Patients will seek the help of a functional medicine practitioner for any number of symptoms or conditions, and we already mentioned some of these earlier such as:
• Fatigue/Tiredness
• Depression
• Cold Hands/Feet
• Insomnia
• Fibromyalgia
• Constipation/Diahrrea
• Digestive Disorders
• Autoimmune Disease
• Thyroid Dysfunction
• Adrenal Fatigue
• Diabetes
• Endocrine Problems
• Headaches
• Weight Gain
• Muscluloskeletal Pain
• Celiac Disease
While this list may look similar to what many of you have sought help for in the past, the approach taken by functional medicine practitioners in helping people with these problems is drastically different.
THE TRADITIONAL APPROACH TO HEALTHCARE IS OFTENTIMES TOO NARROW
A lot of these conditions tend to be chronic and the traditional approach has always been to focus the attention on an isolated set of symptoms associated with a particular organ system, such as the pancreas, or a specific gland, such as the thyroid.
And from there, blood tests relative to say, diabetes or, hypothyroidism, would be ordered and eventually medications would be prescribed.
Afterwards the patient is simply monitored and their medications adjusted if needed. But other than that, very little further interaction or involvement by either the patient or the doctor ever takes place. The medication therefore simply becomes a part of the patient’s ongoing daily life.
THE ROOT CAUSE OF THE PROBLEMS IS NOT BEING EXPLORED
So while this does have a role in the healthcare system, the traditional approach for many conditions such as these tends to be very narrow in that it’s not set up to free the patient from the need of medications or to limit the use of them in the first place.
This is because in order to do so both the doctor and patient would need to spend a significant amount of time together looking further upstream at the body as a whole (not just at one organ or gland) to see where the cause of their conditions is originating from.
But as I just mentioned, once a diagnosis has been made and medications prescribed, very little further interaction takes place.
FUNCTIONAL MEDICINE: HEALTHCARE FOR THE 21ST CENTURY
Functional medicine has been referred to as the healthcare of the 21st century. This is because one of its basic tenets is having both the doctor and the patient become active participants in the patient’s healthcare.
Instead of patient’s accepting a pill for their problems and doctors looking only to prescribe them for the same, functional medicine patients and doctors will now look very carefully together, to see where the metabolic and physiological breakdowns in the body are occurring.
And many times patients are surprised to learn that these breakdowns are taking place far away from the site of perceived pathology.
So this discovery process that functional medicine is very well known for, involves a highly interactive doctor/patient relationship and the benefits to patients involved in such a relationship have been nothing short of amazing for many of them.
HOW TO GET STARTED: PATIENT INTAKE FORMS
Patients will immediately find that treatment in our functional medicine clinic is oftentimes quite different from their traditional experience at the doctor’s office. And there are several good reasons for this.
One of them is that our work as clinicians actually begins before we even see you for the very first time. And the way this is accomplished is that when your call to schedule an appointment, we make sure to get either your email address or home address so that we can mail out our patient intake forms to you.
And we will request to have them emailed or mailed back to us at least a day or two before we actually meet.
And these patient intake forms are invaluable to both of us. They are extremely thorough and perhaps unlike any you have ever filled out.
On them are questions relating to your body’s metabolism for the following:
• intestinal integrity
• colon
• stomach
• small intestine
• pancreas
• gallbladder
• liver
• sugar metabolism
• adrenal glands
• electrolytes and ph balance
• thyroid
• prostrate (males)
• andropause (males)
• menopausal women
There are even your basic questions regarding:
• past medical history,
• surgical history,
• hospitalizations,
• medications and supplements taken,
• diagnostic study,
• injuries,
• childhood history,
• female history,
• family history,
• dental history
BRAIN CHEMISTRY
There are even questions relating to your brain’s function and its neurotransmitters: 1) serotonin, 2) dopamine, 3) acetylcholine and 4) Gamma-aminobutyric acid, or GABA as well as to if you are taking any medications to help you control the levels of them.
ENVIRONMENTAL TOXICITY
Plus, we will also want to know if you have been exposed to any environmental contaminants such as lead, cadmium, aerosols, etc., as well as your dental history.
