Functional medicine is a more evolved status than traditional medicine in that it doesn’t treat a general ailment. Functional medicine digs deeper into the root problem and weeds out everything else, not suppress the symptoms and allow the patient to continue that negative lifestyle. This style of healing is best for someone who wants long term results and are willing to do the work to get there. Conventional medicine throws a band-aid on a bigger problem and treats a general area, however, functional medicine proves that you can pinpoint the problem at hand. Perhaps a nail has went through your shoe. You could take some aspirin to relieve the pain, or you could pull the nail out of your shoe. Let’s pull the nail out today and share why functional medicine techniques should always be considered when driving your family toward a healthier lifestyle.

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#1 – It Discovers The Root Problems

One of the major benefits of including a functional medicine in your routine doctor visits is the fact that the doctors who practice this style of healing is dedicated to getting to the problem. These dedicated practices result in long term solutions for someone who has had many doctor visits and general medicine “band-aids”.

For instance, someone who suffers from low energy could be classified and treated by traditional doctors with medicine. Generally this type of treatment is one we all know and are familiar with. Many people put their trust in traditional medicine thinking the doctor knows best. There was a young man who had some neck tension issues. He continually had trouble getting enough strength to speak. Eventually he considered an ear, nose, and throat specialist as someone in his condition would. However, the specialist made a couple of guesses and landed on the diagnosis that the young man was experiencing severe acid reflux.

The young man wasn’t convinced, yet he took the 80mg of acid reflux medicine prescribed to him per day. As the week progressed he wasn’t getting any better, and he began to look into other options. With the help of a functional medicine doctor, he was correctly diagnosed with muscle tension dysphonia and immediately stopped the acid reflux medication. He didn’t need the reflux medicine, he needed a speech therapist. He was using his voice completely wrong which was causing his neck muscles to tense up. 

12 million patients are misdiagnosed in outpatient clinics every year. That’s millions of people who could be enjoying a better life, yet they do not strive to discover what is really the root of their ailment or problem. Is there something in which you have been having problems with? It is possible a functional medicine practitioner could help you. Health coach will motivate you, guide you about the functional medicine treatment, and ease things between you and the practitioner. With health coaching, patients achieve their health goals successfully and increase the positive outcomes. 

#2 – Functional Medicine Has Treatment Benefits

One of the main concerns with any health issue is the long list of treatments which come with said ailment. My children get so nervous when they have to get a tooth cavity filled because they know the treatment for that isn’t fun at all. Not only that, but the side effects which come with traditional medicine your family doctor gives you can be astonishing as well. 

The good news with the treatment benefits of functional medicine is that it rarely has any side effects. That is great for you and I because we don’t have to worry about any risks like harmful drugs or even the operating table. When you begin to compare traditional vs functional you can understand the positive benefits that the latter has for the patient in the long run. For instance, even an option of surgery could result in other surgical complications in the body at a later date during the recovery period. 

Functional treatment is generally a customized plan for you which is meant to restore your body’s natural balance, hormones, and state of mind. These treatments could include changes in your diet, exercise, a mental plan to help eliminate stress, detox regimens, and sometimes botanical/natural supplements which further aid your recovery process. 

#3 – Functional Treatment Allows You To Help Yourself

While there are many great health care professionals who practice the art of functional medicine, we have the opportunity to create a better lifestyle for ourselves today. We are sick, we have low energy, we eat fatty foods and we neglect to exercise. We have a plethora of health problems in this country and the major reason we’re not getting healthy is because we are not taking any action to make the right decisions for our health today. 

Functional medicine allows us to be part of the solution. We can begin to modify our eating habits and other behaviors to include a better, healthier individual we want to begin seeing. Of course, the functionality of this idea means we have to stay consistent with it. One of the main reasons most people cannot see the change in themselves is the simple reason that they hate change. If we’re wanting to truly see a change, yet hate change, it’s not going to work. Taking our fate in our own hands means using functional medicine ideas which will continually make us happy and healthy in the long run.

In Conclusion

Functional medicine is a non-traditional route to take when you’re sick or have another underlying problem no one else can identify. Remember the guy with the throat? He went to the ENT specialist 4 times and they still couldn’t identify what was wrong with him. You have the power and the information at your fingertips to learn more about where the root of your health problems lie, and more than likely, a change can help bring your body back to its useful balance.