General Info:
Dr. Oz has talked multiple times on his show about functional medicine, and has labeled doctors that practice functional medicine "Disease Detectives". But what is functional medicine? And how is it different from traditional medicine? Simply put, functional medicine is health care that treats the person, not the disease. If you imagine a picture of the iceberg, there is above and below the water. The ice above the water represents the diseases normally treated in the traditional medical approach ie. (with medication). The ice below the water are the root causes of the diseases, or the base for the disease above the water. The goal of functional medicine is to determine which of the underlying causes are present, and treat the root causes directly. Functional medicine is not a new concept, but is now being approached by a modern application. This cutting edge treatment provides an approach to health and wellness not currently addressed by traditional medicine. For example, if you break a bone, or have a heart attack or stroke, traditional medicine provides life saving treatments in these emergency type situations. If you are having a heart attack “ go to the ER”. However, using an emergency type approach to arthritis, insomnia, fatigue, IBS, heart burn, gas, bloating or any other number of non-emergency yet still medical related conditions does not make as much sense. This is where functional medicine comes in. An example of functional medicine might go as follows: You are on heartburn medication for acid reflux. You have been on it a while but are still having heartburn. You go to your doctor that practices traditional medicine, and he increases your dose of the heartburn medication. This keeps you from having heartburn, but only as long as you keep talking the medication. In that same situation, if you went to a functional medicine doctor, they might determine that you have an infection in the stomach, and that by treating the infection, you a relieved from acid reflux permanently, without the use of long term medications! Functional medicine aims to replenish the body with whatever nutrients it is lacking, and to also remove anything that inhibits normal physiological function from occurring. This approach first starts with in depth medical workup, where we are able to start piecing all the information together. Then, other investigative work must be done, typically in the form of diagnostic testing and a physical exam. From there, once the root cause has been determined, diagnosis and treatment is rendered. Treatment typically comes in the form of natural agents and supplements, nutritional and lifestyle changes, emotional coaching, and at times, referrals to other doctors for pharmaceutical treatment. The list of conditions that Functional medicine has been able to help is quit extensive; call out office today to see if we can help you with your situation. Dr. Daniel Strom, DC is a Certified Functional Medicine Practitioner. If you think you could benefit from this approach, please give us a call 913-624-4257. And if you know someone who might benefit from this approach, please forward our information on to your loved ones. This new approach may very well be the key to restoring you or someone you know back to ultimate health.