Dr. Mark Hyman said it best.... Conventional Medicine looks at the WHAT. WHAT disease may you have, WHAT pill will help this disease, WHAT side-effects may you experience, WHAT pill may you need to help with those side-effects. Conventional medicine can be a bit of a snowball and one that only continues to grow as the years go on.
Functional Medicine is flipping the conventional model upside down. Functional Medicine is the medicine of WHY! WHY am I experiencing this symptom? WHY may I have this disease? Now, what is the cause?
A functional medicine approach is sometime referred to as "root cause medicine". Health issues are address by examining modifiable lifestyle and environmental factors (the roots of the tree) and working in an upwards direction. Alternatively speaking, Conventional Medicine tends to focus more on the symptoms and diagnosis (the branches and leaves of the tree).
Functional Medicine recognizes the uniqueness of every patient and takes a personalized approach to their health and wellness. Functional Medicine practitioners spend extensive time with each of their patients listening to their background and their stories, validating their specific health concerns, and digging deep into the root causes of their health conditions.
"The "whole-person" approach to integrative medicine augments science with complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies to treat a patient's collective mind, body and spirit." - Dr. Julie Reardon
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~In health and wellness,
Hannah
