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

Paleo Physicians Network

Re-Find Health  – 1500+ healthcare professionals specializing in Ancestral Health and Functional Medicine

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.