Unlike traditional medicine, which focuses on symptoms and often treats them with drugs and surgery that can have side effects, Functional Medicine seeks to identify and treat root imbalances. Evans says patients gravitate toward functional medicine because they want to find a way to address the underlying causes of their conditions without medication and its residual side effects.
What is functional medicine examples?
Doctors specializing in Functional Medicine look at your entire health picture, including dietary factors, sleep and exercise, and examine how stress, toxins, food allergies and genetics impact your well-being. This broader view of your overall health makes functional medicine doctors more like detectives than doctors who focus on a single symptom or disease.
Functional Medicine aims to find the root cause of your disease by plotting the complex array of signs, symptoms and lab values you present onto the “Functional Medicine Tree,” shown above. This allows you and your practitioner to easily see the interconnected roots of the condition, so they can identify specific, individualized treatment for you.
As more and more practitioners move toward Functional Medicine, it’s becoming clear that it’s not just a trend; it’s the future of medicine. But what does that mean for you, and how can you get started? Read on to learn about Functional Medicine, an approach that’s different from the conventional model and, as you’ll discover, offers true healthcare.