What Exactly is Functional Medicine?
"Dr. Stephanie, what exactly is functional medicine? How is this different from my regular doctor?"
This is a great question full of nuance, but here's an overview and an example.
What is Functional Medicine?
Integrative or functional medicine looks at two main things:
The big picture and holistic perspective of a person's health (how do all these parts fit together?)
The root causes driving symptoms and dysfunction.
Related Resource: For an easy-to-understand overview of integrative medicine, check out this patient-friendly article from WebMD: What Is Integrative Medicine?
How is it Different from Conventional Medicine?
Detailed Patient History
One major difference that patients always notice is the detailed timeline history and questions about seemingly unrelated parts of their lives when going through an appointment. I ask about history from birth to the present day - noting:
Physical trauma
Significant illness
Exposures to environmental pollutants
Mental and emotional trauma
Ways they have treated symptoms or coped with these situations
We dive into what has worked, what hasn't, and the patient's overall goals for treatment. We also discuss the patient's intuition about where they want to start or what they think is driving their current symptoms.
Personalized Approach
Looking at the big picture is often a process of untangling a web of each patient's specific variables. There is no one-size-fits-all approach in my practice. I will never say "We always start with the gut because all health begins in the gut." There is no protocol handout with a generic diet and supplement list; it's custom-tailored to each individual patient because each person comes from a unique background.
Optimal vs. Standard Lab Values
Another way functional medicine differs from conventional Western medicine is in the lab values. I look at what is considered "optimal" vs. a lab reference range. Lab reference ranges are based on lab averages. Functional or optimal ranges are where we see patients feeling and functioning their best. It's typically a more narrow range.
Treatment Approach
The way I treat patients is with personalized lifestyle recommendations. I don't prescribe with my license, so I can neither put you on nor take you off any medications. What I can do is recommend modifications to your lifestyle and things to consider when working with your prescribing physician. I often recommend changes in:
Diet
Sleep
Exercise
Stress management
Mindfulness practices
Environmental exposures
Supplementation
The Role of Functional Medicine
Mainstream medicine is fantastic at crisis care and catching advanced pathology. I'm glad it exists and it has its place as a welcome and necessary component of patient care. Functional medicine steps in to fill in the gap of "I don't feel well but my doctor says my labs are fine." I step in to help patients make lifestyle changes to get them feeling better and hopefully reverse things before they become problematic and require a bigger intervention.
Resource: Watch Dr. Mark Hyman's TED Talk on "Why Functional Medicine Is the Future of Health": TED Talk Link
An Example: Treating Pre-Diabetes
Let's consider a patient with pre-diabetes markers, such as a slightly elevated Hemoglobin A1C. Perhaps cholesterol is a bit elevated, and blood pressure is just above normal.
Conventional Approach
A conventional physician may:
Tell the patient to eat better and exercise more
Give a lecture about potential consequences
Offer medication (often metformin, statins, and blood pressure medications)
Functional Medicine Approach
My role is to:
Educate patients on how food and exercise affect their body's functioning
Discuss meal plans, exercise, sleep, stress, the microbiome, nutrient deficiencies, habits, and trauma
Come up with ways to prepare food at home and navigate eating out
Look for ways to cut back on sugar and simple carbohydrate intake
Discuss protein sources and when to get them into the diet
Talk about vegetables, why diversity matters, and how to make them taste great
Make these changes incrementally for long-term success
Resource: For more on integrative approaches to diabetes management, visit the article from the University of Wisconsin entitled An Integrative Approach to Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: https://www.fammed.wisc.edu/files/webfm-uploads/documents/outreach/im/tool-type-2-diabetes-mellitus.pdf
Many of my patients have told me that what they've done has not felt hard or unsustainable. As a result, I've seen patients drop significant weight (e.g., 35 pounds in 6 months). Having walked this path personally, losing over 90 pounds, I understand what drives some food choices AND how to slowly turn it around.
In functional medicine, we take a step-wise approach with time between appointments to allow for patients to make sustainable and incremental habit changes. Our goal is to help you understand your body and make lasting improvements to your health.
Resource: For more patient stories and functional medicine insights, subscribe to our newsletter. Scroll to the bottom of my homepage and sign up: https://www.wellrootedlifestyle.com/
