WHAT IS FUNCTIONAL MEDICINE?
In Functional Medicine we look for the causes of disease rather than just treating the symptoms. Functional Medicine revolves around our patient. Using DIG IN style to gather health history, we work as a team to hear your story. We attempt to fine the true cause of your illness. We can use state of the art lab tests and theory to help you achieve optimum health.
Dana Mozer (NP), Lindsey Wismer (NP), Claudia Dogan-Coles (PA), Seth Merritt (NP), and Dr. Kristine Griess all practice Functional Medicine at MHW. Functional Medicine includes nutritional guidance, supplements, health coaching to get to the root of your issue. Functional Medicine will assess Food, Detox, Hormones, Energy, Cardio, Metabolic, and above all Gut Health. To learn more click here. Many natural treatments can be hard to follow due to so many options. We match the treatment with the patient. We will meet the patient where they are. This helps the patient step to success rather than feeling overwhelmed with the treatment plan.
WESTERN MED
Western medicine might only use prescriptions to treat symptoms. Although, symptoms are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to chronic disease. However, these meds don’t fix the problem, and they often they create other problems. In functional medicine we take a different approach. Rather than covering up symptoms, we look for each person’s causes of inflammation and disease. We use the most up to date research. Once we know your triggers, we remove the things that are causing strife in your body. We replace the things that your body is missing. We remove hidden infections, allergens, toxic chemicals, and foods that you are sensitive to. And, we replace digestive enzymes, vitamins and nutrients, and healthy bacteria. We also balance hormones and brain health. In functional medicine we help find the real cause of disease, so that you can truly heal.
HOW IS FUNCTIONAL MEDICINE DIFFERENT?
he illustration to the left uses a tree to visually represent the core aspects of the Functional Medicine paradigm and highlight the difference between conventional medical care and Functional Medicine. The graphic itself has undergone some changes through the years, but its essence remains the same. In order to keep a tree healthy and allow it to flourish, you need to support the most basic and essential elements first; the foundation: the roots and soil. Similarly, if a tree is not healthy, the first place you should look for answers is those same foundational elements.
IN FUNCTIONAL MEDICINE , THE SAME APPROACH APPLIES TO PATIENTS
The most important factors, and the ones we examine first when gathering information about the patient, are the foundational lifestyle factors; sleep, exercise, nutrition, stress levels, relationships, and genetics. These are the roots and soil, which are in turn influenced by specific predisposing factors (antecedents), discrete events (triggers), and ongoing physiological processes (mediators), and may then result in fundamental imbalances at the trunk. These can eventually result in the signs and symptoms that are grouped into a diagnosable constellation that we call disease, represented by the branches and leaves.
Conventional medicine tends to look at the constellation of symptoms first (the branches and leaves), which usually results in a disease diagnosis. Often, this diagnosis is associated with a drug or drugs that can be prescribed to treat this constellation of symptoms, and that is the end of the story. But this approach neglects the more fundamental aspects of health that reside in the roots and the trunk of the tree. It treats all patients that present with similar symptoms the same and completely neglects both the inherent differences among patients as well as the myriad possible causes that a “disease” can have.
If you are tired of spending your time in the leaves and watching as your patients with chronic disease go through the cycle of diagnosis and drugs without getting any better, IFM invites you to climb down from the canopy and join us at ground level. We will provide you with the tools to make your patients better, without ever needing to leave the ground.
https://www.functionalmedicine.org/What_is_Functional_Medicine/AboutFM/HowDifferent/