What Is Functional Medicine? A Comprehensive Guide

by Dr. Anand Thakkar, MD. ~

Do you want to improve your lifestyle and overall health? Are you looking for a therapeutic medicinal system that has the patients’ best interest in mind? If this is what you want, functional medicine is the solution you’re looking for.

Health is one of the driving factors of happiness and satisfaction in one’s life. Because of the rising public health challenges, more people are growing miserable. If you’re feeling the same way, functional medicine can help you turn it around.

Keep reading to learn more about functional medicine and how it works. We’ll also discuss below how functional medicine works, its benefits, and its cons. We will also talk about choosing a clinic or specialist who can offer you the best services.

What Is Functional Medicine?

Functional medicine is the practice that helps its patients manage a chronic disease. It’s patient-centered, so it tailors and customizes its services to each patient. Specialists who offer these services understand that every person has unique needs.

With this knowledge, they seek to answer the “why” question behind a person’s illness. This holistic medical practice aims to identify and address the root cause of a disease. It gathers data by looking at the conditions a patient shows and then tracking the source.

For example, you are obese and often find it difficult to lose weight, no matter how hard you try. A functional medicine expert looks closer into your case before giving a diagnosis. They know that medical conditions like Cushing’s syndrome can cause obesity.

Benefits of Functional Medicine

Practitioners of functional medicine personalize treatment plans and approach to each patient. Other forms of medicine focus on the treatment plan or system, as given by the doctor or physician. Rather than encourage the patient to work with a doctor, they may feel forced to cooperate.

Because it gives the patient more attention, it also digs deep into the patient’s background. The healthcare providers will examine the patient’s unique history, environment, and lifestyle. They may also make allowances for the patient’s genetics in his or her health enhancement plans.

With that said, functional medicine focuses on the underlying causes of an illness. Most modern and conventional approaches focus on making a diagnosis. The doctor will then give medications that apply to that diagnosis.

Instead of curing surface-level causes, functional medicine aims to remedy the root cause. Removing the root of the problem will remove the rest of the smaller problems that grow from it. It provides a longer-lasting solution and ensures that the illness gets minimized.

Despite being a new practice, its approach shows great results in illness management. Its personalized approach also creates a much better and stronger patient-practitioner engagement. It’s helpful to sensitive patients, mental health patients, and those who need more consideration.

How Does It Work?

Functional medicine uses a holistic approach and follows a handful of key principles. The first principle says everyone is different in their genetics and biochemical make-up. This creates the need for personalized patient treatment and not only disease treatment.

It is science-based. Like other practices, it considers the complex networks and relationships in the body. Practitioners try to understand these relationships to help them comprehend our bodies better.

Functional medicine specialists know that the body can self-regulate. They understand that certain conditions can knock this ability off-balance. They aim to look for the causes of the conditions and treat those causes.

Finally, this practice doesn’t look at healthiness as the absence of disease. It encourages positive vitality and the enhancement of vigorous physiology. This promotes a better health, lifespan, and overall satisfaction.

Functional Medicine Compared to Conventional Medicine

Most conventional medicinal practices are high-tech. They use the latest advances in practice, equipment, and gear. Functional medicine isn’t only high-tech but also high touch.

For example, you want to lose weight because of a medical condition. In functional medicine, providers will help you align mental health and weight loss. In other practices, the doctor will provide medication to manage specific symptoms.

A drawback of conventional medicine is that it’s a specialized approach. When you go to a kidney specialist, and he finds that you’ve got a hormone problem, he’ll refer you. Experts in functional medicine use a broad approach, so almost everything you’ll need is in it.

Pros and Cons of Functional Medicine

Don’t wait to visit a functional medicine clinic till your health condition worsens, schedule a visit when you feel ok. Like dentistry, functional medicine works to prevent diseases. It is a form of preventative medicine that functions to make you healthier before you contract a disease or chronic illness.

Pros

Every patient gets an unique treatment, because it treats everyone with biochemical individuality. It is a form of true healthcare. It incorporates other factors of health, not only the presence or absence of disease.

With functional medicine, you also get to focus on your:

• Lifestyle
• Diet
• Stress reduction
• Exercise
• Nutrition
• Improvement of the functioning of your organs
• Supplements, and more

All these things are part of the complex web in every person. Focusing on a broken thread won’t be enough to fix the whole of the web. Functional medicine incorporates all these factors to keep you more vibrant and sustainable.

Cons

If there is a drawback, it is that it’s broad-based. Where conventional medicine uses specialized treatment, functional medicine is more general. It’s not the treatment for you if you only want to manage a specific chronic condition or disease.

Use Functional Medicine to Improve Your Health Today

If you are looking for a functional medicine practitioner, the dedicated team at the Chicago Weight Loss Clinic is here to help. Their mission is to help people become the healthiest versions of themselves using movement, nutrition, and a whole-body approach to medical care. You can schedule a free consultation at a location nearest to you.

Dr. Anand Thakkar is a licensed Internal Medicine physician. He is Board Certified in Anti-Aging & Regenerative Medicine. He has been a member of the teaching faculty for students at Chicago Medical School and has been featured on ABC, FOX, USA Today, Chicago Tribune, and Forbes as a recognized authority in wellness, fitness & nutrition, weight loss, anti-aging, hormones & metabolic medicine, holistic medicine, lifestyle coaching and women’s & men’s health.

All our blog posts are for informational purposes only. Do not you make any major changes to your diet or start any exercise regime without proper medical supervision.