Integrative Functional Medicine: Upending Disease and Modern Healthcare

 

A new style of therapy, known as integrative functional medicine, has arisen and is fast gaining momentum in managing and preventing many chronic diseases, thanks in part to the popularity of Drs. Mark Hyman and Frank Lipman.

But first, let's take a step back. What is the definition of a disease?

The term "illness" refers to a noun. But what exactly is it? You may not actually touch or wrap your arms around an illness. Is it even possible?

In actuality, a sickness may be thought of as a term applied by doctors to a group of symptoms. That isn't to imply that these symptoms don't exist or that they aren't dangerous. A tumour, a heart attack, or excessive blood glucose levels, on the other hand, are all signs that something is really wrong with the body. These (and other) symptoms are then assigned a disease name, such as cancer, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and so on.

Chronic illnesses, unlike infectious diseases like the flu, measles, and TB, do not manifest themselves quickly. Heart disease, diabetes, and other chronic illnesses are likely to develop years, if not decades, before symptoms appear. Sometimes genetics is involved, although this is not always the case.

Than pinpointing the underlying trigger or reason, modern medicine usually concentrates on managing the symptoms. Although many illness are the result of a malfunctioning health system, traditional medicine has focused on "debulking" the tumour by surgery, chemotherapy, and/or radiation for decades. (Though, thankfully, immunotherapy research for specific malignancies has risen in recent years.)

Similarly, persons with type 2 diabetes are given medications to enhance insulin production and/or the body's ability to utilise insulin, and those who have had a heart attack are given cholesterol-lowering drugs or stents to open their arteries.

When the underlying causes of these frequent ailments aren't discovered and addressed, the patient may spend the rest of his or her life on pharmacological therapy or some other sort of treatment. Even with medicines and treatment, the symptoms often reappear in the form of new cancer, a heart attack, or diabetes side effects including eyesight loss or foot ulcers (which can lead to amputation).

Approaches from Upstream vs. Downstream

The contrast between discovering the underlying cause of sickness and managing with symptoms as they develop is typically shown using a stream metaphor. Inputs such as inadequate food, lack of physical exercise, environmental pollutants, stress, and other variables are all present upstream. The stream is "polluted" by these inputs. Eventually, symptoms appear downstream and must be addressed.

Unfortunately, contemporary medicine has a tendency to address downstream symptoms with pharmacological therapy, surgery, and other therapies, many of which have significant side effects. Drugs may have adverse effects that necessitate the use of additional or different medicines to alleviate. Certain medicine combinations might cause even more issues, necessitating the use of even more medicines. This chain of events has led us to where we are now, with drug therapy accounting for approximately 67 percent of doctor office visits, nearly half of all Americans having taken at least one prescription drug in the previous 30 days, and one in ten having taken at least five prescription drugs in the previous 30 days. Last but not least, according to some statistics, more than 106,000 Americans die each year as a result of prescription medicine abuse.

It's similar to living near the Fukushima nuclear power plants. Sure, you may try to solve the difficulties that arise downstream, but it will be extremely tough and problematic. Isn't it better to avoid the calamity from happening in the first place?

A Novel Approach to Medicine

It's past time to start concentrating on preventing upstream contamination. Instead of a reactive approach to health and wellbeing, health practitioners must adopt a proactive one.

Many, including Drs. Lipman and Hyman, are already doing so.

Integrative unctional medicine is a tailored, science-based approach to treatment that focuses on managing the underlying causes of disease. Instead of the conventional reactive, symptom-focused strategy, this form of medicine uses a proactive, system-focused approach. To put it another way, integrative functional medicine looks at the full individual and tries to figure out why he or she is experiencing illness symptoms. Furthermore, integrative functional medicine emphasises prevention, which is usually overlooked by traditional medicine.

An integrative functional medicine practitioner would likely question about the following areas of the patient's lifestyle and/or surroundings in order to acquire a complete picture of what's going on in the patient's overall system in order to restore health:

• Diet
• Nutrients
• Air \s
• Water \s
• Microorganisms
• Physical Activity
• a traumatic event (including trauma that occurred decades ago)
• Psychological and social variables (the interaction between social factors and individual thoughts and behaviors)
• Xenobiotics are organisms that are resistant to antibiotics (chemical substances foreign to the body)
• Radiation
  

When was the last time your doctor mentioned any of these lifestyle variables, other from the standard recommendation to "eat healthier and exercise more"?

In order to restore a patient's health, the integrative functional medicine practitioner will utilise this knowledge regarding lifestyle variables to answer the following two basic questions:

Is there anything in this patient's life that they need to get rid of? Unhealthy eating habits, lack of physical exercise, exposure to environmental contaminants, stress, poor relationships, and other negative influences may all need to be addressed in order to restore the patient's health.
Is there anything else this patient need that they aren't getting now? Detoxification, an elimination diet, or certain nutrients are some of the things a patient could require to go back to their most health.

Integrative functional medicine is gaining popularity among doctors and patients alike. It permits doctors to spend more time with patients and deliver a long-term treatment than a temporary fix. It is popular with patients for the same reason. Than being suppressed with drugs, their underlying issues are being identified and resolved. It's a win-win situation.

Genes Aren't Everything

Another area where integrative functional medicine outperforms traditional medicine is that it takes into account not just the individuality of each patient's genetic composition, but also the relationship between genetic predisposition and lifestyle and/or environment. This is why an integrative functional medicine practitioner would inquire about your exposure to air, water, chemicals, radiation, and other forms of environmental pollution. This is due to the fact that these things interact with your genes, turning them on and off in ways that make you healthier or sicker.

Unfortunately, some people still refuse to believe that anything other than their DNA determines their health. The fact is that genes aren't the problem. Although genetics frequently load the gun, environmental variables frequently pull the trigger.

According to a research done by The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in 2008, just 5 to 10% of malignancies are caused solely by genetics. The remaining 90 to 95 percent have their origins in the environment and way of life. Furthermore, just because you are genetically prone to illness or other diseases does not imply you will get them. Epigenetics, a relatively recent branch of study, demonstrates that food and other environmental variables may alter gene expression. In other words, depending on what you let in, on, and around your body, "bad" genes may be turned off and "good" genes may be switched on.

All of this isn't to imply that traditional medicine isn't useful. An integrative functional medicine doctor isn't the person you want to see if you're having a heart attack or have recently been in an accident. However, our system fails far too many individuals when it comes to managing – or preventing – chronic diseases like cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and autoimmune disorders. Despite all of our medical achievements, about one in every two persons will acquire illness throughout their lifetime; diabetes affects nearly 30 million people in the United States, or about 10% of the population, and one-third of the population is prediabetic. Every year, more than 600,000 Americans die from heart disease.

Something must be done, and it must be done briskly. In the case of chronic disease, there is a 50-year gap between scientific study and absorption into traditional medicine practise. Americans, on the other hand, cannot afford to wait 50 years for reform. Now, integrative functional medicine is a part of the answer.

The blog post "Integrative Functional Medicine: Upending Disease and Modern Healthcare" was appeared first on Organic Autority