avatar-doctorFunctional Medicine

Functional Medicine is a graceful integration of modern medical science with the principles of holistic, preventative care.  This branch of medicine:

  • Is Patient-Centered
  • Is Based on each person’s unique needs
  • Helps balance the body’s biochemistry
  • Integrates physical, mental, and emotional
  • Uses challenge tests and diagnostic tests
  • Encourages patient and parents to take an active role in healing
  • Focuses on resolving the larger imbalances rather than just controlling symptoms

Functional Medicine Diagnosis

Functional Medicine uses scientifically documented tests that examine blood, hair, stool, urine, breath, and/or saliva and commonly check for nutritional status, digestive function, food and environmental allergies, gastrointestinal pathogens and bacteria, amino acid balance, energy metabolism function, hormone balance, and more. This approach does not seek to diagnose a specific disease, but rather investigates why and where your body is out of balance.

Functional Medicine Treatment

Based on the findings, your practitioner develops patient-specific treatment protocols designed to reverse, stop, or prevent the disease and its related symptoms.  In conventional medicine, treatment is geared to suppress the expression of symptoms, whereas in FM, your practitioner seeks to correct the underlying causes of the condition. Functional Medicine employs a “4-R approach” to treatment. 

Although simple in concept, it provides an effective approach for resolving difficult and undefined illnesses:

1. Remove:  Eliminate anything that may be in our body or diet which contributes to poor health including foods, pesticides, food additives, unwanted bacteria, fungi, and parasites.

2. Re-inoculate:  Incorporate probiotic supplements containing lactobacillus acidophilus, bifidus bacteria, and other friendly flora. These bacteria repel harmful microbes, and have anti-tumor effects. They are easily disrupted by use of antibiotics and the stress of contemporary living.

3. Replace:  Implement a corrective diet and/or supplements to support digestive function which may include: digestive enzymes, bile salts, and/or HCl.

4. Repair: To repair the damage done by the offending agent(s), nutritional support may be used to regenerate and heal the body.