Functional Medicine
Functional medicine helps to demystify what is happening with you, be it biochemical, emotional or energetic. I determine imbalances through pattern recognition, listening to your stories, and laboratory testing.
I’m the why guy— Tony Robbins
Functional medicine asks why things have gone wrong. Why do you have a bloated belly? Why are you constipated? Why are you depressed? Functional medicine is not about the what. It’s irrelevant if you have been labelled with IBS, PCOS or an unspecified eating disorder. Instead we want to know what has gone wrong and how to fix it.
For instance, imagine you’re sitting on 10 tacks and have been diagnosed with butt pain. Under traditional medicine you might be prescribed ibuprofen to numb the pain. Using functional medicine, we’d remove the tacks.
Before & After
Below is my client Laura who was covered head to toe (with the exception of her face) with psoriasis. By using the functional medicine model, we were able to reverse her psoriasis. It took Laura 9 months to go from the before to the after picture.
Functional medicine brings an understanding of symptoms and how it is all connected. For example, if someone is constipated, anxious and can’t sleep, they might, under a traditional medical approach, be prescribed a laxative, Xanax and a sleeping pill. Functional medicine recognizes that all of these symptoms share a biochemical need for magnesium. The answer may be as simple as adding more magnesium into the diet. Or it may not be…
Under the functional medicine paradigm, we determine the imbalances through pattern recognition, listening to your stories, and laboratory testing. We investigate multiple factors, including:
Environmental inputs
The air you breathe and the water you drink, the particular diet you eat, the quality of the food available to you, your level of physical exercise, and toxic exposures or traumas you have experienced all affect your health.
Mind-body elements
Psychological, spiritual, and social factors all can have a profound influence on your health. Considering these areas helps us see your health in the context of you as a whole person, not just in terms of your physical symptoms.
Genetic makeup
Although individual genes may make you more susceptible to some diseases, your DNA is not an unchanging blueprint for your life. Emerging research shows that your genes may be influenced by everything in your environment, as well as your experiences, attitudes, and beliefs. That means it is possible to change the way genes are activated and expressed.
Through this assessment, we are able to understand how key biochemical processes are affected and why you have your symptoms.
Functional medicine lab tests may use blood, stool, urine, or saliva. I may use the below as part of your assessment:
GI Map
Organic Acid Test
Mycotoxin Test
Food Sensitivity Profile
Adrenal Stress Index
Cycling Female Hormone Panel
Cycling Female Hormone Panel
The Female Hormone Panel is a non-invasive test consisting of 11 saliva specimens collected during specified time periods throughout the menstrual cycle. It provides a dynamic mapping of the free fraction levels of Estradiol and Progesterone throughout one cycle. In addition, the cycle average of Testosterone and DHEA are measured. This test includes also includes an additional five FSH and five LH measurements. This test is important for menstrual irregularities and fertility.
Menopause Hormone Profile
Menopause Hormone Profile
The Menopause Hormone Panel provides measurements of six key hormones: Estrone (E1), Estradiol (E2), Estriol (E3), Progesterone (P), Testosterone (T) and DHEA, DHEA-S. This test is essential for determining an appropriate protocol for optimal hormone balancing during menopause.
Neurotransmitter Profile
Functional medicine helps to demystify what has been happening to you whether is it biochemical, emotional or energetic.
Several years ago, I wrote up case studies on depression and hay-fever. Please feel free to read them.
For more on functional medicine, pick up my book The Archetype Diet which merges food, functional medicine and the mind.