Understanding the Power of Functional Medicine: A Holistic Approach to Health
In a world where quick fixes and prescription medication are often the go-to solutions, the benefits of functional medicine are becoming increasingly clear. This holistic approach to health aims to address the root causes of illness, rather than simply treating the symptoms.
Let's talk about the transformative power of functional medicine and how it can pave the way to optimal health.
1. **Personalized Care**: One of the primary benefits of functional medicine is its personalized approach. By taking into account an individual's unique genetic makeup, lifestyle, and environmental factors, functional medicine practitioners can create a comprehensive health plan tailored specifically to their needs.
2. **Prevention**: Unlike traditional medicine, which often addresses health issues after they arise, functional medicine focuses on prevention. By identifying and addressing the underlying causes of disease, functional medicine helps individuals maintain long-term health.
3. **Holistic Treatment**: Functional medicine views the body as an interconnected system, recognizing that a problem in one area can impact others. This holistic approach ensures that all aspects of health are considered and addressed. Functional medicine offers a refreshing, person-centered approach to care. It empowers individuals to take charge of their health, promoting long-lasting wellness rather than temporary relief.
Here’s an example of the difference between functional medicine and conventional medicine:
In conventional medicine, we use a lot of diagnoses. Diagnoses have a place in guiding treatment, but we give way too much power to these labels. For example, depression is a diagnosis within the conventional medicine model. We give the diagnosis if a person meets the diagnostic criteria for depression. From there, we often prescribe an antidepressant and cognitive behavioral therapy and send a patient on their way to follow up in a few months’ time.
In functional medicine, we look at depression as a symptom of a deeper issue. Fatigue, insomnia, low mood, low motivation, and appetite gain/loss often accompany the syndrome of depression, and there can be many causes and conditions that lead to someone feeling depressed. Hypothyroidism, toxin exposure, emotional trauma, food sensitivities, gut dysbiosis, medications, low testosterone, low progesterone, and low or high cortisol can all contribute to feeling depressed. Oftentimes, several of these factors are at play, but there might be a primary culprit in the mix that, when looked at through the functional medicine lens, allows us to get to the root cause and help people feel better with a more holistic approach that doesn’t involve just giving a pill for every ill.
What does this holistic approach look like?
I did my functional medicine training with Chris Kresser through his ADAPT Practitioner Program and through the Institute for Functional Medicine’s (IFM) certification program. I love the model used in IFM’s approach. It consists of three key parts:
“ATMs”: “A” are the antecedents or the things, such as genetics and environmental factors, that set someone up for a particular disease or expression of illness. “T” are the triggers, which are typically one-time events that occur, and afterwards, health is never the same. This could be a trauma, infection, or toxic exposure. For example, I had a major trigger in my health issues when I received the Anthrax shot booster while deployed to Iraq. My health never felt the same afterwards. “M” are the mediators, and these are contributing factors that keep someone sick. This could be a particular way of eating, ongoing stress, toxin exposure, toxic relationships, or certain medications, to name just a few.
Modifiable Lifestyle Factors: Lifestyle medicine is potent medicine and consists of: adequate and restorative sleep, food as medicine, healthy movement and exercise, stress management, and healthy relationships. These are important factors that contribute to health and disease.
Functional Nodes: The functional nodes of the IFM’s model consist of the seven primary functional systems of the body. These include: assimilation and digestion (gut health), biotransformation and elimination (detox), communication (hormone health), defense and repair (immune health and inflammation), energy production, structural integrity (i.e. bone, tendon, skin health), and transport (cardiovascular and metabolic health). It sounds like a lot, and it is, but you don’t have to fully understand the in-depth physiology to connect with your body’s innate wisdom to heal. We can work on that together!
MES: At the center of the model is the “MES,” the mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects of who we are. Notice these aspects are central to this whole model. So often within conventional medicine, we lose sight of the importance of this, and in functional medicine, this is at the root of our approach.
Interested in learning more?
Theresa Kulikowski-Gillespie, PA-C
Theresa is a functional medicine physician assistant, mindfulness meditation teacher, author, and owner / founder of My Mindful Medicine. Theresa is also an army veteran, military spouse, mother, and former elite & collegiate gymnast.
