Functional Medicine

What is Functional Medicine?

Functional medicine addresses the underlying causes of disease, using a systems-oriented approach and engaging both patient and practitioner in a therapeutic partnership. It is an evolution in the practice of medicine that better addresses the healthcare needs of the 21st century. By shifting the disease-centered focus of medical practice to a more patient-centered approach, functional medicine addresses the whole person, not just an isolated set of symptoms. Functional medicine practitioners spend time with their patients, listening to their histories and looking at the interactions among genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors that can influence long-term health and complex, chronic disease. In this way, functional medicine supports the unique expression of health and vitality for each individual.  Our practitioner has done training with and is current member of the Institute for Functional Medicine www.functionalmedicine.org .

Our practitioner has also been following and implementing the work presented by the International College of Human Nutrition and Functional Medicine. Please visit and explore this extraordinary website - the creation of Dr. Alex Vasquez, et. al: www.ichnfm.org

Dr Vasquez is the originator of the Functional Medicine Matrix (see below).

Watch this video from Dr. Mark Hyman, one of the country's leaders in Functional Medicine.

WHY DO WE NEED FUNCTIONAL MEDICINE?

  • Our society is experiencing a sharp increase in the number of people who suffer from complex, chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, cancer, mental illness, and autoimmune disorders like rheumatoid arthritis.
  • The system of medicine practiced by most physicians is oriented toward acute care, the diagnosis and treatment of trauma or illness that is of short duration and in need of urgent care, such as appendicitis or a broken leg. Physicians apply specific, prescribed treatments such as drugs or surgery that aim to treat the immediate problem or symptom.
  • Unfortunately, the acute-care approach to medicine lacks the proper methodology and tools for preventing and treating complex, chronic disease. In most cases it does not take into account the unique genetic makeup of each individual or factors such as environmental exposures to toxins and the aspects of today’s lifestyle that have a direct influence on the rise in chronic disease in modern Western society.
  • There’s a huge gap between research and the way doctors practice. The gap between emerging research in basic sciences and integration into medical practice is enormous—as long as 50 years—particularly in the area of complex, chronic illness.
  • Most physicians are not adequately trained to assess the underlying causes of complex, chronic disease and to apply strategies such as nutrition, diet, and exercise to both treat and prevent these illnesses in their patients.

HOW IS FUNCTIONAL MEDICINE DIFFERENT?

  • Functional medicine involves understanding the origins, prevention, and treatment of complex, chronic disease. Hallmarks of a functional medicine approach include:
  • Patient-centered care. The focus of functional medicine is on patient-centered care, promoting health as a positive vitality, beyond just the absence of disease. By listening to the patient and learning his or her story, the practitioner brings the patient into the discovery process and tailors treatments that address the individual’s unique needs.
  • An integrative, science-based healthcare approach. Functional medicine practitioners look “upstream” to consider the complex web of interactions in the patient’s history, physiology, and lifestyle that can lead to illness. The unique genetic makeup of each patient is considered, along with both internal (mind, body, and spirit) and external (physical and social environment) factors that affect total functioning.
  • Integrating best medical practices. Functional medicine integrates Western medical practices with what is sometimes considered “alternative” or “integrative” medicine, creating a focus on prevention through nutrition, diet, and exercise; use of the latest laboratory testing and other diagnostic techniques; and prescribed combinations of drugs and/or botanical medicines, supplements, therapeutic diets, detoxification programs, or stress-management techniques.

The Functional Medicine Matrix in Practice

How to use the Functional Medicine Matrix in Clinical Practice

The Functional Medicine Matrix is a tool that assists the clinician in organizing and prioritizing any patient's health issues as elicited by a thorough personal, family, social, and medical history. It is specifically organized in order to help the clinician gain a comprehensive perspective of the patient as a whole, and to facilitate discussion of complex medical issues with the patient. There are three parts of the Matrix graphic:

The Patient's Story Retold allows the clinician to organize the predisposing factors (antecedents), precipitating events (triggers), and ongoing contributors (mediators) of a patient's chronic health problem.

Physiology and Function: Organizing the Patient's Clinical Imbalances prompts the clinician to think about each patient's symptoms in terms of the underlying clinical imbalances that may be causing or exacerbating those symptoms. It contains seven nodes named for the physiological process that together make up the body's function: Assimilation, Defense and Repair, Energy, Biotransformation and Elimination, Transport, Communication, and Structural Integrity. It also contains a central place to document the patient's psychospiritual well-being.

Fundamental Lifestyle Factors examines the patient's environment and lifestyle including diet, stress, and exercise. These are also the health-changing areas that the patient is most in control of and thus can be a jumping-off point to allow the clinician and patient to collaboratively agree upon foundational proactive changes that promote health.

The Functional Medicine Matrix

Click here for Functional Medicine Overview handout:

Functional Medicine Overview.pdf

The Functional Medicine Heuristic:

The Functional Medicine Heuristic.pdf

Click here for Genetics & Nutrigenomics information:

Genetic Bypass  The Basics.pdf

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