What is the Functional Medicine Model?
“As the scope of the cost of chronic diseases continues to rise, functional medicine takes a comprehensive approach to prevention, health, and well-being; treats root causes of disease; and restores healthy function through a personalized patient experience — all while being a vital partner to conventional medicine.” — Institute of Functional Medicine.
Functional Medicine principle:
Physiology, functions, and system relationships are at the root of health imbalances. Functional Medicine recognizes the principle – “One condition, Many Causes |One Cause, Many Conditions.” The precise manifestation of each cause depends on the individual’s genes, environment, and lifestyle, and only treatments that address the right cause will have lasting benefits beyond symptom suppression.
Functional Medicine attributes:
- Establishing physician-patient rapport and trust
- Detailed patient history and timeline of the events
- Biology-based system approach: thorough investigation of all systems and their interrelationships
- Assessment of functional systems: defense and repair, energy, biotransformation and elimination, transport, communication, structural integrity, and assimilation
- Consideration of mental health, environmental, social, family factors, and lifestyle patterns
- Comprehensive lab testing, which may include genetic, conventional, genetic, specialty, and environmental tests
- Identification of imbalances within biological systems
- Understanding the root causes of these imbalances
- Development of the individualized and appropriate treatment plan
- Integration of various evidence-based healthcare approaches and modalities
- Ongoing patient education, encouragement, and follow-up
- Emphasis on both improvement and prevention
Treatments and recommendation may include:
Based on the information gathered, doctors develop personalized treatment plans that may include a combination of interventions:
- Precise supplementation
- Conventional medications
- Nutrition and diet modifications
- Herbal remedies
- Stress management techniques
- Exercise recommendations
- Detoxification protocols
- Mind-Body therapies.
The goal is to restore balance and optimize the body’s natural healing mechanisms.
Our doctors provide customized interpretations of 23andme.com and Ancestry.com genetic profile results focusing on methylation and detoxification profiles. Understanding these results helps patients become more proactive in achieving their optimal health and seek lifestyle or treatment modifications. We recommend 3rd party interpretation software packages like this one at www.mthfrsupport.com, and we also work closely with much more advanced genetic testing companies like Intellxxdna.
GWCIM Functional Medicine Doctors:
- Dr. Mikhail Kogan, MD
- Dr. Deirdre Orceyre, ND, MSOM, LAc
- Dr. Mariana Ledenac, ND
- Dr. Paymon Sadrolsadot, ND
- Ashley Drapeau, PA-C, LAc
- Dr. Calvin Richards, ND, PA-C
Dr. Kogan, GWCIM Clinical Director:
“Our GWCIM team integrates Functional Medicine into every aspect of our practice. When the underlying cause of disease is energetic, mind-body, or biomechanical, we have the necessary skills to diagnose and treat all contributing factors.”
Unique Benefits of Functional Medicine
- Patient-centered approach. It emphasizes a partnership between the practitioner and the patient, empowering individuals to take an active role in their healthcare.
- Focus on preventive care which proactively stops the progression or the development of chronic diseases and promotes optimal health.
It’s important to note that functional medicine is a an approach that can be used alongside conventional medical treatments. It does not reject the use of medication or surgery when necessary but seeks to enhance the effectiveness of these interventions by addressing the underlying imbalances and supporting the body’s healing processes.
Is it evidence-based?
Functional medicine emphasizes the importance of evidence-based practice and strives to integrate scientific research into its approach. As Dr. Dale Bredesen noted: “.. Virtually every day, mainstream medicine “discovers” something that functional medicine has been reporting for years. Depression and gut health, the therapeutic effect of sleep, multi-factorial treatments for chronic illnesses such as Alzheimer’s, the importance of gut health in autoimmune diseases such as lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, the damaging effects of leaky gut, the effects of stress on chronic illness, the beneficial effects of a plant-rich diet, the remarkable effects of exercise, the surprisingly common exposures we have to various toxins, the dangers of processed foods, and on and on. This has led to successful treatments in countless cases in which mainstream medicine had nothing to offer. “