So you see, there is a lot of very important information that we will need from you and because of this, we will want to invest the necessary time in reviewing these forms before you arrive.
This will give us a head start so that when we do meet in person, we will be able to ask better questions to help us get a clearer idea of where potential problems are occurring.
LABORATORY TESTS
Once we meet and go over your case history with you, we will more than likely order some preliminary blood tests. This is actually a lot easier than you think because all you will need to do is take your requisition form, or your blood test order form, that we give you from our office to any LabCorp located near you.
And from there you can simply walk in at your convenience and have your blood drawn, without the need of an appointment so you can easily work this around your schedule.
COMPREHENSIVE BLOOD CHEMISTRY TESTING
Now, the blood work we run is very comprehensive as you can imagine and includes a liver panel, renal panel, electrolyte panel, lipid panel and thyroid panel. It also includes a CBC with differential and several other biomarkers, 65 in all. We will also order a urine test as well.
Once we get the results back in a few days we will review them with you from a functional perspective and not a pathological one.
You will recall that the functional blood ranges are more narrow than the pathological ones and show us where we all need to be in order to enjoy good health, vibrant energy, good digestion, and a positive mental outlook.
So these functional blood ranges are more sensitive to our needs and allows us to see where early problems are starting long before any disease process sets in. This will give us a good idea of where to start recommending treatment for you.
TREATMENT
Some of the recommendations may be very straight forward such as eliminating foods that our bodies can’t tolerate; for example gluten, dairy and soy products.
We may also find the need to regulate your blood sugar levels through proper dietary measures that are actually very reasonable to incorporate.
An anti-inflammatory diet along with a liver detoxification program might also be recommended. There may be other lifestyle changes to recommend as well. These are all good places to start for many of our patients.
NUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENTS
Nutritional supplements may also be considered and the important thing to mention about them is that we only recommend supplements when it is absolutely necessary.
Our belief is that supplements should only be used to help jump start your recovery process but once the dietary and lifestyle changes are in effect, the goal would then be for you to not have to take any nutritional support ever again unless absolutely needed.
Put another way, we are not looking for you trade your pill, powder or portion for ours. We are looking to free you from the need of them altogether. This is the best way to treat the body for the long term.
FOLLOW UP LAB WORK
Once these changes have been in effect for a few months we will start to think about follow-up lab work.
For those patients whose health was perhaps a little worse off in the beginning, we might need to order more specific tests on them. For example, tests can be run for:
• multiple auto immunity,
• diabetic auto immunity,
• neurological auto immunity,
• joint auto immunity,
• chemical immune reactivity
• blood brain barrier integrity,
• gluten cross reactivity, and others.
Gastro-intestinal tests, adrenal saliva tests and many others specific to your health condition, might also be considered.
EDUCATIONAL WORKSHOPS
Earlier I mentioned that one of the basic tenets of functional medicine is that both the patient and the doctor become active participants in the patient’s health care. Well, there is no better way to accomplish this than offering many educational workshops right here in our clinic.
Patients come in to learn more about the following:
• learn to read blood tests from a functional perspective, not a pathological one
• wheat/gluten sensitivity
• anti-inflammatory diet
• the need for liver detoxification
We will even go grocery shopping with you as well.
This creates an environment where the patient feels comfortable asking questions and is reassured that the doctors are spending quality time with them listening to their concerns.
A PATIENT-CENTERED APPROACH FOR THE 21ST CENTURY
So you see, functional medicine is an amazing patient-centered approach to helping people regain their health and it leaves nothing to chance.
It truly is the healthcare of the 21st century, the way it should be, where both patient and doctor are actively involved searching for the cause of one’s illness and then looking to help through diet, nutrition and lifestyle changes.
If you are one of those people who has asked themselves the question,“why do I still have symptoms when my lab tests are normal”, or someone who has “been everywhere and no seems to be able to help me”, we welcome the opportunity to work with you.
Even if you are just now starting to notice some slight changes in how you are feeling, or your energy isn’t quite what it used to be, we are here to help as well.
Thank you very much for watching and I hope to see you soon.
Yours in health!
Dr. Larry VanSuch, DC, PSc.D, BE, EE