One chilly morning if you get into your vehicle, and it will not start, what would you do? Would you ignore it and start using a taxi or public transportation from now on? You could do that, however, ever tried taking a loved one to urgent care unexpectedly using public transit? Obviously, the practical approach would be to know the reasons why a car often struggles when the weather drops in temperature and there are a few reasons for which I will spare you. Similarly, when we have a health issue, we do not want to ignore or just be expeditious and simply take a pain killer. You want to find the underlying cause of it and ask yourself why I am feeling so puny. In this week's show, a physician spoke of diagnosing the root of the problem even when our lab work shows normal, and the integrated approach or the consideration of the entire person would be the reasonable and practical thing to do, hence, functional medicine. How is conventional medicine and functional medicine differentiated?
Conventional medicine recognizes the symptoms you are experiencing and utilizes the same symptoms to identify your health issue and develop a modality treatment. This protocol often means finding the appropriate pharmaceuticals that will mitigate the symptoms, and once you cease taking the medicine the problem reappears, it is only a masking or a bandage. However, functional medicine focuses on finding the root cause of the symptoms, of which case, the symptoms function as clues for your doctor to establish the underlying issues that are causing the symptoms and appropriately address the bases or root of the health concern. Unfortunately, modern health care has become so specialized that you need a referral for every concern, explaining why the holistic procedure has fallen to the wayside, leaving you scratching your head for answers from your primary physician. Does this resonate with you? Functional medicine is a biological system that is based on focusing on putting your finger on the root cause allowing you to isolate the infirmity. There could be several symptoms contributing to a person's illness, much like why your vehicle will not operate as it should. The final diagnosis can be the result of more than one cause. For instance, chronic depression, which is defined as longer than two weeks, clinical depression, can be caused by several varied factors. There could be a personal genetic makeup or component, it could be our environment, and our lifestyle choices that may be the root of the issue and targeting the crux of the matter is going to be the solution. So, how do I find a physician that practices functional medicine? I would suggest you research the Institute for Functional Medicine which happens to be the largest referral network in holistic medicine found at www.ifm.org. Having a wide-focused functional medicine professional on your side is a great advantage to your chronic health concerns, as you will not be treated as a few physical manifestations or symptoms. As a substitute, you will be evaluated and treated as a whole individual with complicated issues that are all interconnected, thus addressing the root of the matter in question. Of course, I am not advocating to disregard traditional medicine altogether, for there is a place for it as well, however, what I am advocating is for you to take control of your health care by means of personal research and draw a reasonable conclusion of what is best in your case. It is amazing how making just one decision can change everything. However, is it not true that not deciding is a decision all in itself? We are making decisions every day, small, big, and insignificant decisions, but they are changing our lives for the better, hopefully. There are so many lives altering life making decisions, such as a job change, relocating, should I buy or sell my home, building relationships, health care for my elderly loved ones in a full-time facility, retirement and many more. Why not our health? My philosophy has been, "if I do not take care of myself, how can I expect to take care of those I am responsible for?" And for many of us, there is a much greater picture of community service. It is interesting that in etymology, the word (decision) has a Latin root that illustrates literally (cutting off a twig or branch of a tree). The implication is final and definitive, you cannot reverse the action taken, it is not perfunctory, or halfhearted in the decision-making process. It is a matter of stretching the envelope even when everything inside of you is screaming not to change your comfort zone, but let your reasonableness, your logical mind override those feelings that come from wanting to make a new change. Two years ago, a clinical therapist described making recent changes to a captain of a ship, the captain being you, and the crew of the ship, your emotional state, which is helping the captain navigate the tumultuous waters of life. Sometimes, for the sake of lessening the shouting and screaming, your emotions, the captain will acquiesce or give in to the crew, our emotions. But you must ask yourself, who is the captain? Who is primarily responsible for the ship or your health? I know it takes a lot of courage or visceral fortitude to let go of the familiar and secure way of doing things, but there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful when it is not making a difference in our health. My words are not to castigate anyone, but to encourage all to decide to take full control of their entire persona, which includes our health.
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