If you’ve been visiting specialists for years, taking tests and tests, and still you can’t get authentic responses at all as to the reason you feel unwell, then you’re not the only one. One million, two million, three million seek a cure for their chronic fatigue, gastrointestinal problems, autoimmune diseases, and other unexplained symptoms and signs only to be caught in their cycle of symptom management. This is why the insights into functional medicine come into play.

The difference between conventional care and functional medicine is that they take a different approach in that the former tends to treat the symptoms while the latter will see the body as one system. It is not so much suppression as why is there a symptom in the first place? So let’s start with the basic functional medicine benefits, how the functional medicine approach works, upon which conditions it has proven effective, and what signs to watch for in a professional functional medicine practitioner.

What Is Functional Medicine?

Functional medicine is a science-based solution-centered medicine focusing on treatment of the underlying cause of disease, not symptoms, and utilizes a holistic, whole-person perspective to treat patients. A functional medical physician doesn’t ask “what drug fits this diagnosis,” but rather his or her patients ask them a deeper set of questions: What’s the root of the inflammation? So, why isn’t digestion going well? What is going wrong in this person’s environment, diet or life that is causing this dysfunction?

This model attempts to look at the body as a whole system, rather than a sum of its parts. Hormone imbalance may be a part of a gut problem. Chronic fatigue could be caused by exposure to toxins or from a lack of nutrients. Functional doctors are educated to look at all these things as a whole rather than treating individual symptoms for each patient.

Why More People Are Turning to Functional Medicine Today

Over the last few decades problem rates have steadily increased with many patients feeling a conventional 15-minute appointment is not designed around multiple layers of health issues. As more and more people look for answers outside the prescriptions, they are discovering functional medicine along the way.

This has also coincided with the increasing interest in the connection between gut and gut-related health and autoimmune issues, hormones, and mental health. With increasing studies supporting the link between lifestyle, environment and chronic disease, functional and wellness medicine modalities are taking center stage in the discussions of modern health care.

Top Benefits of Functional Medicine

1. It Targets Root Causes, Not Just Symptoms

This model has the one greatest benefit that it fights beyond just relieving symptoms. A functional medicine program will explore the imbalances in metabolic function, hormone regulation, detoxification pathways, and gut health in order to develop a treatment to restore them. It is usually more effective to treat the underlying cause of the disease than to temporarily alleviate the symptoms of a disease.

2. Personalized, Individualized Care

Chronic illness manifests differently in each individual. Genetics, environment, stress level, diet and life history are all varied. One of the best functional medicine doctor benefits is that they develop a treatment strategy based upon history and laboratory results – not a formula the doctor uses, time and again, for everyone.

3. Whole-Person, Whole-Body Perspective

Functional medicine’s whole-person approach recognizes the underlying factors missed by conventional medicine, including nutrition, exercise, environment, relationships and mental well-being. It is an all-person approach which takes the view that any physical symptoms are likely to be secondary to a number of factors and that well-being is only general health if it is the functioning of several systems working together.

4. Emphasis on Prevention

Instead, functional medicine approaches the body to intervene before the disease has progressed to an advanced stage; it supports the body before the imbalances become chronic diseases. This proactive attitude is an essential part of wellness medicine, and has the ability to prevent years of suffering.

5. Deeper, More Comprehensive Testing

While a standard office visit may not provide this as much testing and evaluation as a functional medicine practitioner will have access to, including hormone panels, food sensitivity testing, microbial balance testing, nutrient analysis, and inflammation markers. The deeper data set can yield answers that traditional tests cannot.

6. Patient Empowerment and Education

In a functional medicine practice the patient is viewed as a partner in therapy rather than a prescription patient. Individuals receive education on their body, their test results, and adjustments in lifestyle which is paving the way for a more sustainable engagement in recovery moving forward – establishing a sense of owning one’s health.

7. Support for Complex, Chronic Conditions

Diseases such as Lyme, mold illness, CFS, dysbiosis and autoimmunity are some of the more challenging diseases to treat merely with symptom management. Often these layered and complex health puzzles will benefit from a root cause approach.

