Benefits of Functional Medicine
Unlike the traditional medicine that focuses on the treatment of disease symptoms, functional medicine is more concerned about the identification and addressing of the genesis of diseases. For far too long the health sector has focused on the treatment of acute diseases such as pneumonia and tuberculosis. But of late there has been an increase in the number of patients that are battling chronic conditions such as diabetes, heart diseases, and autoimmune diseases and this is changing the practice of medicine as we know it.
Functional medicine offers a whole different perspective on health that is potentially helpful. The functional medicine approach utilizes a broad and practical model and approach that works towards preventing and managing complex and chronic conditions that continue to increase with each passing day. With functional medicine,the priority is to look into the wellbeing of the whole individual and not just the symptoms of diseases. This is due to the fact that a set of symptoms may be caused by different and multiple causes which means the treatment is also expected to be personalized and different according to the suspected causes.
In functional medicine, physicians spend a lot of time with patients. Besides discussing the patients’ medical symptoms,doctors uses this time to talk about a lot of things with their patients such as their lifestyle,diet,traumas,exercise patterns and any possible exposure to toxins. Thereafter, together they try to figure out what could be the main cause of the patient’s disease using the shared information. They will probe factors such as genetic makeup.diet, activity, stress, exposure to toxins in the environment and the general lifestyle of the patient.
You can liken functional medicine to a map that is used to navigate the underlying factors that lead to the development of chronic conditions. Some of the chronic diseases have more than imbalance that needs to be addressed. Obesity, for instance, may be caused by imbalances in exercise, diet, gut flora, hormones, exposure to toxins. One of the mentioned imbalances such as inflammation can also cause other multiple chronic conditions. Functional medicine is designed to study these imbalances and complexities with the belief that a balance can be struck in order to restore health.
Functional medicine is good for anyone, but someone who has been treated by a doctor and still is unwell will find it greatly helpful. Functional medicine is also strongly recommended for patients whose medication has side effects or if they are unresponsive to the medication. If you have diabetes, high, blood pressure, heart disease or any other cardiometabolic conditions; then you should consider functional medicine. Neurological and psychiatric conditions such as depression, migraine headaches, and attention deficit disorder can also be effectively be treated by functional medicine. Functional medicine is also recommended for the treatment of digestive disorders, autoimmune diseases, skin disorders, and hormonal problems.