This is a question that many people have asked me. In order to answer this question we first need to define what “work” means. If something works, then is it effective or it serves it’s intended purpose. So, if you want to increase your level of health and improve the way your body is currently working, then the answer is “yes” functional medicine works. However, if you are looking for a quick-fix and you are not willing to make changes in your lifestyle or if you are not going to take dietary supplements your body might need to function properly, then it is not going to “work” for you. To make changes in the way your body works, you need to do some things differently than the way you have been doing them. Doing what you have already been doing has not worked and in many cases has contributed to the health issues you now suffer with.

To answer this question more fully, we would need to look at what functional medicine is and the effect it has on chronic illness and disease. Let’s start by looking at what occurs when a chronic illness takes hold of your body.

Chronic Illness

This is an unwanted health condition that has been present for weeks, months or even years. This is different than an acute illness like the common cold or a sprained ankle that only lasts a short while and then goes away. For a health condition to become “chronic”, it means the body is not able to overcome the factors that are causing the illness; your body has become overwhelmed and is able to reestablish health and vitality. Chronic illness includes conditions like autoimmune disease, IBS, low thyroid function, obesity, insomnia, anxiety, fatigue, etc.

Your Symptoms

Chronic conditions cannot take hold of the body unless normal function has been compromised in some way. As the body’s ability to function deteriorates, symptoms begin to appear. Symptoms are the body’s warning or you might say alarm system; symptoms make you aware that something is definitely going wrong. To ignore symptoms is to ignore your body’s request for help! Functional medicine uses your symptoms as a tool to help determine what is causing your body to struggle; they are clues used to arrive at a solution. This is different than traditional medicine, where symptoms are viewed as something to suppress or eradicate. Sure, we all want our symptoms to go away, but how you deal with a symptom can make a big difference in your overall health. This is WHY so many drugs and medications have side effects! If you simply force a symptom into submission, you have NOT addressed the underlying dysfunction and so new problems and new disease states pop up…these are called side effects.

You probably never looked at side effects this way before; as being new diseases. If you are taking a medication…I mean any medication, look up the potential side effects. These are basically new diseases that may be created in your body as a result of taking the medication. Even if you do not notice any of these side effects occurring; the medication is altering your body’s normal function…period. I am not against the use of medication when needed; sometimes it is absolutely necessary and the benefits outweigh the side effects.

Ok, so back to the question on what to do about your symptoms. Should they be squashed and driven back down into your body or used as clue to how your body can be supported and permitted to restore function on its own? I prefer to use them as a clue to solving health problems, and as a functional medicine doctor I find symptoms to be very valuable.

Does it Work?

The focus of functional medicine is to determine through consultation and diagnostic testing, what factors are preventing your body from healing and working properly. When these health-preventing factors are isolated and addressed, health is restored. So, there is really no question that functional medicine works; of course it works. Does it work all of the time? Of course not! I’m not aware of ANYTHING that works all of the time. The doctor may not find the underlying cause(s) of your problem. You may not make the changes that are necessary to support your body. Your health condition may be too advanced and too much damage has occurred to the body. Does it work for most people? It has been my clinical experience that it does. So, yes, functional medicine does work and it works best in the hands of a skilled and experienced functional medicine doctor.

If you have been considering functional medicine, now is a good time to set up a consultation and find out what it can do for you.

If you would like more information about functional medicine or integrative medicine and Dr. Sexton go to www.napervilleintegratedwelness.com

Do your own research, inform yourself and ask lots of questions. When collecting information you MUST consider the source. There is no shortage of false, misleading, outdated, profit-driven and utterly biased information in healthcare today; even from the most respected sources.

This approach is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, mitigate, or prevent any disease. Why is this? The FDA enforces its position that these words can only be used with drugs. This approach does not use drugs, it manages nutritional deficiency. Under FDA guidelines nutritional deficiency management cannot be said to treat, cure, mitigate or prevent disease.