Functional medicine – what is it? What is a functional medicine practitioner, or functional MD? What is a functional medicine health coach?
Good questions all! Functional medicine, in general, looks at the whole body, instead of just a part at a time. Everything is connected, remember – the gut, the brain, the sensory organs, the endocrine system (glands), etc.
So what’s the difference between a conventional MD and a functional MD?
The easiest way to answer the second part is to compare conventional medicine doctors to functional medicine doctors. So, imagine, if you will, that you went to the doctor after being diagnosed with high blood pressure. Here’s how a conventional doc may respond:
“Your blood pressure is high. Here, take this medication.”
A functional MD may respond this way:
“Your blood pressure is high. What is the cause of this? How is your diet? What are your sleep habits? How about exercise?” What kinds of stressors are you currently facing day-to-day? Do you have a meditation, spiritual, or energy work practice?
As you can see, while conventional doctors are mainly trained to treat disease after it has occurred, functional practitioners are trained to *prevent* or reverse disease by looking for root causes.
Many Rx meds are just band-aids.
Prescription medicines are sometimes just band-aids for underlying causes*. And until that cause is addressed, will not solve anything long-term. Chris Kresser has a great analogy that suggests if a person with a rock in their shoe goes to a conventional doctor complaining of foot pain, that doctor will give them Tylenol for the pain and send them on their way. Doesn’t this sound ridiculous? It IS, but it is basically what happens every day in doctor’s offices across this country.
A functional doctor might actually look at the shoe, turn it upside-down, and find the rock (hopefully not as big as the rocks in the above photo!), the source of the pain. Problem solved! If only all health concerns were that easy to fix, right? Well, change is hard. And is where a coach can be of great support.
So, what about health coaches?
While we can’t diagnose or tell you what labs to get or what meds to take or not take, we can work with your doctor to help you make positive changes in your diet, sleep habits, and how to best manage stress. Long-lasting behavior changes are sometimes hard to figure out and implement by oneself. For more information on this please see my post “What Is Coaching?”
*Please note that I do not suggest that all medicines are bad. For those with chemical or hormonal imbalances either caused by “genetic wiring” or chronic disease, medicines may be life-saving. I consider my thyroid hormone replacement med to be in this category. The point is not to get OFF these meds, but to get OPTIMAL on them.
That said, many find that once diet, sleep, and stress are addressed, that they may be able to reduce or even go off certain medications. This should not ever be the goal, but instead, a really nice side effect.
Shouldn’t all interventions have side effects this nice?
***
Some resources for finding a good Functional Medicine Doctor:
Institute for Functional Medicine “Find a Practitioner” tool
Kresser Institute ADAPT trained practitioners
If you have a thyroid condition, Izabella Wentz has a database of doctors well-versed in thyroid issues.
RLC labs (makers of Nature-Throid and WP Thyroid) also has a Find A Thyroid Doctor tool.
I would love to be a support if you are looking to make either big or little shifts in your life and what beliefs you currently hold surrounding your health and autoimmune disease. To book your Complimentary Session and Assessment, click here.
Sandy Swanson is a Certified Functional Health Coach (A-CFHC) and a National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach (NBC-HWC). You can learn more about her here and more about what coaching is here.
![In the coming days and weeks, I’ll be sharing some tips and tricks to help you get unstuck - no matter the circumstances of your stuck-ness.
This is the second in a series - if you missed the previous post, see my blog (link in bio).
Here’s the first tip:
Get in touch with your body.
Stop for a moment and check in. Where are you holding tension right now? Some common places we hold tension are:
the jaw
the neck
the gut
the shoulders
Or there might be pain somewhere, like a headache, backache, eyestrain/pain, etc.
I invite you to notice this pain or tension.
Be with it. Breathe into it. Relax into it.
Getting in touch with your body is a brilliant way of not only teaching yourself how to relax but also helps you to be present.
And becoming present creates S P A C E. And within that space there is an opportunity to see what is needed.
So: what is that physical symptom telling you that you need? Don’t overthink this!
SOMEthing usually comes up, like:
I need to rest
I need to let go of [XYZ]
I need to get outside
I need to exercise
I need a good cry (this happens often in real time during my coaching sessions!)
Once that need is met, some things might clear up. You might not get completely unstuck, but there is usually a shift that takes place or a relaxing that happens.
The pic of me is when I just woke up from a nap. I was working and feeling stuck.
I checked in and realized I was freaking exhausted. I needed rest, so closed my eyes for a few minutes before getting back to my computer.
You're not seeing the "before" photo, but trust me: what a difference a few minutes of rest make!
(and my hair always looks better after I sleep on it lol)
One thing to note:
Getting in touch with the physical body might be really REALLY hard for some people.
I invite you to be super gentle, and practice this technique with “nonjudgemental curiosity”, and let me know how it goes!
#stuck #struggle #stugglebus #rest #physical #tension #pain #tipstrickstools #swansoncoaching #lifecoach #holisticcoach #wellnesscoach](https://autoimmunenutritioncoach.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/435120410_964353791722252_2190116072632110028_n.jpg)
![Something I experience in my coaching sessions every day is seeing people who feel “stuck”.
Stuck in a job they don’t like.
Stuck after graduating from college, working their dream job, not knowing what’s next.
Stuck not knowing what to do now that the kids have left home.
Stuck in a relationship that is no longer serving them.
Stuck in not knowing what to do regarding that big decision looming over them.
Many times these clients say “I just need more tools in my life to figure this out, then I’ll be good”. They want “tips, tools, or tricks” to help them get unstuck.
In other words, they want information.
The thing is, there’s a sh*t-ton of information out there. Any answers we desire are at our fingertips thanks to the interwebs.
So why are we always so stuck?!
Information doesn’t help one get unstuck. It can be a starting point, but information alone will not get one unstuck.
Doing the [sometimes hard] inner work is what gets you unstuck.
Understanding yourself, your beliefs, your emotions, your body, how you think and act the way you do - and *why* you are doing any of it - including being stuck - is imperative to get unstuck.
And this is what coaching is all about. To help you better understand yourself so you can make different choices moving forward.
Over the coming days and weeks, I’m going to share with you some things I discuss with my clients in the first or second session to help them better understand themselves and how they move through this world.
This awareness helps them become UNstuck.
Yeah, they might be called “tips and tricks and tools”, and you can absolutely self-coach yourself using them. It is sometimes easier with a facilitator (e.g. a coach, therapist, or spiritual advisor), but if you are willing to go deep on your own and be honest with yourself, I invite you to play around with these techniques.
So stay tuned!
In the meantime:
Are you feeling stuck?
What has helped YOU get unstuck?
Would love to hear from you.
#stuck #struggle #strugglebus #lifecoach #holisticoach #tipstrickstools #swansoncoaching](https://autoimmunenutritioncoach.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/434572858_963909818433316_8140446297598528977_n.jpg)
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