Functional Medicine is constantly evolving and incorporates the newest discoveries in cell biology, psychology, neurology, immunology, endocrinology, genetics and clinical nutrition. I use these new discoveries in my systems-oriented approach to understand the Root Causes of chronic disease.
A good Functional Medicine practitioner is a very good detective and takes the time to listen to each person’s story about how their current health challenges began. I want to know when your health challenges first started and what was going on in your life at that time. Were you going through a divorce, did you suffer the loss of a loved one, or were you doing long-term care for a sick loved one? I want to know how you are sleeping, digesting and eliminating, do you have close friends and a good support network, do you have food sensitivities, seasonal allergies, or chemical sensitivities. And, I also want to know how your brain is functioning: do you have brain fog, trouble finding words, problems with balance, trouble concentrating or a loss of smell.
As a Functional Medicine physician, I look for the Root Cause of why things are not functioning properly in the first place. Compared to a typical medical visit, where you will likely have on average an 11-minute office visit and only be allowed to discuss one problem. Also, during a typical medical visit you will either be given a prescription or a referral to a specialist, whereas our approach is almost always to work with you on changing your diet and lifestyle. The patients who chose to come and see us understand that while drugs and surgery are sometimes necessary, they should never be the first-line of treatment and will never make you healthy. Treating symptoms instead of identifying the root causes of why the body is not functioning properly in the first place, is an outdated model that, sadly, is still the standard of care. If you would like to experience something complete new and different, I invite you schedule with us today.
