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Functional Medicine

MY PATH TO FUNCTIONAL MEDICINE

When I first became chronically ill in 2015, I was firmly grounded in the western medical system. I lived in a major US city and had access to a top ranked US hospital system. Even so, I was told by ten different doctors that there was nothing wrong with me.

After two back to back miscarriages, when I complained of excess weight that wouldn’t go away, one doctor said “Well, you’ve been pregnant too much.”

When I told another doctor how my joints and muscles hurt and how I couldn’t get out of bed because of the pain, he looked at my lab work and said, “It’s all in your head.”

I told another doctor that every woman on my mom’s side of the family had Hashimoto’s and yet, when I asked, he refused to run the blood test for thyroid antibodies.

This frustration went on and on for almost a year, through ten different doctors. I saw multiple general physicians, an OBGYN, a neurologist, a hematologist, a rheumatologist, and an oncologist. No one offered me an explanation or any help at all.

I turned to functional medicine out of desperation. I wasn’t looking to leave conventional medicine. It happened only when conventional medicine failed to help me at all.

Conventional medicine in America compartmentalizes symptoms into categories and “specialties” of medicine. Yet within each specialty, there is a pill for every ill, rather than true healing.

WHAT IS FUNCTIONAL MEDICINE?

As defined by the Institute for Functional Medicine, functional medicine is:

an individualized, patient-centered, science-based approach that empowers patients and practitioners to work together to address the underlying causes of disease and promote optimal wellness. It requires a detailed understanding of each patient’s genetic, biochemical, and lifestyle factors and leverages that data to direct personalized treatment plans that lead to improved patient outcomes.

In short, functional medicine seeks to find the root cause of a patient’s symptoms. Functional medicine practitioners will address lifestyle and diet modifications first rather than subscribe to the notion that “there’s a pill for every ill.”

DO YOUR RESEARCH

I have found, that as in any field, there are both good and bad functional, holistic, and integrative doctors. I’ve been through more than a handful now. Some were decent. Some were overpriced. There’s even one who, I believe, harmed me with a specific treatment. Just because someone has studied functional medicine, or thinks holistically, or looks for a root cause, does not make them a good doctor. Here’s what I’ve learned:

  • Ask friends for references.
  • Ask potential providers about their current certifications and whether they are continuously updating their education.
  • Before you make an appointment, ask about the doctor’s pricing.
    • Personally, I won’t see doctors who want to charge me a set price (like $2,000) for a certain number of appointments. I want a doctor who will work with me as needed and allow me the flexibility to choose services that I need when I can afford them.
  • Ask how often you would need to be seen in order for treatment to be “successful.”
  • Ask the office if treatment plans are personalized for each patient or generalized for each condition.
  • Ask how much the average patients spends each month on supplements.
  • Ask how much time the physician generally spends with each patient.
    • I see functional/holistic providers, on average, for 30 minutes to over an hour…as opposed to 5 minutes with a conventional provider.
  • Beware of any provider who says they can “cure” autoimmune disease as opposed to promoting a lifestyle of remission.
  • Ask if the provider can work with you long distance (like over video calls), and if so can they also prescribe long distance if needed.
    • I work with two out of state providers today and they have both made immeasurable impacts on my health and wellbeing.

HOW TO FIND A FUNCTIONAL DOCTOR

The Institute for Functional Medicine

DOCTORS I FOLLOW

DOCTORS/PRACTITIONERS I RECOMMEND FROM PERSONAL EXPERIENCE