What Is Functional Medicine and How Can It Help Me?

What Is Functional Medicine and How Can It Help Me?

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Has nothing been able to give you relief for your arthritis? It might be time for you to give functional medicine a try.

A doctor will sit down with you to figure out the root of your problem. They’ll take a variety of DNA samples and run tests.

After that, they’ll come up with a custom treatment plan to cater to your needs. This isn’t the only thing that a functional medicine doctor can do for you.

We can help you find out for sure if this treatment method can be right for you. Check out this guide for a full list of pros.

What is Functional Medicine? 

Before we get into functional medicine benefits, let’s talk more about what it is. Whenever you get sick, your normal family doctor will ask you to list your symptoms. From there, they’ll make a diagnosis and send you off with a prescription in hand.

Functional medical attention works a little differently. The goal is to help you get better instead of managing your symptoms. They ask you for your medical history.

They take your diet, genetics, and other factors in mind to come up with a treatment plan catered to your needs. This makes it an ideal medical option for those with chronic conditions that can’t be cured by conventional means.

Personalized Health Plan 

One of the biggest benefits of going to the best functional medicine doctor is having a personalized health plan. Your first appointment will be over an hour. You’ll sit down with the medical professional and discuss your medical history.

They use all the information they gather from the assessment to come up with a customized treatment plan that can handle your condition.

Doctor-Patient Relationship

When you make an appointment with your family doctor, you’ll wait for an hour to see them. When you do make it to the back room, they’ll speak to you for a few minutes before deciding what’s wrong with you and handing you a prescription. There isn’t much room for a good doctor-patient relationship.

The opposite is true when it comes to functional medicine. Your doctor needs to know every single thing about you to be able to treat you effectively. It adds a certain layer of trust between physician and patient.

To your doctor, you’re more than another one of their patients. They’ll do everything in their power to be able to heal you. These factors increase your chances of getting better, to say the least.

They Work With Complex Conditions 

Not every chronic condition has a simple fix. autoimmune disorders, heart disease, obesity, and chronic pain need a certain approach to deal with.

Doctors test what’s going on inside of your body. Once they know the full extent of your issue, they can figure out how to completely heal your condition or at least make you feel better.

You Don’t Have to Be Sick to Make an Appointment 

You don’t have to be seeking out a natural treatment for fibromyalgia to make an appointment. You don’t have to be sick at all.

The doctor can promote general wellness by suggesting different supplements or giving you nutritional advice that can boost your mental and physical well-being.

Not as Many Side Effects 

Part of your assessment is telling your doctor what you’re allergic to. After they run their tests, they may find new things that you’re sensitive to as well.

They can then take a gentle approach with your treatment that won’t set off any of your allergies or cause nasty side effects. Granted, there is still a chance that you might feel some effects, but it’s slim.

If you’re seeing a functional doctor for nutrition or fitness, then you probably will never see a single horrible symptom from your treatment.

It Focuses on All of You 

Your regular family doctor is focused on fixing the single thing that you’re seeing them for. Your bad mental state or nutrition might never become part of the discussion.

The same can’t be said for a functional medicine doctor. Their main focus is healing every part of you. They’ll come up with a plan that tackles your mental health, your bad diet, and your level of physical fitness.

Science-Based Research 

Your body is a complicated network of systems. Functional medicine uses science-based research to make sense of all of it. Once they understand what’s going on in your body, they can use their findings to treat what’s ailing you.

It Takes an Integrated Approach 

Traditional medicine tends to throw a bandage over one wound, only for another problem to pop up. You’ll take medication for your skin problems.

That’s fixed, but your digestive system is still in knots, so you have to take something else for that. You also have to take a supplement for our low iron and a pill for your blood pressure.

In the end, there’s a good chance that all these symptoms are part of the same condition that can be fixed with a single treatment. Functional medicine can find the source of the problem and do something about it without you having to take ten different pills each night.

Consider Functional Medicine

Are you tired from suffering from chronic pain and digestive problems? Functional medicine might be the answer that you’ve been looking for.

A doctor will sit down with you and come up with a custom treatment to fix your issue for good. If you’re looking for more ways to take care of yourself, we can help you. Check out the Health section of our blog for all the latest tips and tricks.

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