Functional Medicine: Why Your Medical Care Needs to Serve a Function in Your Health
You are unique, we all are. That you have your story that shaped you. I believe that we want to be healthy for ourselves and our loved ones. Like you, I was told that I needed to follow a conventional system that followed tradition. A tradition that placed the emphasis on illness and suffering.
Harmful Mental Patterns that Are a Part of Our Conventional Medical Culture include:
-You’ll pop a pill as a quick fix for almost anything to improve your short-term quality of life.
-You think your doctor’s job is to take charge of your health and “fix” you when symptoms arise.
-Your physical activity has decreased with each passing year because you think you’re supposed to slow down as your calendar age rises.
-You want your body to act and recover as it did in your teens and 20s. -You are only given high priced and high risk options of drugs and surgery as the first line treatment.
Below is a comparison chart of Functional Medicine and Conventional Medicine.
Functional Medicine addresses the underlying causes of disease, using a systems-oriented approach and engaging both patient and practitioner in a therapeutic partnership. It is an evolution in the practice of medicine that better addresses the healthcare needs of the 21st century. By shifting the traditional disease-centered focus of medical practice to a more patient-centered approach, Functional Medicine addresses the whole person, not just an isolated set of symptoms. Functional Medicine practitioners spend time with their patients, listening to their histories and looking at the interactions among genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors that can influence long-term health and complex, chronic disease. In this way, Functional Medicine supports the unique expression of health and vitality for each individual.
I want to share with you the Functional Medicine Tree. You will see that the branches are the specific organ systems. The top of the trunk is the signs and symptoms. The base of the trunk is the core imbalances that manifest varying signs and symptoms in each person depending on where the genetic and nutritional deficiencies exist. The roots are the areas of the lifestyle prescription. This is the fundamental way that people can modify their function- either increasing function or decreasing function.
Medical school and residency were both wonderful training opportunities to provide a foundation and a wealth of knowledge that scratched the surface as to what medical care offers in the healing process. And what I offer as a physician to you in your healing process. Everyone has a root cause for their dis-ease. My role is to be the health detective/inspector. I gather evidence and history through tools and labs to discover and treat the underlying condition. Please contact me to schedule a 15 minute phone consultation at hello@drmcswain.com.
