**Disclaimer**
The information in this article is for educational purposes only. This article is not intended to dissuade, persuade or otherwise influence seeking and receiving medical care. Always use your best judgement and seek professional medical care for your health concerns.
Intro
Functional and Holistic Medicine are popular buzzwords and topics of conversation but aren't fully understood. Commonly, the perspective is that Functional Medicine is for "gut health," "cleanses" and "detox." While these statements may be true, it's like saying that "electricity is for lightbulbs." We know that electricity offers much more than just powering a lightbulb. Similarly, Functional Medicine powers health far beyond a mere detox.
Crisis Care vs. Health Care
Very few people fall into the category of "sick" or "healthy." Most of us fall somewhere in between, and chances are, if you are reading this, you do to!
While the commonly accepted belief is that conventional medicine offers "health care," the reality is quite the opposite. Conventional medicine offers "crisis care" - and that's it! This type of care is incredibly important, and I am very thankful we have access to it! It is beneficial, and sometimes crucial, to seek conventional medicine first to see if your health concerns are worthy of crisis intervention. But if a doctor and/or specialist do not have an answer for you, it doesn't mean that there isn't an answer (read that again). It simply means that you are not in a health crisis and therefore, conventional medicine's crisis toolbox, of pharmaceuticals and surgery, is unnecessary. Unfortunately, if these medical professionals say that "everything is normal," this leaves the patient waiting to get sicker until falling into a crisis before receiving care.
On the other hand, if a crisis is observed, and pharmaceuticals are prescribed, this isn't where healing ends... this is actually where healing begins! Pharmaceuticals are only capable of synthetically altering and inhibiting functions of the body in order to create stability. Stabilization is sometimes required before healing. However, stabilization does not equal healing. The dysfunction may appear better on paper (lab results), but the contributing stressor(s) that caused the dysfunction have yet to be dealt with. If neglected, disease and symptoms will present elsewhere - leading to more crisis intervention.
Whether you are sick enough, or not sick enough to receive care from conventional medicine, in both cases, Functional Medicine is required to get out of that current state and restore function and health.
Normal Ragne vs. Optimal Range
Conventional methods use tools and testing geared towards understanding disease. And in doing so, their treatment and recommendations come from a "disease-first" perspective. Lab marker ranges are determined based on diseased states. With all the focus put on the disease, health is not achieved, but rather disease is managed.
Functional and Holistic Medicine have tighter tolerances when reviewing and interpreting lab results due to the "health-first" perspective. Additionally, Functional Medicine uses more thorough investigative tools and laboratories to better understand the stressors that are causing the disease. This information is interpreted and used to understand why health is not presenting. Acting on these deep-rooted contributors to disease, allows for the restoration of health.
Rot Experts vs. Structure Detectives
The analogy here is that conventional medicine is a "Rot Expert" where Functional Medicine is a "Structure Detective." For example, if some wooden studs in a house are rotting, the Rot Experts can examine to determine severity. If severe enough, they would either spray the rot with chemicals to slow the spread or if progressed enough, they would cut out the rotten section and replace with an alternative material that won't rot. But what if the rot wasn't severe enough or was within their "normal range?" Well, they would wait for the rot to worsen before remediating the situation.
The Structure Detectives would examine this same scenario, look at the environment and start investigating by asking the right questions.
Why is the wood rotting in the first place?
What is the history of the house - was there a flood?
Is the humidity too high?
Did the foundation settle and cause additional stress on this particular piece of wood?
If wood is truly destined to rot, then all the wood would be rotten... so why are the pieces of wood around this one not rotting?
Is there a non-invasive way to support this piece of wood so it does not continue to rot?
After asking these questions, the Structure Detectives would do a thorough history intake and investigation:
Test the environment for humidity.
Examine the foundation for imbalances and stressors.
Investigate the wood that isn't rotten near it and look for possible reasons that prevented rot in those areas.
And so on.
Based on this alternative perspective and testing methods, the most effective type of intervention would be determined. A standard protocol may include improving the environment, consulting a foundation settling expert, looking for opportunities to reduce stress on the wood, and applying modalities that naturally strengthen the wood and slow/stop the rot.
Seeking service from Rot Experts may actually be essential in some cases. The issue is that we, as a society, are asking rot experts as if it were the only option. In an ideal situation, the order of action would be:
Ask Rot Expert if situation is crisis or not.
If not a crisis, seek service from the Structure Detectives.
In the rare case that the Structure Detective in unable to improve rotting area, then seek care from the Rot Expert.
Afterwards, follow up with Structure Detective to prevent future rot.
So where does Functional Medicine fit in?
Here are some great examples of when to seek Functional Medicine:
You feel great and want to continue feeling great.
You don't feel great, and all your labs appear "normal."
You don't feel great, and your labs are abnormal.
You've been diagnosed with a chronic disease or illness that you must "manage" indefinitely.
As you can see, Functional Medicine has beneficial offerings at every stage. However, at no point does one form of care replace the other. Where Functional Medicine really shines is by filling the void of subclinical illness - the large void between sickness and health.
Conclusion
Each section in this article implies a "this vs. that" perspective. However, I only do so to offer comparisons to each type of care. The reality is that both professional services are essential and offer completely different types of care. The important takeaway is knowing when to seek each type of care. If conventional methods don't provide you with answers, then seek the experts in the field of "sick, but not sick enough."
If you fall within this gray area of care, you can schedule your free consolation with a Structure Detective below to take action on your health concerns and goals!
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