A New Approach to Well Being Functional Medicine

By Alan S. Weiss, MD

Annapolis Integrative Medicine

. http://www.annapolisintegrativemedicine.com/

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A New Approach to Well Being Functional Medicine

In my experience as a physician it has become clear over the years that there are many people who have symptoms and issues that are unable to be addressed and resolved by the traditional medical model. They are often left frustrated, disempowered, and feeling like maybe there is something wrong with them because the prevailing medical model has failed to solve their health care puzzle.
I have come to see that a failing of the current medical model is the need to come up with a name or diagnosis to explain the problems a patient presents with.
While this is not an issue if a child has fallen out of a tree and broken his arm, it does begin to fall short when a patient comes into the office with a long list of seemingly unconnected issues. In that case when doctors who are trained to come up with a label or diagnosis to explain a patients issues so that they could then come up with the treatment (usually a prescription drug) to fix the problem, we are often left unable to really resolve the patients issues.
I have come to learn and operate from what is called a functional approach to medicine. This approach allows us to look at what systems and issues are underlying the illness so the illness can resolve.
I have recently seen a patient whose list of problems numbered about 15. She complained of not feeling well, having barely any energy to make it through the day, so much so that she need to give up some activities she loved in order to have the energy to make it through the day. She had chronic bowel issues, disrupted sleep, joint aches, and hair loss.
She had seen many physicians, from different specialties, but none of the usual testing turned up a diagnosis. She began to question her sanity and weather or not she would ever get well.
In my seeing her it became clear that the multitude of issues arose from her gut. Approximately six years prior, she had a sinus infection that seemingly would not go away. She was on antibiotics for three months, and during that time began to develop bowel problems that she had never had before. This was likely due to disruption of the normal bowel bacteria and growth of yeast. This led to malabsorption and nutrient deficiencies, which began to disrupt her sleep. After a year or so of poor sleep her joints began to ache, she developed fibromyalgia, and her adrenal and thyroid function began to deteriorate.
Once this was clear, what there was to do was fix her bowel issues with probiotics and anti-fungals, get her sleeping restored, support her nutritionally, and supply the thyroid and adrenal glands with proper support.
Within three months she had her health and well being back and was once again planning for the future, not dreading it.
This is an example of the power and benefits of a functional approach to medicine.