The techniques include laboratory tests, stress management, prescribed botanical and natural supplements, therapeutic diets, and stress-management procedures.

If one doesn’t find what he is looking for in traditional medicine, he can supplement it with functional healing. After all, it is better to address the problem for good before it comes back. Some approaches are tailored to the patient’s need available through the help of a qualified therapist.

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