8. Stronger Doctor-Patient Relationships

Visits are more in-depth and longer and patients may develop a deeper rapport with the provider. It’s a continuous collaboration and adjustments in your plan occur based on real feedback and progress – and not a hasty follow-up.

Common Conditions That Benefit from Functional Medicine

medically eating functional medicine has much to offer regarding overall well-being, it can be particularly effective for treating chronic and unresolved conditions, such as:

• Low energy, chronic fatigue
• Digestive problems like IBS, bloating and food sensitivities sometimes occur
• Hormonal imbalances – thyroid and adrenal or other problems
• Autoimmune disorders such as Hashimoto’s, lupus and rheumatoid arthritis
• Persistent low-level inflammation and mysterious ache all over
• Stresses on mood linked with gastrointestinal health, or deficiency of nutrients
• Acne or eczema that may be related to inner imbalance in the skin

These conditions may have multiple systems involved that overlap and respond to a coordinated, whole-body approach, instead of symptom-focused treatment.

The Functional Medicine Approach in Practice

The approach one starts a typical functional medicine practice is to look at health history for years, patterns of life habits and any prior tests. A practitioner can care then go on to test the practitioner’s body using a comprehensive test on which to assess:

• Digestive and gut health
• Hormonal balance
• Detoxification pathways
• Nutritional deficiencies
• Exposure to toxins produced by microbes or environment
• Inflammatory markers

From here, a personalized plan is devised – frequently changing dietary habits, making lifestyle modifications, recommending specific supplements and giving continuing coaching. This is not necessarily one-off, but more a partnership built on progressive, measurable change.

The Role of Nutrition and Lifestyle

A focus in this model of care is on diet and daily lifestyle changes. Blood sugar imbalances, nutrient deficiencies, insufficient sleep or stress management issues can all contribute to many chronic symptoms. A functional health plan is likely to provide targeted nutrition advice, movement recommendations, sleep optimization tips and stress-management tips, all based on your tests and lifestyle – not just a generic plan.

What Makes a Good Functional Medicine Practitioner

There are different variations of “functional medicine” and not every entity using the term does it the same way. If you are searching for a qualified functional medicine practitioner or functional medical doctor, check if they have the following attributes:

• Depth of intake: Do they really take the time to understand your whole story or do they hurry through the symptoms?
• Testing approach: Do they do comprehensive functional testing or do they stick to standard labs?
• Individualized plans: Are your protocols individualized for your findings or template?
• Experience in complex cases: Have they helped patients with long-standing or complicated issues?
• Clear guidance: Are they clear about their findings and do they take you part in their decisions?

The proficient functional health clinician should feel like a teammate in your recovery process, rather than simply an expert appending himself to your file.

Functional Medicine for Autoimmune Disease

One of the most common conditions for using this model of care is to treat patients with autoimmune disorders. Treatments for autoimmunity typically focus on the suppression of activity of the immune system. Rather, functional medicine for autoimmune disease begins with the question: What could possibly be causing or perpetuating the immune response in the first place? In other words, is there gut permeability (‘leaky gut’), infections, sensitivities to certain foods, exposure to toxins, or an underlying unresolved stress?

Many patients achieve a level of sustained improvement by treating these underlying triggers along with immune regulation, a level of improvement that going to sleep is not enough to achieve. It doesn’t take the place of crucial medical attention but it can provide an important layer of assistance to those facing challenges with auto-immunity.

Functional Health vs. Conventional Medicine

It’s important to point out that functional medicine is not to be used in a replacement for emergency or acute medicine, but at its best, this medicine is used in chronic, complex, and unresolved health issues. Where medicine really comes into its own is with conditions that arise rapidly-from trauma to infections and acute health interventions-functional health approaches may work better for more gradual conditions that can include fatigue, digestive dysfunction, hormone imbalance, and autoimmune activity.

Most people have the greatest benefit when the conventional approach to care is used in tandem with the functional approach or the wellness approach to treatment for long-term, root cause healing.

Is Functional Medicine Right for You?

A functional approach can be explored if you have tried the standard treatments and not seen prolonged benefit, or if you have been dealing with a condition that has been chronic for some time and hasn’t had any response to the conventional treatments. The idea is not simply to get a little better but to discover why your body is not working properly and create a plan to get it working properly – and sustainably.