Conventional medicine has its place. Unfortunately, for many people, traditional treatments are not enough. If you experience pain, suffer from a chronic condition, or are tired of masking your problems with medication, it’s time to explore functional medicine. Deep down, you know that your body has the power to heal itself, all you need is someone to show you the way.
Here are just four ways functional medicine is different than conventional medicine:
1. You will not be given a prescription and sent on your way.
In functional medicine, the focus is on helping your body heal itself. You are given the tools, guidance, and support to lead a healthier lifestyle, which in turn will allow you to thrive without the need for medication. Certainly, some pharmaceuticals are necessary for certain patients and conditions, but if you want to visit a doctor who will listen to you rather than just write you a prescription, a practitioner of functional medicine is the place to start.
2. The root cause of your symptoms will be discovered.
In conventional medicine, it’s usually just symptoms that are addressed. For example, if you have chronic back pain, you’ll be prescribed pain relievers. With this course of treatment, though, the pain will never really go away. Functional medicine looks at your entire body and treats the source of your discomfort. It’s time to uncover the deeper causes of the symptoms you’re experiencing.
3. A personalized healing plan will be developed just for you.
Functional medicine works best when it is combined with other forms of therapy, such as chiropractic care, weight management, or nutritional advice. You may need detoxification, thyroid therapy, or stabilization of stress hormones. Lifestyle will be examined carefully to determine whether environmental factors are contributing to your health problems. Having support from a gentle functional medicine team that listens to you and has your best interests at heart is refreshing and promising. If you’re all in, they’re all in, and good health is only as far away as your determination and patience.
4. You will take an active role in your health.
Far too often, medical personnel are vague about a patient’s diagnosis or the need for a certain type of therapy or medication. For you to truly heal, you must believe that your body has the power to heal. Sometimes good health is as much a mental game as a physical one. Your unique genetic and biochemical makeup matter, and this information will influence the therapies you are prescribed. Rest assured, whatever plan of functional medicine that is devised for you, you will understand it, the reasons why, and how it will work.
Ultimately, practitioners of functional medicine strive to correct the underlying causes of the symptoms you’re experiencing or the conditions you have through non-toxic, non-invasive interventions. This approach will take time, but the results can last forever if you adopt a new way of life that suits you and your very individual health needs. Disease prevention is also an arm of functional medicine, so if you know you have risk factors that make you more likely to, say, develop diabetes, you can do something about it now rather than waiting for the worst to happen.
If you’re tired of temporary solutions, placebos, or cover-ups that are anything but sufficient, learn more about functional medicine. Schedule a consultation with Dr. Daniel Geck at the Restorative Wellness Center in Ann Arbor to find out how your body can heal itself.
