What is Functional Medicine?
Every day I get questions about what functional medicine is, how it fits in with the traditional medical system, and why we need functional medicine at all. While it may feel new and different it has been around for decades and has evolved to fill a growing gap in modern wellness and healthcare.
Traditional medicine, and my practice, relies on diagnostic testing, like the CBC and blood chemistry panels we all know from routine checkups and emergency room visits. And for good reason, it still provides great insight into the overall function of your body. When those lab results come in, the ‘normal’ ranges are determined not by comparing your results to optimal functioning numbers, but in comparison to the average functioning numbers for our population. Traditional medicine evaluates blood labs on a bell curve and that curve has shifted in recent decades. Obesity, heart disease, chronic illness and cancer are all on the rise despite significant strides in detection and treatment. What was considered normal decades ago has shifted, not because science led us to see the results differently, but because we shifted what is considered ‘normal’ as western medicine accepts dysfunctional health as a social norm. When a doctor tells you your labs look normal, that indicates two things: one, you’re as well or unwell as any one else and two, you are free from an indicator of cancer or any other fully-progressed disease. That’s great news, especially if you’ve been anxiously googling symptoms and frantically trying to draw patterns where it seems none exist.
When you’re still no closer to understanding what is off and how to get back on track, that good news can elicit feelings from disappointment, frustration, or even activate trauma. Being ignored or left to suffer when you’re in need of help, causes rupture in the human nervous system and its a long ignored aspect of the American healthcare system.
This is the gap between illness and wellness. The space between normal lab results and optimal functioning. It’s often at this point, patients will look beyond their primary care provider to consult with a functional medicine practitioner for deeper analyses and guidance for feeling good. The time before major disease, and after symptoms appear is where functional medicine and functional coaching are the ideal support. By examining the everyday functionality of our bodies, how we sit, eat, think, breathe, digest, sleep, poop, feel, and move, we get clues to where our body needs support or redirection to function optimally, and avoid further dysfunction and disease down the road. We also get the keys to unlocking brighter, days with more energy, nights with deep sleep, relationships with healthy boundaries and habits that perpetuate better health. Functional medicine is about designing a life that works for you.