What is Functional Medicine?

Functional medicine - what is it? What is a functional medicine practitioner, or functional MD? What is a functional medicine health coach?

Good questions all!

Functional medicine, generally speaking, looks at the whole body, instead of just a part at a time.  Everything is connected, remember - the gut, the brain, the sensory organs, the endocrine system (glands), etc.

So what's the difference between a conventional MD and a functional MD?

The easiest way to answer this question is to compare conventional medicine doctors to functional medicine doctors.

So, imagine, if you will, that you went to the doctor after being diagnosed with high blood pressure. Here's how a conventional doctor may respond:

"Your blood pressure is high. Here, take this medication."

A functional MD may respond this way:

"Your blood pressure is high. What is the cause of this?

How is your diet?

What are your sleep habits?

How about exercise?

What kinds of stressors are you currently facing day-to-day?

What does your support system look like - do you spend time with friends and family?

Do you have a meditation, spiritual, or energy work practice...?"

As you can see, most (but not all) conventional doctors are mainly trained to treat disease after it has occurred, and functional practitioners are trained to prevent or reverse disease by being proactive or by looking for underlying causes.

Another problem is that conventional doctors are usually not up-to-date with the latest studies.  In fact, conventional clinical practices are, on average, 17 years behind current research (and yes, there was a study on this)!

Many Rx meds are just band-aids.

Prescription medicines are sometimes just band-aids for underlying causes***.  And until that cause is addressed, will not solve anything long-term.

Chris Kresser has a great analogy that suggests if a person with a rock in their shoe goes to a conventional doctor complaining of foot pain, that doctor will give them Tylenol for the pain and send them on their way.

Doesn't this sound ridiculous? It IS, but it is basically what happens every day in many doctor's offices across this country.

A functional doctor might actually look at the shoe, turn it upside-down, and find the rock (hopefully not as big as the rocks in the above photo!), the source of the pain. Problem solved!

(If only all health concerns were that easy to fix, right?)

The truth is, so many of our health concerns can be solved by:

• eating better (get the processed foods and sugar out of your diet;  if you have an autoimmune disease, consider following a Paleo diet)
• getting better sleep
• turning off devices and getting out in the sun and in nature
• moving our bodies (walking is the easiest and the best if you are able to!)
• reducing stress (having a therapist, coach, or spiritual advisor to partner with may be useful here)
• being with others.  Social connections are not to be dismissed - think about what happened during the pandemic!  We were isolated, and we suffered.  Get out there, and bring people with you. 

 The nice thing is that you do NOT need a doctor to do any of the above!!

***Please note that I do not suggest that all medicines are bad. For those with chemical or hormonal imbalances either caused by "genetic wiring" or chronic disease, medicines may be life-saving.

I consider my thyroid hormone replacement med to be in this category. The point is not to get OFF these meds but to get OPTIMAL on them.

That said, many find that once diet, sleep, stress, and other lifestyle matters are addressed, they may be able to reduce or even go off certain medications. Getting off of meds should not ever be the goal, but instead, a really nice side effect.

Shouldn't all interventions have side effects this nice?

Some resources for finding a good Functional Medicine Doctor

If you DO need a new doctor to help with those labs and meds, here are some helpful resources:

Institute for Functional Medicine "Find a Practitioner" tool

Re-Find Health  - 1500+ healthcare professionals specializing in Ancestral Health and Functional Medicine

Kresser Institute ADAPT trained practitioners

If you have a thyroid condition, Izabella Wentz has a database of doctors well-versed in thyroid issues.

RLC labs (makers of Nature-Throid and WP Thyroid) also has a Find A Thyroid Doctor tool.

Some have luck contacting local compounding pharmacies and asking which doctors they work with.  Here are two resources for finding a compounding pharmacy near you:

https://www.pccarx.com/Resources/FindACompounder

https://a4pc.org/find-a-compounder/

And, if you have thyroid issues, consider joining the Facebook Group Hashimoto's 411.  There is a wealth of information about diet, lifestyle, labs, doctors, and more in this group - all free for the taking!