What is Functional Medicine

Functional medicine looks at the interplay between our genetic inheritance, our lifestyle, stress and our nutritional status with regard to the condition of our health.

Specifically it looks at exactly how the nutrients we are deficient in, the toxins we are exposed to, and the choices in our present diet, may lead to many chronic diseases that never seem to improve no matter what medication we are taking.

We often have an idea we are doing something that is causing ill health but we have no idea what to change. FM offers solutions to the problem and advice on how to implement the solutions. FM does not treat any one specific disease. It turns your body into a fully functioning, healthy system and the chronic diseases tend to take care of themselves within the healthy body.

Functional Medicine investigates the underlying cause of the dysfunction as opposed to just suppressing symptoms.

i. It’s the difference between turning off the stove and just putting a lid on a boiling pot. 
ii. It’s the difference between treating the fire instead of blowing away the smoke.

FM is based on the cell and its function within an entire system, no matter where that cell lies – whether it’s in your brain, your heart, or your bones. To create and maintain a healthy cell, we ask two questions.

i. What do you need more of – real food, sleep, exercise, nutrients, etc.
ii. What do you need less of – medications, stress, alcohol, toxins, allergens, food allergens etc.

Five common things that make us sick are toxins, diet, stress, allergies, and infections.

We help you rebuild your system just like we would rebuild a city, using basic building blocks. 

We need quality raw materials to build an infrastructure, and we need access to a power plant – (healthy mitochondria).  We need your cells to be able to communicate with each other (healthy hormones) and we want to be sure your cells have a sewage system.  We need an effective transport system to bring in raw material and get rid of rubble (vascular and lymphatic) and we need to protect our city with good defenses. (Immune System)

In FM we investigate the sources of your poor health. Are your cells protecting you from the outside? Or maybe  attacking you themselves. What are you doing to nurture yourself (one of the most important things we can do for our health)?  Where are your weak points and where do you need to reinforce.

We want to know about YOU. What went on during your childhood, your family history, your life patterns? All  those are factors that  affect how you are doing today. 

We want to know what you do to chill out and how you create movement in your life. What you eat and drink and what you are doing for love and meaning in your life. We don’t focus on your disease, we focus on you and creating a vibrant, healthy ‘you’.

We are what we eat, drink, think, breathe, and touch. Coupled with our genetic inheritance, the combination may cause breaches and damage to our body.  Without asking ‘WHY’ and resolving this, there is no chance of prolonged health. ‘Why’ is not answered by simply giving a name to your conditions. It looks at what led you to develop that condition in the first place.

Achieving optimal health vs trying to repair already damaged organs and systems, is energising, satisfying, successful and so much cheaper than hospitals, chronic medication or surgery. 

Some of the Conditions that may respond well to a functional approach are;

• Autoimmune conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis,      Hashimoto’s,  atopic dermatitis.
• Chronic fatigue and poor mental focus
• Metabolic syndrome and Type 2 diabetes
• Generalised muscle and joint pain
• Immune weakness
• Adrenal fatigue
• Weight issues and Insulin Resistance

We also assess the factors contributing to learning disorders and allergic responses in children. Particularly eczema and asthma.

Where necessary, we will test your gene SNP’s (now affordable) to determine your inborn propensity for chronic disease and indicate where to focus our attention in order to mitigate the potential for developing these  diseases.  A family history of chronic disease such as Alzheimer’s, cancer and heart disease may not affect you at all, with the right information (gene SNP’s and lifestyle habits) and direction, thus changing your risk profile.